Discovering a radio controller in a cloud radio access network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12414009-B2
Application number	US-202217670022-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2022
Priority date	Mar 8, 2021
Publication date	Sep 9, 2025
Grant date	Sep 9, 2025

Abstract

A distributed radio access network (RAN) includes a new radio unit (RU) being connected to a front-haul network. The new RU determines its own Internet Protocol (IP) address based on its MAC address; and send a discovery message to all radio controllers in the front-haul network via a multicast address. The distributed RAN also includes a plurality of radio controllers communicatively coupled to the new RU via the front-haul network. Each of the plurality of radio controllers are configured to receive the discovery message and determine whether the new RU is assigned to the respective radio controller. Each of at least one radio controller, to which the new RU is assigned, establishes at least one configuration session with the new RU.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A distributed radio access network (RAN), comprising:
a new radio unit (RU) being connected to a front-haul network and configured to:
determine its own Internet Protocol (IP) address based on its Media Access Control (MAC) address;
send a discovery message to all radio controllers in the front-haul network via a multicast address; and

a plurality of radio controllers communicatively coupled to the new RU via the front-haul network, wherein each of the plurality of radio controllers are configured to receive the discovery message and determine whether the new RU is assigned to the respective radio controller;
wherein each of at least one radio controller, to which the new RU is assigned, establishes at least one configuration session with the new RU.

2. The distributed RAN of claim 1 , wherein the discovery message is a multicast Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) neighbor solicitation message.

3. The distributed RAN of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of radio controllers is configured to determine whether the new RU is assigned to the respective radio controller by determining whether a link-local IP address of the new RU corresponds to an IP address derived from a MAC address in a whitelist stored in the respective radio controller.

4. The distributed RAN of claim 1 , wherein each configuration session is a Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF) session that configures the new RU to be operational in the distributed RAN.

5. The distributed RAN of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one radio controller, to which the new RU is assigned, uses at least one NETCONF session to indicate a number of carriers that the new RU needs to establish for the respective radio controller.

6. The distributed RAN of claim 1 ,
wherein the new RU implements multiple RU instances in a single physical housing;
wherein each RU instance in the new RU utilizes a separate logical Ethernet port on the new RU; and wherein each RU instance in the new RU shares a same physical Ethernet port and Media Access Control (MAC) address.

7. The distributed RAN of claim 6 , wherein each of the multiple RU instances establishes a different carrier for a same one of the at least one radio controller to which the new RU is assigned.

8. The distributed RAN of claim 6 , wherein more than one of the multiple RU instances establishes a same carrier for a same one of the at least one radio controller to which the new RU is assigned.

9. The distributed RAN of claim 6 , wherein one RU instance in a multiple-instance RU establishes multiple carriers for a same one of the at least one radio controller to which the new RU is assigned.

10. The distributed RAN of claim 1 , wherein the radio controllers are implemented in Third Generation Partnership Project Fifth Generation (5G) Central Units or Distributed Units, Third Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution (LTE) baseband controllers, or a head unit in a Distributed Antenna System (DAS).

11. A method for radio controller discovery performed in a distributed radio access network (RAN), comprising:
determining, at a new RU, its own Internet Protocol (IP) address based on its Media Access Control (MAC) address;
sending, from the new RU, a discovery message to all radio controllers in a front-haul network via a multicast address;
receiving, at each of a plurality of radio controllers communicatively coupled to the new RU via the front-haul network, the discovery message and determining whether the new RU is assigned to the respective radio controller; and
establishing at least one configuration session with the new RU.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the discovery message is a multicast Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) neighbor solicitation message.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining, at each of the plurality of radio controllers, whether the new RU is assigned to the respective radio controller by determining whether a link-local IP address of the new RU corresponds to an IP address derived from a MAC address in a whitelist stored in the respective radio controller.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein each configuration session is a Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF) session that configures the new RU to be operational in the distributed RAN.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein each of the at least one radio controller, to which the new RU is assigned, uses at least one NETCONF session to indicate a number of carriers that the new RU needs to establish for the respective radio controller.

16. The method of claim 11 ,
wherein the new RU implements multiple RU instances in a single physical housing;
wherein each RU instance in the new RU utilizes a separate logical Ethernet port on the new RU; and wherein each RU instance in the new RU shares a same physical Ethernet port and Media Access Control (MAC) address.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein each of the multiple RU instances establishes a different carrier for a same one of the at least one radio controller to which the new RU is assigned.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein more than one of the multiple RU instances establishes a same carrier for a same one of the at least one radio controller to which the new RU is assigned.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein one RU instance in a multiple-instance RU establishes multiple carriers for a same one of the at least one radio controller to which the new RU is assigned.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the radio controllers are implemented in Third Generation Partnership Project Fifth Generation (5G) Central Units or Distributed Units, Third Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution (LTE) baseband controllers, or a head unit in a Distributed Antenna System (DAS).

21. A distributed radio access network (RAN), comprising:
a new radio unit (RU) being connected to a plurality of radio controllers via a front-haul network and configured to request, from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server after the new RU powers up a first time, IP addresses for each radio controller it is assigned to; and
the DHCP server configured to send a response to the new RU indicating a number of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses equal to a number of carriers the new RU needs to establish, each of the IP addresses belonging to a radio controller the new RU is assigned to;
wherein the new RU initiates a different configuration session for each carrier it needs to establish with each radio controller it is assigned to.

22. The distributed RAN of claim 21 , wherein the response from the DHCP server also indicates the new RU's Internet Protocol (IP) address.

23. The distributed RAN of claim 21 , wherein the new RU determines its own Internet Protocol (IP) address based on its Media Access Control (MAC) address.

24. The distributed RAN of claim 21 , wherein the IP addresses are Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses, or a combination of both.

25. The distributed RAN of claim 21 , wherein each configuration session is a Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF) session that configures the new RU to be operational in the distributed RAN.

26. The distributed RAN of claim 21 , wherein the response from the DHCP server indicates a number of carriers that the new RU needs to establish with each radio controller to which it is assigned.

27. The dist

Assignees

• Outdoor Wireless Networks LLC

Inventors

• Ramakrishnan Shanthakumar
• Salahuddeen Irfaan Ahamed
• Sharma Sunit Kumar
• Patodia Vishwas
• Senthilvelan Selvamuthukumar

Classifications

• H04W72/30

  Resource management for broadcast services · CPC title

• H04W28/18

  Negotiating wireless communication parameters · CPC title

• H04W48/16

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title

• H04W48/08

  Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery (signalling during connection H04W76/00) · CPC title

• H04W28/0846 Primary

  between network providers, e.g. operators (selecting a network or a communication service H04W40/18) · CPC title