The present invention relates to a method and network node for selecting a combining point, e.g. a Macro Diversity Combining (MDC) point, at which at least two redundant transmission paths are combined to a single transmission path in a transmission network, such as a radio access network (RAN) providing access to an Internet Protocol (IP) based network architecture, comprising at least two selectable combining points.
In a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) based cellular network all users in the same cell or in different cells may share the same frequency spectrum simultaneously. In spread spectrum transmission, the interference tolerance enables universal frequency reuse. This enables new functions such as soft handover, but also causes strict requirements on power control. Due to the universal frequency reuse, the connection of a radio terminal, e.g. a mobile terminal, mobile station or user equipment to the cellular network can include several radio links. When the radio terminal is connected through more than one radio link, it is said to be in soft handover. If, in particular, the radio terminal has more than one radio link to two cells on the same side, it is in softer handover. Soft handover is a form of diversity, increasing the signal-to-noise ratio when the transmission power is constant. At network level, soft handover smoothes the movement of a mobile terminal from one cell to another. It helps to minimize the transmission power needed in both uplink and downlink.
Thus, a radio terminal of a network subscriber can transmit the same information on a plurality of redundant transmission parts that are set up parallel via a radio transmission interface from the cellular network to the radio terminal or from the radio terminal to the cellular network in order to achieve an optimal transmission quality. Such a transmission structure is called macro diversity. The redundant transmission paths can be dynamically setup and cleared down while the radio terminal changes its location. The information sent out by the radio terminal in the transmission frames on various transmission paths can be merged in the transmission network at combination points at which respectively two transmission paths are combined into a single transmission path in one transmission direction (uplink) and the single transmission path is divided into two transmission paths in the other transmission direction (downlink). A corresponding network architecture is described for example in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,737 B1.
In order to obtain the most efficient RAN architecture, which is based on using advantageous characteristics of IP, some functionality is relocated between network elements. According to a recent new RAN architecture, a network element known as Base Station Controller (BSC) or Radio Network Controller (RNC) is no longer required, although this functionality must remain in the RAN architecture. Therefore, the location of a combining point, e.g. MDC point, can no longer be centralized for all base stations in the RAN. Consequently, some RNC functionality has been transferred to the base stations in order to enable soft handover and associated signaling to happen along the shortest path, producing minimum delay and signaling load to those paths of the network where this is not necessary. This new RAN architecture is described e.g. in the White Paper “IP-RAN, IP—the future of mobility”, Nokia Networks, 2000.
In such a new RAN architecture, the MDC point can be selected dynamically e.g. by a serving base station instead of having this functionality in one pre-selected point like the RNC in the conventional RAN architecture or in the base station that initiates the call. In the new RAN architecture, base stations are able to act as MDC points. However, it should be possible to limit this set in order to reduce the number of MDC point relocations, which introduce additional delay, i.e., only some base stations can act as MDC points if needed. Those base stations are called MDC-capable base stations or simply MDC-capable BTSs.
However, if the first common upstream base station, i.e. the base station closest to the radio network gateway on the common path from a serving base station towards any drift base station, is always selected as the MDC point for the base stations that participate in soft handover, the processing load of the MDC point might be too high and network resources are not optimized. Moreover, it might be desired to perform link load balancing by selecting a more appropriate base station as the MDC point.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and network node for selecting a combining point in a transmission network, by means of which the load at the combining point can be reduced and a more efficient network utilization can be achieved.
This object is achieved by a method of selecting a combining point at which at least two redundant transmission paths are combined to a single transmission path in a transmission network comprising at least two selectable combining points, said method comprising the steps of:
Furthermore, the above object is achieved by a network node for selecting a combining point at which at least two redundant transmission paths are combined to a single transmission path in a transmission network comprising at least two selectable combining points, said network node being arranged to use at least two measurement-based selection criteria with different priorities for selecting said combining point, and to use the selection result of a higher priority selection criterion as a constraint for a selection based on a lower priority selection criterion.
Accordingly, the combining point location is optimized based on a goal functionality, e.g. a preemptive method, which works in such a fashion that an optimal solution to a highest priority goal is searched and this solution is added as a new constraint for lower priority goals. If the solution for a higher priority goal leads to a single combining point, lower priority goals may not have to be considered. Such a preemptive method is advantageous in that it always results in an optimum value for the highest priority goal. Moreover, only a decision regarding the priority order of the available different goals is required, while no weights have to be determined. Thereby, lower delays for MDC traffic and a more efficient network utilization can be obtained due to the optimized location of the combining point.
Preferably, the at least two selection criteria comprise a selection criterion applied to measured lengths or loads of the at least two redundant transmission paths and/or the single transmission path. Furthermore, the at least two selection criteria may comprise a selection criterion applied to measured processing loads of the selectable combining points. In particular, the at least two selection criteria may comprise a first criterion of minimizing the maximum length of the at least two redundant transmission paths, a second criterion of minimizing the maximum total length of the at least two redundant transmission paths and the single transmission path, a third criterion of minimizing the maximum traffic load on the at least two redundant transmission paths and the single transmission path, and a fourth criterion of minimizing the processing load of the combining point. The maximum length and maximum total length may be determined by counting hops of said single and redundant transmission paths, respectively. Furthermore, the highest priority may be allocated to the first criterion, the second highest priority to the second criterion, the third highest priority to the third criterion, and the lowest priority to the fourth criterion. The third criterion may be applied by monitoring and updating real time traffic loads using an averaging function, e.g. an exponential averaging function.
Thus, the role of load measurements, used for measuring both link loads and combining point processing loads, is emphasized in selecting the optimal combining point. This provides the advantage that both link loads and combining processing loads can be balanced by selecting the optimal combining point.
The load measurements results may be transmitted mutually between the at least two selectable combining points at predetermined intervals. Alternatively, the load measurement results or load reports may be transmitted from the at least two selectable combining points to a centralized resource, which will distribute the load information to all possible combining points at predetermined intervals. As a further alternative, the load reports may be transmitted from the at least two selectable combining points directly to all other possible combining points at predetermined intervals without any intervention of a centralized resource. In this connection, load measurement results refers to “raw data” from router statistics while load report contains already processed information.
Furthermore, maximum load thresholds may be set to be considered during the selection of the combining point. The maximum real time load threshold may define the maximum allowable real time load on used links of the at least two redundant transmission paths and other (class x) load thresholds may define the maximum allowable load for different traffic types (e.g., streaming) on the single transmission path. Furthermore, a maximum load threshold may be provided for defining the maximum allowable processing load in the selected combining point.
A selection criterion may be bypassed if the required measurement values are not available.
If the selection method does not lead to a selection of a combining point, a redundant transmission path may be dropped from the at least two redundant transmission paths. Finally, if only one redundant transmission path is left and the method still does not lead to a selection of a combining point, the corresponding call may invoke one of some not yet mandated actions. For example, the possible actions may be (1) using the remaining base station in the active set of the on-going call as the new serving BTS or (2) keeping the current MDC point of the on-going call unchanged or (3) rejecting the new call (new call means that connection hasn't been set up yet) as a whole.
The selection method may be used after a change of the network topology.
The combining point may be an MDC point, if the selection method is used in a universal radio access network for providing access to an IP-based network. In this case, the selectable combining points may be base station devices. The network node for performing the selection method may be e.g. a base station device or centralized resource managing device.
Additionally, a combining point validity checking functionality may be applied, wherein a previously selected combining point is maintained if the previously selected combining point at least still meets the at least two measurement-based selection criteria. The checking functionality can be modified such that at least one stricter selection criterion is applied to the previously selected combining point. As an example, the at least one stricter selection criterion may correspond to 90% of a load threshold value applied to the previously selected combining point.
Furthermore, a fallback scheme of MDC selection on topology information inconsistency may be provided at or for an MDC module, wherein a topology inconsistency is detected, and relocations of the combining point are prevented during the detected topology inconsistency. In this case, e.g. a timer function may be started in response to the detection, and relocations are then allowed again after the expiry of the timer function.
A subset of nodes capable of being selected as the combining point in the selection step may be determined e.g. based on the topology of said transmission network. This determination may be repeated after a network topology change. The subset of capable nodes may be selected based on their number of links connecting to other nodes, e.g., those nodes having a predetermined number of links, e.g. two links, or more are selected.
In the following, the present invention will be described in greater detail based on a preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The preferred embodiment will now be described on the basis of a new RAN network architecture for providing access to an IP network.
According to
In the RAN topology shown in
In the situation shown in
According to the preferred embodiment, a measurement-based method is provided for selecting the most appropriate MDC point among the network nodes, e.g. base stations B to J in the IP-based RAN. To achieve this, the MDC point location is optimized using a goal programming e.g. by first minimizing the maximum MDC leg length, then minimizing the total hop count of MDC legs and the paths from the RNGW A to the MDC point, then minimizing the maximum real time traffic load on used links, and finally minimizing the MDC processing load at the potential MDC point.
It is noted that the term “real time traffic” refers to packets marked with certain differentiated services code points, e.g. Expedited Forwarding (EF) which indicates a high priority Per-Hop Behavior (PHB) to achieve a high-quality virtual circuit service. The term “hop” is used to denote a path between two network nodes, that does not have any significant effect on the characteristics of traffic flows. Thus, a connection path between two neighbor network nodes in
Real time traffic loads on all links are monitored and updated by using exponential averaging according to the following equation:
rt_loadi=(1−w)*rt_loadi-1+w*(rt_bits/(p*link—bw)), (1)
wherein rt_bits denotes the number of real time bits sent on an output link, link_bw denotes the output link bandwidth, which may be both obtained from router statistics, w denotes an exponential averaging weight, and p denotes a measurement period. An appropriate value for p could be e.g. 500 ms. The value for w depends on the desired reaction time to changes in link loads, e.g. w=0.5. A similar averaging mechanism may be applied to all other relevant link loads.
Furthermore, the ratio of on-going MDC connections and the maximum number of MDC connections could be monitored for every base station. The corresponding threshold values may vary considerably between different base stations. E.g., star points should be able to handle more MDC connections than a base station at the end of a chain. Here, instantaneous values could be used instead of the above exponential averaging.
The number of MDC connections running in a particular base station and traffic load information on all links directly attached to this particular base station may be transmitted periodically, e.g. every p ms, as measurement results to other base stations. To avoid excessive traffic, a multicasting-like approach (e.g., Spanning Tree based algorithm) could be used. Furthermore, the value of the parameter p could be increased if the number of base stations is increased in the RAN architecture.
Alternatively, if a centralized IP Transport Resource Manager (ITRM) or bandwidth broker is provided, each base station could send its measurement results to the ITRM only. The ITRM (not shown in
Furthermore, it is assumed that all network nodes of the RAN network have a “helicopter view” of the network topology. This can be achieved, for example by using OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) routing protocol, as described in John T. Moy, “OSPF: Anatomy of an Internet Routing Protocol, 3rd printing, September 1998, ISBN 0-201-63472-4. In this respect, it will be noted that only a single (shortest) path is in use between two network nodes if basic OSPF is used. Nevertheless, load balancing can be performed by choosing an appropriate MDC point.
The following priority order may be given to the above goals or selection criteria for selecting the appropriate MDC point. The highest priority may be allocated to the goal of minimizing the maximum MDC leg length. The second highest priority may be allocated to the goal of minimizing the total hop count of MDC legs and the paths from the RNGW A to the MDC point. The third highest priority may be allocated to the goal of minimizing the maximum real time traffic load on used links. Finally, the lowest priority may be allocated to the goal of minimizing of the MDC processing load, e.g. the number of on-going connections divided by some predetermined threshold value.
Additionally, at least one of the following general constraints may be set. The maximum real time traffic load on MDC legs (max_rt_load) should be less or equal than a real time threshold value (rt_threshold). Maximum class x (traffic class of packets sent from RNGW; can be real time as well) traffic load on the path between RNGW and MDC point candidate (max_x_load) should be less or equal than a class x threshold value (x_threshold). Furthermore, the MDC processing load in the MDC point candidate (mdc_load) should be less than MDC threshold value (mdc_threshold).
The separate flow diagram on the upper right portion of
When a request for a new call or some other trigger arrives at a serving base station (IP BTS), the first selection criterion is applied in step 1, wherein the maximum MDC length is minimized. Then, the selection result is compared to the general constraints, e.g. real time threshold, class x threshold and/or MDC threshold. If these constraints are not met, it is checked whether multiple base stations are left. If so, the base station with the worst radio connection to mobile phone is dropped and the selection method based on the first criterion with the highest priority is repeated. If a single base station is left and the constraints are still not met, the call is rejected—if it is a new call. In the case of an on-going call, we continue the call without soft handover (keeping its current MDC point unchanged or with the remaining BTS acting as serving BTS).
If general constraints are met, it is checked whether a single MDC point has been obtained by the first selection operation. If so, this single MDC point is output as the best or appropriate MDC point. If not, the second selection criterion with the second highest priority is applied in step 2 using the additional constraint or result of the selection in step 1.
In step 2 of
In step 3 of
In step 4 of
If the result of step 4 in
Thus, a goal based selection method for obtaining a single appropriate MDC point is provided which can be used at any initialization of a new call.
In case of any missing information, e.g. link loads or the like, the corresponding selection step requiring the missing information can be bypassed. If topology information is missing at the network node where the MDC point selection is performed, the serving base station can be used as the MDC point. However, any other selection is possible, of course.
The proposed MDC point selection method may as well be applied or initiated in cases where the network topology or the set of serving and drift base station has changed.
In the following, the above described selection method is applied using the topology of
In the first criterion according to
Then, the second criterion according to the algorithm in
As regards the third criterion according to
According to the final fourth criterion, the individual MDC processing loads of the remaining MDC point candidates are compared, wherein the MDC processing load of the candidate node F (55%) is substantially lower than the MDC processing load of the candidate node B (70%). Thus, step 4 in
Due to the fact that the suggested selection method leads to an optimized MDC point with minimized load values and link lengths, lower delays for MDC traffic and more efficient network utilization can be achieved. Furthermore, the method is simple enough to be implemented within the base stations. However, in case the required scalability leads to a problem in bigger RAN topologies, multicast-like transmission should be provided. Additionally, a scheme suitable to distribute the measurement results either through a centralized resource or in a distributed manner among the network nodes is needed if e.g. traffic loads or MDC processing loads are used in the MDC point selection process.
However, the method and system for finding an optimized MDC point location, as proposed above, might lead to an excessive amount of MDC relocations, which is not desirable. Moreover, heavy calculations are required in connection with each MDC relocation. To alleviate this problem, a validity checking functionality can be introduced to reduce the number of MDC relocations in the RAN. According to the validity checking functionality, the MDC point or functionality will not be moved or relocated to a possibly better location, if the current MDC point is still valid, i.e., if the initial or slightly stricter constraints are still met. For example, the set maximum load threshold could be slightly reduced.
Thereby, the amount of MDC point calculations and relocations can be reduced to those cases where the location of the current MDC point no longer meets the preset constraints.
The validity checking functionality can be activated each time there is a change in the active set of base stations. When the MDC point calculation is triggered, the MDC point validity checking functionality will first check whether or not the current MDC point meets the constraints. If the answer is yes, no further calculations are done and the MDC functionality is not relocated—even though the active set of base stations would need to be updated. In logical terms, the validity checking functionality can be expressed as indicated in
In the example of
Furthermore, in the above preferred embodiment, a fallback scheme of MDC selection on topology information inconsistency (MSTII) may be provided for the following reasons.
Upon selection of an MDC point for a call, the correct RAN topology information is needed. Due to a component congestion or failure, any network component such as link or node might stop its serving function in the RAN and cause a change of RAN topology. The change of the RAN topology will then trigger an update of RAN topology information kept in each node in RAN. The update usually needs a few seconds, called as converging period, to accomplish. During the converging period, the RAN topology information in different nodes is different—this is called as topology information inconsistency. If MDC point selection for a call is done with inconsistent or wrong RAN topology information, its associated MDC relocation will be a wrong MDC relocation and its associated leg addition would be a wrong leg addition. The incorrect MDC relocation and leg addition will add high but meaningless processing and transportation cost to RAN and additionally cause some irregular RAN transportation problems.
The MSTII fallback scheme is therefore adapted to identify the topology information inconsistency problem during its happening and to prevent the wrong MDC relocations and wrong leg additions during the converging period. In particular, the MSTII fallback scheme consists of two sub-schemes, a first sub-scheme for detecting the topology information inconsistency and a second topology inconsistency fallback sub-scheme. The first sub-scheme discovers and indicates the beginning, continuing, and the ending of topology information inconsistency, to the second sub-scheme. The second sub-scheme acts to prevent the wrong MDC relocations and wrong leg additions during the converging period, according to the indications from the first sub-scheme. The first and second sub-schemes may be implemented at an MDC module provided at e.g. a centralized resource managing device or at an individual network node such as an IP BTS. In the present context, the MDC module corresponds to an abstraction of one or more functions that complete the task or tasks related to at least MDC point selection. The MDC module may however also cover the tasks of relocation triggering and/or management of the active BTS set provided for soft handover of a call. This means that the MDC module may recommend to add a BTS into the active BTS set due to a radio-leg-addition request, or recommend to drop a BTS from the active set due to no enough network resources for it.
The TAS is provided to automatically set the MDC-capable nodes, which may be only a small subset of all nodes in the RAN, for all possible MDC relocations and thus enables a substantial reduction of the associated execution times of MDC relocation procedures for the calls in the RAN, while keeping the benefit of MDC. The MDC-capable nodes are automatically picked up, according to the network topology information available from the routing table, e.g. OSPF, or obtained from an information exchange among the nodes in the RAN. Whenever the RAN topology changes, this scheme will update the subset of MDC-capable nodes according to the new topology. Other nodes, called as leaf nodes which are not in the current MDC-capable subset of the RAN, cannot serve as MDC points for calls.
As an estimation, the TAS may enable a reduction in MDC costs by more than ⅔ and even more than 95%, while maintaining the benefit of MDC.
In the following TAS examples are described based on topology examples shown in
Whenever a call is initiated or a leg is added to or removed from an existing call, the immediate node connected by the initial call (e.g., Node E6 for the call in
In
It is noted that the present invention is not restricted to the above preferred embodiments, but can be used in any network environment where a plurality of redundant transmission paths are combined at a combining point to a single transmission path. Furthermore, the method is not restricted to the specific selection criteria indicated in the above steps 1 to 4. Any selection criterion suitable for obtaining an appropriate combining point can be used in the priority based selection method. Moreover, the allocation of the priorities may be changed in any manner suitable to obtain a combining point appropriate to a particular application. Thus, the preferred embodiments may vary within the scope of the attached claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/IB02/02217 | 6/14/2002 | WO |