Shared Spectrum Load Balancing for Wireless Networks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wireless network service providers face challenges in efficiently balancing load across licensed and shared frequency bands, leading to potential service disruptions and inefficient resource utilization, especially when managing real-time and non-real-time traffic types.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a shared/licensed load balancer that receives instructions from a Shared Access System manager to hand off user devices from overloaded shared frequency bands to less loaded licensed or shared bands based on traffic type and device type, ensuring seamless service while optimizing resource utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If load balancing is implemented across licensed and shared frequency bands, then resource utilization is optimized, but system complexity increases due to the need to manage multiple frequency bands with different access rules
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments frequency bands into licensed and shared categories with distinct access rules. The load balancer separately manages each band type, applying appropriate load balancing strategies to licensed bands while respecting the more restrictive access rules of shared bands. This segmentation allows optimized resource utilization without overwhelming complexity by handling different band types through specialized logic.
Solution Approach 2:
A shared/licensed load balancer is introduced as an intermediary component that sits between the radio access network and the core network. This load balancer receives instructions from the SAS manager and executes load balancing decisions, shielding the complexity of multi-band management from the rest of the system while optimizing resource allocation across licensed and shared frequency bands.
2Productivity
If user devices are hand off between frequency bands, then load is balanced and service continuity is maintained, but service disruptions may occur during the hand off process
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by establishing hand-off parameters and preparing target frequency bands before actual user device migration occurs. The load balancer pre-evaluates available licensed and shared bands, selects appropriate target bands based on load and accessibility rules, and prepares the hand-off process to minimize service disruption while maintaining continuous connectivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The load balancer continuously monitors load conditions across different frequency bands and receives feedback from the SAS manager regarding shared band availability. Based on this feedback, the system dynamically adjusts hand-off decisions to balance load while ensuring service continuity, preventing disruptions by making informed real-time decisions about user device migration.
3Productivity
If shared frequency bands are used for non-real-time traffic, then resource utilization is optimized, but real-time communications may experience degraded quality
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by differentiating treatment based on traffic type and destination band. Real-time communications are prioritized and directed to licensed frequency bands that guarantee quality of service, while non-real-time traffic is allocated to shared frequency bands for optimized resource utilization. This local differentiation ensures that real-time communications maintain high quality while overall system resource utilization is maximized.
Solution Approach 2:
The load balancer dynamically adjusts traffic routing based on current network conditions, band availability, and traffic type requirements. When shared bands become available and suitable, non-real-time traffic is routed there to optimize resource usage. When real-time traffic is detected, the system dynamically redirects it to licensed bands to maintain quality, creating a dynamic, adaptive system that balances resource utilization with service quality.
Data Source
AI summary
A wireless telecommunications system may be configured to provide wireless service via licensed and/or shared frequency bands (e.g., frequency bands that are shared with other telecommunications systems, and for which access is regulated by an external entity). A load balancing technique, described herein, may provide load balancing between licensed and shared frequency bands based on traffic type (e.g., real-time or non-real-time traffic) and/or based on device type (e.g., whether a device is typically involved in real-time communications). Techniques described herein may also provide for the staggered or gradual reduction of the transmit power of a radio associated with a shared frequency band (e.g., in response to an instruction from the external entity), in order to minimize the abrupt increase in load on other frequency bands that may result from reducing coverage of the shared frequency band.