Remote Node Buffering for Radio Traffic Flow Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Radio communications networks face challenges in managing tight latency requirements for links between radio base units and baseband units, leading to limited centralization depth and potential congestion, especially with the advent of 5G technologies that demand extreme data rates and massive beamforming.
Innovation Solution
A method and remote node that buffer traffic flows in a common buffer and send control signals to adjust radio resource allocations dynamically, reducing data rates to prevent congestion without overprovisioning, using statistical multiplexing to identify and address peak traffic conditions, thereby maintaining minimal latency and maximizing spectrum usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a common buffer is used to buffer traffic flows from multiple radio units, then the system can handle peak traffic conditions more robustly, but the latency at the remote node increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the buffer size adaptive rather than fixed. The remote node dynamically adjusts the buffer size based on current traffic conditions, specifically increasing buffer size during peak traffic conditions to handle bursts and reducing it during normal conditions to minimize latency. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by allowing the system to have large buffers only when necessary for robustness, rather than maintaining large buffers continuously which would always increase latency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of buffer size from a static configuration to a dynamically variable parameter. The remote node monitors traffic conditions and adjusts the buffer size parameter in real-time based on observed traffic patterns and peak conditions. This parameter change allows the system to optimize between robustness and latency by having small buffers during normal operation and expanding to large buffers only when peak traffic conditions are detected and require additional buffering capacity.
2Reliability
If bandwidth is overprovisioned to prevent congestion, then packet losses are prevented, but network costs and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by having the remote node proactively identify peak traffic conditions and adjust buffer sizes before congestion occurs. The system monitors traffic patterns, detects when peak conditions are developing, and pre-increases buffer capacity in anticipation of potential packet loss scenarios. This preliminary adjustment of buffer size prevents the need for permanent overprovisioning of bandwidth, as the system only expands buffering capacity when and where peak conditions are actually observed, rather than maintaining excess capacity everywhere all the time.
3Reliability
If buffer size is increased to absorb simultaneous traffic peaks, then traffic loss is reduced, but latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction through dynamic buffer size adjustment. Instead of using a consistently large buffer that would always introduce latency, the system dynamically scales buffer size based on actual traffic conditions. During normal operation, small buffers minimize latency. When simultaneous peak traffic conditions are detected from multiple radio units, the buffer size is increased to absorb the peaks and prevent traffic loss. This dynamic behavior ensures that large buffers are only present when necessary for robustness, not continuously, thereby minimizing average latency while maintaining reliability when needed.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method (100) of controlling traffic flows in a radio communications network, the method comprising steps of: receiving (102) at a remote node a plurality of traffic flows transmitted from a plurality of radio units; buffering (104) the traffic flows in a common buffer of the remote node; and causing (106) a control signal to be sent to a baseband unit when a fill level of the common buffer is predicted to go above a maximum fill level within a pre-set time interval, wherein the control signal is configured to cause an adjustment of a radio resource allocation of one of the plurality of radio units to cause a reduction in a data rate of the traffic flow transmitted from said radio unit.