Neighbor Cell Activation for Low-Overhead Satellite Mobility
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Solution Overview
Problem
In satellite communication networks, frequent changes in neighbor cell relations due to satellite movement lead to high signaling overheads during neighbor cell relation maintenance, necessitating a solution to ensure effective mobility management while reducing these overheads.
Innovation Solution
A communication method and apparatus that allows terminal devices to determine, based on preconfigured or indicated configuration and activation information, whether to add neighbor cells to an active set, thereby reducing the need for frequent signaling exchanges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an existing neighbor cell relation maintenance mechanism is reused in satellite networks with high-speed movement, then the mechanism can maintain neighbor cell relations, but signaling overheads become high due to frequent addition and deletion operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-configures neighbor cell relation information in the terminal device before the satellite moves. This allows the terminal to autonomously determine whether to add neighbor cells to the active set without frequent signaling exchanges with the network device, thereby maintaining reliability while reducing signaling overheads caused by high-speed satellite movement
Solution Approach 2:
The terminal device is enabled to autonomously manage neighbor cell relations by using pre-configured information to determine cell additions to the active set. This self-service capability eliminates the need for continuous network device intervention, significantly reducing signaling overheads while maintaining effective mobility management
2Loss of information
If frequent signaling exchange is performed to maintain neighbor cell relations during satellite movement, then neighbor cell information can be accurately updated, but resource overheads increase
Solution Approach 1:
The network device pre-configures comprehensive neighbor cell relation information in the terminal device before satellite movement begins. This preliminary action ensures the terminal has accurate neighbor cell information available locally, eliminating the need for frequent signaling exchanges to update this information during high-speed satellite movement
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the terminal device to locally store and process neighbor cell configuration information. By having this information locally available, the terminal can autonomously determine whether to add neighbor cells to the active set without requiring continuous remote updates, thereby maintaining information accuracy while reducing resource overheads
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments of this application provide a communication method and apparatus. The communication method includes: A terminal device receives first activation information, where the first activation information includes information used to activate a first cell, and the first cell is a neighbor cell of a serving cell of the terminal device at a first moment. The terminal device determines, based on the first activation information and first configuration information, whether to add the first cell to an active set, where the first configuration information includes configuration information of at least one cell within coverage of a first network device, and the at least one cell includes the first cell. In a scenario in which a neighbor cell relation changes frequently, to avoid frequent addition and/or deletion of the neighbor cell relation, the terminal device may determine, based on the first configuration information and the first activation information, whether to add the first cell to the active set, to reduce resource overheads caused by the change of the neighbor cell relation.