Fronthaul link selection in wireless communications systems

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

• determining one or more link delays, the one or more link delays being associated with one or more communication links of a plurality of communication links communicatively coupling a first communication device and a second communication device;
• assigning data flow identifiers to the one or more communication links, the data flow identifiers being associated with transmission priority;
• selecting at least one communication link from the one or more communication links assigned with data flow identifiers for transmission of one or more data packets between the first communication device and the second communication device;
• and
• transmitting, using the selected at least one communication link, the one or more data packets between the first communication device and the second communication device;
• wherein the data flow identifiers are dynamically associated to the one or more communication links based on the one or more link delays;
• wherein at least one of the determining the one or more link delays, the assigning the data flow identifiers, the selecting, and the transmitting is performed by a base station;
• and
• wherein the base station includes at least one of the following communication components:
• one or more radio units and one or more distributed units,
• wherein the first communication device includes a distributed unit, and the second communication device includes a radio unit,
• wherein the one or more link delays includes at least one of the following:
• at least one first link delay associated with a transmission of one or more data packets from the distributed unit to the radio unit, at least one second link delay associated with a transmission of one or more data packets from the radio unit to the distributed unit, and any combination thereof,
• wherein a downlink path delay of each available link is measured by the distributed unit,
• wherein an uplink path delay of each available link is measured by the radio unit, wherein one or more timestamps associated with an uplink path are provided to the distributed unit to determine the uplink path delay as the measured uplink path, and
• wherein the method further comprises determining a delay sensitivity associated with transmission of one or more data packets on the one or more communication links, wherein the delay sensitivity is determined based on at least one of the downlink path and uplink path delays not exceeding at least one predetermined delay threshold.