Signal power pattern-based location detection and cell placement

• US 10,178,643 B1
• Filed: 07/11/2018
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramamurthy, Suryanarayanan
• Primary Examiner(s): Schwartz, Joshua
• Application Number:
  US16/032,444
• Time in Patent Office: 181 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Systems and methods identify placement areas for small cells in a macro cell network environment. A network device collects user equipment (UE) received signal strength measurements for wireless access stations concurrently visible to one or more UE devices and designates signature areas based on groupings of the concurrently visible wireless access stations. The network device identifies time intervals with high RAN usage; extracts, from network data for the identified time intervals, traffic data for each signature area over incremental periods and a number of concurrent UEs for each signature area over the incremental periods. The network device ranks the signature areas based on the extracted uplink traffic and the extracted number of concurrent UEs; and selects a target signature area for small cell placement from the ranked signature areas.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more network devices for a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising:

collecting user equipment (UE) received signal strength measurements for wireless access stations concurrently visible to one or more UE devices;

designating signature areas based on groupings of the concurrently visible wireless access stations;

identifying time intervals with RAN usage that exceeds a threshold;

extracting, from network data for the identified time intervals, uplink traffic for each signature area over incremental periods;

extracting, from the network data for the identified time intervals, a number of concurrent UEs for each signature area over the incremental periods;

ranking the signature areas based on the extracted uplink traffic and the extracted number of concurrent UEs; and

selecting a target signature area for a small cell from the ranked signature areas.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the ranked signature areas to reflect placement of the small cell.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the time intervals with RAN usage that exceeds the threshold includes:

identifying first time intervals where sustained high traffic is detected at an eNB level that utilizes uplink and/or downlink radio bearers beyond a configurable threshold, and identifying second time intervals where a number of active concurrent users is sustained above another configurable threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the network data includes call detail records (CDRs).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the UE received signal strength measurements includes:

receiving, from the one or more UE devices, batch files with reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each UE received signal strength measurement provides a data point for a corresponding location, and wherein the designating further comprises:

assigning the signature areas to geographic spaces having data points with the same combination of the concurrently visible wireless access stations.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the designating further comprises:

identifying multiple clusters of the data points in the signature areas; and

calculating an estimated location for each cluster of the multiple clusters based on the UE location indications from the data points.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting further comprises:

assembling, for the target signature area, a heat map that includes a visual or logical representation of a concentration of active UEs for one or more of the incremental periods.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the selecting further comprises:

identifying, from the heat map, coverage gaps based on areas that have few or no concurrent users.

10. A network device, comprising:

an interface that communicates with a network;

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the interface and the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to;

collect user equipment (UE) received signal strength measurements for wireless access stations concurrently visible to one or more UE devices;

designate signature areas based on groupings of the concurrently visible wireless access stations;

identify time intervals with RAN usage that exceeds a threshold;

extract, from network data for the identified time intervals, traffic data for each signature area over incremental periods;

extract, from the network data for the identified time intervals, a number of concurrent UEs for each signature area over the incremental periods;

rank the signature areas based on the extracted uplink traffic and the extracted number of concurrent UEs; and

select a target signature area for a small cell from the ranked signature areas.

11. The network device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

update the ranked signature areas to reflect a placement of the small cell.

12. The network device of claim 10, wherein, when identifying the time intervals with RAN usage that exceeds the threshold, the processor is further configured to:

identify first time intervals where sustained high traffic is detected at an eNB level that utilizes uplink and/or downlink radio bearers beyond a configurable threshold, or

identify second time intervals where a number of active concurrent users is sustained above another configurable threshold.

13. The network device of claim 10, wherein the network data includes call detail records (CDRs).

14. The network device of claim 10, wherein the received signal strength measurements include reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements.

15. The network device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

assemble, for the target signature area, a heat map that includes a visual or logical representation of a concentration of active UEs for one or more of the incremental periods.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions executable by at least one processor, the computer-readable medium comprising one or more instructions to cause the at least one processor to:

collect user equipment (UE) received signal strength measurements for wireless access stations concurrently visible to one or more UE devices;

designate signature areas based on groupings of the concurrently visible wireless access stations;

identify time intervals with RAN usage that exceeds a threshold;

extract, from network data for the identified time intervals, traffic for each signature area over incremental periods or a number of concurrently connected UEs for each signature area over the incremental periods;

rank the signature areas based on the extracted uplink traffic or the extracted number of concurrent UEs; and

select a target signature area for a small cell from the ranked signature areas.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising one or more instructions to cause the at least one processor to:

re-designate the ranked signature areas to reflect a placement of the small cell.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the received signal strength measurements include reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or received signal strength indicator (RSSI) data.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the network data includes uplink traffic data from call detail records (CDRs).

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the incremental periods include periods of less than five seconds.