Deferred Bearer Agent for Space LTE Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current LTE systems are inadequate for providing seamless and high-quality wireless communication services to non-terrestrial devices such as spacecraft and IoT devices due to challenges like increased latency, Doppler effects, and varying network availability, which are not effectively addressed by existing terrestrial communication architectures.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a deferred bearer agent within the S-LTE architecture that allows for the storage and forwarding of data when an active bearer is not immediately available, enabling future reservations and allocations of network resources to ensure reliable data transmission, even in environments with high latency and variable network conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If terrestrial LTE architecture is used for non-terrestrial devices, then basic communication functionality is provided, but service continuity and data reliability deteriorate due to latency and network availability issues
Solution Approach 1:
The deferred bearer agent performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing data bearers and buffering data before network conditions are optimal. When a terminal requests service, the agent checks if a deferred bearer already exists and can be immediately activated, avoiding the time-consuming process of establishing new bearers during actual data transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the bearer establishment process into separate phases: deferred bearer creation (when network is available) and active bearer activation (when data needs transmission). This segmentation allows the system to prepare communication resources in advance during favorable network conditions, then quickly activate them when needed, resolving the contradiction between reliability and latency.
2Productivity
If data is transmitted immediately when network is available, then transmission speed is improved, but data loss increases when network conditions deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The deferred bearer agent implements beforehand cushioning by creating backup data bearers and buffering data in advance. When network conditions deteriorate or the terminal moves out of coverage, the buffered data and pre-established bearers serve as a cushion that prevents data loss, ensuring data integrity even when immediate transmission is not possible.
3Adaptability or versatility
If separate communication systems are used for different domains (terrestrial, LEO, GEO), then domain-specific performance is optimized, but system complexity and integration difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The deferred bearer agent implements a universal architecture that can operate across multiple domains (terrestrial, LEO, GEO) with a single unified mechanism. The agent's core functions of deferred bearer creation, data buffering, and conditional activation are domain-agnostic, allowing the same system to serve different communication environments without requiring separate specialized systems for each domain.
Data Source
AI summary
A wireless communication system may include a serving gateway (SGW) operably coupled to a packet data network gateway (PGW) to setup a session responsive to a request from a terminal to establish the session between the terminal and the PGW. The system may further include deferred data bearers (DDBs), data volumes, contacts, data volume descriptions associated with the data volumes, an application data interface configured to receive the plurality of data volume descriptions and associated data volumes from applications on the terminal, and a deferred bearer agent (DBA) that associates the incoming data volume descriptions and data volumes received from the application data interface with the DDBs based on metrics and transmits data stored in deferred data bearers over contacts established on the terminal for communication to the PGW.