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 communicating using a fronthaul, comprising:
providing a 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) communication protocol; and
communicating, without communication protocol conversion, with a processor of the CU over the I/O bus using the PCIe communication protocol;
wherein the CU and the DU include a PCI to optical converter and an optical to PCI converter.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing at least one additional DU in communication with the CU over the I/O bus.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein
the CU is a PCIe master and the DU is a PCIe slave.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a processor of the DU communicates, without communication protocol conversion, over the I/O bus using the PCIe communication protocol.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the DU and CU are provided as at least one of a 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G network.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing real-time data rate hit debug information between the CU and the DU or frame synchronization between the CU and the DU using the PCIe mirrored memory capability.
7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing side information to IQ sample streams.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein without communication protocol conversion includes without communication protocol conversion using an FPGA or HW accelerator.
9 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions for communication using a fronthaul which, when executed, cause a system to perform steps comprising:
providing a 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) communication protocol; and
communicating, without communication protocol conversion, with a processor of the CU over the I/O bus using the PCIe communication protocol;
wherein the CU and the DU include a PCI to optical converter and an optical to PCI converter.
10 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 ,
further comprising instructions for providing at least one additional DU in communication with the CU over the I/O bus.
11 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the CU is a PCIe master and the DU is a PCIe slave.
12 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the instructions for communication using a fronthaul
further comprise communicating by a processor of the DU, without communication protocol conversion, over the I/O bus using the PCIe communication protocol.
13 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the DU and CU are provided as at least one of a 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G network.
14 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 ,
further comprising instructions for providing real-time data rate hit debug information between the CU and the DU or frame synchronization between the CU and the DU using the PCIe mirrored memory capability.
15 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , further comprising instructions for providing side information to IQ sample streams.
16 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein without communication protocol conversion includes without communication protocol conversion using an FPGA or HW accelerator.
17 . A system for communicating using a fronthaul, comprising:
a virtual Radio Access Network (vRAN) having a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU); and
an Input/Output (I/O) bus using Peripheral Component Interconnect-Express (PCIe) communication protocol coupled to the CU and DU;
wherein a processor of the CU communicates, without communication protocol conversion, over the I/O bus using the PCIe communication protocol; and
wherein the CU and the DU include a PCI to optical converter and an optical to PCI converter.
18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein a processor of the DU communicates, without communication protocol conversion, over the I/O bus using the PCIe communication protocol.
19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the system is part of at least one of a 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G network.
20 . The system of claim 17 , 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.