Method and apparatus for abstracting network resources in a mobile communications network

An apparatus for abstracting network resources in a mobile communications network, the network resources comprising transport domain resources, radio domain resources and control resources, the apparatus comprising processing circuitry and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry to cause the apparatus to:

• determine a service coverage area for a class of service, the class of service defined by service parameters comprising a bandwidth, a latency, and a reliability to be delivered for the class of service, and an abstraction view comprising a deliverable bandwidth, a deliverable latency, and a deliverable reliability for the class of service within a set of tracking areas, the deliverable bandwidth and the deliverable latency of the abstraction view comprising representative values of statistically estimated radio domain bandwidth and latency values of the tracking areas;
• determine the set of tracking areas that fall at least partly within the service coverage area;
• select available network resources for tracking areas of the set of tracking areas, for providing the class of service in the tracking areas;
• check that the selected network resources are able to deliver the service parameters of the class of service;
• responsive to the checking indicating that at least part of the selected network resources are unable to deliver the service parameters of the class of service, select different available network resources for tracking areas of the set of tracking areas, for providing the class of service in the tracking areas;
• define the abstraction view of the selected network resources for the class of service in the service coverage area, the abstraction view comprising deliverable values of the service parameters within the set of tracking areas;
• and
• output a communication signal comprising an indication of the abstraction view.

A non-transitory computer storage medium storing a computer program, comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method of abstracting network resources in a mobile communications network, the network resources comprising transport domain resources, radio domain resources and control resources, the method comprising:

• determining a service coverage area for a class of service, the class of service defined by service parameters comprising a bandwidth, a latency, and a reliability to be delivered for the class of service, and an abstraction view comprising a deliverable bandwidth, a deliverable latency, and a deliverable reliability for the class of service within a set of tracking areas, the deliverable bandwidth and the deliverable latency of the abstraction view comprising representative values of statistically estimated radio domain bandwidth and latency values of the tracking areas;
• determining the set of tracking areas that fall at least partly within the service coverage area;
• selecting available network resources for tracking areas of the set of tracking areas, for providing the class of service in the tracking areas;
• checking that the selected network resources are able to deliver the service parameters of the class of service;
• responsive to the checking indicating that at least part of the selected network resources are unable to deliver the service parameters of the class of service, selecting different available network resources for tracking areas of the set of tracking areas, for providing the class of service in the tracking areas;
• defining the abstraction view of the selected network resources for the class of service in the service coverage area, the abstraction view comprising deliverable values of the service parameters within the set of tracking areas;
• and
• outputting a communication signal comprising an indication of the abstraction view.