Communication control apparatus, control method for communication control apparatus, and control program for communication control apparatus

Abstract

Provided is a communication control apparatus that manages a plurality of base stations, the communication control apparatus comprising: a first acquisition unit that acquires a usage of a communication unit that is provided to each of a plurality of servers that function as distributed stations among the plurality of base stations; a second acquisition unit that acquires, from a plurality of pods that are executed on the plurality of servers and that provide the functions of the distributed stations to a plurality of cells that are provided by the base stations corresponding to the plurality of servers, a throughput of at least one or more cells that form pairs with the pods; an extraction unit that extracts, from among the plurality of servers, a first server in which the usage of the communication unit acquired by the first acquisition unit has exceeded a predetermined first threshold value; a selection unit that selects a second server different from the first server, and, from among a plurality of cells that are provided by the base station corresponding to the first server, a target cell to be provided by a base station corresponding to the second server; and an instruction generation unit that generates an instruction to move a target pod, which is being executed on the target cell on the first server, to the second server.

Description

Communication control device, control method for communication control device, and control program for communication control device

[0001] The present invention relates to a communication control device, a control method for the communication control device, and a control program for the communication control device.

[0002] In recent years, the development of a communication system that controls a radio access network (RAN) including a virtualized base station using artificial intelligence (AI) has been underway. For example, in 5G-Advanced after 3GPP (registered trademark) Release 18, efforts have been made to realize functions for optimizing the overall network orchestration by AI and machine learning (ML), and efforts to improve the performance of the RAN by AI / ML have been studied. Also, in existing networks, the introduction of AI / ML is progressing in areas such as improving the efficiency of RAN operation and automating parameter settings (for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

[0003] “Evolution of RAN by AI ~ AI for RAN ~”, [online], February 26, 2024, SoftBank Corp., [searched on November 5, 2024], Internet <URL: https: / / www.softbank.jp / corp / technology / research / story-event / 040 / >

[0004] A communication control device according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a plurality of base stations, each including a Distributed Unit (DU) and at least one Radio Unit (RU) connected to the Distributed Unit via a fronthaul switch, wherein the fronthaul switch controls the connection between a plurality of servers functioning as Distributed Units in the plurality of base stations and one or more Radio Units, and is a communication control device (OSS: Operation Support System and / or SMO: Service Management and) that manages the plurality of base stations. Orchestration) comprising: a first acquisition unit that acquires the usage of network interface cards (NICs) provided by multiple servers that function as distributed stations in multiple base stations; a second acquisition unit that acquires the throughput of at least one cell paired with a pod from multiple pods that run on multiple servers and provide distributed station functionality to multiple cells provided by base stations corresponding to the multiple servers; an extraction unit that extracts a first server from among the multiple servers whose network interface card usage acquired by the first acquisition unit exceeds a predetermined first threshold; a selection unit that selects a second server different from the first server and a target cell from among the multiple cells provided by the base station corresponding to the first server that should be provided to the base station corresponding to the second server; and an instruction generation unit that generates an instruction to move a target pod, which is a pod running on the first server for the target cell, to the second server.

[0005] A communication control device according to one embodiment of the present invention further comprises a storage unit that stores the communication range (cell coverage area) of each of a plurality of cells, and the selection unit may select the target cell and the second server based on the throughput of the plurality of cells and the communication range of the plurality of cells acquired by the second acquisition unit.

[0006] In a communication control device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the selection unit may select a target cell and a second server for a plurality of servers based on an optimization problem that minimizes the maximum area of ​​the communication range of at least one cell provided by the base station corresponding to each server, under predetermined constraints on the throughput of a plurality of cells.

[0007] In a communication control device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the instruction generation unit may generate an instruction to execute the target pod on the second server and to stop the target pod, which was the pod that was being executed on the first server.

[0008] A control method for a communication control device that manages a plurality of base stations, each including a distributed station and at least one radio station connected to the distributed station via a fronthaul switch, wherein the connection between a plurality of servers that function as distributed stations in the plurality of base stations and one or more radio stations is controlled by the fronthaul switch, the communication control device performs the following steps: a first acquisition step of acquiring the usage of the communication unit provided by each of the plurality of servers that function as distributed stations in the plurality of base stations; a second acquisition step of acquiring the throughput of at least one cell paired with a pod from a plurality of pods that are executed on the server and provide the function of a distributed station to a plurality of cells provided by the base station corresponding to the server; an extraction step of extracting a first server from among the plurality of servers, which is a server whose communication unit usage acquired in the first acquisition step exceeds a predetermined first threshold; a selection step of selecting a second server different from the first server and a target cell from among the plurality of cells provided by the base station corresponding to the first server to be provided by the base station corresponding to the second server; and an instruction generation step of generating an instruction to move a target pod, which is a pod executed on the first server for the target cell, to the second server.

[0009] A control program for a communication control device that manages a plurality of base stations, each including a distributed station and at least one radio station connected to the distributed station via a fronthaul switch, wherein the connection between a plurality of servers that function as distributed stations in the plurality of base stations and one or more radio stations is controlled by the fronthaul switch, provides the communication control device with: a first acquisition function for acquiring the usage of the communication unit provided by each of the plurality of servers that function as distributed stations in the plurality of base stations; a second acquisition function for acquiring the throughput of at least one cell paired with a pod from a plurality of pods that are executed on the server and provide the function of a distributed station to a plurality of cells provided by the base station corresponding to the server; an extraction function for extracting a first server from among the plurality of servers whose communication unit usage acquired by the first acquisition function exceeds a predetermined first threshold; a selection function for selecting a second server different from the first server and a target cell to be provided to the base station corresponding to the second server from among a plurality of cells provided by the base station corresponding to the first server; and an instruction generation function for generating an instruction to move a target pod, which is a pod executed on the first server for the target cell, to the second server.

[0010] Figure 1 is an example of a system configuration including a wireless access network according to one embodiment of the present invention. Figures 2(a) and 2(b) are diagrams illustrating an overview of one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 is an example of a sequence diagram between a communication control device, a model, and a distributed station DU according to one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 is an example of a base station information table according to one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 is an example of a block configuration of a communication control device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 is a flowchart of an example of a control method for a communication control device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0011] Hereafter, an embodiment of the invention described herein (also referred to as the present invention) will be explained using the figures. Note that the figures are examples only, and the present invention is not limited to what is shown in the figures. For example, the communication control device, RU (Radio Unit), DU (Distributed Unit), CU (Central Unit), cell, number of DU pods, data table (dataset), flowchart, and sequence diagram shown are examples only, and the present invention is not limited to these.

[0012] As mentioned above, in recent years, there has been progress in the development of communication systems that control radio access networks (RANs), including virtualized base stations, using artificial intelligence (AI). The applicant defines the entire range of functions that aim to maximize the performance of RANs by applying AI and machine learning (ML) as "AI-for-RAN" and is conducting research and development accordingly.

[0013] For example, in conventional wireless access network architectures that do not apply AI, gNBs (5G (5th Generation) base stations) and each radio station (RU) are typically directly connected by fiber. In contrast, in vRAN (virtual RAN) architectures that implement the functions of RAN using AI through software on general-purpose hardware, each RU is connected to the DU server, which is the baseband processing unit of the base station, via a fronthaul switch (FH SW). In this case, the fronthaul switch connects multiple DU servers in multiple base stations to one or more RUs in a many-to-many relationship and controls the logical connections between these DU servers and RUs.

[0014] However, since each DU server and the fronthaul switch are connected via a single fiber, there is a problem that a failure such as a disconnection of the fiber can have a significant impact on the entire system. In response to this, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a communication control device monitors the usage of the communication unit (NIC: Network Interface Card) in the DU server, and optimizes the system by having another DU server control the cells controlled by a DU server whose communication unit usage exceeds a threshold. This suppresses overload on the communication unit of the DU server, which can cause failures, reduces the probability of the communication unit failing, and minimizes the impact when a DU server fails.

[0015] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example configuration of a radio access network (RAN) according to one embodiment of the present invention. The RAN 400 is a RAN to which the specifications defined by the industry group O-RAN Alliance (Open Radio Access Network Alliance) are applied, and each base station may be configured by connecting a radio station RU 10 equipped with an antenna (not shown), a distributed station DU 20, and a central station CU 30 via a predetermined path. The interfaces between each RU 10, DU 20, and CU 30 may be standardized and open according to the specifications defined by the O-RAN Alliance. Furthermore, the RAN 400 may be implemented by vRAN (virtual RAN), which realizes its functions by software on general-purpose hardware. That is, each base station may be a virtualized base station implemented by software on general-purpose hardware (e.g., a server), and the DU 20 and CU 30 may be implemented by a server. Hereafter, when referring specifically to the physical server of DU 20, it will also be called the "DU server." In Figure 1, the RU 10, DU 20, and CU 30 that constitute each base station are indicated with letters A through E, but when there is no need to distinguish them, they will simply be referred to as RU 10, DU 20, and CU 30. Note that the number of these is not limited to those shown in the figure.

[0016] In vRAN, each DU 20 and each CU 30 may be connected in a mesh configuration via midhaul, and each DU 20 and each RU 10 may be connected in a mesh configuration via fronthaul through a fronthaul switch 40. Here, the fronthaul switch 40 may control the connection between multiple servers (DU servers) that function as DUs in multiple base stations and one or more RUs. In addition, the CU 30 may be connected to the core network (CN) via backhaul.

[0017] As will be described in detail later, the communication control device 100 is connected to each DU 20 and each CU 30, monitors the usage of the communication unit in the DU server, and is an information processing device that optimizes the control of cells controlled by DU servers whose communication unit usage exceeds a threshold, by having another DU server control them. In one embodiment of the present invention, the communication control device 100 may be implemented as at least one of an SMO (Service Management and Orchestration) and an OSS (Operation Support System) with a RIC (RAN Intelligent Controller) implemented.

[0018] Although only one communication control device 100 is shown in Figure 1, it is not limited to this. That is, each function described as being provided by the communication control device 100 may be implemented by multiple servers. Therefore, the communication control device 100 may implement the above-mentioned SMO and OSS functions as separate servers. Furthermore, the communication control device 100 may be, for example, a distributed server system that operates cooperatively by communicating over a network, or a so-called cloud server. In other words, the communication control device 100 may include not only physical servers but also virtual servers created by software. The base station information database (DB) 300 will be described later.

[0019] An overview of one embodiment of the present invention will be described using Figures 2 to 4. First, Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example configuration of a DU server, RU, cell, and DU pod (details will be described later) according to one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of DU servers 20 (in the example of Figure 2, DU server A 20A, DU server B 20B) may be connected to the same fronthaul switch 40 to form a cluster. The cluster may, for example, consist of all DU servers in the same server rack, but is not limited thereto. Also, in one embodiment of the present invention, each function of the DU (for example, wireless signal modulation / demodulation, scheduling, handover control, session management, etc.) may be containerized, and each container may be grouped into a Pod (hereinafter also referred to as "DU pod") and managed. The pod may be managed and executed by a container orchestration tool such as Kubernetes (registered trademark).

[0020] In one embodiment of the present invention, each DU server A 20A and DU server B 20B functions as a worker node in a Kubernetes cluster and may run one or more DU pods 60 (60A, 60B). The DU pods relating to DU server A 20A are denoted by "A," and those relating to DU server B 20B are denoted by "B." However, unless there is a need to distinguish between them, they will be referred to simply as "DU pod 60." Furthermore, for the purposes of later explanation, only DU pod 3 is denoted by reference numeral 61.

[0021] DU pod 60 may provide DU functionality in the virtualized base station. In the example in Figure 2(a), RU_A provides cell 1, RU_B provides cell 2, and RU_C provides cell 3, and DU pod 1 for cell 1, DU pod 2 for cell 2, and DU pod 3 61 for cell 3 are running on DU server A 20A. That is, in Figure 2(a), the area 50A enclosed by the dotted line relates to DU server A 20A. Also, RU_D provides cell 4 and RU_E provides cell 5, and DU pod 4 for cell 4 and DU pod 5 for cell 5 are running on DU server B 20B. That is, in Figure 2(a), the area 50B enclosed by the dotted line relates to DU server B 20B.

[0022] Note that in the example in Figure 2, for simplicity, the case is shown where a DU pod exists for each cell, that is, where there is a one-to-one relationship between DU pods and cells, and each RU provides one cell. However, there may be a one-to-many relationship between RUs and cells, and there may also be a one-to-many relationship between DU pods and cells. Also, for simplicity, the multiple RUs corresponding to DU server 20 are shown as adjacent RUs in Figure 2, but for example, DU server A 20A may control RU_A and RU_D. That is, DU pod 1 for cell 1 of RU_A and DU pod 4 for cell 4 of RU_D may be executed on DU server A 20A.

[0023] Figure 3 shows an example of a sequence between a DU pod 60, a DU server 20, a communication control device 100, and a base station information database (DB) 300 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Although Figure 3 shows one DU pod 60 and one DU server 20, there may be multiple such pods and servers, and data may be exchanged between each DU pod and each DU server and the communication control device 100 and base station information DB 300.

[0024] First, base station information DB 300 may store base station information (step S1). Base station information DB 300 may store base station information for each virtualized base station included in RAN 400, such as the communication range (area covered by the cell alone), throughput, and identification information of the DU server that functions as a DU for the base station providing the cell. Figure 4 shows an example of base station information stored in base station information database 300. Table TB10 may store a server ID (IDentifier: a type of identification information) which is identification information that uniquely identifies each DU server, associated with a cell ID which is identification information of the cell provided by the base station corresponding to that server. Table TB20 may store information regarding the throughput and communication range of the cell identified by the cell ID for the cell ID. The communication range information may be the radius from the base station, and if the cell shape is directional, the azimuth angle and angle may also be stored. Note that the figure is just an example, and the information stored is not limited to this. Furthermore, although Figure 1 shows the base station information database 300 separately from the RAN 400, the base station information database 300 may be included in the RAN 400.

[0025] Returning to Figure 3, the communication control device 100 may obtain the communication unit usage of the DU server 20 from the DU server 20 (step S2). The communication unit usage may be measured using a predetermined tool or command to monitor the communication volume of the NIC, or it may be measured using a dedicated network monitoring tool. The DU pod 60 may also report the throughput of the cells provided by the virtualized base station that functions as a DU (step S3). The base station information DB 300 may update (store) the table TB20 described above based on the acquired throughput (step S4).

[0026] The communication control device 100 determines whether the communication volume of the communication section in the DU server 20 exceeds a predetermined threshold, and may request necessary information from the base station information DB 300 regarding the DU server 20 that exceeds the predetermined threshold (step S5). The communication control device 100 may then obtain from the base station information DB 300 information regarding the cells below the fronthaul switch 40 to which the DU server 20 that exceeds the predetermined threshold belongs (step S6).

[0027] The processing described above sequence will be explained using Figure 2. Now, in Figure 2(a), suppose that the usage of the communication section of DU server A 20A exceeds a predetermined threshold, and the fiber between the fronthaul switch 40 and DU server A 20A becomes overloaded. In response to this, the communication control device 100 may request necessary information regarding DU server A 20A from the base station information DB 30. The base station information DB 30 may transmit information regarding the cells below the fronthaul switch 40 to which DU server A 20A belongs, including throughput, communication range, and information regarding the DU servers that control cells 1 to 5, i.e., the DU servers on which DU pods 1 to 5 for cells 1 to 5 are running, in the example of Figure 2(a). In the example of Figure 2(a), the communication control device 100 may be informed that DU server A 20A controls cells 1 to 3, and DU server B 20B controls cells 4 and 5.

[0028] Returning to Figure 3, the communication control device 100 may, depending on the communication range and throughput of each cell, have another DU server take control of a cell that was being controlled by a DU server whose communication volume exceeded a predetermined threshold. That is, it may select the cell whose placement is to be changed and the DU server to which the placement will be changed (step S7). Then, a placement change notification instructing the placement change may be sent from the communication control device 100 to the DU server 20 (step S8). In response to the placement change notification, the DU server 20 may send a placement change instruction to the DU pod instructing a change in the DU server running the DU pod (step S9). In the example in Figure 2(b), among cells 1, 2, and 3 that were being controlled by DU server A 20A whose communication volume exceeded a predetermined threshold, cell 3 is being reassigned to be controlled by DU server B 20B. The rearrangement of cells may be performed by moving the DU pod 3 61 to cell 3, that is, by starting the DU pod 3 61 on DU server 20B 20B and stopping it on DU server 20A 20A. As a result, in Figure 2(b), the area 51A enclosed by the dotted line becomes related to DU server A 20A, and the area 51B enclosed by the dotted line becomes related to DU server B 20B. The selection of cells to be rearranged and the servers to which they will be placed will be described later.

[0029] Thus, according to one embodiment of the present invention, optimization may be performed to have a cell controlled by a DU server whose communication unit usage exceeds a threshold be controlled by another DU server. This reduces the overload on the communication unit of a DU server, which could cause failures, thereby lowering the probability of the communication unit failing, and also reduces the impact when a failure occurs in a DU server.

[0030] Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, switching the route between the DU server and the RU is completed simply by moving the DU pod to another DU server, and the virtual route between the DU server and the RU remains unchanged. Therefore, the processing load can be reduced.

[0031] Furthermore, a deployment change report indicating that the deployment has been changed may be transmitted from the communication control device 100 to the base station information DB 300 (step S10). In response to the deployment change report, the base station information DB 300 may update the table TB10 relating to the server that controls the cell.

[0032] Here, we will explain the selection of cells to be relocated and the servers to which they will be deployed. In one embodiment of the present invention, the communication control device 100 may select cells to be relocated and the DU servers to which they will be deployed based on an optimization problem that minimizes the maximum area of ​​the communication range of at least one cell provided by the base station corresponding to each of the multiple DU servers, under predetermined constraints on the throughput of the multiple cells. Specifically, this may involve finding the solution to an optimization problem expressed by the following formula.

[0033]

[0034] In the above equation, M may be all DU servers constituting the cluster, Mi may be each DU server constituting the cluster, and m may be a cell controlled by each DU server Mi. ｍ This can be the communication range of cell m. That is, under the constraint that the total throughput (CellThp) of cells belonging to DU server Mi does not exceed a predetermined threshold, optimization may be performed to minimize the maximum area covered only by cells belonging to DU server Mi (the area of ​​the communication range of cells belonging only to DU server Mi). The predetermined threshold may represent the processing capacity of DU server Mi. This makes it possible to determine which cell should be controlled by which DU server.

[0035] Thus, according to one embodiment of the present invention, cells may be arranged among the DU servers in such a way that the sum of the communication ranges of the cells controlled by each DU server is flattened across the DU servers. Therefore, even if a disconnection occurs between the DU server and the fronthaul switch, the impact on the entire RAN can be reduced.

[0036] Next, the configuration and functions of the communication control device will be explained using Figure 4.

[0037] <Hardware configuration of the communication control device> The communication control device 100 may include a control unit 110, a communication unit 120, an input / output unit 130, and a storage unit 170.

[0038] The control unit 110 is typically a processor, and may include a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessing unit (GPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a microprocessor, etc., and may be implemented by logic circuits (hardware) or dedicated circuits formed on an integrated circuit (IC (Integrated Circuit) chip, LSI (Large Scale Integration)), etc.

[0039] The communication unit 120 may be implemented as hardware such as a NIC and a network adapter, communication software, or a combination thereof. The communication unit 120 may send and receive various data with the DU 20, CU 30, and base station information database 300 via the network 500.

[0040] The input / output unit 130 may include an input device for inputting various operations to the communication control device 100, and an output device for outputting processing results processed by the communication control device 100. The input device may include, for example, hardware keys such as a touch panel, touch display, or keyboard, a pointing device such as a mouse, a camera, or a microphone. The output device may output processing results processed by the control unit 110. The output device may include, for example, a display, touch panel, or speaker.

[0041] The storage unit 170 stores various programs and data necessary for the operation of the communication control device 100. The storage unit 170 may include, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), flash memory, etc. The storage unit 170 may also include memory that provides a working area for the control unit 110.

[0042] <Function Configuration of Communication Control Device> The communication control device 100 may include a first acquisition unit 111, a second acquisition unit 112, an extraction unit 113, a selection unit 114, and an instruction generation unit 115 as functions realized by the control unit 110.

[0043] The first acquisition unit 111 may acquire the usage amounts of the communication units provided in a plurality of servers that function as distributed stations in a plurality of base stations.

[0044] The second acquisition unit 112 may acquire the throughput of at least one or more cells that are paired with the pods from a plurality of pods that are executed on the server and provide the functions of the distributed station to a plurality of cells provided by the base station corresponding to the server.

[0045] The extraction unit 113 may extract a first server that is a server among the plurality of servers in which the usage amount of the communication unit acquired by the first acquisition unit 111 exceeds a predetermined first threshold value. The first threshold value may be, for example, 80% or the like of the allowable capacity of the communication unit, but is not limited thereto.

[0046] The selection unit 114 may select a second server different from the first server and target cells to be provided to the base station corresponding to the second server among the plurality of cells provided by the base station corresponding to the first server. The selection unit 114 may select the target cells and the second server based on the throughput of the plurality of cells acquired by the second acquisition unit 112 and the communication range provided by the plurality of cells. Further, the selection unit 114 may select the target cells and the second server based on an optimization problem of minimizing the maximum value of the area of the communication range of only at least one or more cells provided by the base station corresponding to the server for each of the plurality of servers under a predetermined constraint condition regarding the throughput of the plurality of cells.

[0047] The instruction generation unit 115 may generate an instruction to move the target pod being executed on the first server to the second server for the target cells. The instruction generation unit 115 may generate an instruction to start the target pod on the second server and stop the target pod being executed on the first server.

[0048] <Control Flowchart of the Communication Control Device> The control method of the communication control device 100 described above will be explained using the flowchart in Figure 6. First, the first acquisition unit 111 of the communication control device 100 acquires the usage of the communication unit of each of the multiple servers 20 that function as distributed station DUs in a plurality of base stations, each including a distributed station DU and at least one radio station RU connected to the distributed station DU via a fronthaul switch 40 (step T11). Next, the second acquisition unit 112 of the communication control device 100 may acquire the throughput of at least one cell paired with a pod 60 from a plurality of pods 60 that run on the plurality of servers 20 and provide the function of a distributed station DU to a plurality of cells provided by a base station corresponding to the plurality of servers 20 (step T12). The extraction unit 113 may extract a first server from among the plurality of servers 20, which is a server whose communication unit usage exceeds a predetermined first threshold (step T13). The selection unit 114 may select a second server different from the first server, and a target cell from among the multiple cells provided by the base station including the first server, to be provided by the base station including the second server (step T14). The instruction generation unit 115 may generate an instruction to move the target pod operating for the target cell in the first server to the second server (step T15).

[0049] The present invention has been described based on various drawings and embodiments, but it should be noted that those skilled in the art will find it easy to make various modifications and alterations based on this disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and alterations are within the scope of the present invention. For example, the functions included in each component, step, etc., can be rearranged in a logically consistent manner, and multiple components or steps, etc., can be combined into one or divided. Furthermore, the configurations shown in the above embodiments may be combined as appropriate.

[0050] For example, Figure 2 above illustrates an example where only one cell is relocated to a different DU server. However, multiple cells may be relocated to a different DU server.

[0051] The programs of each embodiment of this disclosure may be provided stored in a storage medium readable by the information processing device. The storage medium is a "non-temporary tangible medium" capable of storing programs. The programs include, for example, software programs and information processing device programs. When each functional unit of the communication control device 100 as an information processing device is implemented by software, the communication control device 100 functions as a first acquisition unit 111, a second acquisition unit 112, an extraction unit 113, a selection unit 114, and an instruction generation unit 115 by the processor executing a program loaded into memory.

[0052] The storage medium may, where appropriate, include one or more semiconductor-based or other integrated circuits (ICs) (e.g., field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), hard disk drives (HDDs), hybrid hard drives (HHDs), optical disks, optical disk drives (ODDs), magneto-optical disks, magneto-optical drives, floppy diskettes, floppy disk drives (FDDs), magnetic tapes, solid-state drives (SSDs), RAM drives, secure digital cards or drives, any other suitable storage medium, or two or more suitable combinations thereof. The storage medium may, where appropriate, be volatile, non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile.

[0053] Furthermore, the program of this disclosure may be provided to the communication control device 100 via any transmission medium capable of transmitting the program (such as a communication network or broadcast waves).

[0054] Furthermore, each embodiment of this disclosure can also be realized in the form of data signals embedded in a carrier wave, where the program is embodied by electronic transmission. The programs of this disclosure may be implemented using, for example, scripting languages ​​such as JavaScript® and Python®, C language, Go language, Swift®, Koltin®, Java®, etc.

[0055] According to each aspect of this disclosure described above, it will be possible to further improve the performance of wireless access networks, thereby contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9, "Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation."

[0056] 10 Radio Unit (RU) 20 Distributed Unit (DU) 30 Central Unit (CU) 40 Fronthaul Switch 100 Communication Control Unit 110 Control Unit 111 First Acquisition Unit 112 Second Acquisition Unit 113 Extraction Unit 114 Selection Unit 115 Instruction Generation Unit 120 Communication Unit 130 Input / Output Unit 170 Storage Unit 300 Base Station Information Database 400 Radio Access Network (RAN) CN Core Network

Claims

1. A plurality of base stations, each including a Distributed Unit (DU) and at least one Radio Unit (RU) connected to the Distributed Unit via a fronthaul switch, wherein the connection between the plurality of servers functioning as the Distributed Unit and the one or more Radio Units in the plurality of base stations is controlled by the fronthaul switch, the communication control device for managing the plurality of base stations, comprising: a first acquisition unit for acquiring the usage of the communication network interface (NIC) provided by each of the plurality of servers functioning as the Distributed Unit in the plurality of base stations; a second acquisition unit for acquiring the throughput of at least one of the cells corresponding to a pair of pods from a plurality of pods running on the plurality of servers and providing the Distributed Unit function to a plurality of cells provided by a base station corresponding to the plurality of servers; an extraction unit for extracting a first server from the plurality of servers, which is a server whose communication network interface usage acquired by the first acquisition unit exceeds a predetermined first threshold; and a selection unit for selecting a second server different from the first server and a target cell from a plurality of cells provided by the base station corresponding to the first server to be provided by the base station corresponding to the second server. A communication control device comprising: an instruction generation unit that generates an instruction to move a target pod, which is a pod running on the first server for the target cell, to the second server.

2. The communication control device according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit for storing the communication range of each of the plurality of cells, wherein the selection unit selects the target cell and the second server based on the throughput of the plurality of cells acquired by the second acquisition unit and the communication range of the plurality of cells.

3. The communication control device according to claim 2, wherein the selection unit selects the target cell and the second server for each of the plurality of servers based on an optimization problem that minimizes the maximum area of ​​the communication range of at least one cell provided by the base station corresponding to the server, under predetermined constraints relating to the throughput of the plurality of cells.

4. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein the instruction generation unit generates an instruction to run the target pod on the second server and to stop the target pod that was running on the first server.

5. A control method for a communication control device that manages a plurality of base stations, each including a distributed station and at least one radio station connected to the distributed station via a fronthaul switch, wherein the fronthaul switch controls the connection between a plurality of servers that function as the distributed station in the plurality of base stations and the one or more radio stations, the communication control device comprising: a first acquisition step of acquiring the usage of the communication unit provided by each of the plurality of servers that function as the distributed station in the plurality of base stations; a second acquisition step of acquiring the throughput of at least one of the cells that are pairs of a pod from a plurality of pods that are executed on the plurality of servers and provide the function of the distributed station to a plurality of cells provided by a base station corresponding to the plurality of servers; an extraction step of extracting a first server from the plurality of servers whose communication unit usage acquired in the first acquisition step exceeds a predetermined first threshold; a selection step of selecting a second server different from the first server and a target cell from a plurality of cells provided by a base station corresponding to the first server to be provided to the base station corresponding to the second server; and an instruction generation step of generating an instruction to move a target pod, which is a pod executed on the first server for the target cell, to the second server. A control method for a communication control device that performs the following actions.

6. A control program for a communication control device that manages a plurality of base stations, each including a distributed station and at least one radio station connected to the distributed station via a fronthaul switch, wherein the fronthaul switch controls the connection between a plurality of servers functioning as the distributed station in the plurality of base stations and the one or more radio stations, the communication control device comprising: a first acquisition function for acquiring the usage of the communication unit provided by each of the plurality of servers functioning as the distributed station in the plurality of base stations; a second acquisition function for acquiring the throughput of at least one of the cells that are pairs of a pod from a plurality of pods that are executed on the plurality of servers and provide the distributed station function to a plurality of cells provided by a base station corresponding to the plurality of servers; an extraction function for extracting a first server from the plurality of servers whose communication unit usage acquired by the first acquisition function exceeds a predetermined first threshold; a selection function for selecting a second server different from the first server and a target cell from a plurality of cells provided by a base station corresponding to the first server to be provided by the base station corresponding to the second server; and an instruction generation function for generating an instruction to move a target pod being executed on the first server for the target cell to the second server. A control program for a communication control device that makes this possible.

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