Idle Mobile Station RAN Querying for Real-Time Load Balancing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for monitoring and maintaining cellular network quality, particularly in Radio Access Networks (RAN), rely heavily on data from active mobile stations, which constitute only a small percentage of the subscriber base, and are either resource-intensive or provide delayed, statistical information, making it challenging to address issues like load balancing, quality of service, and coverage holes in real-time.
Innovation Solution
A system that actively queries the RAN for information from idle mobile stations using signal analysis algorithms to derive device-specific parameters and adjust network settings, enabling real-time monitoring and optimization of network load capacity and service quality by steering mobile stations to suitable neighboring cells.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If signal measurements reports are transmitted by active mobile stations, then network quality information is obtained, but the information is statistical and requires long acquisition periods since active stations constitute only about 10% of the subscriber base
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of collecting data only from active mobile stations (traditional approach), the invention inverts the approach by querying idle mobile stations for RAN information. This inversion allows access to a much larger population (about 90% of subscribers are idle), dramatically reducing acquisition time while maintaining measurement precision through direct queries rather than statistical sampling.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces an intermediary mechanism - a querying system that actively solicits RAN information from idle mobile stations. This intermediary approach enables data collection from the dormant majority of the network without requiring them to be in active communication states, thus solving the time-loss problem while preserving measurement accuracy.
2Reliability
If drive tests are conducted to monitor network state, then real-time information about network conditions is obtained, but the process is time and resource consuming and cannot supply indicative real-time information about the entire network
Solution Approach 1:
The invention makes mobile stations serve multiple functions: they not only communicate user data but also act as distributed sensors for network monitoring. By querying RAN information from idle stations across the entire network, the system achieves universal monitoring coverage without the resource constraints of traditional drive tests, simultaneously improving reliability and productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
Idle mobile stations contribute to network monitoring as a self-service function. While in their idle state, they respond to queries about their RAN conditions, effectively performing network monitoring tasks without requiring dedicated monitoring resources or user intervention, thus dramatically improving monitoring efficiency while maintaining real-time accuracy.
3Reliability
If probes and OSS are deployed to monitor interfaces between network entities, then network problem detection is enabled, but it requires deploying probes on several interfaces and analyzing their data to detect anomalies
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the network monitoring function from the complex probe-OSS infrastructure and relocates it to idle mobile stations. By taking out the monitoring task from the centralized complex system and distributing it to edge devices (mobile stations), the system maintains reliable problem detection while dramatically reducing the complexity of the monitoring infrastructure.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system for obtaining information relating to an idle mobile station in a cellular network is provided. The system includes a computing platform which is in communication with a radio network controller of the cellular network. The computing platform is configured for (i) generating and sending an input signal through the radio network controller to the radio access network; and (ii) identifying in data outputted by the radio network controller an output signal resulting from the input signal, the output signal including information relating to at least one idle mobile station.