A Heterogeneous Load Balancing Approach in Centralized BBU-Pool of C-RAN Architecture

Abstract

The Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) is a new paradigm for the next generation wireless and mobile communication for handling a large volume of heterogeneous data-centric devices and communication devices on the same platform. The introduction of cloud technology along with virtualization on the mobile communication platform added more scalability and flexibility to the cellular base station (BS). The centralization of Base Band Unit (C-BBU) also leads to the minimization of the capital cost (CAPEX), and operational cost (OPEX) which incurred during construction and maintenance of the BS. As in C-RAN Architecture, all the signal processing and controlling functionalities are carried out at the C-BBU, which sometimes leads to some overload and under load conditions at C-BBU. This situation can be avoided by proper balancing the load at C-BBU. This paper investigated the different load balancing issues in C-RAN and proposed a Heterogeneous Load Balancing (HLB) algorithm for handling the various type of radio technology on the same BBU-Pool. HLB assign the incoming load to a particular VM based on the different factors like packet length, packet headers and VM capacity. The proposed algorithm is compared with a different existing algorithm, and the result shows that HLB is more energy efficient and scalable.