Radio parameter control method, control device, radio parameter control system, and program

Abstract

Provided is a wireless parameter control method that is performed by a control device for a plurality of base stations forming a wireless network and includes an information collection step of collecting wireless environment information in the wireless network and communication quality information on each of communication areas provided by the plurality of base stations; a determination step of determining whether to perform wireless parameter control on the basis of the communication quality information; a wireless parameter calculation step of calculating a wireless parameter for at least one of the plurality of base stations on the basis of the wireless environment information when it is determined in the determination step to perform the wireless parameter control; and a control step of setting the wireless parameter calculated in the wireless parameter calculation step to at least one of the plurality of base stations.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for controlling radio parameters for a base station in a wireless network having a plurality of base stations. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the rapid spread of wireless terminals such as smartphones and tablets, the number of users accessing large volumes of content via wireless terminals is increasing, and wireless networks are now widely used.

[0003] The elements involved in providing a wireless network include various elements such as wireless communication parts such as construction of wireless base stations (hereinafter referred to as base stations) and parameter settings, network parts such as between base stations, access networks, and core networks, and higher-level service parts such as user authentication and portal screens. In this invention, however, we focus on the wireless parameter settings of the base station.

[0004] Generally, in wireless networks, multiple base stations are installed in overlapping areas (which can also be called cells) to cover the entire area. Therefore, if base stations use the same frequency channel, inter-cell interference occurs, degrading communication quality.

[0005] Therefore, radio parameter design technology based on radio environment information between base stations and user communication status has been proposed. For example, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses a design technology for base station frequency channels and bandwidths to improve user throughput by iterative optimization. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0006] [Non-Patent Document 1] BAHS Abeysekera, M. Matsui, Y. Asai, and M. Mizoguchi, "Network controlled frequency channel and bandwidth allocation scheme for IEEE 802.11a / n / ac wireless LANs: RATOP," in Proc. of IEEE PIMRC'14, Sep. 2014. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] The user's location, communication status, and surrounding environment change from moment to moment, and the communication status of the wireless network changes with each change. If the wireless parameters are constantly changed according to the communication status, the frequency of calculation of the wireless parameters increases, which leads to frequent interruptions due to parameter changes and an increase in optimization calculation resources. With conventional technology, it was difficult to appropriately determine the redesign of the wireless network and control the wireless parameters.

[0008] In addition, one of the issues that can cause quality degradation in wireless networks is inter-cell interference, and it is necessary to control radio parameters to reduce the inter-cell interference from surrounding cells with degraded communication quality. However, such radio parameter control has been difficult with conventional technologies.

[0009] That is, in the conventional technology, there is a problem that it is difficult to appropriately control the wireless parameters for the base stations that make up the wireless network.

[0010] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and has an object to provide a technique for appropriately controlling radio parameters for base stations that constitute a wireless network. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] According to the disclosed technology, there is provided a radio parameter control method performed by a control device for a plurality of base stations constituting a radio network, comprising the steps of: an information collecting step of collecting wireless environment information in the wireless network and communication quality information for each communication area provided by each of the plurality of base stations; a determination step of determining whether or not to perform radio parameter control based on the communication quality information; a radio parameter calculation step of calculating radio parameters for at least one base station among the plurality of base stations based on the radio environment information when it is determined in the determination step that radio parameter control is to be performed; a control step of setting the radio parameters calculated by the radio parameter calculation step in the at least one base station; In the radio parameter calculation step, the control device Adjusting radio signal power information between base stations in the radio environment information, and calculating radio parameters for at least one base station based on the adjusted radio signal power information. A method for controlling radio parameters is provided. Effect of the Invention

[0012] According to the disclosed technique, a technique is provided for appropriately controlling radio parameters for base stations that constitute a wireless network. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a wireless network according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of a control device 300. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the device. [Figure 4] 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the control device 300. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless network. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of radio signal power information. [Figure 7]FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of radio signal power information. [Figure 8] FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of radio signal power information. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of radio signal power information. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention (the present embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described below is merely an example, and the embodiment to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the following embodiment.

[0015] The base station in this embodiment is, for example, a base station (access point) of a wireless LAN described in Non-Patent Document 1, but is not limited to this. For example, the base station in this embodiment may be a base station in a wireless access technology such as 6G, 5G, LTE, 3G, etc. In addition, the present invention can be applied to a multi-wireless system in which base stations of different wireless access technologies are mixed.

[0016] (System configuration example) Fig. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of a wireless network (which may be called a wireless parameter control system) in this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, a plurality of base stations 1-1 to 1-n are provided, and each base station is connected to a network 200 wirelessly or by wire. Each base station forms a communication area, and zero or more terminals (not shown) exist within the communication area.

[0017] The base station itself is an existing base station, and is capable of wirelessly communicating with terminals and also communicating with other base stations and application servers via the network 200. The network 200 is, for example, a LAN, the Internet, a core network of a mobile network, or the like.

[0018] A control device 300 is also connected to the network 200. The control device 300 is a device having functions according to the present invention, and calculates radio parameters for each base station using a method to be described later, and controls radio parameter settings for the base stations, etc.

[0019] (Example of device configuration) 2 shows an example of a functional configuration of the control device 300. As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 300 includes an information collecting unit 310, a calculation unit 320, a control unit 330, and a data storage unit 340.

[0020] The information collecting unit 310 collects communication quality information of the communication area of ​​each base station, radio environment information of each base station, etc. The determining unit 320 determines whether or not to execute radio parameter control for at least one base station. The radio parameter calculating unit 330 calculates radio parameters when the determining unit 320 determines that radio parameter control is to be executed.

[0021] The control unit 330 sets the radio parameters calculated by the radio parameter calculation unit 330 in the relevant base station. The data storage unit 350 stores information collected by the information collection unit 310, information necessary for calculations by the determination unit 320 and the radio parameter calculation unit 330, calculation results, etc.

[0022] The control device 300 may be configured as one device (computer) or may be configured as multiple computers. For example, the determination unit 320 and the other functional units may be configured as separate computers.

[0023] <Hardware configuration example> The control device 300 can be realized, for example, by causing a computer to execute a program. This computer may be a physical computer or a virtual machine on the cloud.

[0024] That is, the control device 300 can be realized by executing a program corresponding to the processing performed by the control device 300 using hardware resources such as a CPU and memory built into a computer. The program can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium (such as a portable memory) and stored or distributed. The program can also be provided via a network such as the Internet or email.

[0025] Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the computer. The computer in Fig. 3 includes a drive device 1000, an auxiliary storage device 1002, a memory device 1003, a CPU 1004, an interface device 1005, a display device 1006, an input device 1007, an output device 1008, and the like, all of which are interconnected via a bus B.

[0026] The program for realizing the processing on the computer is provided by a recording medium 1001 such as a CD-ROM or a memory card. When the recording medium 1001 storing the program is set in the drive device 1000, the program is installed from the recording medium 1001 to the auxiliary storage device 1002 via the drive device 1000. However, the program does not necessarily have to be installed from the computer-readable recording medium 1001, but may be downloaded from another computer via a network. The auxiliary storage device 1002 stores the installed program as well as necessary files, data, etc.

[0027] The memory device 1003 reads out and stores the program from the auxiliary storage device 1002 when an instruction to start the program is received. The CPU 1004 realizes functions related to the control device 300 according to the program stored in the memory device 1003. The interface device 1005 is used as an interface for connecting to a network, and functions as a transmitting unit and a receiving unit. The display device 1006 displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) or the like according to a program. The input device 1007 is composed of a keyboard and mouse, buttons, a touch panel, or the like, and is used to input various operation instructions. The output device 1008 outputs the results of calculations.

[0028] In addition, a computer-readable recording medium may include a recording medium that dynamically holds a program for a short period of time, such as a communication line when transmitting a program via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line, or a recording medium that holds a program for a certain period of time, such as volatile memory inside a computer system.

[0029] The above program may be for implementing part of the functions of the control device 300, or may be capable of implementing the above functions in combination with a program already recorded in a computer. Also, part or all of the functions of the control device 300 may be implemented using hardware such as a programmable logic device (PLD) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

[0030] (Example of operation) An example of the operation of the control device 300 in this embodiment will be described below in accordance with the procedure of the flowchart shown in Fig. 4. As a premise for the following operation, it is assumed that the data storage unit 350 of the control device 300 stores, as base station information, location information of each base station, specification information of each base station (wireless system, transmission power, model, capacity, etc.). The determination unit 320 and the radio parameter control unit 330 described later can calculate radio parameters and calculate communication quality information after radio parameter control by appropriately using the base station information.

[0031] <s1> In S1 (step 1), the information collection unit 310 collects communication quality information for each communication area and radio environment information at each base station from each base station, and stores the collected information in the data storage unit 350. The communication quality information is, for example, the throughput and delay amount for each communication area (each base station). The radio environment information is, for example, information on the frequency channel used by each base station, information on the bandwidth used by each base station, interference information at each base station, etc. The interference information is, for example, information on the reception power of radio signals received from other base stations.

[0032] <S2、S3> In S2, the determination unit 320 decides (determines) whether or not to implement radio parameter control for at least one base station based on the information collected in S1. If the determination result in S2 is Yes (radio parameter control is to be implemented), the process proceeds to S4.

[0033] If the determination in S2 is No (wireless parameter control is not to be performed), the process proceeds to S3, and after waiting for a certain period of time, the process returns to S1, where information is collected again, and a determination as to whether or not to perform wireless parameter control is made based on the information collected in S1 (S2).

[0034] The determination method in S2 is not limited to a specific method, but may be any of the following methods from Example 1 to Example 3. Note that any two or more of Examples 1 to 3 may be applied in combination.

[0035] Example 1: In example 1, the determination unit 320 determines whether or not to implement radio parameter control based on the current communication quality information. For example, when the communication quality (e.g., throughput) of at least one communication area (base station) is worse than a threshold, the determination unit 320 determines to implement radio parameter control and proceeds to S4. "Worse than the threshold" means, for example, that if the communication quality is throughput, "communication quality<threshold" and that if the communication quality is delay, "communication quality>threshold."

[0036] Also, after obtaining a judgment result in S2 (for example, "the communication quality in a certain communication area is worse than a threshold"), it is possible to proceed to S3 instead of immediately proceeding to S4, and to repeat the process of collecting information in S1 and making the judgment in S2.

[0037] During this repetition, if the determination result that "the communication quality of at least one communication area is worse than the threshold" is obtained N times consecutively, the determination unit 320 may determine to perform radio parameter control and proceed to S4, where N is an integer greater than 1.

[0038] Also, if the determination result that "the communication quality of at least one communication area is worse than the threshold value" is obtained N or more times out of P repetitions, it may be determined that wireless parameter control is to be performed, and the process may proceed to S4, where P is an integer that satisfies P>N.

[0039] Example 2: In example 2, the judgment unit 320 calculates communication quality information (referred to as communication quality expected information) expected when wireless parameter control is applied to at least one base station based on wireless environment information, communication quality information, etc., compares the communication quality expected information with the communication quality information acquired in S1, and if the evaluation value obtained by the comparison is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, judges that wireless parameter control is to be implemented, and proceeds to S4.

[0040] Also, after obtaining a judgment result in S2 (for example, "the evaluation value is equal to or greater than a threshold value"), instead of immediately proceeding to S4, it is also possible to proceed to S3, collect information in S1 again, and repeat the judgment in S2.

[0041] During this repetition, if the determination result that "the evaluation value is equal to or greater than the threshold value" is obtained N times in succession, the determination unit 320 may determine that the radio parameter control is to be performed and proceed to S4, where N is an integer greater than 1.

[0042] Also, if the determination result that "the evaluation value is equal to or greater than the threshold value" is obtained N or more times out of P repetitions, it may be determined that the radio parameter control is to be performed, and the process may proceed to S4, where P is an integer that satisfies P>N.

[0043] In Example 2, the radio parameter control for obtaining communication quality expected information does not actually involve performing radio parameter control on base stations, but involves calculating radio parameters for each base station based on current radio environment information (interference information, etc.), and assuming that the calculated radio parameters are set in each base station, obtaining communication quality expected information after the settings.

[0044] As a method for calculating the radio parameters in Example 2, for example, the method (RATOP algorithm) disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 may be used. Also, as a method for calculating the radio parameters in Example 2, the method described in S4 below may be used. Also, as a method for calculating the radio parameters in Example 2, methods other than these may be used.

[0045] Furthermore, with regard to the above evaluation value, for example, when the current communication quality information (e.g., average throughput) of all the base stations to be controlled is set as the communication quality information, and the communication quality information (e.g., average throughput) of all the base stations to be controlled after the virtual radio parameter control is set as the communication quality virtual information, the evaluation value may be "communication quality virtual information - communication quality information." Furthermore, the communication quality virtual information of the base station with the worst communication quality among the base stations after the virtual radio parameter control may be set as the evaluation value.

[0046] The evaluation value is not limited to the above, and any value may be used as long as it is a value that can evaluate the degree of improvement of the communication quality virtual information with respect to the communication quality information.

[0047] Example 3: In example 3, the judgment unit 320 repeats waiting for a certain period of time in S3 and collecting information in S1, and when the fluctuation of the communication quality information within a predetermined time period becomes equal to or exceeds a predetermined threshold, it judges that wireless parameter control is to be performed and proceeds to S4.

[0048] For example, if the threshold value is Th, and the best value of communication quality information within a certain time period is QB and the worst value is QW, if the absolute value of QB-QW is greater than or equal to Th, it is determined that wireless parameter control is to be performed and the process proceeds to S4.

[0049] As described above, the "fluctuation" is one example in which it is the difference between the best value and the worst value. For example, a certain reference value of the communication quality information may be set, and if the number of times that the absolute value of the deviation from the reference value is equal to or greater than a threshold value is equal to or greater than a predetermined number of times within the above-mentioned time period, it may be determined that the wireless parameter control is to be performed, and the process may proceed to S4.

[0050] <s4> Next, S4 will be described. In S4, for example, the radio parameters of each base station can be calculated using the method disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1. Also, the radio parameters for each base station may be calculated by adjusting radio signal power information between base stations on a computer (i.e., the control device 300). The radio signal power information between base stations is information indicating the reception power of a radio signal received at each base station from another base station, and is information included in the radio environment information collected in S1. Hereinafter, a method of calculating the radio parameters by adjusting the radio signal power information between base stations will be described in detail.

[0051] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a wireless network assumed for explaining the wireless parameter calculation method.

[0052] 5, in this wireless network, base stations 1-1 to 1-4 exist as base stations to be controlled by a control device 300, and areas 100-1-1 to 100-1-4 exist as communication areas thereof.

[0053] Figures 6 and 7 show examples of wireless signal power information in the configuration example shown in Figure 5. Figures 6 and 7 show the same information in different formats. Figures 6 and 7 show, for example, that base station 1-4 receives wireless signals with intensities of -85 dBm, -75 dBm, and -75 dBm from base station 1-1, base station 1-2, and base station 1-3, respectively.

[0054] For example, at the time of the radio parameter calculation process in S4, it is assumed that the radio signal power information shown in Fig. 7 is stored in the data storage unit 350. In S4, the radio parameter calculation unit 330 reads out the radio signal power information from the data storage unit 350.

[0055] Here, assuming that a decrease in communication quality in the communication area of ​​the base station 1-1 is detected based on the communication quality information collected in S1, the wireless parameter calculation unit 330 adjusts the wireless signal power information so that the wireless signal power information transmitted from the base station 1-1 becomes higher. This adjustment is not an actual adjustment of the base station 1-1, but an adjustment to the information on the computer.

[0056] An example of the adjusted radio signal power information is shown in Figures 8 and 9. As shown in Figures 8 and 9, in this example, the power information is adjusted so that it is 10 dBm higher in each of the receiving base stations 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4.

[0057] The radio parameter calculation unit 330 calculates radio parameters (e.g., frequency channel used by the base station) based on this adjusted power information. In this way, when calculating radio parameters based on certain radio signal power information, the technique disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 may be used, or an existing technique other than the technique disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 may be used. In either technique, it is assumed that the radio parameters are adjusted to reduce interference for a base station in which interference from adjacent base stations has increased due to the power information adjustment.

[0058] By adjusting the power information as described above, for example, base station 1-4 may detect stronger interference from base station 1-1, which was not previously an interference target, and even if base station 1-4 used the same frequency channel as base station 1-1 due to radio parameter control before the adjustment, it may start using a different frequency channel due to radio parameter control after the adjustment.

[0059] In the above example, the power information is adjusted to increase the power information of the receiver side where the base station where the degradation of communication quality is detected is the source, but this is just one example. For example, the power information of the receiver side where the base stations 1-2 and 1-3 adjacent to the base station 1-1 where the degradation of communication quality is detected may be adjusted to decrease. As a result, for example, in the base station 1-1 where the degradation of communication quality is detected, the signals from the base stations 1-2 and 1-3 that were interference before the adjustment no longer interfere, and as a result, the frequency channel of the base station 1-1 where the degradation of communication quality is detected may be changed.

[0060] <s5> In S5, the control unit 340 sets the radio parameters calculated in S4 in at least one relevant base station.

[0061] (Effects of the embodiment) The technology according to the present embodiment makes it possible to appropriately control radio parameters for base stations constituting a radio network. More specifically, it is possible to easily determine whether to redesign a radio network, and to perform efficient control. In addition, it is possible to perform radio parameter setting that reduces inter-cell interference from surrounding cells with respect to a cell whose communication quality has deteriorated through simple processing.

[0062] (Summary of the embodiment) This specification discloses at least a radio parameter control method, a control device, a radio parameter control system, and a program described in the following sections. (Section 1) A radio parameter control method performed by a control device for a plurality of base stations constituting a radio network, comprising: an information collecting step of collecting wireless environment information in the wireless network and communication quality information for each communication area provided by each of the plurality of base stations; a determination step of determining whether or not to perform radio parameter control based on the communication quality information; a radio parameter calculation step of calculating radio parameters for at least one base station among the plurality of base stations based on the radio environment information when it is determined in the determination step that radio parameter control is to be performed; a control step of setting the radio parameters calculated in the radio parameter calculation step in the at least one base station; A radio parameter control method comprising: (Section 2) In the determining step, the control device Calculating communication quality expected information that is expected when radio parameter control is performed for at least one of the plurality of base stations, and comparing the communication quality expected information with actually collected communication quality information to determine whether or not to perform radio parameter control. 2. A radio parameter control method as set forth in claim 1. (Section 3) In the determining step, the control device When the fluctuation of the communication quality information within a predetermined time period becomes equal to or greater than a threshold, it is determined that the wireless parameter control is to be performed. 3. A radio parameter control method according to claim 1 or 2. (Section 4) In the radio parameter calculation step, the control device Adjusting radio signal power information between base stations in the radio environment information, and calculating radio parameters for at least one base station based on the adjusted radio signal power information. 4. A radio parameter control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3. (Section 5) In the radio parameter calculation step, the control device Based on the communication quality information, the base station whose communication quality has deteriorated is used as a source to adjust the radio signal power information of the receiving side. 5. A radio parameter control method according to claim 4. (Section 6) A control device for controlling radio parameters for a plurality of base stations constituting a wireless network, comprising: an information collecting unit that collects wireless environment information in the wireless network and communication quality information for each communication area provided by each of the plurality of base stations; a determination unit that determines whether or not to perform radio parameter control based on the communication quality information; a radio parameter calculation unit that calculates radio parameters for at least one base station among the plurality of base stations based on the radio environment information when the determination unit determines that radio parameter control is to be performed; a control unit that sets the radio parameters calculated by the radio parameter calculation unit in the at least one base station; A control device comprising: (Section 7) 7. A radio parameter control system comprising the control device according to claim 6 and the plurality of base stations. (Section 8) A program for causing a computer to function as each unit in the control device described in claim 6.

[0063] Although the present embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to such a specific embodiment, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0064] 1-1~1-n base station 100 Area 200 Network 300 Control device 310 Information Gathering Department 320 Judgment section 330 Radio parameter calculation unit 340 Control Unit 350 Data Storage Unit 1000 Drive Device 1001 Recording media 1002 Auxiliary storage 1003 Memory device 1004 CPU 1005 Interface device 1006 Display device 1007 Input Device

Claims

1. A radio parameter control method performed by a control device for a plurality of base stations constituting a radio network, comprising: an information collecting step of collecting wireless environment information in the wireless network and communication quality information for each communication area provided by each of the plurality of base stations; a determination step of determining whether or not to perform radio parameter control based on the communication quality information; a radio parameter calculation step of calculating radio parameters for at least one base station among the plurality of base stations based on the radio environment information when it is determined in the determination step that radio parameter control is to be performed; a control step of setting the radio parameters calculated by the radio parameter calculation step in the at least one base station, In the radio parameter calculation step, the control device Adjustment is performed on radio signal power information between base stations in the radio environment information, and calculation of radio parameters for at least one base station is performed based on the adjusted radio signal power information. A method for controlling radio parameters.

2. In the determining step, the control device Calculating communication quality expected information that is expected when radio parameter control is performed for at least one of the plurality of base stations, and comparing the communication quality expected information with actually collected communication quality information to determine whether or not to perform radio parameter control. The radio parameter control method according to claim 1 .

3. In the determining step, the control device When the fluctuation of the communication quality information within a predetermined time period becomes equal to or greater than a threshold, it is determined that the wireless parameter control is to be performed.

3. A radio parameter control method according to claim 1 or 2.

4. In the radio parameter calculation step, the control device Based on the communication quality information, the base station whose communication quality has deteriorated is used as a source to adjust the radio signal power information of the receiving side.

4. A method for controlling radio parameters according to claim 1.

5. A control device for controlling radio parameters for a plurality of base stations constituting a wireless network, comprising: an information collecting unit that collects wireless environment information in the wireless network and communication quality information for each communication area provided by each of the plurality of base stations; a determination unit that determines whether or not to perform radio parameter control based on the communication quality information; a radio parameter calculation unit that calculates radio parameters for at least one base station among the plurality of base stations based on the radio environment information when the determination unit determines that radio parameter control is to be performed; a control unit that sets the radio parameters calculated by the radio parameter calculation unit in the at least one base station, The radio parameter calculation unit adjusts radio signal power information between base stations in the radio environment information, and calculates radio parameters for at least one base station based on the adjusted radio signal power information. Control device.

6. A radio parameter control system comprising the control device according to claim 5 and the plurality of base stations.

7. A program for causing a computer to function as each unit in the control device according to claim 5.

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