Abstract: A method performed in a radio access network is disclosed. The method includes exchanging radio frequency (RF) signals between remote units (RUs) and mobile devices. At least some of the RF signals include information destined for, or originating from, a mobile device. The method also includes communicating compressed baseband data corresponding to the information from a controller to the RUs via an intermediate network.

Abstract: Systems and methods for dynamic base station functional split configuration management are provided. In one embodiment, a system for base station functional split management for uplink fronthaul traffic comprises: a baseband controller coupled to a plurality of radio units via a fronthaul network, wherein the plurality of radio units comprise a signal zone from which uplink signals are combined by the base station: a split controller configured to dynamically select and control a functional split of a respective uplink receive chain between the baseband controller and each of the plurality of radio units: wherein the functional split defines a demarcation point on the receive chain prior to which processing operations are executed by a radio unit and after which processing operations are executed by the baseband controller: wherein the split controller selects between a plurality of functional split options to dynamically control the functional split and the demarcation point.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes methods and apparatus for real-time physical layer processing in distributed units (DU). A downlink data processing method includes receiving a downlink transport block at the physical layer and generating a plurality of sub-transport blocks mapped to a plurality of symbols by processing the received transport block. The method further includes processing the plurality of sub-transport blocks sequentially using at least one transfer function to generate the plurality of symbols which are then transmitted to a radio unit (RU) for transmission to a user equipment (UE). An uplink data processing method includes generating an uplink transport block by processing a plurality of symbols received at the DU from the RU. The plurality of symbols are processed using at least one uplink transfer function. A downlink/uplink transfer function is functionally equivalent to a plurality of down-link/uplink sequential signal processing modules.

Abstract: A system includes a plurality of remote units and a centralized unit communicatively coupled via a fronthaul network. The centralized unit implements a plurality of multicast groups. The centralized unit determines each of a plurality of sets of data to be sent across the fronthaul network to a respective corresponding subset of the plurality of remote units in the cell. The centralized unit also determines a mapping of each of the plurality of sets of data to a corresponding preferred subset of the plurality of remote units. For a set of data, the centralized unit also transmits the set of data to the corresponding subset of the plurality of remote units over the fronthaul network by multicasting the set of data to a multicast group of the plurality of multicast groups that best matches the corresponding preferred subset of the plurality of remote units mapped to the set of data.

Abstract: Among other things, a communication system comprising remote units and a controller is described. The remote units wirelessly exchanges radio frequency (RF) signals with mobile devices. Each RF signal comprises information destined for, or originating from, at least one of the mobile devices. The remote units and the controller communicate baseband data corresponding to the information across an intermediate network. The remote units each implement at least some physical layer processing for an air interface used to wirelessly communicate with the mobile devices. Two or more of the remote units transmit a downlink reference signal to a mobile device of the mobile devices.

Abstract: Systems and methods for flexible antenna configurations and beamforming are provided. In one example, a system includes: at least one controller configured to implement at least some functions for one or more layers of a wireless interface used to communicate with UEs; remote unit(s) communicatively coupled to the at least one controller; and antenna elements communicatively coupled to the remote unit(s), each respective antenna element oriented in a respective direction different than other antenna elements. The at least one controller is configured to: determine a location of a UE in a cell of the system and/or channels between the antenna elements and the UE; select antenna element(s) for use in transmitting downlink signals to the UE based on the location of the UE and/or the channels between the antenna elements and the UE; and transmit downlink signals to the UE via the selected antenna element(s) in a first time period.

Abstract: A system includes a plurality of remote units; a centralized unit communicatively coupled to the plurality of remote units via a fronthaul network; and an entity that performs deep packet inspection. The centralized unit transmits sets of data to the plurality of remote units across the fronthaul network in packets, each of the sets of data mapped to at least one of the plurality of remote units and each of the packets including a respective indicator indicating each remote unit the associated packet is intended for, wherein each indicator comprises a plurality of bit positions where each bit position is mapped to a different one of the plurality of remote units. The entity performs the deep packet inspection on the packets to determine each remote unit the packets are intended for and communicate each packet to each remote unit the packet is intended for over the fronthaul network.

Abstract: A communication system includes remote units to exchange RF signals with mobile devices, at least some of the RF signals comprising information destined for, or originating from, a mobile device. The communication system also includes at least one controller or controller resource communicatively coupled to an external network and configured to assign airlink resources to the user equipment. The at least one controller or controller resource is separated from the remote units by an intermediate network comprising a switched Ethernet network over which data corresponding to the information is carried between the at least one controller or controller resource and the remote units. Two or more of the remote units are configured to belong to the same communication cell. The at least one controller or controller resource is configured to assign two or more of the user equipment in the same communication cell to simultaneously use a same airlink resource.

Abstract: One embodiment is directed to a system comprising a distributed unit comprising a plurality of processing units (PUs) and a plurality of radio units (RUs). Each PU is configured to: for each time slot included in a first subset of the time slots, independently perform scheduling for at least one shared channel for only those UEs for which the respective protection zone (PZ) span only RU groups (RUGs) included in a first one of a respective pair of RUG Groups associated with that PU, and, for each time slot included in a second subset of the time slots, independently perform scheduling for the at least one shared channel for only those UEs for which the respective PZs span only the RUGs included in a second one of the respective pair of RUG Groups associated with that PU. Other embodiments are directed to scheduling support channel resources.

Abstract: An example communication system includes remote units to exchange radio frequency (RF) signals with mobile devices, RF signals comprising information destined for, or originating from, a mobile device, the remote units performing at least some physical layer processing for an air interface used by the remote units to communicate with the mobile device. The communication system also includes two or more controllers comprising real-time schedulers for assigning airlink resources to the mobile device for the information. The communication system also includes a coordination function coupled to the two or more controllers to coordinate assignments made by the real-time schedulers in the two or more controllers.

Abstract: One embodiment is directed to a system that is configured to communicate at least two different types of fronthaul data from a plurality of baseband units to a shared radio point using a single application-layer protocol that supports at least two types of elements. Each of the at least two types of elements is configured for a respective one of the at least two different types of fronthaul data. The system is configured so at least some of the elements communicated using the application-layer protocol include one or more sub-elements, where each sub-element comprises a type field, a length field, and a value portion.

Abstract: A communication system includes remote units to exchange RF signals with mobile devices, at least some of the RF signals comprising information destined for, or originating from, a mobile device. The communication system also includes at least one controller or controller resource communicatively coupled to an external network and configured to assign airlink resources to the user equipment. The at least one controller or controller resource is separated from the remote units by an intermediate network comprising a switched Ethernet network over which data corresponding to the information is carried between the at least one controller or controller resource and the remote units. Two or more of the remote units are configured to belong to the same communication cell. The at least one controller or controller resource is configured to assign two or more of the user equipment in the same communication cell to simultaneously use a same airlink resource.

Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to systems, methods, and computer-readable media for managing the generation and processing of charging data records (CDRs) in a telecommunication environment (e.g., a fourth generation (4G) a fifth generation (5G), or future generation mobile network). The systems described herein involve predicting lengths of CDRs prior to encoding and providing the CDRs to a charging gateway function to ensure that the CDRs do not exceed a maximum allowable length that the charging gateway function is capable of processing while also reducing the total number of CDR packages that are encoded and transmitted. Indeed, the systems described herein can predict the length of the CDRs incrementally as charging containers are added, thus limiting the number of CDRs that are generated and processed.

Abstract: An example communication system includes remote units to exchange radio frequency (RF) signals with mobile devices, RF signals comprising information destined for, or originating from, a mobile device, the remote units performing at least some physical layer processing for an air interface used by the remote units to communicate with the mobile device. The communication system also includes two or more controllers comprising real-time schedulers for assigning airlink resources to the mobile device for the information. The communication system also includes a coordination function coupled to the two or more controllers to coordinate assignments made by the real-time schedulers in the two or more controllers.

Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to systems, methods, and computer-readable media for managing the generation and processing of charging data records (CDRs) in a telecommunication environment (e.g., a fourth generation (4G) a fifth generation (5G), or future generation mobile network). The systems described herein involve predicting lengths of CDRs prior to encoding and providing the CDRs to a charging gateway function to ensure that the CDRs do not exceed a maximum allowable length that the charging gateway function is capable of processing while also reducing the total number of CDR packages that are encoded and transmitted. Indeed, the systems described herein can predict the length of the CDRs incrementally as charging containers are added, thus limiting the number of CDRs that are generated and processed.

Abstract: One embodiment is directed to a converged system comprising at least one donor base station entity configured to support natively working with multiple radio points and a distributed antenna system communicatively coupled to the donor base station entity. The distributed antenna system is configured to instantiate multiple virtual radio points for the donor base station entity. The distributed antenna system is configured to serve the donor base station entity using the multiple virtual radio points instantiated by the distributed antenna system for the donor base station entity. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A C-RAN includes a plurality of remote units; and a central unit communicatively coupled to the remote units via a fronthaul network. The central unit is configured to determine sets of data to be sent to respective subsets of remote units across the fronthaul network. The central unit is also configured to determine a mapping of each of the sets of data to a respective one of the subsets of remote units. The central unit is also configured to, for each of the sets of data, if at least one of the multicast groups wholly contains the respective subset of remote units mapped to that set of data, transmit that set of data to the respective subset of remote units over the fronthaul network by multicasting that set of data to the multicast group that best matches the respective subset of remote units mapped to that set of data.

Abstract: Among other things, a communication system comprising remote units and a controller is described. The remote units wirelessly exchanges radio frequency (RF) signals with mobile devices. Each RF signal comprises information destined for, or originating from, at least one of the mobile devices. The remote units and the controller communicate baseband data corresponding to the information across an intermediate network. The remote units each implement at least some physical layer processing for an air interface used to wirelessly communicate with the mobile devices. Two or more of the remote units transmit a downlink reference signal to a mobile device of the mobile devices.

Abstract: One embodiment is directed to a system that is configured to communicate at least two different types of fronthaul data from a plurality of baseband units to a shared radio point using a single application-layer protocol that supports at least two types of elements. Each of the at least two types of elements is configured for a respective one of the at least two different types of fronthaul data. The system is configured so at least some of the elements communicated using the application-layer protocol include one or more sub-elements, where each sub-element comprises a type field, a length field, and a value portion.

Abstract: A communication system includes a remote unit that exchanges radio frequency signals with mobile devices, at least some of the radio frequency signals comprising information destined for, or originating from, a mobile device, the remote unit being configured to perform first physical layer processing. A controller is separated from the remote unit by a switched Ethernet network, wherein data corresponding to the information is transmitted in frames between the controller and the remote unit. At least some of the data comprises baseband data that is transmitted in frequency domain. The controller and the remote unit are configured to transmit time stamp messages on the switched Ethernet network to synchronize a controller clock and a remote unit clock. The controller is configured to advance downlink subframe timing relative to the remote unit, when transmitting on the switched Ethernet network, based on a measured transport delay across the switched Ethernet network.