Methods and systems for linking a distributed unit and virtual machine in a wireless communications network

1. A central server, comprising:

a memory storing computer-readable instructions; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to,

receive a physical location of a distributed unit;

generate a list of one or more measurement servers from a plurality of measurement servers based on the physical location of the distributed unit, the plurality of measurement servers each associated with an edge cloud zone of a plurality of edge cloud zones, each edge cloud zone of the plurality of the edge cloud zones including at least one measurement server of the plurality of measurement servers and at least one central unit of a plurality of central units; and

send the list of one or more measurement servers to the distributed unit, the sending of the list of one or more measurement servers causing the distributed unit to communicate with each of the one or more measurement servers.

2. The central server of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive one or more Internet Protocol (IP) transport performance parameters from the distributed unit based on the list of one or more measurement servers;

select one or more central units based on the one or more IP transport performance parameters; and

send one or more addresses corresponding to the one or more central units to the distributed unit.

3. The central server of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate the list of one or more measurement servers by:

determining one or more edge cloud zones from the plurality of edge cloud zones based on the received physical location of the distributed unit and a physical location of each edge cloud zone of the plurality of edge cloud zones;

selecting one or more measurement servers corresponding to the determined one or more edge cloud zones; and

generating the list of one or more measurement servers based on the selected one or more measurement servers.

4. The central server of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to select the one or more central units by:

selecting one or more selected measurement servers based on the one or more IP transport performance parameters;

selecting the one or more edge cloud zones corresponding to the one or more selected measurement servers; and

selecting the one or more central units corresponding to the one or more selected edge cloud zones.

5. The central server of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

identify one or more neighbor distributed units within a threshold geographic distance of the distributed unit, the one or more neighbor distributed units being currently associated with one or more associated central units; and

select the one or more central units based on at least one of,

(i) a round-robin priority order among one or more available central units within the one or more selected edge cloud zones,

(ii) selecting the one or more associated central units to which a largest quantity of neighbor distributed units is associated,

(iii) selecting the one or more associated central units to which a smallest quantity of neighbor distributed unit is associated, and

(iv) selecting the one or more central units that is a fewest number of hops from the distributed unit.

6. The central server of claim 4 , wherein the selecting the one or more selected measurement servers is further based on at least one of:

(i) a measurement server having a lowest latency,

(ii) one or more measurement servers having a latency below a defined threshold,

(iii) a measurement server having a fewest packet drops, and

(iv) one or more measurement servers having a number of packet drops below a defined threshold.

7. A distributed unit, comprising:

a memory storing computer-readable instructions; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to,

send a physical location of the distributed unit to a central server;

receive a list of one or more measurement servers from the central server based on the physical location of the distributed unit, the one or more measurement servers selected from a plurality of measurement servers each associated with an edge cloud zone of a plurality of edge cloud zones, each edge cloud zone of the plurality of edge cloud zones including at least one measurement server of the plurality of measurement servers and at least one central unit of a plurality of central units;

communicate with each of the one or more measurement servers;

obtain one or more internet Protocol (IP) transport performance parameters associated with each of the one or more measurement servers based on the communications;

send the one or more IP transport performance parameters to the central server;

receive one or more addresses corresponding to one or more central units from the central server based on the one or more IP transport performance parameters; and

establish an F1 connection with the one or more central units using the one or more addresses.

8. The distributed unit of claim 7 , wherein the list of one or more measurement servers is generated by the central server by:

determining one or more edge cloud zones from the plurality of edge cloud zones based on the received physical location of the distributed unit and a physical location of each edge cloud zone of the plurality of edge cloud zones;

selecting one or more measurement servers corresponding to the determined one or more edge cloud zones; and

generating the list of one or more measurement servers based on the selected one or more measurement servers.

9. The distributed unit of claim 8 , wherein the one or more central units are selected by the central server by:

selecting one or more selected measurement servers based on the one or more IP transport performance parameters;

selecting the one or more edge cloud zones corresponding to the one or more selected measurement servers; and

selecting the one or more central units corresponding to the one or more selected edge cloud zones.

10. The distributed unit of claim 7 , wherein one or more IP) transport performance parameters include at least one of latency and packet loss.

11. The distributed unit of claim 7 , wherein the communication includes Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol.

12. The distributed unit of claim 7 , wherein the distributed unit is configured to perform at least one of physical network functions, virtual network functions, or any combination thereof.

13. A method performed by a central server, comprising:

receiving a physical location of a distributed unit;

generating a list of one or more measurement servers from a plurality of measurement servers based on the physical location of the distributed unit, the plurality of measurement servers each associated with an edge cloud zone of a plurality of edge cloud zones, each edge cloud zone of the plurality of edge cloud zones including at least one measurement server of the plurality of measurement servers and at least one central unit of a plurality of central units; and

sending the list of one or more measurement servers to the distributed unit, the sending of the list of one or more measurement servers causing the distributed unit to communicate with each of the one or more measurement servers.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving one or more Internet Protocol (IP) transport performance parameters from the distributed unit based on the list of one or more measurement servers;

selecting one or more central units based on the one or more IP transport performance parameters; and

sending one or more addresses corresponding to the one or more central units to the distributed unit.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the generating includes:

determining one or more edge cloud zones from the plurality of edge cloud zones based on the received physical location of the distributed unit and a physical location of each edge cloud zone of the plurality of edge cloud zones;

selecting one or more measurement servers corresponding to the determined one or more edge cloud zones; and

generating the list of one or more measurement servers based on the selected one or more measurement servers.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the selecting the one or more central units includes:

selecting one or more selected measurement servers based on the one or more IP transport performance parameters;

selecting the one or more edge cloud zones corresponding to the one or more selected measurement servers; and

selecting the one or more central units corresponding to the one or more selected edge cloud zones.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

identifying one or more neighbor distributed units within a threshold geographic distance of the distributed unit, the one or more neighbor distributed units being currently associated with one or more associated central units,

wherein the selecting the one or more central units is based on at least one of,

(i) a round-robin priority order among one or more available central units within the one or more selected edge cloud zones,

(ii) selecting the one or more associated central units to which a largest quantity of neighbor distributed units is associated,

(iii) selecting the one or more associated central units to which a smallest quantity of neighbor distributed unit is associated, and

(iv) selecting the one or more central units that is a fewest number of hops from the distributed unit.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more IP transport performance parameters include at least one of latency and packet loss.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more IP transport performance parameters are determined using Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein the distributed unit uses the one or more addresses corresponding to the one or more central units to establish an F1 connection to at least one of the one or more central units.