Fronthaul interface for a centralized radio access network

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of baseband units; and

a shared radio point that is communicatively coupled to the plurality of baseband units using a fronthaul network and that is configured to serve each of the plurality of baseband units;

wherein the shared radio point is configured to perform at least some Layer 1 processing for implementing a respective base station for each of the plurality of baseband units;

wherein the plurality of baseband units communicates fronthaul data to the shared radio point using a shared fronthaul network;

wherein the system is configured to communicate at least two different types of fronthaul data from the plurality of baseband units to the shared radio point using a single application-layer protocol that supports at least two types of elements, wherein 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; and

wherein the system is configured so at least some of the elements communicated using the application-layer protocol include one or more sub-elements, each sub-element comprising a type field, a length field, and a value portion.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured so that the application-layer protocol supports application-layer fragmentation of fronthaul data into multiple segments.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the system is configured so that each segment includes a field storing a value that is used to identify segments that are fragments of a common whole.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the system is configured to communicate messages from the plurality of baseband units to the shared radio point using the application-layer protocol, wherein each of the messages comprises a field storing a value indicating the number of elements stored in the message.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the system is configured so that the field storing the value indicating the number of elements stored in each message is a part of an application header portion of the message.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured so at least some of the elements communicated using the application-layer protocol include a description of a range of resource blocks (RB) for which frequency-domain in-phase and quadrature (IQ) data is communicated using the application-layer protocol.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured so that protocol data units for the application-layer protocol are encapsulated into Ethernet frames.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the protocol data units for the application-layer protocol are encapsulated into Ethernet frames by first encapsulating the protocol data units using a second layer.

9. A shared radio point for use in a radio access network (RAN), the shared radio point comprising:

at least one network interface to communicative couple the shared radio point to a plurality of baseband units using a fronthaul network;

at least one programmable device configured to perform at least some Layer 1 processing for implementing a respective base station for each of the plurality of baseband units; and

a plurality of radio frequency (RF) modules to implement RF transceiver functions for the baseband units;

wherein the shared radio point is configured to serve each of the plurality of baseband units;

wherein the shared radio point is configured to receive fronthaul data from the plurality of baseband units;

wherein the shared radio point is configured to receive at least two different types of fronthaul data from the plurality of baseband units using a single application-layer protocol that supports at least two types of elements, wherein 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; and

wherein the shared radio point is configured so at least some of the elements received using the application-layer protocol include one or more sub-elements, each sub-element comprising a type field, a length field, and a value portion.

10. The shared radio point of claim 9 , wherein the shared radio point is configured so that the application-layer protocol supports application-layer fragmentation of fronthaul data into multiple segments.

11. The shared radio point of claim 10 , wherein the shared radio point is configured so that each segment includes a respective field storing a value that is used to identify segments that are fragments of a common whole.

12. The shared radio point of claim 10 , wherein the shared radio point is configured to receive messages from the plurality of baseband units using the application-layer protocol, wherein each of the messages comprises a field storing a value indicating the number of elements stored in the message.

13. The shared radio point of claim 12 , wherein the shared radio point is configured so that the field storing the value indicating the number of elements stored in each message is a part of an application header portion of the message.

14. The shared radio point of claim 9 , wherein the shared radio point is configured so at least some of the elements received using the application-layer protocol include a description of a range of resource blocks (RB) for which frequency-domain in-phase and quadrature (IQ) data is received using the application-layer protocol.

15. The shared radio point of claim 9 , wherein the shared radio point is configured so that protocol data units for the application-layer protocol are encapsulated into Ethernet frames.

16. The shared radio point of claim 15 , wherein the shared radio point is configured so that the protocol data units for the application-layer protocol are encapsulated into Ethernet frames by first encapsulating the protocol data units using a second layer.

17. A method for a shared radio point, the method comprising:

communicatively coupling the shared radio point to the plurality of baseband units using a shared fronthaul network;

performing, by the shared radio point, at least some Layer 1 processing for implementing a respective base station for each of the plurality of baseband units; and

receiving, by the shared radio point, fronthaul data from the plurality of baseband units; and

wherein receiving, by the shared radio point, the fronthaul data from the plurality of baseband units comprises:

receiving, by the shared radio point, at least two different types of fronthaul data from the plurality of baseband units using a single application-layer protocol that supports at least two types of elements, wherein 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, and wherein at least some of the elements received using the application-layer protocol include one or more sub-elements, each sub-element comprising a type field, a length field, and a value portion.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising: fragmenting, by the application-layer protocol, fronthaul data into multiple segments.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein each segment includes a respective field storing a value that is used to identify segments that are fragments of a common whole.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein receiving, by the shared radio point, the fronthaul data from the plurality of baseband units comprises:

receiving, by the shared radio point, messages from the plurality of baseband units using the application-layer protocol, wherein each of the messages comprises a field storing a value indicating the number of elements stored in the message.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the field storing the value indicating the number of elements stored in each message is a part of an application header portion of the message.

22. The method of claim 17 , wherein at least some of the elements received using the application-layer protocol include a description of a range of resource blocks (RB) for which frequency-domain in-phase and quadrature (IQ) data is received using the application-layer protocol.

23. The method of claim 17 , further comprising encapsulating protocol data units for the application-layer protocol into Ethernet frames.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein encapsulating the protocol data units for the application-layer protocol into the Ethernet frames comprises first encapsulating the protocol data units using a second layer.