E-RAN Gateway Coordinating Small Cell Radio Access Networks
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current centralized access controllers, such as the Spidercloud Services Node, are cost-ineffective for small deployments with few radio nodes and face scaling limitations in large deployments with thousands of nodes, necessitating a scalable solution for managing small cell systems with reduced capital and operating expenses.
Innovation Solution
A cloud-based E-RAN gateway architecture that can be scaled to support all deployment sizes, utilizing virtualization to eliminate the need for specialized hardware and providing a centralized coordination of radio access networks through a gateway that acts as a virtual enhanced NodeB, core network aggregator, mobility anchor, and cluster manager.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If centralized access controllers with dedicated hardware are deployed, then frequency synchronization and airlink performance are improved, but capital and operating expenses increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the enhanced NodeB functionality that runs on general-purpose hardware instead of dedicated specialized hardware. The virtual enhanced NodeB software instance replicates the synchronization and coordination functions on commodity servers, eliminating the need for expensive proprietary hardware while maintaining the same technical performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/physical dedicated hardware system with a software-based virtualization system. Instead of using specialized hardware components for frequency synchronization, the system uses virtualized software running on general-purpose servers, substituting physical hardware dependencies with software abstractions that achieve the same functional goals.
2Device complexity
If a single centralized controller manages all radio nodes, then coordination is simplified, but scaling to large deployments becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized controller into multiple distributed virtual enhanced NodeB instances that can be independently deployed and managed. Each virtual instance manages a subset of radio nodes, allowing the system to scale horizontally by adding more segments rather than requiring a single monolithic controller that becomes unmanageable at large scales.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtualized architecture creates a universal platform that can adapt to different deployment sizes and configurations. The same virtual enhanced NodeB software can serve small deployments with few nodes or large deployments with thousands of nodes by simply instantiating the appropriate number of virtual instances, providing universal functionality across all deployment scenarios.
3Device complexity
If virtualization is used to eliminate specialized hardware, then costs are reduced, but system performance must be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses virtualization to create software copies of the enhanced NodeB functionality that run on general-purpose hardware. These virtual instances replicate all the critical functions including frequency synchronization, resource allocation, and radio resource management, ensuring that airlink performance requirements are met while eliminating specialized hardware dependencies.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of coordinating a plurality of radio access networks (RANs) includes aggregating, with a gateway, communications interfaces between a plurality of RANs and a packet core network through the gateway. A plurality of radio nodes (RNs) in each of the RANs is communicatively coupled to the gateway and to user equipment (UE) devices associated with the RNs in each of the RANs. The gateway also controls and coordinates mobility of the UE devices within and among the RANs. In addition, the gateway acts as a virtual enhanced NodeB (eNB) to the packet core network, thereby hiding the aggregated communications interfaces from the packet core network.