State machine handling at a proxy node in an ethernet-based fronthaul network

1. A method comprising:

performing, by a proxy node of a fronthaul network, negotiation operations associated with establishing a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) communication link between radio devices of the fronthaul network, wherein the negotiation operations comprise Layer 1 synchronization operations and Radio over Ethernet (RoE) validation operations for one or more link bit rates and the RoE validation operations comprise determining whether one of:

RoE frame length remains the same and packet counter increment values remain the same for a plurality of RoE frames obtained by the proxy node for a predetermined number of hyper-frames; or

RoE frame length is equal for a plurality of RoE frames obtained by the proxy node and a plurality of RoE frames transmitted by the proxy node for a predetermined number of hyper-frames and packet counter increment values are equal for the plurality of RoE frames obtained by the proxy node and the plurality of RoE frames transmitted by the proxy node for the predetermined number of hyper-frames;

facilitating communications between the radio devices at a matching link bit rate upon completion of the negotiation operations; and

re-starting the negotiation operations based on an occurrence of one or more alarms while facilitating the communications between the radio devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

re-starting the negotiation operations based on an occurrence of one or more errors during the negotiation operations.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more errors include at least one of:

a loss of synchronization alarm;

a loss of frame alarm;

a remote alarm indication;

a RoE fault determined based on RoE frames transmitted and/or received by the proxy node; and

a timeout of a Layer 1 synchronization timer.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more errors include at least one of:

one or more errors detected by the proxy node; and

one or more errors indicated in RoE frames received by the proxy node.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined number of hyper-frames is at least 10 hyper-frames.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Layer 1 synchronization operations performed by the proxy node comprise:

attempting a hyper-frame number synchronization for a CPRI bit stream output by a first radio device; and

upon achieving the hyper-frame number synchronization for the CPRI bit stream at a particular link bit rate in use during the Layer 1 synchronization operations, transmitting the CPRI bit stream toward a second radio device via a plurality of RoE frames, wherein each transmitted RoE frame indicates a frame length and a counter value that is set based on the particular link bit rate.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the proxy node is a proxy slave node, the first radio device is a radio equipment controller, and the second radio device is a radio equipment and wherein the RoE validation operations are performed, at least in part, after the Layer 1 synchronization operations, the RoE validation operations comprising:

obtaining a plurality of received RoE frames from a proxy master node, the plurality of received RoE frames comprising a CPRI bit stream output by the radio equipment;

identifying a RoE frame length and a counter increment value for successive transmitted RoE frames transmitted by the proxy slave node;

identifying a RoE frame length and a counter increment value for successive received RoE frames obtained by the proxy slave node;

determining whether the RoE frame length of the successive received RoE frames is equal to the RoE frame length of the successive transmitted RoE frames for a predetermined number of hyper-frames and whether the counter increment value of the successive received RoE frames is equal to the counter increment value of the successive transmitted RoE frames for the predetermined number of hyper-frames; and

upon determining that the RoE frame length of the successive received RoE frames is equal to the RoE frame length of the successive transmitted RoE frames for a predetermined number of hyper-frames and that the counter increment value of the successive received RoE frames is equal to the counter increment value of the successive transmitted RoE frames for the predetermined number of hyper-frames, the negotiation operations are completed for the proxy slave node.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined number of hyper-frames is at least 10 hyper-frames.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the proxy node is a proxy master node, the first radio device is a radio equipment, and the second radio device is a radio equipment controller and wherein the RoE validation operations are performed, at least in part, before the Layer 1 synchronization operations, the RoE validation operations comprising:

obtaining a plurality of RoE frames from a proxy slave node, the plurality of obtained RoE frames comprising a CPRI bit stream output by the radio equipment controller;

identifying a RoE frame length and a counter increment value for successive received RoE frames;

determining whether the RoE frame length remains the same for a predetermined number of hyper-frames and that the counter increment value remains the same for the predetermined number of hyper-frames; and

upon determining that the RoE frame length remains the same for a predetermined number of hyper-frames and that the counter increment value remains the same for the predetermined number of hyper-frames, starting the Layer 1 synchronization operations with the radio equipment.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the Layer 1 synchronization operations for the proxy master node further comprise:

transmitting to the radio equipment the CPRI bit stream output by the radio equipment controller, wherein upon the radio equipment achieving a hyper-frame number synchronization for the CPRI bit stream transmitted by the proxy master node, the radio equipment outputs the CPRI bit stream that is received by the proxy master node for attempting the hyper-frame number synchronization.

11. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, comprising:

performing, by a proxy node of a fronthaul network, negotiation operations associated with establishing a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) communication link between radio devices of the fronthaul network, wherein the negotiation operations comprise Layer 1 synchronization operations and Radio over Ethernet (RoE) validation operations for one or more link bit rates and the RoE validation operations comprise determining whether one of:

RoE frame length remains the same and packet counter increment values remain the same for a plurality of RoE frames obtained by the proxy node for a predetermined number of hyper-frames; or

RoE frame length is equal for a plurality of RoE frames obtained by the proxy node and a plurality of RoE frames transmitted by the proxy node for a predetermined number of hyper-frames and packet counter increment values are equal for the plurality of RoE frames obtained by the proxy node and the plurality of RoE frames transmitted by the proxy node for the predetermined number of hyper-frames;

facilitating communications between the radio devices at a matching link bit rate upon completion of the negotiation operations; and

re-starting the negotiation operations based on an occurrence of one or more alarms while facilitating the communications between the radio devices.

12. The media of claim 11 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations, comprising:

re-starting the negotiation operations based on an occurrence of one or more errors during the negotiation operations.

13. The media of claim 12 , wherein the one or more errors include at least one of:

a loss of synchronization alarm;

a loss of frame alarm;

a remote alarm indication;

a RoE fault determined based on RoE frames transmitted and/or received by the proxy node; and

a timeout of a Layer 1 synchronization timer.

14. The media of claim 12 , wherein the one or more errors include at least one of:

one or more errors detected by the proxy node; and

one or more errors indicated in RoE frames received by the proxy node.

15. The media of claim 11 , wherein the predetermined number of hyper-frames is at least 10 hyper-frames.

16. The media of claim 11 , wherein the Layer 1 synchronization operations performed by the proxy node comprise:

attempting a hyper-frame number synchronization for a CPRI bit stream output by a first radio device; and

upon achieving the hyper-frame number synchronization for the CPRI bit stream at a particular link bit rate in use during the Layer 1 synchronization operations, transmitting the CPRI bit stream toward a second radio device via a plurality of RoE frames, wherein each transmitted RoE frame indicates a frame length and a counter value that is set based on the particular link bit rate.

17. A proxy node comprising:

at least one memory element for storing data; and

at least one processor for executing instructions associated with the data, wherein executing the instructions causes the proxy node to perform operations, comprising:

performing, by the proxy node of a fronthaul network, negotiation operations associated with establishing a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) communication link between radio devices of the fronthaul network, wherein the negotiation operations comprise Layer 1 synchronization operations and Radio over Ethernet (RoE) validation operations for one or more link bit rates and the RoE validation operations comprise determining whether one of:

RoE frame length remains the same and packet counter increment values remain the same for a plurality of RoE frames obtained by the proxy node for a predetermined number of hyper-frames; or

RoE frame length is equal for a plurality of RoE frames obtained by the proxy node and a plurality of RoE frames transmitted by the proxy node for a predetermined number of hyper-frames and packet counter increment values are equal for the plurality of RoE frames obtained by the proxy node and the plurality of RoE frames transmitted by the proxy node for the predetermined number of hyper-frames;

facilitating communications between the radio devices at a matching link bit rate upon completion of the negotiation operations; and

re-starting the negotiation operations based on an occurrence of one or more alarms while facilitating the communications between the radio devices.

18. The proxy node of claim 17 , wherein executing the instructions causes the proxy node to perform further operations, comprising:

re-starting the negotiation operations based on an occurrence of one or more errors during the negotiation operations.

19. The proxy node of claim 18 , wherein the one or more errors include at least one of:

a loss of synchronization alarm;

a loss of frame alarm;

a remote alarm indication;

a RoE fault determined based on RoE frames transmitted and/or received by the proxy node; and

a timeout of a Layer 1 synchronization timer.

20. The proxy node of claim 18 , wherein the one or more errors include at least one of:

one or more errors detected by the proxy node; and

one or more errors indicated in RoE frames received by the proxy node.