摘要 |
The present invention comprises methods and apparatuses for maintaining radio network timing synchronization across an asynchronous communication link between a Radio Equipment Controller (REC) and an item of Radio Equipment (RE). An REC-side adaptor sends first and second asynchronous packet flows over the asynchronous communication link, including a downlink packet flow comprising CPRI basic frames and overhead information encapsulated in asynchronous communication link packets, and a synchronization packet flow comprising CPRI clock data. An RE-side adaptor recovers the CPRI clock from the synchronization packet flow, and uses the recovered clock to re-synchronize the downlink data recovered from the downlink packet flow. For the uplink, the RE outputs uplink traffic in a synchronous, CPRI-compliant stream that is then encapsulated for asynchronous transport by the RE-side adaptor. The REC-side adaptor reconstitutes the asynchronously received uplink data as a synchronous, CPRI-compliant stream for input to the REC.
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