Systems and Methods for Proactive Congestion Detection in Radio Access Networks

1 . A method in a network component for inhibiting an occurrence of congestion at radio nodes in a network, the method comprising:

determining, by the network component, a congestion alert threshold according to available resources in the network, wherein the congestion alert threshold comprises an incoming data rate threshold to an ingress server; and

transmitting, by the network component, the congestion alert threshold to the ingress server, wherein the ingress server is configured to transmit a congestion alert to the network component when the incoming data rate exceeds the congestion alert threshold.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the congestion alert from the ingress server.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining actions to inhibit future congestion according to the congestion alert.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the actions comprise redirecting traffic through the network.

5 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising transmitting, in response to receiving the congestion alert, an traffic reengineering alert to a traffic engineering optimizer to reengineer traffic to avoid future congestion.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the alert comprises information regarding at least one of a type of network traffic causing the congestion alert, a time stamp, an identity of ingress server issuing the congestion alert, a data rate of incoming traffic to the ingress server, and an available transmission rate of at least one radio node.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising dynamically modifying the congestion alert threshold according to changes in conditions in the network.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising receiving periodic updates in network conditions from at least one network device.

9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising receiving updates in network conditions from a network device when the network device detects a change in network conditions.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the congestion alert threshold is indicative of congestion at a node other than the network component and the ingress server.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the node other than the network component and the ingress server is a radio node.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold is associated with a cumulative data rate of flows through a radio node.

13 . A network component configured to proactively inhibit an occurrence of congestion at radio nodes in a network, comprising:

a processor;

a receiver;

a transmitter; and

a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:

determine a congestion alert threshold according to available resources in the network, wherein the congestion alert threshold comprises an incoming data rate threshold to an ingress server; and

cause the transmitter to transmit the congestion alert threshold to the ingress server, wherein the ingress server is configured to transmit a congestion alert to the network component when the incoming data rate exceeds the congestion alert threshold.

14 . The network component of claim 13 , wherein the programming further comprises instructions to receive the congestion alert from the ingress server.

15 . The network component of claim 14 , wherein the programming further comprises instructions to determine actions to inhibit future congestion according to the congestion alert.

16 . The network component of claim 15 , wherein the actions comprise redirecting traffic through the network.

17 . The network component of claim 14 , wherein the programming further comprises instructions to transmit, in response to receiving the congestion alert, a traffic reengineering alert to a traffic engineering optimizer to reengineer traffic to avoid future congestion.

18 . The network component of claim 17 , wherein the alert comprises information regarding at least one of a type of network traffic causing the congestion alert, a time stamp, an identity of ingress server issuing the congestion alert, a data rate of incoming traffic to the ingress server, and an available transmission rate of at least one radio node.

19 . The network component of claim 13 , wherein the programming further comprises instructions to dynamically modify the congestion alert threshold according to changes in conditions in the network.

20 . The network component of claim 19 , wherein the programming further comprises instructions to receive periodic updates in network conditions from at least one network device.

21 . The network component of claim 19 , wherein the programming further comprises instructions to receive updates in network conditions from a network device when the network device detects a change in network conditions.

22 . A method in a network component for generating a potential congestion alarm, the method comprising:

receiving a congestion threshold from a proactive congestion detection server;

monitoring a data rate from incoming traffic;

generating a potential congestion alarm when the data rate exceeds the congestion threshold; and,

transmitting the potential congestion alarm to the proactive congestion detection server.

23 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising performing deep packet inspection on received data to determine a type of data of the incoming traffic.

24 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the congestion threshold comprises a plurality of congestion thresholds with different thresholds for at least one of different types of traffic and different sources of traffic.

25 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the congestion threshold is associated with data flows directed to a radio node.