BWP Hopping Pattern for Low-Latency 5G NR Bandwidth Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing 5G NR BWP switching mechanisms, including RRC-based, DCI-based, and timer-based methods, suffer from long delays, high overheads, and negative impacts on network and user performance due to frequent BWP transitions, leading to RRC signaling storms and QoS issues.
Innovation Solution
A BWP hopping pattern is configured by the network device, allowing the terminal device to autonomously switch between BWPs without requiring additional RRC or DCI messages, reducing delays and overheads by periodically switching based on predefined configuration information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If RRC-based or DCI-based BWP switching is used, then BWP switching can be controlled by network device, but switching delay becomes long (dozens of milliseconds to hundreds of milliseconds)
Solution Approach 1:
The terminal device pre-configures BWP switching patterns and parameters in advance through RRC signaling. The terminal then autonomously executes the pre-configured switching patterns without requiring real-time network control, thereby reducing switching delay while maintaining network control over the overall switching behavior through the initial configuration.
2Reliability
If frequent BWP switching is performed for multiple users, then service quality can be optimized, but RRC signaling storm occurs and PDCCH channel capacity is negatively impacted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the real-time control function from the network device and transfers it to the terminal device. The network device only provides initial configuration through RRC signaling, while the terminal autonomously handles frequent BWP switching based on pre-configured patterns. This eliminates the need for continuous RRC messages or DCI for each switching event, thereby reducing signaling overhead while maintaining service quality optimization.
3Ease of operation
If timer-based BWP switching is used, then switching from dedicated BWP to default BWP is simplified, but switching from default BWP back to dedicated BWP still requires RRC-based or DCI-based switching
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic BWP switching patterns that can adapt to different scenarios. The pre-configured switching patterns can handle both directions (dedicated to default and default to dedicated) autonomously. The terminal device can switch between different BWP switching patterns based on current service requirements, enabling flexible and efficient bidirectional switching without the limitations of timer-based approaches.
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments of this application relate to the field of communication technologies, disclose a bandwidth part switching method and an apparatus, to resolve problems of a large delay and large overheads in RRC-based BWP switching, DCI-based BWP switching, and timer-based BWP switching when a terminal device switches between two BWPs for a plurality of times. The method may include: A terminal device receives a first BWP hopping pattern from a network device. The first BWP hopping pattern includes one or more pieces of configuration information for switching between a first BWP and a second BWP. The terminal device switches between the first BWP and the second BWP based on the first BWP hopping pattern. The switching between the first BWP and the second BWP includes switching from the first BWP to the second BWP and switching from the second BWP to the first BWP. Embodiments of this application are used by a terminal device to perform a BWP switching process.