Side-haul transport for uplink coordinated multipoint and carrier aggregation for remote distributed units in a cellular network

1 . A system comprising:

a cellular communication network including a first node and a second node, the first node and the second node being remote from one another, the first node implementing one or more first cells and the second node implementing one or more second cells;

wherein the first node is configured to:

detect user equipment located within the one or more first cells and within the one or more second cells; and

in response to the user equipment being located within the one or more first cells and within the one or more second cells:

establish one or more logical links between the one or more first cells and the one or more second cells;

create a physical link between the first node and the second node, the physical link being created as a level 2 (L2) or a level 3 (L3) network connection;

in response to latency of the physical link being below a threshold and a status of the physical link being acceptable, perform carrier aggregation with respect to data transmitted from a central unit over the physical link using the one or more logical links, the central unit being remote from the first node and the second node; and

in response to the latency of the physical link being above the threshold and the status of the physical link being unacceptable, cease performing carrier aggregation over the physical link using the one or more logical links.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first node is configured to create a logical link between the first and second nodes by creating a context including at least one of:

identifiers of the one or more first cells and the one or more second cells;

internet protocol (IP) addresses of the first and second nodes; or

media access control (MAC) addresses of the first and second nodes.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first node is further configured to create a logical link of the one or more logical links between each first cell of the one or more first cells and each second cell of the one or more second cells.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first node is configured to perform carrier aggregation by:

receiving the data from the central unit;

transmitting a first portion of the data to the second node to send to the user equipment over the physical link; and

transmitting a second portion of the data to the user equipment using the one or more first cells.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first node is further configured to perform uplink coordinated multipoint (ULCOMP) by:

receiving first data from the second node over the physical link, the first data being received by the second node from the user equipment using the one or more second cells;

receiving second data by the first node using the one or more first cells; and

transmitting the first and second data to the central unit.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first node is configured to invoke tearing down of the one or more logical links in response to the user equipment no longer being located in both of the one or more first cells and the one or more second cells.

7 . A method comprising:

(a) detecting, by a first node, user equipment located within one or more first cells of a cellular communication network implemented by the first node and within one or more second cells of the cellular communication network implemented by a second node, the first and second nodes being remote from one another and connected by a physical link; and

in response to (a):

establishing, by the first node, one or more logical links between the one or more first cells and the one or more second cells;

creating, by the first node, a network a level 2 (L2) or a level 3 (L3) network connection between the first node and the second node;

in response to latency of the physical link being below a threshold and a status of the physical link being acceptable, performing carrier aggregation with respect to data transmitted between the user equipment and a central unit, the carrier aggregation being performed over the physical link using the one or more logical links, the central unit being remote from the first node and the second node; and

in response to the latency of the physical link being above the threshold and the status of the physical link being unacceptable, ceasing performing carrier aggregation over the physical link using the one or more logical links.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising creating, by the first node, a context to facilitate performing carrier aggregation, the context including at least one of:

identifiers of the one or more first cells and the one or more second cells;

internet protocol (IP) addresses of the first and second nodes; or

media access control (MAC) addresses of the first and second nodes.

9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising, creating, by the first node in cooperation with the second node, a logical link of the one or more logical links between each first cell of the one or more first cells and each second cell of the one or more second cells.

10 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising performing, by the first node, carrier aggregation by:

receiving the data from the central unit;

transmitting a first portion of the data to the second node to send to the user equipment over the physical link; and

transmitting a second portion of the data to the user equipment using the one or more first cells.

11 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising performing, by the first node, carrier aggregation by:

receiving first data from the second node over the physical link, the first data being received by the second node from the user equipment using the one or more second cells;

receiving second data by the first node using the one or more first cells; and

transmitting the first and second data to the central unit.

12 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable that, when executed by one or more processing devices, causes the one or more processing devices to perform a method comprising:

(a) detecting, by a first node, user equipment located within one or more first cells of a cellular communication network implemented by the first node and within one or more second cells of the cellular communication network implemented by a second node, the first and second nodes being remote from one another and connected by a physical link; and

in response to (a):

establishing, by the first node, one or more logical links between the one or more first cells and the one or more second cells;

creating, by the first node, a network a level 2 (L2) or a level 3 (L3) network connection between the first node and the second node;

in response to latency of the physical link being below a threshold and a status of the physical link being acceptable, performing carrier aggregation with respect to data transmitted between the user equipment and a central unit, the carrier aggregation being performed over the physical link using the one or more logical links, the central unit being remote from the first node and the second node; and

in response to the latency of the physical link being above the threshold and the status of the physical link being unacceptable, ceasing performing carrier aggregation over the physical link using the one or more logical links.