Embodiments herein relate to a network node and method performed therein regarding operation of the network node. Furthermore, a computer program product and a computer-readable storage medium are also provided herein. Especially, embodiments herein relate to handling operation, such as handling charging of a rechargeable power source of the network node in a wireless communications network.
In a typical wireless communications network, user equipments (UE), also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or wireless devices, communicate e.g. via a Radio access Network (RAN) to one or more core networks (CN). The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas, with each service area or cell area being served by a radio network node such as an access node e.g. a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some radio access technologies (RAT) may also be called, for example, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB) and a gNodeB (gNB). The service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node operates on radio frequencies to communicate over an air interface with the wireless devices within range of the access node. The radio network node communicates over a downlink (DL) to the wireless device and the wireless device communicates over an uplink (UL) to the access node. The radio network node may be a distributed node comprising a remote radio unit and a separated baseband unit.
A Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation telecommunication network, which evolved from the second generation (2G) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) is essentially a RAN using wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and/or High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for communication with user equipments. In a forum known as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), telecommunications suppliers propose and agree upon standards for present and future generation networks and UTRAN specifically, and investigate enhanced data rate and radio capacity. In some RANs, e.g. as in UMTS, several radio network nodes may be connected, e.g., by landlines or microwave, to a controller node, such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC), which supervises and coordinates various activities of the plural radio network nodes connected thereto. The RNCs are typically connected to one or more core networks.
Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS) have been completed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and this work continues in the coming 3GPP releases, such as 4G and 5G networks. The EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E-UTRAN/LTE is a 3GPP radio access technology wherein the radio network nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network. As such, the Radio Access Network (RAN) of an EPS has an essentially “flat” architecture comprising radio network nodes connected directly to one or more core networks.
With the emerging 5G technologies also known as new radio (NR), the use of very many transmit- and receive-antenna elements is of great interest as it makes it possible to utilize beamforming, such as transmit-side and receive-side beamforming. Transmit-side beamforming means that the transmitter can amplify the transmitted signals in a selected direction or directions, while suppressing the transmitted signals in other directions. Similarly, on the receive-side, a receiver can amplify signals from a selected direction or directions, while suppressing unwanted signals from other directions.
Beamforming allows the signal to be stronger for an individual connection. On the transmit-side this may be achieved by a concentration of the transmitted power in the desired direction(s), and on the receive-side this may be achieved by an increased receiver sensitivity in the desired direction(s). This beamforming enhances throughput and coverage of the connection. It also allows reducing the interference from unwanted signals, thereby enabling several simultaneous transmissions over multiple individual connections using the same resources in the time-frequency grid, so-called multi-user Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO).
Batteries such as Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) batteries, Lithium-ion batteries, or other energy storing batteries, are used today as battery back-up for network nodes, for e.g. radio network nodes in GSM, WCDMA and LTE. During a power outage on a radio base station (RBS) site, it is important to recharge the batteries as fast as possible. This is especially important when multiple consecutive power outages of the power grid occur for example in third world countries. Current RBS solution has only one extra Power Supply Unit (PSU) to support battery recharging and it is also used as a redundant power supply, in case of PSU fail. When power from the power grid is available again, the recharging time of the batteries depends heavily on the radio load conditions of the RBS, as the power supply is divided to feed power between the radio loads and battery recharge, see
Current and existing technologies or methods for fast charging of batteries on an RBS site are:
In areas where consecutive power outages are commonplace, the batteries are not able to be fully charged. For example, operators in some countries may suffer 8-15 outages per day, and/or suffer outages of different durations per day. When batteries are not fully charged the batteries' lifetime degrades and, above all, when the batteries are not fully charged, the batteries are not able to support a next incoming power outage during the same day. Power outages vary in time (it is not constant), and the outage duration is heavily impacted on the operation and the charging of the batteries. RBS only charges batteries during that short time when power from the grid is available if the power grid is the only source of power.
The current solution of adding multiple or several PSUs to charge the batteries during the short time when the grid returns, will fully charge the batteries. However, it is not so cost efficient, and requires extra space in cabinets such as an RBS cabinet. Also, another disadvantage by adding several PSU, is that there is a need to increase the fuse rating of the incoming alternating current (AC) grid, which increases the cost.
Similar disadvantages exist if an extra DG is added to support powering and charging the batteries.
An object of embodiments herein is to provide a mechanism that efficiently improves operations of a network node in a wireless communications network.
According to an aspect the object is achieved by providing a method performed by a network node, in a wireless communications network, for charging a rechargeable power source in the network node. The network node obtains an operational parameter to an operation of the network node, wherein the operational parameter is based on an output of a computational model. The computational model is based on a state of charge of the rechargeable power source, a parameter related to outage of a power grid, and a QoS parameter relating to radio communication in the wireless communications network. The network node further applies, during a charging of the rechargeable power source, the operational parameter to the operation of the network node.
According to yet another aspect the object is achieved by providing a network node for charging a rechargeable power source in the network node. The network node is configured to obtain an operational parameter to an operation of the network node, wherein the operational parameter is based on an output of a computational model. The computational model is based on a state of charge of the rechargeable power source, a parameter related to outage of a power grid, and a QoS parameter relating to radio communication in a wireless communications network. The network node is further configured to apply, during a charging of the rechargeable power source, the operational parameter to the operation of the network node.
It is furthermore provided herein a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out any of the methods above, as performed by the network node. It is additionally provided herein a computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of the methods above, as performed by the network node.
It is herein proposed a method that eliminates the above mentioned one or more disadvantages while still supporting fast charging of the batteries. According to embodiments herein it is provided a network node for enabling fast charging of the rechargeable power source, by utilizing a computational model to propose an operational parameter to apply, during the charging of the rechargeable power source, to the operation of the network node. Thus, enabling that the rechargeable power source is fully recharged before a next power outage occurs, and embodiments herein efficiently improve operations of the network node in the wireless communications network.
Embodiments will now be described in more detail in relation to the enclosed drawings, in which:
Embodiments herein may be described relating to a network node within the context of 3GPP NR radio technology (3GPP TS 38.300 V15.2.0 (2018 June)), e.g. using gNB as the radio network node. It is understood, that the problems and solutions described herein are equally applicable to wireless access networks and network nodes implementing other access technologies and standards. NR is used as an example technology where embodiments are suitable, and using NR in the description therefore is particularly useful for understanding the problem and solutions solving the problem. In particular, embodiments are applicable also to 3GPP LTE, or 3GPP LTE and NR integration, also denoted as non-standalone NR.
Embodiments herein relate to wireless communications networks in general.
In the wireless communications network 1, wireless devices e.g. a UE 10 such as a mobile station, a non-access point (non-AP) station (STA), a STA, a user equipment and/or a wireless terminal, communicate via one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. RAN, to one or more core networks (CN). It should be understood by the skilled in the art that “UE” is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communication terminal, user equipment, Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, IoT operable device, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station capable of communicating using radio communication with a network node within an area served by the network node.
The wireless communications network 1 comprises a network node 12 providing e.g. radio coverage over a geographical area, e.g. one or more service areas 11, 14, of a radio access technology (RAT), such as NR, LTE, Wi-Fi, WiMAX or similar. The network node 12 may be a transmission and reception point, a computational server, a database, a server communicating with other servers, a server in a server park, a base station e.g. a network node such as a satellite, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), an access node, an access controller, a radio base station such as a NodeB, an evolved Node B (eNB, eNodeB), a gNodeB (gNB), a base transceiver station, a baseband unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit or node depending e.g. on the radio access technology and terminology used. The network node 12 may alternatively or additionally be a controller node or a packet processing node such or similar. The network node 12 may be referred to as a serving network node wherein the service area 11 may be referred to as a serving cell or primary cell, and the serving network node communicates with the UE 10 in form of DL transmissions to the UE 10 and UL transmissions from the UE 10. The network node 12 may be a distributed node comprising a baseband (BB) unit and one or more remote radio units, see for example
The wireless communications network 1 may further comprises another network node 13, for example for training and/or generating ML models in the wireless communications network 1 or similar.
When considering deployment of wireless communication technologies such as 5G to countries which have multiple power outages, a critical factor will be the power system and especially the charging aspect of the rechargeable power source. When adding a wireless communication technology on a very poor power grid, the rechargeable power source will not be able to be fully recharged or even partially recharged if no extra modifications are made, on the power system such as adding more PSU or other policy-based control for charging the rechargeable power sources. If the rechargeable power sources are not fully charge in an environment of multiple power outages during a day, the rechargeable power sources may be damaged in advance, which will impact the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the operator. As per previous, fast charging is of importance especially in very poor power grids, and needs to be considered as available feature, before deploying, for example, 5G radios.
A method is herein provided, for example, embedded in the BB unit of the network node 12, see for example
By turning off one or more radio units, at the moment of recharging, an increase of available incoming power is delivered to the rechargeable power sources. Thus, enabling a faster recharging at the return of the power grid after a power outage, thus the PSUs are powered by the fully charged rechargeable batteries during an upcoming power outage. It is herein proposed using a computational model method to predict and estimate a recharging time of the rechargeable power source and propose actions to turn off radios or offload radios, based on the estimated recharging time.
The method actions performed by the network node 12 for charging a rechargeable power source, e.g. handling operation during the charging of the rechargeable power source, in a wireless communications network according to embodiments will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in
Action 401. The network node 12 may train the computational model by rewarding the computational model when the rechargeable power source is fully charged and when a set QoS in the wireless communications network 1 is maintained before an outage of the power grid. For example, maintaining a quality of service for a set of QoS metrics during the charging of the rechargeable power source until it is fully charged.
Action 402. The network node 12 obtains the operational parameter to an operation of the network node 12, wherein the operational parameter is based on an output of the computational model. The computational model is based on a state of charge of the rechargeable power source, a parameter related to outage of a power grid, and a QoS parameter relating to radio communication in the wireless communications network 1. The network node 12 may obtain the operational parameter by receiving the output from the computational model executed internally or from another network node. The computational model may thus be executed by the network node 12 to obtain the operational parameter. The state of charge may indicate a percentage or a level of a fully charged rechargeable power source, and the parameter related to outage of the power grid may comprise one or more parameters indicating number of outages per day and/or duration of one or more of the outages. The QoS parameter relating to communication in the wireless communications network may be signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), signal to noise ratio (SIR), reference signal received power (RSRP), and/or reference signal received quality (RSRQ). The QoS parameter may be associated with a radio access technology used. The computational model may further be based on, in addition to the state of charge of the rechargeable power source, the parameter related to outage of a power grid, and the QoS parameter, a type of rechargeable power source, an environmental parameter, criticality of network slice, and a state of health of the rechargeable power source. Criticality of network slice may be defined by slice service type (SST). SST define expected behaviour of a Network Slice in terms of specific features and services. Standardized SST values include enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) and Massive Internet of Things (MIoT). The computational model may be a reinforcement learning model, a machine learning (ML) model, and/or a deep neural network function. For example, the computational model may be a machine learning model trained by means of deep reinforcement learning. The fast charging may be dependent on the outage duration or future outage duration and the relation to the radio load at the time of use.
Action 403. The network node 12 applies, during a charging of the rechargeable power source, the operational parameter to the operation of the network node 12. The operational parameter may be related to balancing load between radio units of one or more radio access technologies, and/or to deactivation of one or more radio units to achieve faster charging of the rechargeable power source. For example, the operational parameter may comprise maximum number of UEs served by different radio units, turning off a radio unit, and/or increase/decrease number of served UEs of a radio unit supporting a certain RAT. For example, during the deployment of 5G radio units, many operators keep the amount of radio units active of, for example, same RATs on-site, without removing any legacy radio access technologies upon charging of the rechargeable power source. Thus, the operators do not consider that the different RATs can handle and combine different services. However, embodiments herein may take the RAT of the radio units into consideration keeping a radio unit for LTE active and deactivating a radio unit of NR during the charging of the rechargeable power source.
Action 404. The network node 12 may then evaluate application of the operational parameter based on whether the application of the operational parameter fulfills a condition or not. For example, the condition may be fulfilled, when the operational parameter is applied to the operation of the network node, and the rechargeable power source is fully charged within a time interval and a level of QoS in the wireless communications network is upheld within the time interval. The time interval may be defined by a time when an outage of the power grid, present or future power outage, occurs. For example, the time interval may the time interval between power outages so that the rechargeable power source is fully powered and still the level of QoS is maintained between the power outages. The network node 12 may apply the fast-recharging method only during recharging period of the rechargeable power source and may then return back to normal operation.
It should be noted that the network node 12 may provide data, internally or externally, of the network node 12 to train the computational model. The data may comprise an indication of one or more power outages, one or more set voltages, and an indication of usage of the one or more rechargeable power sources upon the one or more set voltages. The computational model may be trained at the network node 12 or at the other network node 13.
Thus, according to embodiments herein the method may control the radio traffic, based on battery state of charge (SOC) and PSU outage cycles. Specifically, the method may introduce control of radio traffic offloading, and ability to turn radio ON/OFF based on the previous power outage cycle and the battery state of charge. The needed battery SOC, will propose how the offloading shall be made in relation to time of charge, until next power outage occurs. The new function is active during battery recharging, when power grid has return and until battery is fully charged. Furthermore, the computational model to determine the operational parameter may be a ML model, and specifically a reinforcement learning (RL) method, that rewards different control actions, in relation to the power outages duration, connected to a certain SOC time of the battery and propose offloading of radio traffic or radio turn ON/OFF, if several radio on site, but still maintaining a certain QoS in the wireless communications network. The ML model may propose the best suitable offloading for fast charging of batteries, in order for these batteries to be fully charged before next power outage cycle occurs. It should be noted that the ML model may take into account that multiple power outages can occur per day, e.g., 5-10, and may also include the daily radio traffic variation in time.
In an ML method proposed, a Deep Q-Learning approach is used wherein a neural network, Deep Q-Network or deep neural network (DNN), is trained to predict the next control action, i.e. the operational parameter, that yields the better results (the best suitable offloading for battery fast charge but still maintaining QoS). The ML model may be trained, to predict the different recharge times for respective SOC, and propose action as 1) offloading of radio traffic to other radio on site, based on here utilization. Offloading is the try to maximize one radio unit with traffic 2) radio turn ON/OFF 3) or several combined actions as multiple offloading, or multiple radio turn ON/OFF without sacrificing the QoS.
It should be noted that the radio control turn ON/OFF can be adjusted based on the RATs criticality, as GSM, WCDMA, LTE or NR.
In yet another embodiment and in case of 5G networks, it is also possible to adjust radio control ON/OFF based on the criticality of the network slices served by this radio. For example, if there are only best effort network slices, e.g., enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), then radio can be turned off. On the other hand, if the network slices are mission critical, for example, of type ultra-reliable low latency communication (uRLLC), then the radio cannot be turned off for that period of time the slice is activated.
In another embodiment, the fast recharging method is only active, during recharging period of the batteries, and returns back to normal operation based on BB “ordinary” control as it was in the configuration before the outage occurred.
Action 501. The network node 12 or any network node may collect, e.g. obtain, data denoted as previous data to be fed to the computational model. Previous data may comprise operational status of power feed to one or more PSUs, number and duration of power outages, QoS in the wireless communications network such as SINR, SIR, RSRQ, RSRP or similar, and/or time for fully charging the one or more rechargeable power sources.
Action 502. The network node 12 may then transmit the collected previous data to another network node or a server training the computational model.
Action 503. The other network node 13 may then train the computational model using the collected previous data. The computational model may be trained by rewarding the computational model when the rechargeable power source is fully charged before an outage of the power grid and when a set QoS in the wireless communications network is maintained during the recharging of the rechargeable power source.
Action 504. The other network node 13 may then transmit the trained computational model or parts of it to the network node 12
Action 505. The network node 12 then applies the operational parameter such as change traffic load between radio units from the output of the computational model. The network node 12 may, for example, execute or run the computational model using current data as input into the computational model. From the computational model an output is generated and indicating the operational parameter.
Action 601. The network node 12 may collect, e.g. obtain, data denoted as previous data to be fed to the computational model. Previous data may comprise: operational status of power feed to one or more PSUs; number and duration of power outages; QoS in the wireless communications network such as SINR, SIR, RSRQ, RSRP or similar; and/or time for fully charging the one or more rechargeable power sources.
Action 602. The network node 12 may then train the computational model using the collected previous data. The computational model may be trained by rewarding the computational model when the rechargeable power source is fully charged before an outage of the power grid and when a set QoS in the wireless communications network is maintained during the recharging of the rechargeable power source.
Action 603. The network node 12 may further collect present or current data indicating a certain operational state. E.g. the present data may comprise: operational status of power feed to one or more PSUs; number and duration of power outages; QoS in the wireless communications network such as SINR, SIR, RSRQ, RSRP or similar; and/or time for fully charging the one or more rechargeable power sources.
Action 604. The network node 12 may then execute the computational model using received collected data as input into the computational model. From the computational model an output is generated. E.g. the output may indicate operational parameter such as maximum number of UEs served by different radio units, turning off a radio unit, and/or increase/decrease number of served UEs of a radio unit supporting a certain RAT.
Action 605. The network node 12 may then, based on the output, apply the operational parameter to the operation of the network node 12. For example, move traffic load to one or more radio units from one or more radio units, and/or disconnect a radio unit during the charging of the rechargeable power source.
In the geographical regions where the power outages are frequent and usually follow a seasonal pattern, it is simpler to predict the power outage well in advance. However, in the regions where the power outages are very rare, training on a much longer timescale is required to capture patterns of readings from PSUs just before the power outage or in the events when the rechargeable power source is used. Additionally, the observations from cells in the region (town or locality) and contextual information can be used as input to determine the operational parameter.
The sequence diagram in
In the RL model, given a state of the environment, an agent 801 takes an action, a, against an environment 802. Based on the outcome of the action, the environment will reward the agent as well as change the state to a new state. Below are the definitions of agent, action ‘a’, state ‘s’, environment, reward ‘r’ that may be used in the computational model according to some embodiments herein.
r=(c·SOC)+((1−c)·QoS)
SOC=Remaining capacity (Ah)/Nominal capacity (Ah)×100
For 2G networks:
QoS2G=((cavailability*network_availability)+(caccessibilty*service_accessibility)+(cretainability*service_retainability))/3
For 3G and 4G and 5G networks:
QoS5G=QoS4G=QoS3G=((cavailability*network_availability)+(caccessibilty*service_accessibility)+(cretainability*service_retainability)+(cintegrity*service_integrity)/4
. . . where:
It should herein be noted that the duration of an episode may take a long time (e.g. hours or days even), so that the environment has enough time to generate an accurate reward. It is also possible to use multiple QoS for different RATs in order to deduct a final QoS, in case the RBS has more than one RATs. For example, if LTE and 3G are supported, then
QoS=(QoS3G+QoS4G)/2
Again, the above equation may have coefficients, in case QoS for one radio access technology more may be taken into account in expense of the other.
The network node 12 may comprise processing circuitry 1001, e.g. one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.
The network node 12 may comprise an obtaining unit 1002, e.g. a receiver or a transceiver. The network node 12, the processing circuitry 1001 and/or the obtaining unit 1002 is configured to obtain the operational parameter to the operation of the network node 12, wherein the operational parameter is based on the output of the computational model. The computational model is based on the state of charge of the rechargeable power source, the parameter related to outage of the power grid, and the QoS parameter relating to radio communication in the wireless communications network. Thus, may obtain the output from the computational model. The computational model may further be based on the type of rechargeable power source, the environmental parameter, the criticality of network slice, and the state of health (SOH) of the rechargeable power source. The state of charge may indicate the percentage or the level of a fully charged rechargeable power source. The parameter related to outage of the power grid may comprise one or more parameters indicating number of outages per day and/or duration of one or more of the outages. The QoS parameter relating to communication in the wireless communications network may be associated with a radio access technology used. The operational parameter may be related to balancing load between radio units of one or more radio access technologies, and/or to deactivation of one or more radio units to achieve faster charging of the rechargeable power source.
The network node 12 may comprise an operating unit 1003. The network node 12, the processing circuitry 1001 and/or the operating unit 1003 is configured to apply, during the charging of the rechargeable power source, the operational parameter to the operation of the network node 12.
The network node 12 may comprise an evaluating unit 1004. The network node 12, the processing circuitry 1001 and/or the evaluating unit 1004 may be configured to evaluate the application of the operational parameter based on whether the application of the operational parameter fulfills the condition or not. The condition may be considered fulfilled when the operational parameter is applied to the operation of the network node, and the rechargeable power source is fully charged within the time interval, and the level of QoS in the wireless communications network is upheld within the time interval, wherein the time interval is defined by the time when an outage, present or future, of the power grid occurs.
The network node 12 may comprise a training unit 1005. The network node 12, the processing circuitry 1001 and/or the training unit 1005 may be configured to train the computational model by rewarding the computational model when the rechargeable power source is fully charged before an outage of the power grid and when a set QoS in the wireless communications network is maintained.
The network node 12 may be a distributed radio network node comprising at least one remote radio unit and one baseband unit co-located with the at least one power supply unit 1010, and the one or more additional rechargeable power sources 1011.
The computational model may be a machine learning model such as a neural network, a reinforcement learning model, a deep neural network function, or a computational tree model. For example, the computational model may be a machine learning model trained by means of deep reinforcement learning.
The network node 12 may be a base station, an access node, a server, or a communication node.
The network node 12 further comprises a memory 1006. The memory comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as output voltages, power outages, operational data, SOC of rechargeable power source, operational parameters, applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. The network node 12 comprises a communication interface 1009 comprising e.g. one or more antennas.
The methods according to the embodiments described herein for the network node 12 are respectively implemented by means of e.g. a computer program product 1007 or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the network node 12. The computer program product 1007 may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 1008, e.g. a universal serial bus (USB) stick, a disc or similar. The computer-readable storage medium 1008, having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the network node 12. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a non-transitory or a transitory computer-readable storage medium. Thus, it is herein disclosed a network node for charging the rechargeable power source in the network node, wherein the radio network node comprises processor circuitry and a memory for storing instructions executable by said processor circuitry, and whereby the processing circuitry is operative to perform a method according to any of the embodiments above as performed by the network node.
In some embodiments a more general term “network node” is used and it can correspond to any type of radio network node or any network node, which communicates with a wireless device and/or with another network node. Examples of network nodes are NodeB, Master eNB, Secondary eNB, a network node belonging to Master cell group (MCG) or Secondary Cell Group (SCG), base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node e.g. Mobility Switching Centre (MSC), Mobile Management Entity (MME) etc., Operation and Maintenance (O&M), Operation Support System (OSS), Self-Organizing Network (SON), positioning node e.g. Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centre (E-SMLC), Minimizing Drive Test (MDT) etc.
In some embodiments the non-limiting term wireless device or UE is used and it refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and/or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device-to-device (D2D) UE, proximity capable UE (aka ProSe UE), machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, PDA, PAD, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles etc.
The embodiments are described for 5G. However, the embodiments are applicable to any RAT or multi-RAT systems, where the UE receives and/or transmit signals (e.g. data) e.g. LTE, LTE FDD/TDD, WCDMA/HSPA, GSM/GERAN, Wi Fi, WLAN, CDMA2000 etc.
As will be readily understood by those familiar with communications design, that functions means or modules may be implemented using digital logic and/or one or more microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other digital hardware. In some embodiments, several or all of the various functions may be implemented together, such as in a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or in two or more separate devices with appropriate hardware and/or software interfaces between them. Several of the functions may be implemented on a processor shared with other functional components of a wireless device or network node, for example.
Alternatively, several of the functional elements of the processing means discussed may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware, while others are provided with hardware for executing software, in association with the appropriate software or firmware. Thus, the term “processor” or “controller” as used herein does not exclusively refer to hardware capable of executing software and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) for storing software, random-access memory for storing software and/or program or application data, and non-volatile memory. Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included. Designers of communications devices will appreciate the cost, performance, and maintenance trade-offs inherent in these design choices.
With reference to
The telecommunication network 3210 is itself connected to a host computer 3230, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer 3230 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The connections 3221, 3222 between the telecommunication network 3210 and the host computer 3230 may extend directly from the core network 3214 to the host computer 3230 or may go via an optional intermediate network 3220. The intermediate network 3220 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; the intermediate network 3220, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network 3220 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).
The communication system of
Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to
The communication system 3300 further includes a base station 3320 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 3325 enabling it to communicate with the host computer 3310 and with the UE 3330. The hardware 3325 may include a communication interface 3326 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 3300, as well as a radio interface 3327 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 3370 with a UE 3330 located in a coverage area (not shown in
The communication system 3300 further includes the UE 3330 already referred to. Its hardware 3335 may include a radio interface 3337 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 3370 with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE 3330 is currently located. The hardware 3335 of the UE 3330 further includes processing circuitry 3338, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE 3330 further comprises software 3331, which is stored in or accessible by the UE 3330 and executable by the processing circuitry 3338. The software 3331 includes a client application 3332. The client application 3332 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 3330, with the support of the host computer 3310. In the host computer 3310, an executing host application 3312 may communicate with the executing client application 3332 via the OTT connection 3350 terminating at the UE 3330 and the host computer 3310. In providing the service to the user, the client application 3332 may receive request data from the host application 3312 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 3350 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 3332 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.
It is noted that the host computer 3310, base station 3320 and UE 3330 illustrated in
In
The wireless connection 3370 between the UE 3330 and the base station 3320 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 3330 using the OTT connection 3350, in which the wireless connection 3370 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the operation of the network node to enhance performance of the network node and thereby provide benefits such as improved battery time, and better responsiveness.
A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 between the host computer 3310 and UE 3330, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 may be implemented in the software 3311 of the host computer 3310 or in the software 3331 of the UE 3330, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection 3350 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 3311, 3331 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 3350 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the base station 3320, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station 3320. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating the host computer's 3310 measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that the software 3311, 3331 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 3350 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.
It will be appreciated that the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings represent non-limiting examples of the methods and apparatus taught herein. As such, the apparatus and techniques taught herein are not limited by the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Instead, the embodiments herein are limited only by the following claims and their legal equivalents.
[1] 3rd Generation Partnership Project TS 32.450 v16.0.0; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Telecommunication management; Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Requirements (Release 16)
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/SE2021/050894 | 9/17/2021 | WO |