Edge Server VM Replication for Wireless UE Mobility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wireless communication networks face challenges in providing seamless and efficient user experiences due to user mobility and limited functionality in 'locked down' smartphones, which require network virtualization to manage enterprise applications and maintain user convenience while ensuring security and cost-effectiveness.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of network virtualization of user equipment (UE) in wireless communication networks involves receiving a trigger for potential UE mobility, determining identifiers of alternative edge servers, and providing VM replication to ensure continuous service by predicting user motion and relocating virtual machine instances to edge servers within the cellular network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If VM replication is provided to potential edge servers to enable continuation of remote VM instance, then service continuity and user experience are improved, but network complexity and resource management overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs VM replication to potential edge servers in advance, before the UE actually moves to a new cell. By predicting UE mobility patterns and proactively replicating VMs to potential target edge servers, the system ensures service continuity is already established when handover occurs, eliminating service interruptions while managing complexity through automated prediction algorithms
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates copies of the remote VM instance on potential edge servers collocated on alternative eNodeBs. Instead of moving the original VM, multiple copies are maintained across different edge servers, allowing seamless switching between them as UE moves between cells, thereby ensuring service continuity while distributing the computational load
2Speed
If edge servers are collocated on eNodeBs to reduce latency, then user experience and service speed are improved, but network infrastructure complexity and deployment difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the edge server functionality directly with existing eNodeB infrastructure. By collocating VM instances on edge servers that are integrated with eNodeBs, the system reduces the physical distance between UE and service processing points, thereby minimizing latency and improving service speed while leveraging existing network infrastructure
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces edge servers as intermediary components between the core network and UEs. These edge servers act as local service delivery points that mediate between remote cloud resources and mobile users, reducing latency by processing services locally while maintaining connectivity to the broader network infrastructure
3Reliability
If VM instances are relocated to alternative eNodeBs to follow user mobility, then service continuity is maintained, but processing overhead and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses UE mobility prediction algorithms to identify potential target cells in advance. By predicting where the UE is likely to move next and proactively replicating VMs to those potential target edge servers, the system avoids frequent reactive VM migrations, thereby reducing processing overhead and energy consumption while maintaining service continuity
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of migrating the original VM instance when UE moves, the system maintains multiple copies of the VM on different edge servers. The UE can switch between copies based on its location without triggering actual VM migration processes, thereby ensuring service continuity while minimizing the energy-intensive operations associated with VM relocation
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments for network virtualization of user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network. A trigger may be received from a user equipment (UE) indicating potential UE mobility away from a remote virtual machine (VM) instance on a host server collocated on an eNodeB in the wireless communication network. One or more identifiers (ID) of one or more potential host servers collocated on one or more alternative eNodeBs may be determined for receiving the UE. VM replication may be provided to the one or more potential host servers to enable continuation of the remote VM instance.