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Parallelized near-optimal scheduler for 5G radio resource

Communications & RFComputing, Software & AIElectronics & SemiconductorsPrototype likely

This technology is a scheduling engine for 5G cellular networks that figures out, in real time, how to divide up limited radio bandwidth among many users simultaneously connected to a cell tower. It works by breaking the complex optimization problem into many smaller independent pieces, running them in parallel across a many-core processor (think GPUs or similar chips), and picking the best solution — all within 100 microseconds, which is fast enough to act before the next transmission window opens. The system runs continuously, computing the next scheduling decision during each transmission interval while the prior decision is being applied. The practical result is a base station that can handle dense user environments more efficiently than conventional schedulers, squeezing more throughput out of the same radio spectrum.

What you could build

A hardware-software appliance or licensable firmware module for 5G base station vendors and telecom equipment OEMs that replaces or augments the existing scheduler with a parallelized near-optimal one; primary buyers would be RAN equipment manufacturers like Ericsson, Nokia, or Samsung Networks, or open-RAN software stack developers targeting disaggregated base station architectures.

Who in Virginia should care

Northern Virginia's dense concentration of federal telecom contractors, DoD spectrum users, and data center operators deploying private 5G networks would have direct interest in improved RAN scheduling technology.

Readiness: Prototype likely

Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.

Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.

The record

Inventors
Yan Huang, Y. Thomas Hou, Yongce Chen
Granted
December 22, 2020
Status
Granted patent
Patent number
10873412

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Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.

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Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.