Virtual Base Station Pool: Towards a Wireless Network Cloud for Radio Access Networks
The mobile Internet has seen tremendous progress due to the standardization efforts around WiMAX, LTE and beyond. Software radio over IT platforms will enable the virtualization of base stations and consolidation of virtual base stations into central pools (a local “Cloud site”) with fiber connectivity to towers, which the authors call a Wireless Network Cloud (WNC). A Virtual Base Station (BS) pool supporting multiple BS software instances over a general OS and IT platform is an important step towards the realization of the larger WNC concept. This paper introduces the first TDD WiMAX SDR BS implemented on a commodity server, in conjunction with a novel design of a Remote Radio Head (RRH).