Method and apparatus for dynamically managing wireless resources in a radio access network of an enterprise campus

A method for managing RAN resources in a wireless Enterprise Network (EN) comprises a SON (Self Organizing Network), the EN operating in a spectrum-controlled band divided into a plurality of channels, the EN including a plurality of BS/APs deployed on a campus RAN for communicating with a plurality of UEs on the campus, the BS/APs including a first BS/AP and a second BS/AP, the method comprising:

• a) determining available channels in the spectrum-controlled band;
• b) responsive to the available channels, determining a first instantaneous bandwidth for the first BS/AP and a second instantaneous bandwidth for the second BS/AP, the first instantaneous bandwidth overlapping the second instantaneous bandwidth;
• c) activating the first BS/AP with the first instantaneous bandwidth;
• d) activating the second BS/AP with the second instantaneous bandwidth;
• and
• e) operating the first BS/AP on a first occupied bandwidth smaller than the first instantaneous bandwidth, the first occupied bandwidth including a first plurality of non-contiguous bandwidth parts utilized for communication by the first BS/AP;
• and
• f) operating the second BS/AP on a second occupied bandwidth smaller than the second instantaneous bandwidth, selected to avoid interference with the first occupied bandwidth, the second occupied bandwidth includes a second plurality of non-contiguous bandwidth parts utilized for communication by the second BS/AP, the bandwidth parts of the first occupied bandwidth being orthogonal to the bandwidth parts of the second occupied bandwidth to avoid interference between the first and second BS/APs;
• g) assigning, by the SON, the first and second orthogonal occupied bandwidth parts to the first and second APs, respectively;
• and
• h) monitoring CBSDs during operation to determine radio resource requirements;
• i) responsive to the radio resource requirements, the EN determines whether the first BS/AP in the deployment needs additional resources;
• i) if the EN determines that the first BS/AP needs additional resources, then responsive to the radio resource requirements of the other BS/APs in the RAN deployment, determining if one or more of the other BS/APs has wireless resources available;
• and
• k) if the EN determines that the first BS/AP needs additional resources, then load balancing the occupied bandwidths of the first BS/AP and said one or more of other BS/APs that have wireless resources available, responsive to the monitored radio resource requirements in the RAN deployment, the load balancing including:
• (i) transferring bandwidth between one or more BS/APs in the RAN and the first BS/AP so that radio channel capacity allocations approximately balance the load for each BS/AP within RAN deployment;
• and
• (ii) changing the occupied bandwidth to be used by the first BS/AP and the transferring BS/APs, including re-assigning bandwidth parts to the first BS/AP and the transferring BS/APs responsive to the radio resource requirements;
• and
• wherein:
• the load balancing determination changes at least one IBW assigned to at least one BS/AP in the RAN deployment, thereby changing the occupied bandwidth for said BS/AP;
• and
• the occupied bandwidth of each BS/AP includes a subsystem block (SSB) with an associated IBW, and the step of changing said at least one IBW further includes moving its associated SSB to its changed occupied bandwidth.