Uplink aware dual connectivity

A method of operating a second radio access network, RAN, node in a communication network comprising:

• determining, by the second RAN node, data indicating characteristics of an uplink, UL, channel of one or more UL channels for the second RAN node;
• transmitting, by the second RAN node, the data to a first RAN node in the communication network;
• responsive to transmitting the data to the first RAN node, receiving, by the second RAN node, a message indicating whether the second RAN node is to provide dual connectivity to a user equipment, UE, in the communication network by becoming a secondary node to the first RAN node and serving the UE;
• and
• responsive to receiving the message indicating the second RAN node is not to provide dual connectivity to the UE:
• determining, by the second RAN node, updated data indicating updated characteristics of the UL channel for the second RAN node;
• determining, by the second RAN node, that a difference between the data and the updated data exceeds a threshold value;
• transmitting, by the second RAN node, the updated data to the first RAN node;
• and
• responsive to transmitting the updated data, receiving, by the second RAN node, another message indicating whether the second RAN node is to provide dual connectivity to the UE by becoming a secondary node to the first RAN node that serves the UE.

A first radio access network, RAN, node operable in a communication network, the first RAN node comprising:

• a processing circuit;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processing circuit, the memory storing machine-readable computer program instructions that, when executed by the processing circuit, cause the processing circuit to:
• receive data indicating characteristics of an uplink, UL, channel of one or more UL channels for a second RAN node in the communication network, the data comprising:
• first data indicating a transmit power used by the second RAN node to transmit a downlink, DL, signal;
• second data indicating UL interference and noise, I+N, in the UL channel;
• and
• third data indicating a receive power of the signal detected by the UE from the second RAN node;
• estimate an UL quality of the UL channel based on the data, estimating the UL quality comprising:
• estimating a path loss based on the transmit power, the receive power, and the I+N;
• and
• determining transmit capabilities of the UE based on limitations of the UE and restrictions placed on the transmit capabilities of the UE by the communication network;
• and
• determine, based on the UL quality, whether to provide dual connectivity to a user equipment, UE, in the communication network by adding the second RAN node as a secondary node serving the UE.