Control Plane Policy Coordination to Reduce CU–DU Signaling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The 6G network architecture faces challenges in efficiently managing control plane entities due to extensive signaling between Central Unit (CU) and Distributed Unit (DU) components, necessitating a more flexible and optimized network configuration for higher throughput and lower latency.
Innovation Solution
A policy control solution is introduced, involving a policy device that determines user plane and control plane policies based on characteristics of control plane devices, allowing for load balancing and optimal cell set assignment, and enabling flexible network building with UE-specific configuration management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If control plane functionalities are split between CU and DU components, then network flexibility and distributed deployment are improved, but signaling overhead and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
A policy device is introduced as an intermediary component that receives characteristics from control plane devices and generates appropriate policies. This mediator manages the complexity of the split architecture by centralizing policy generation, thereby reducing the signaling overhead between CU and DU while maintaining network flexibility.
2Reliability
If control plane functionalities are distributed between multiple devices, then network resilience and scalability are improved, but coordination overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The policy device performs preliminary actions by pre-generating control plane policies based on device characteristics before actual operations begin. This advance preparation reduces coordination time during runtime, as the policies are already formulated and ready for implementation, thereby maintaining network resilience without excessive coordination overhead.
3Manufacturing precision
If extensive signaling is used for coordination between CU and DU, then configuration accuracy is improved, but network latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The policy generation function is extracted from the distributed control plane devices and centralized in a dedicated policy device. This extraction reduces the signaling required between CU and DU for configuration coordination, as the policy device generates comprehensive policies in advance, thereby maintaining configuration accuracy while reducing network latency.
Data Source
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AI summary
Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices, methods, apparatuses and storage medium for policy control for control plane entities. In a method, a policy device receives respective characteristics of a plurality of control plane devices which host one or more states and/or context of one or more terminal devices. Based on the respective characteristics of the control plane devices, the policy device determines one or more user plane policies for the control plane devices and a plurality of control plane policies for the control plane devices.