Dynamic Neighbor List Management for 4G Network Congestion
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-density 4G networks face congestion issues due to increased handover events and limited capacity, as existing techniques become ineffective when multiple mobile stations attempt to connect to the same base station, leading to reduced Quality of Service and network overload.
Innovation Solution
A method that measures relative committed traffic rates and air interface utilization to manage base station neighbor lists, using congestion detection parameters and hysteresis thresholds to identify and alleviate congestion by promoting handovers to neighboring base stations, thereby preventing overload and optimizing network capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If base station density is increased to maximize net throughput per user, then network capacity and throughput are improved, but congestion and handover events increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic neighbor list management where the set of neighboring base stations is not fixed but adapts in real-time based on measured traffic conditions. Base stations continuously measure committed traffic rates and air interface utilization, then dynamically adjust which base stations are included in neighbor lists for handover purposes. This dynamic adaptation allows the network to respond to changing load conditions, redistributing traffic from congested base stations to less loaded neighbors, thereby maintaining reliability while preserving the high-density architecture needed for throughput.
2Stability of the object's composition
If manual neighbor list management is used to control handovers, then handover stability is improved, but network automation and responsiveness to congestion are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where base stations continuously measure traffic parameters (committed traffic rate and air interface utilization) and use these measurements to automatically adjust neighbor list compositions. The system establishes thresholds for these measurements and automatically triggers neighbor list updates when thresholds are exceeded, creating a closed-loop control system. This feedback-driven automation maintains handover stability by ensuring handovers occur based on actual network conditions rather than static configurations, while simultaneously achieving high levels of automation by eliminating manual intervention.
3Reliability
If automated congestion management is implemented to offload traffic, then congestion avoidance is improved, but measurement precision and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent focuses measurement efforts on two specific, well-defined parameters: committed traffic rate and air interface utilization. By concentrating on these particular parameters rather than attempting to measure all possible network metrics, the system achieves sufficient measurement precision for congestion detection without excessive complexity. The patent also employs threshold-based decision making, where predefined threshold values for these parameters trigger automated responses, simplifying the overall measurement and decision-making process while maintaining effective congestion avoidance.
Data Source
AI summary
This invention aims to avoid and resolve congestions in wireless 4G networks. The method is based on a central self-organizing network (SON) server, which dynamically changes neighbor lists on congested base station and on all base stations in vicinity. The procedure is triggered by measuring relative committed traffic rate and air interface utilization of the base station. When base station enters into congested state, it notifies the SON server. The SON server creates new neighbor lists for all base stations in the vicinity and removes the congested base station from these lists. With new neighbor lists propagated to mobile stations, the latter won't scan and initiate handovers to the congested base station. The SON server additionally creates a new dense neighbor list and changes handover triggers settings of the congested base station. The mobile stations consequently find other handover opportunities and connect to different base stations. As the air interface resources are released, the base station leaves the congested state.