VRAN with PCIe fronthaul
Systems, methods and computer software are disclosed for fronthaul. In one embodiment a method is disclosed, comprising: providing a virtual Radio Access Network (vRAN) having a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU); and interconnecting the CU and DU over an Input/Output (I/O) bus using Peripheral Component Interconnect-Express (PCIe); wherein the CU and the DU include a PCI to optical converter and an optical to PCI converter.
1. A method for providing fronthaul, comprising:
providing a first virtual Radio Access Network (vRAN) having a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU);
interconnecting the CU and DU over an Input/Output (I/O) bus using Peripheral Component Interconnect-Express (PCIe);
wherein the CU and the DU include a PCI to optical converter and an optical to PCI converter; and
providing a second vRAN having a second CU and a second DU,
wherein the first vRAN is configured to provide at least one of a 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G network and the second vRAN is configured to provide a 4G network, and
wherein a network node may use a different split for the first vRAN and the second vRAN, so that a first and a second radio access technology (RAT) may be provided separately from a same network node using a different split including the use of 2G/3G waveforms over 4G or the use of 2G/3G/4G waveforms over 5G.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing additional DUs in communication with the CU over the I/O bus.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing a CU further comprises providing the CU as a PCIe master.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing a DU further comprises providing the DU as a PCIe slave.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing real-time data rate hit debug information between the CU and the DU using the PCIe mirrored memory capability.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing side information to IQ sample streams.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing frame synchronization between the CU and the DU using the PCIe mirrored memory capability.
8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions for providing fronthaul which, when executed, cause a system to perform steps comprising:
providing a first virtual Radio Access Network (vRAN) having a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU);
interconnecting the CU and DU over an Input/Output (I/O) bus using Peripheral Component Interconnect-Express (PCIe); and
providing a second vRAN having a second CU and a second DU,
wherein the first vRAN is configured to provide at least one of a 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G network and the second vRAN is configured to provide a 4G network;
wherein a network node may use a different split for the first vRAN and the second vRAN, so that a first and a second radio access technology (RAT) may be provided separately from a same network node using a different split including the use of 2G/3G waveforms over 4G or the use of 2G/3G/4G waveforms over 5G; and
wherein the CU and the DU include a PCI to optical converter and an optical to PCI converter.
9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions for providing additional DUs in communication with the CU over the I/O bus.
10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein instructions for providing a CU further comprises instructions for providing the CU as a PCIe master.
11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein instructions for providing a DU further comprises instructions for providing the DU as a PCIe slave.
12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions for providing real-time data rate hit debug information between the CU and the DU using the PCIe mirrored memory capability.
13. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising providing side information to IQ sample streams.
14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions for providing frame synchronization between the CU and the DU using the PCIe mirrored memory capability.
15. A system for providing fronthaul, comprising:
a first virtual Radio Access Network (vRAN) having a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU); and
a second vRAN having a second CU and a second DU,
wherein the CU and DU are in communication with each other over an Input/Output (I/O) bus using Peripheral Component Interconnect-Express (PCIe);
wherein the CU and the DU include a PCI to optical converter and an optical to PCI converter; and
wherein the first vRAN and the second vRAN are configured to provide a first and a second radio access technology (RAT) from a same network node using a different split including the use of 2G/3G waveforms over 4G or the use of 2G/3G/4G waveforms over 5G.
16. The system of claim 15 , further comprising additional DUs in communication with the CU over the I/O bus.
17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the PCIe mirrored memory capability is used to provide real-time data rate hit debug information between the CU and the DU and to provide frame synchronization between the CU and the DU.
18. The method of claim 1 wherein the side information includes Radio Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), and Radio Frequency (RF) monitoring data.
19. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions for providing side information includes instructions for providing Radio Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), and Radio Frequency (RF) monitoring data.