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US-12619417-B2 - In service upgrade of radio access network distributed unit of a cellular network

US12619417B2US 12619417 B2US12619417 B2US 12619417B2US-12619417-B2

Abstract

Various embodiments of apparatus, systems and/or methods are described for providing an in-service upgrading of software for a radio access network (RAN) distributed unit (DU). First, a software upgrade is received at the DU, where the DU is split into a first DU pod and a second DU pod. The amount of traffic is drained at the first DU pod so that the second DU pod handles all user equipment (UE) traffic for the DU. When the traffic has been drained for the first DU pod, the software upgrade is installed for the first DU pod, and the first DU pod running the upgraded software is redeployed.

Inventors

  • Julio Armenta
  • Gurpreet Sohi

Assignees

  • DISH WIRELESS L.L.C.

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20221228

Claims (16)

  1. 1 . A method for an in-service upgrading of software for a radio access network (RAN) distributed unit (DU), the method comprising: deploying a DU that controls traffic between a plurality of radio units (RUs) of a cell site of the RAN and at least one central unit of the RAN; splitting the DU into a first DU pod and a second DU pod, wherein the first DU pod controls traffic with a first subset of the plurality of RUs and the second DU pod controls traffic with a distinct second subset of the plurality of RUs; receiving a software upgrade at the DU; draining traffic from the first DU pod; when the traffic has been drained from the first DU pod: causing the second DU pod to handle all user equipment (UE) traffic for the cell site and the DU; and installing the software upgrade for the first DU pod; and redeploying the first DU pod running the upgraded software.
  2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the draining comprises barring traffic from the first subset RUs to the first DU pod.
  3. 3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining when combined traffic at the first DU pod and second DU pod falls below a predefined threshold, and performing the draining in response to determining that the combined traffic for the first DU pod and second DU pod is less than the predefined threshold.
  4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein splitting the DU into the first DU pod and the second DU pod comprises; assigning the first subset of RUs from the cell site to the first DU pod; and assigning the distinct second subset of RUs from the cell site to the second DU pod, whereby the first subset of RUs comprises at least one RU per sector, and whereby the second subset of RUs also comprises at least one RU per sector.
  5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: in response to traffic to the first DU pod being less than a predefined threshold at a first time: continuing active calls in sector-carriers for the first subset of RUs handled by the first DU pod that began prior to the first time; and barring new calls for sector-carriers handled by the first subset of RUs handled by the first DU pod.
  6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the draining comprises transferring all traffic from the first DU pod to the second DU pod.
  7. 7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the cell site comprises two RUs per sector, with one RU per sector being in each of the first subset of RUs and the second subset of RUs.
  8. 8 . A server for handling cellular traffic on a cell site, the server comprising: memory configured to store computer instruction and a software upgrade for a DU; a processor configured to execute the computer instructions to: deploy the DU to control traffic between a plurality of radio units (RUs) of a cell site of the RAN and at least one central unit of the RAN; split the DU into at least two DU pods comprising a first DU pod and a second DU pod, wherein the first DU pod controls traffic with a first set of the plurality of RUs and the second DU pod controls traffic with a distinct second set of the plurality of RUs; drain traffic at the first DU pod; when the traffic has been drained for the first DU pod: cause the second DU pod to handle traffic for the cell site and the DU; and install the software upgrade for the first DU pod; and redeploy the first DU pod running the upgraded software.
  9. 9 . The server of claim 8 , wherein the processor drains traffic at the first DU pod by being configured to further execute the computer instructions to: perform the draining in response to determining that a combined traffic for the first DU pod and second DU pod is less than a predefined threshold.
  10. 10 . The server of claim 8 , wherein the processor drains traffic at the first DU pod by being configured to further execute the computer instructions to: in response to traffic to the first DU pod being less than a predefined threshold at a first time: continuing active calls in sector-carriers for the first set of RUs handled by the DU pod that began prior to the first time; and barring new calls for sector-carriers handled by the first set of RUs handled by the first DU pod.
  11. 11 . The server of claim 8 , wherein the cell site comprises two RUs per sector and the first DU pod manages at least one RU per sector and the second DU pod manages one or more RUs per sector different from the at least one RU per sector managed by the first DU pod.
  12. 12 . A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a computer program product that, when executed by a processor, executes a method for an in-service upgrading of software for a radio access network (RAN) distributed unit (DU), the method comprising: receiving a software upgrade for the DU, the DU controlling traffic between a plurality of radio units (RUs) of a cell site of the RAN and at least one central unit of the RAN, and the DU being split into at least two pods comprising a first DU pod and a second DU pod wherein the first DU pod controls traffic with a first set of the plurality of RUs and the second DU pod controls traffic with a distinct second set of the plurality of RUs; draining traffic at the first DU pod so that the second DU pod handles all user equipment (UE) traffic for the DU; when the traffic has been drained for the first DU pod, installing the software upgrade for the first DU pod; and redeploying the first DU pod running the upgraded software.
  13. 13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the draining comprises barring traffic to the first set of RUs handled by the first DU pod.
  14. 14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises: determining when combined traffic at the first DU pod and second DU pod falls below a predefined threshold, and performing the draining in response to determining that the combined traffic for the first DU pod and second DU pod is less than the predefined threshold.
  15. 15 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the first set of RUs comprises at least one RU per sector of the cell site, and wherein the second set of RUs also comprises at least one separate RU per sector of the cell site.
  16. 16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises: in response to traffic to the first DU pod being less than a predefined threshold at a first time: continuing active calls in sector-carriers for the set of RUs handled by the first DU pod that began prior to the first time; and barring new calls for sector-carriers handled by the first set of RUs handled by the first DU pod.

Description

BACKGROUND In a cellular radio network, mobile terminals (also known as user equipment (UE)) communicate via a radio access network (RAN) to one or more core networks. The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into cell areas, with each cell area being served by a radio base station. A cell is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio base station equipment at a base station site. The software of each radio base station may be updated through updating the distributed units (DUs) of each RAN. This is accomplished by the operator/vendor of the RAN pushing software upgrades directly to the DU. However, each DU carries real time user data and it's not possible to migrate the UE context real time during the software upgrade process. As such, upgrading of the DU conventionally requires that the DU be taken offline and thus, not operational which can cause interruptions in service to the UE. Accordingly, the software upgrade of DU impacts service and is typically scheduled only during the maintenance window. SUMMARY Disclosed herein are embodiments of systems and methods to upgrade a RAN DU with low or no impact on service. To achieve in-service upgrades of these DUs, the main data pod of the DU is split into two (or more) pods/micro services where each DU pod will be active and process L1 and L2 data. By splitting the DU application into two pods, three radio units (low band) will be served by first pod and the remaining three radio units (mid band) will be served by a second pod. Generally, according to some embodiments, various embodiments of apparatus, systems and/or methods are described below. According to one embodiment, a method is provided for an in-service upgrading of software for a radio access network (RAN) distributed unit (DU). A software upgrade is received at the DU, where the DU is split into a first DU pod and a second DU pod. The amount of traffic is drained at the first DU pod so that the second DU pod handles all user equipment (UE) traffic for the DU. When the traffic has been drained for the first DU pod, the software upgrade is installed for the first DU pod, and the first DU pod running the upgraded software is redeployed. According to another embodiment, a server is provided for handling cellular traffic on a cell site. The server includes memory, a processor, an operating software installed in the memory, and a DU configured to execute on the operating software via the processor and being split into a first DU pod and a second DU pod. The DU is configured for draining the amount of traffic at the first DU pod so that the second DU pod handles all user equipment (UE) traffic for the DU. When the traffic has been drained for the first DU pod, the server is configured for installing the software upgrade for the first DU pod, and the first DU pod running the upgraded software is redeployed. According to one embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable medium embodies a computer program product that, when executed by a processor, executes a method for an in-service upgrading of software for a radio access network (RAN) distributed unit (DU). The method includes: receiving a software upgrade at the DU, the DU being split into at least two pods comprising a first DU pod and a second DU pod; draining the amount of traffic at the first DU pod so that the second DU pod handles all user equipment (UE) traffic for the DU; when the traffic has been drained for the first DU pod, installing the software upgrade for the first DU pod; and redeploying the first DU pod running the upgraded software. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The same number represents the same element or same type of element in all drawings. FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless cellular system, according to some embodiments. FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless cellular system using a Kubernetes configuration, according to some embodiments. FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of the system of FIG. 2 according to some embodiments. FIG. 4 illustrates a tower of a cell site, according to some embodiments. FIG. 5 illustrates a top view of a tower of a cell site, according to some embodiments. FIGS. 6A and 6B each illustrates a system of an DU, according to some embodiments. FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate methods of in-service upgrades of an RAN DU, according to some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS The various embodiments described herein generally provide apparatus, systems and methods for in service upgrades of a RAN DU and RU. Establishing a Cellular Network Using Kubernetes Clusters First, the kubernetes cluster configuration is discussed below. A kubernetes cluster is a set of nodes that run containerized applications. Containerizing applications is an operating system-level virtualization method used to deploy and run distributed applications without launching an entire virtual machine (VM) for each application. A cluster configuration software is available at a cl