Buffer-Based NR Dual Connectivity Setup for Throughput-Energy Tradeoff
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communication systems face inefficiencies in New Radio dual connectivity (NR-DC) due to unnecessary resource consumption and battery drain when switching to NR-DC without significant quality of experience (QoE) improvements, lacking intelligent mechanisms to switch between NR single connectivity and NR-DC.
Innovation Solution
Implementing buffer monitoring in network nodes to assess downlink and uplink buffer statuses, using time-to-trigger thresholds to determine when to establish or remove secondary nodes (SN) based on buffer sizes, optimizing NR-DC setup to enhance QoE and conserve battery and network resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If NR-DC is established to improve throughput and QoE, then network capacity and data rate are improved, but UE battery consumption and network resource usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of connectivity mode dynamically based on buffer status. When buffer threshold is exceeded, the system transitions from single connectivity to dual connectivity parameters, and vice versa. This parameter change resolves the contradiction by only activating the higher-resource mode when actually needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback through buffer monitoring mechanisms that continuously check buffer status and trigger connectivity mode changes accordingly. The buffer status serves as feedback that determines when to switch between connectivity modes, ensuring resources are used only when necessary.
2Productivity
If NR-DC is established to improve network capacity, then data handling capability is improved, but unnecessary network resource consumption occurs when QoE improvement is minimal
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes network connectivity parameters based on buffer status thresholds. By monitoring buffer fill levels and triggering mode changes only when thresholds are exceeded, the system avoids unnecessary activation of dual connectivity, thus preventing wasteful network resource consumption while maintaining adequate capacity when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary buffer monitoring and assessment before establishing NR-DC. By checking buffer status in advance and only triggering dual connectivity when buffer thresholds are exceeded, the system prepares and activates resources only when actually required, avoiding premature or unnecessary resource consumption.
3Loss of energy
If buffer monitoring with time-to-trigger threshold is implemented to optimize NR-DC setup, then resource consumption is reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces time-to-trigger as an additional parameter for controlling NR-DC activation. This parameter adds a temporal dimension to the buffer threshold check, requiring the buffer condition to persist for a specified duration before triggering mode change. This resolves the contradiction by reducing false positives and unnecessary activations while managing complexity through a single configurable parameter.
Data Source
AI summary
In some implementations, a device may transmit a buffer monitoring request message, wherein the buffer monitoring request message indicates a threshold time. The device may receive a buffer monitoring response message, wherein the buffer monitoring response message indicates one or more data radio bearers (DRBs) having buffers that exceed a data threshold for a time longer than the threshold time, and wherein the buffer monitoring response message indicates respective buffer sizes. The device may receive a measurement report of a user equipment (UE) associated with a buffer size among the respective buffer sizes, wherein the measurement report is associated with secondary node (SN) candidates. The device may establish, based on the measurement report, a New Radio dual connectivity (NR-DC) for the UE by adding an SN from the SN candidates.