Wireless Backhaul Donor Nodes for Rural Coverage Gaps
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Solution Overview
Problem
In sparsely populated regions, traditional backhaul options like fiber or microwave for cellular network infrastructure are costly and not feasible due to low network capacity requirements, necessitating a cost-effective and efficient wireless backhaul solution.
Innovation Solution
A network system is configured with donor base stations using wired backhaul to provide wireless backhaul to child nodes, optimizing frequency band usage and positioning nodes as backup units to enhance network coverage and reduce downtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional backhaul options (fiber or microwave) are used, then network reliability is improved, but deployment cost increases significantly in sparsely populated regions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a wireless backhaul system that acts as an intermediary between donor base stations with wired backhaul and child base stations in remote areas. This wireless intermediary enables connectivity without requiring direct fiber or microwave infrastructure to each node, reducing deployment cost while maintaining network reliability through hierarchical architecture
Solution Approach 2:
The network is segmented into donor base stations with wired backhaul and child base stations with wireless backhaul. This segmentation allows reliable wired connections to be established only at strategic donor locations, while child nodes in sparsely populated regions use cost-effective wireless connections, resolving the contradiction between reliability and deployment cost
2Loss of time
If wireless backhaul is deployed rapidly in sparsely populated regions, then deployment time is reduced, but network capacity may be insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The wireless backhaul system employs dynamic resource allocation and configuration, allowing the network capacity to adapt and scale as needed. Child base stations can be rapidly deployed with initial capacity, and the system can dynamically adjust bandwidth allocation and frequency band usage to meet growing capacity requirements without requiring redundant initial infrastructure
Solution Approach 2:
The wireless backhaul infrastructure is designed to be multi-functional, supporting both immediate deployment needs and future capacity expansion. The same wireless backhaul links can serve multiple child base stations and support various services, providing sufficient network capacity for current low-traffic requirements while being scalable to handle future growth
3Reliability
If frequency bands are reserved for wireless backhaul, then backhaul performance is improved, but available bandwidth for access traffic is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically changes frequency band parameters, allocating specific bands for wireless backhaul while allowing flexible use of remaining bands for access traffic. The donor base station can adjust bandwidth allocation, frequency selection, and modulation parameters to optimize backhaul performance while maximizing available bandwidth for access services based on real-time network conditions and traffic demands
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for configuring a network system including base stations that support wireless backhaul are discussed herein. To provide network coverage for a new rural area with low network capacity requirements, a service provider may initially deploy a limited network configured with wired base stations that uses fiber links as backhaul. The limited network may have large coverage gap due to the time and cost associated with deploying fiber cables. In such low traffic areas, the system may reserve a portion of available frequency bands to use as wireless backhaul and configure wireless nodes to use the backhaul provided by the reserved frequency bands. The system may configure the existing wired base stations to serve as donor nodes to provide network link for the wireless nodes. The system may deploy a network of these wireless nodes to rapidly fill in coverage gaps.