Patent Application
20230088205
The present disclosure relates to methods for operating Radio Access Networks (RANs), and relates more particularly to methods to optimize Single Frequency Network (SFN) or shared cell configuration in an open radio access network (O-RAN).
Conventional RANs were built employing an integrated unit where the entire RAN was processed. Conventional RANs implement the protocol stack (e.g., Physical Layer (PHY), Media Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), Packet Data Convergence Control (PDCP) layers) at the base station (also referred to as the evolved node B (eNodeB or eNB) for 4G LTE or next generation node B (gNodeB or gNB) for 5G NR). In addition, conventional RANs use application-specific hardware for processing, which make the conventional RANs difficult to upgrade and evolve. As future networks evolve to have massive densification of networks to support increased capacity requirements, there is a growing need to reduce the capital costs (CAPEX) and operating costs (OPEX) of RAN deployment and make the solution scalable and easy to upgrade.
Cloud-based Radio Access Networks (CRANs) are networks where a significant portion of the RAN layer processing is performed at a baseband unit (BBU), located in the cloud on commercial off the shelf servers, while the radio frequency (RF) and real-time critical functions can be processed in the remote radio unit (RRU), also referred to as the radio unit (RU). The BBU can be split into two parts: centralized unit (CU) and distributed unit (DU). CUs are usually located in the cloud on commercial off the shelf servers, while DUs can be distributed. The BBU may also be virtualized, in which case it is also known as vBBU. Radio Frequency (RF) interface and real-time critical functions can be processed in the Radio Unit (RU), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Unit (RRU).
The O-RAN architecture is a Cloud-based architecture specified by the O-RAN Alliance. The components of the O-RAN architecture include, e.g., the Service Management and Orchestrator (SMO) Framework, the Non-Real Time (Near-RT) Radio Intelligent Controller (RIC), the Near-Real Time (Near-RT) Radio Intelligent Controller (MC), the O-RAN Centralized Unit (O-CU), the O-RAN Distributed Unit (O-DU), and the O-RAN Radio Unit (O-RAN). The data between O-DU and are sent over the open fronthaul (FH) interface.
O-RAN-standard based packet networking fronthaul interface between O-DU and for 4G and NR 5G radio access technologies (RAT) has gained huge attention from wireless cellular communication industries, largely due to the fact that O-RAN specification allows interoperability and standardization of RAN components (e.g., O-DU and O-RU) by implementing a unified interconnection standard over packet-based transport interfaces such as eCPRI and ROE. This has enabled seamless integration of white-box hardware and open-source software elements from different component vendors for O-DUs and O-RUs.
O-RAN specification supports 4G and 5G NR radio access technologies (RAT)-based layer 1 functional split 7.2x (FS-7.2x), where frequency domain data IQ samples and related control, management and synchronization information are carried over the fronthaul (FH) interface. This has allowed 4G and NR base-station systems (eNB and gNB) to be designed and deployed more cost effectively and efficiently, thus reducing CAPEX and OPEX significantly.
The current fronthaul O-RAN specifications for the control, user, and synchronization plane (CUS-plane) and management plane (M-plane) support the concept of single frequency network (in which several transmitters simultaneously send the same signal over the same frequency channel) via shared cell configuration. Based on the ORAN fronthaul specification (e.g., O-RAN Fronthaul Working Group Control, User and Synchronization Plane Specification—O-RAN.WG4.CUS.0-v06.00), two configurations are supported, as shown in
In a first mode shown in
In a second mode shown in
SFNs such as the ones described above typically need an additional dedicated hardware in the form of a multiplexer (e.g., FHM). In current O-RAN specification and implementation, for FHM-based topology, all the RUs are terminating on the FHM as shown in
Therefore, there is a need for a solution which improves the network performance for FHM-based networks, e.g., by reducing fronthaul complexity for Single Frequency Network (SFN) and/or shared cell in O-RAN.
An example embodiment of the method according to the present disclosure optimizes the network, e.g., based on power and/or SNR information, in such a manner as to transmit data only through the O-RUs which are actually serving the UE.
An example embodiment of the system and method according to the present disclosure terminates the O-RUs at O-DU instead of at the FHM or any multiplexer.
In an example embodiment of the system and method in which the O-RUs terminate at the O-DU, at least one of the copy functionality and the combining functionality is implemented at the O-DU instead of at the FHM.
In an example embodiment of the system and method, uplink transmission bandwidth over eCPRI is optimized, e.g., by instructing O-RUs to filter out the signals based on a specified threshold by the O-DU.
In an example embodiment of the system and method, O-RUs are configured to send the signals towards the O-DU based on a set threshold for SNR level or power level.
In an example embodiment of the system and method, based on the uplink receive signal pattern, O-DU controls the downlink transmission by transmitting the downlink signals for a given UE only through the O-RUs where the received uplink signals for the same UE was above the threshold.
In an example embodiment of the system and method, based on the uplink receive pattern, the O-DU controls the downlink for each of the O-RUs, e.g., downlink will not be scheduled for O-RUs whose uplink signal is reported as below threshold.
In an example embodiment of the system and method according to the present disclosure, the O-RUs 1003 terminate at the O-DU 1001 instead of at the FHM or any multiplexer, as shown in
In an example embodiment of the system and method, at least one of the copy functionality and the combining functionality is implemented at the O-DU instead of at the FHM. In this example embodiment, the O-DU software takes care of copying and/or combining the signals from different physical Radios (O-RUs) in DL and UL, respectively, thereby eliminating the need for a multiplexer (e.g., FHM) between the O-DU and O-RUs. Thus, there is significant reduction of processing delay at FHM in the entire transmit/receive chain. Based on this example network configuration, which is one of the options that network operators can readily adopt, in certain cases, reduction in fiber delay can be achieved as well. This example network configuration can be used for indoor as well as outdoor requirements, e.g., based on the fiber requirements and topology. This can be achieved in any ORAN specified Sync profiles (e.g., C1/2/3/4).
In an example embodiment of the system and method, uplink transmission bandwidth over eCPRI is optimized, e.g., by instructing O-RUs to filter out the signals based on a specified threshold, e.g., specified by the O-DU. Generally, combining various uplink samples is compute intensive, so this usage can be optimized by instructing O-RUs to filter out the signals based on a threshold, e.g., specified by O-DU. O-RUs can be configured to send the signals towards the O-DU based on a set threshold for SNR level or power level. In an example embodiment, this threshold can be set for each Transmission Time Interval (TTI) and can be communicated over the c-plane interface defined by O-RAN. This can be applied to uplink channels (PRACH and PUSCH). The threshold can be changed every TTI, either per PRB basis or per UE basis. This can be indicated in a new parameter defined in the ORAN control plane protocol.
For the example embodiment in which the O-RUs filter out the signals based on a specified threshold, e.g., SNR level or power level, a new section extension can be used in conformance with O-RAN CUS specification [RAN Fronthaul Working Group Control, User and Synchronization Plane Specification—O-RAN.WG4.CUS.0-v06.00], as shown below:
An example section format could be implement as shown below:
In an alternative example embodiment, a static threshold is used over the management plane (M-Plane), which threshold is applied for each PRB in every TTI by the O-RU to filter the PRBs to be sent to O-DU. O-RU which has dropped the packets (according to the set threshold) shall indicate to O-DU that the packets are dropped. This parameter can be defined in ORAN M-plane specification [O-RAN Alliance Working Group 4, Management Plane Specification—O-RAN.WG4.MP.0-v06.00] under o-ran-uplane-conf.yang Module.
module: o-ran-uplane-conf
+ - - rw user-plane-configuration
+ - - rw powerThreshold decimal64 {mcap:OPTIMIZED-SFN-SUPPORTED}?
OPTIMIZED-SFN-SUPPORTED will be defined as a feature capability to be reported by O-RU as part of its capability.d
For the above-described example embodiments, there are multiple options to determine the threshold levels. One example method is to statically determine the thresholds based on network (e.g., O-RAN and/or SFN) study and simulations. Another example method is to learn dynamically (e.g., using machine learning) and automatically optimize the threshold levels using machine learning algorithms. Another example method is to set the threshold based on the user, according to configured modulation schemes.
In a typical Distributed Antenna System (DAS) configuration, for most (e.g., 90%) of the time, not all O-RUs will have visibility to a UE. This means that remaining O-RUs which do not have visibility are sending noise to the O-DU. In this scenario, based on expected SNR levels and/or power levels for a given PRB (e.g., based on MCS used for that PRB), O-RU can be configured to not send the IQ samples for PRBs if the received signal power is lower than a threshold. This threshold could be sent over C-Plane for each PRB or a group of PRBs to the O-RU. The O-RU then selectively sends only the PRBs that have power (or SNR) above the threshold, which can lead to approximately 80% of IQ vectors in above examples being filtered out at the O-RU. This reduces the bandwidth (BW) needed on the FH interface from the O-RUs to the O-DU, as well as reducing the CPU usage required for uplink IQ combining function. In addition, this configuration (to not send the IQ samples for PRBs if the received signal power is lower than a threshold) also ensures that the combining process at the O-DU takes only the valid signals and not noise (which otherwise can lead to overload and effectively degrade the combined signal).
The above-described configuration of filtering the PRBs in UL by the O-RU can be done in both the cascade mode of O-RU configuration or in the FHM-based shared cell configuration in conformance with the ORAN specification. In addition, this filtering enables complete removal of the FHM element due to much lower volume of IQ samples arriving at the O-DU. FHM processing delay, which is part of overall fronthaul delay, will be absorbed in the O-DU, since the O-DU will handle additional processing of copy and combine. However, it should be noted that the number of streams to combine at the O-DU should be less than that of FHM due to selective transmission and reception.
In the example configuration depicted in
In another example embodiment, downlink transmission optimization is achieved based on the uplink received signal pattern. Based on the uplink receive signal pattern, the O-DU controls the downlink transmission by transmitting the downlink signals for a given UE only through the O-RUs for which the received uplink signals for the given UE was above the threshold. In an alternative example embodiment, a neighbor relation table can be built dynamically and used by the O-DU to determine to which O-RUs the data should be sent. It should be noted that current ORAN specification supports selective transmission and reception from O-RUs using beam forming techniques.
Optimizing the downlink transmission by transmitting the downlink signals for a given UE only through the O-RUs for which the received uplink signals for the given UE was above the threshold has several benefits. First, this arrangement reduces the fronthaul bandwidth requirement. Second, this arrangement significantly reduces the total power consumption since the downlink is not always transmitting at full power (power consumption in best case is close to single O-RU power in a conventional, non-optimized configuration, but the optimized configuration covers multiple O-RUs worth of cell coverage area). Third, most parts of the PRBs and Slots can become empty in all O-RUs. Fourth, significant energy saving and hence power consumption in best case is close to single radio power (but covering multiple Radios worth of cell coverage area). Fourth, substantial reduction of interference levels in downlink frequency spectrum is achieved as the transmission is performed in only very few O-RUs, thereby leaving the other O-RU coverage regions to be silent, which in turn reduces interference to adjacent cells. In the example embodiment shown in
In yet another example embodiment, based on the uplink receive pattern, O-DU shall control the downlink for each of the O-RUs. For example, downlink will not be scheduled for O-RUs whose uplink signal is reported as below a set threshold, thereby resulting in reduction in power consumption for O-RUs. This technique can be applied to either a small cell configuration (indoor deployment) or a macro deployment.
Some of the advantages resulting from the example embodiments of the system and method according to the present disclosure include the following:
1) Because fewer O-RUs are transmitting or processing signals towards the O-DU in uplink at a given point of time, significant reduction of fronthaul bandwidth usage results.
2) Combining of signals at the O-DU is implemented using only the relevant signals since noise is already filtered out by the O-RU, which in turn results in the combined signal being more accurate in comparison to a combined signal resulting from signals received from all O-RUs (which contain noise in addition to relevant signals).
3) Energy saving is achieved at both O-RU and O-DU.
4) Flexibility to dynamically change the network configuration based on the network load is provided. For example, based on the signal strength across a multi-sector site, the multi-sector site could be dynamically configured to operate as SFN or DAS).
5) Role of the FHM is eliminated, thus reducing delay in both processing and transmission.
6) By having the O-DU control the downlink for each of the O-RUs, e.g., by not scheduling downlink for O-RUs whose uplink signal is reported as being below threshold, reduction in power consumption for O-RU is achieved (since the data is replicated in all scheduled O-RUs for downlink, the power consumption is directly proportional to the number of scheduled O-RUs even though each UE may see only one or two O-RUs).
As a summary, several examples of the system and method according to the present disclosure are provided.
A first example of an Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) system including a single frequency network (SFN) for handling signal transmissions involving a user equipment (UE) comprises:
a plurality of O-RAN radio units (O-RUs) configured to simultaneously send the same signal over the same frequency channel; and
an O-RAN distributed unit (O-DU);
wherein the system is configured to filter out at least one of uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) signals associated with at least one of the plurality of O-RUs in the SFN based on one of signal power or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
In a second example of the system modifying the first example of the system, signal paths of the O-RUs toward the O-DU are linked directly to the O-DU.
In a third example of the system modifying the second example of the system, each of the O-RUs filters one of UL and DL signals based on a comparison to one of a predetermined signal power threshold or a predetermined SNR threshold.
In a fourth example of the system modifying the third example of the system, the O-DU performs at least one of copying and combining the signals from different O-RUs in at least one of DL and UL.
In a fifth example of the system modifying the third example of the system, the one of the predetermined signal power threshold or the predetermined SNR threshold is specified by the O-DU.
In a sixth example of the system modifying the second example of the system, the O-RUs are configured to only send physical resource blocks (PRBs) having one of i) power above a specified threshold power, or ii) SNR above a specified threshold SNR.
In a seventh example of the system modifying the first example of the system, the system further comprises:
a fronthaul multiplexer (FHM) linking the O-RUs to the O-DU;
wherein the plurality of O-RUs all send UL data, and the FHM determines which UL data to use for combining based on one of a predetermined signal power threshold or a predetermined SNR threshold.
In an eighth example of the system modifying the second example of the system, based on UL signals for the UE received at the O-DU, the O-DU controls DL transmission by transmitting DL signals for the UE only through the O-RUs for which the received UL signals for the UE were above one of a predetermined signal power threshold or a predetermined SNR threshold.
In a ninth example of the system modifying the second example of the system, based on UL signals for the UE received at the O-DU, the O-DU schedules DL transmission only for the O-RUs whose UL signals were above one of a predetermined signal power threshold or a predetermined SNR threshold.
In a tenth example of the system modifying the third example of the system, the one of the predetermined signal power threshold or the predetermined SNR threshold is at least one of: i) statically determined based on at least one of the O-RAN parameters and the SFN parameters; ii) dynamically determined using machine learning; and iii) determined based on configured modulation scheme for the UE.
A first example of a method of operating an Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) system including a single frequency network (SFN) for handling signal transmissions involving a user equipment (UE comprises:
providing a plurality of O-RAN radio units (O-RUs) configured to simultaneously send the same signal over the same frequency channel; and providing an O-RAN distributed unit (O-DU);
configuring the system to filter out at least one of uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) signals associated with at least one of the plurality of O-RUs in the SFN based on one of signal power or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
In a second example of the method modifying the first example of the method, signal paths of the O-RUs toward the O-DU are linked directly to the O-DU.
In a third example of the method modifying the second example of the method, each of the O-RUs filters one of UL and DL signals based on a comparison to one of a predetermined signal power threshold or a predetermined SNR threshold.
In a fourth example of the method modifying the third example of the method, the O-DU performs at least one of copying and combining the signals from different O-RUs in at least one of DL and UL.
In a fifth example of the method modifying the third example of the method, the one of the predetermined signal power threshold or the predetermined SNR threshold is specified by the O-DU.
In a sixth example of the method modifying the second example of the method, the O-RUs are configured to only send physical resource blocks (PRBs) having one of i) power above a specified threshold power, or ii) SNR above a specified threshold
SNR.
In a seventh example of the method modifying the first example of the method, the method further comprises:
providing a fronthaul multiplexer (FHM) linking the O-RUs to the O-DU;
wherein the plurality of O-RUs all send UL data, and the FHM determines which UL data to use for combining based on one of a predetermined signal power threshold or a predetermined SNR threshold.
In an eighth example of the method modifying the second example of the method, based on UL signals for the UE received at the O-DU, the O-DU controls DL transmission by transmitting DL signals for the UE only through the O-RUs for which the received UL signals for the UE were above one of a predetermined signal power threshold or a predetermined SNR threshold.
In a ninth example of the method modifying the second example of the method, based on UL signals for the UE received at the O-DU, the O-DU schedules DL transmission only for the O-RUs whose UL signals were above one of a predetermined signal power threshold or a predetermined SNR threshold.
In a tenth example of the method modifying the third example of the method, the one of the predetermined signal power threshold or the predetermined SNR threshold is at least one of: i) statically determined based on at least one of the O-RAN parameters and the SFN parameters; ii) dynamically determined using machine learning; and iii) determined based on configured modulation scheme for the UE.
CAPEX: Capital expenditures
CUS-plane: Control, user, and synchronization plane
DAS: Distributed antenna system
eCPRI: Enhanced Common Public Radio Interface
eNB: eNodeB (4G LTE base station)
FS: Functional split
gNB: gNodeB (5G NR base station)
M-plane: Management plane
MCS: Modulation and coding scheme
NMS: Network management system
O-CU: O-RAN compliant Centralized Unit
O-DU: O-RAN compliant Distributed Unit
O-RAN: Open radio access network
O-RU: O-RAN compliant Radio Unit
OPEX: Operating expenses
PRACH: Physical random access channel
PRB: Physical resource block
PUSCH: Physical uplink shared channel
RACH: Random access channel
RAT: Radio access technology
RE: Resource element
RU: Radio unit
RoE: Radio over Ethernet
SNR: Signal to noise ratio
TTI: Transmission time interval
Channel: the contiguous frequency range between lower and upper frequency limits.
DL: Downlink: data flow towards the radiating antenna (generally on the LLS interface)
eCPRI: Enhanced CPRI (eCPRT) is a way of splitting up the baseband functions to reduce traffic strain on the fiber. They are then connected to baseband units in centralized locations. The connection between the technology is what we know as ‘fronthaul’. eCPRI will be used to support 5G by enabling increased efficiency.
LLS: Lower Layer Split: logical interface between O-DU and O-RU when using a lower layer (intra-PHY based) functional split.
M-Plane: Management Plane: refers to non-real-time management operations between the O-DU and the O-RU
O-CU: O-RAN Control Unit—a logical node hosting PDCP, RRC, SDAP and other control functions
O-DU: O-RAN Distributed Unit: a logical node hosting RLC/MAC/High-PHY layers based on a lower layer functional split.
O-RU: O-RAN Radio Unit: a logical node hosting Low-PHY layer and RF processing based on a lower layer functional split. This is similar to 3GPP's “TRP” or “RRH” but more specific in including the Low-PHY layer (Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)/inverse FFT (iFFT), PRACH extraction).
RoE; Radio over ethernet. Technology to carry radio frames over ethernet.
S-Plane: Synchronization Plane: refers to traffic between the O-RU or O-DU to a synchronization controller which is generally an IEEE 1588 Grand Master (however, Grand Master functionality may be embedded in the O-DU).
U-Plane: User Plane: refers to IQ sample data transferred between O-DU and O-RU
UL: Uplink: data flow away from the radiating antenna (generally on the LLS interface)
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202121037266 | Aug 2021 | IN | national |
