Signaling Storm Problems in 3GPP Mobile Broadband Networks, Causes and Possible Solutions: A Review

Control signaling is mandatory for the operation and management of all types of communication networks, including the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mobile broadband networks. It has been widely reported in white papers and technical reports, published in the Telecom industry, that as 3GPP wireless broadband networks evolve to an all IP architecture to meet growing data access demands, control signaling also keeps growing alarmingly. When the intensity of these control signals goes beyond the network can handle, they turn in to signaling storms.This may in turn compromise smooth network operations and valuable customer satisfaction while bringing Telecom operators big financial losses. These signaling storms might bring a 3G/4G network to a standstill. Such incidents have already been reported by different network operators around the globe. Therefore the signaling storm problem poses a serious threat to the smooth operations of the modern day 3GPP mobile broadband networks. There are several factors for signaling storms including mobile broadband network architecture evolution, unprecedented increase in data demands, increased use of smart phones and chatty or polling nature of social network applications, to name some. This paper presents a survey of the causes, of the signaling storm problems in 3GPP mobile broadband networks and also discusses their possible solutions.