WO2010139842A1

WO2010139842A1 - Apparatus and method for resource utilisation in wireless systems

Info

Publication number: WO2010139842A1
Application number: PCT/FI2009/050483
Authority: WO
Inventors: Markus Nentwig
Original assignee: Nokia Corporation
Priority date: 2009-06-05
Filing date: 2009-06-05
Publication date: 2010-12-09
Also published as: EP2438775A1; EP2438775A4

Abstract

Apparatus and method for communication are provided. The solution comprises receiving information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by a radio node, the data traffic comprising data packets; receiving information on radio resources available to the radio node for transmission of data packets; and controlling the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

Description

Apparatus and method for resource utilisation in wireless systems

Field

The exemplary and non-limiting embodiments of the invention relate generally to wireless communication networks and more specifically, to trans- mission and reception in networks where radio resources are utilised flexibly.

Background

Communication systems, and a wireless communication system in particular, have been under extensive development in recent years. Future radio networks may provide both short-range, ultra-high data rate coverage and large area lower data rate coverage for mobile wireless devices. The networks are designed to be largely decentralised and comprise self-organizing and -optimizing features. For example, the utilisation of radio resources may be designed to be decentralised.

Several new services have been developed in addition to the con- ventional speech transmission. Data and multimedia services are attractive to users, and communication systems should provide sufficient quality of service at a reasonable cost.

Different services require different properties from the radio link used in the transmission of the services. The requirements related to data rate and delay tolerance may vary depending on the service. These differences must be taken into account when designing resource utilisation in wireless systems.

Summary

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in or- der to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description that is presented below.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus configured to receive information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by a radio node, the data traffic comprising data packets; receive information on radio resources available to the radio node for transmis- sion of data packets; control the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is pro- vided an apparatus comprising a radio modem for transmission and reception of signals; a scheduler for controlling transmission of data packets; a processor configured to receive information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by the radio modem, the data traffic comprising data packets; receive information on radio resources available to the apparatus for the transmission of data packets; control the radio modem and scheduler to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising receiving information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by a radio node, the data traffic comprising data packets; receiving information on radio resources available to the radio node for transmission of data packets; controlling the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic. According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising a radio modem for transmission and reception of signals; a processor configured to receive information on radio resources available to the apparatus for reception of data packets, receive information indicating that multiple instances of the same data packet to be re- ceived on different radio resources are to be processed as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets, control the radio modem to receive data packets; and a HARQ processor for combining with each other multiple instances of the same data packet received on different radio resources if one or more instances of the same data packet comprise errors. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising: receiving information on radio resources available for the reception of data packets, receiving information indicating that multiple instances of the same data packet to be received on different radio resources are to be processed as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets, controlling the reception of data packets; and combining with each other by a HARQ processor multiple instances of the same data packet received on different radio resources if one or more instances of the same data packet comprise errors.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for receiving information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by a radio node, the data traffic comprising data packets; means for receiving information on radio resources available to the radio node for the transmission of data packets; means for controlling the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising transceiving means for transmitting and receiving signals; scheduling means for controlling transmission of data packets; means for receiving information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted, the data traffic comprising data packets; means for receiving information on radio resources available to the apparatus for the transmission of data packets; means for controlling the transceiving means and scheduling means to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising transceiving means for transmitting and receiving signals; means for receiving information on radio resources available to the apparatus for the reception of data packets, means for receiving information indicating that multiple instances of the same data packet to be received on different radio resources are to be processed as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets, means for controlling the transceiving means to receive data packets; and means for combining with each other multiple instances of the same data packet received on different radio resources if one or more instances of the same data packet comprise errors. According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product embodied on a distribution medium readable by a computer and comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute a method, comprising: receiving information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by a radio node, the data traffic comprising data packets; receiving information on radio resources available to the radio node for transmission of data packets; controlling the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is pro- vided a computer program product embodied on a distribution medium readable by a computer and comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute a method, comprising: receiving information on radio resources available to a radio node for reception of data packets, receiving information indicating that multiple instances of the same data packet to be received on different radio resources are to be processed as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets, controlling the reception of data packets; and combining with each other by a HARQ processor multiple instances of the same data packet received on different radio resources if one or more instances of the same data packet comprise errors. According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising a processor configured to receive information on radio resources available to a radio node for transmission of data packets; control the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time; and control the radio node to inform a receiving radio node to process the instances of the data packet as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets.

List of drawings

Embodiments of the present invention are described below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 illustrates an example of an embodiment where a number of nodes shares a common radio spectrum;

Figure 2 illustrates an example of a radio node of an embodiment of the invention; Figures 3A and 3B illustrate examples of a division of a spectrum into radio resources;

Figures 4A to 4C illustrate embodiments of the invention; Figure 5 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment; Figure 6 illustrates ideal bit error rate curves in a Rayleigh fading channel; Figure 7 illustrates combined rate curves of different modulation- and-coding schemes in a given radio system;

Figure 8 illustrates a simulated time-varying frequency response of a radio channel; and Figure 9 illustrates an example of radio resource allocations to different nodes.

Description of some embodiments

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Although the specification may refer to "an", "one", or "some" embodi- ment(s) in several locations, this does not necessarily mean that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

Embodiments of the present invention are applicable to any user terminal, server, corresponding component, and/or to any communication system or any combination of different communication systems where radio resources are utilised flexibly. The communication system may be a wireless communication system or a communication system utilizing both fixed networks and wireless networks. The protocols used and the specifications of communication systems, servers and user terminals, especially in wireless communication, develop rapidly. Such development may require extra changes to an embodiment. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly and are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the embodiment.

A time-varying radio channel presents various problems in radio communication. Typical problems include fading, thermal noise, interference between users and intersystem interference. These problems must be taken into account in the design of radio communication systems. Hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) is a common approach to deal with time-varying radio channels. When an incoming data block at a receiving radio unit contains errors, the receiving radio unit requests a retransmission of the data block from the transmitting radio unit. Retransmissions of the same data are combined by the receiving radio unit until the block can be decoded without errors.

HARQ is typically implemented in radio units by using application- specific hardware, rather than software, which is cost and power efficient and can be assumed to exist already in a radio front end.

In networks where the utilisation of radio resources is designed to be decentralised, different radio nodes may compete to some degree for access to a shared radio resource. Some mechanisms are required to coordinate radio emissions from different radio nodes to manage interference between independent radio nodes. This is addressed by a protocol that coordinates radio emissions and the resulting interference across network boundaries, here called a Flexible Spectrum Use (FSU) protocol.

The purpose of a spectrum usage protocol is to achieve fair and efficient sharing of a radio channel. Regardless of how the FSU protocol is im- plemented, it is assumed that FSU negotiations between radio nodes result at each radio node in a list of radio resources that are available to be allocated by the node.

The radio resources may be divided not only between radio nodes of a system but also between radio nodes of different systems. Figure 1 illustrates an example of an embodiment where a number of nodes shares a common radio spectrum and the nodes belong to two different networks.

The figure shows six radio nodes 100 to 1 10. Radio nodes 100, 102 and 104 belong to a first network 120. Radio nodes 106, 108 and 1 10 belong to the second network 122. The radio nodes 102 and 108 may be access points, each serving several mobile devices, the radio nodes 100, 104, 106 and 1 10 may be mobile devices, being connected to only one access point at a time.

Within the first network 120, the radio nodes 100, 104 have estab- lished radio links 1 12, 1 14 with the access point radio node 102. Within the second network 122, the radio nodes 106, 1 10 have established radio links 1 16, 1 18 with the access point radio node 108. A transmission on such a link may cause interference to another network. For example, transmissions from a device 104 via the link 1 14 may cause interference to reception at the device 1 10, and to a lesser extent at the device 108. In this example, the nodes in both radio networks share a common radio frequency band. To prevent intolerable interference, the available frequency spectrum is divided into radio resources. A radio resource may be a 5 MHz channel in a 100 MHz bandwidth, for example. Other means of dividing radio resources are also possible.

In this example, all radio nodes 100 to 1 10 implement a common FSU negotiation protocol to communicate with other radio nodes to achieve fair and efficient sharing of the common radio resource, preventing intolerable interference at any node. The common FSU protocol may involve broadcast and reception of wireless messages, packets sent through a network backbone (not shown in Figure 1 ) or other means of communication. Within a network, FSU signalling may be coordinated by an access point. The access point may utilize existing wireless links within the network to coordinate remote transmission and recep- tion of FSU messages by connected radio nodes. FSU protocols may be implemented in various ways as is known by one skilled in the art. Embodiments of the invention do not depend on any particular FSU protocol. As a result of FSU negotiations, each participating radio node receives a set of radio resources allocated for transmission and reception of signals. Figure 2 illustrates an example of a radio node of an embodiment of the invention. The radio node 200 comprises a radio modem 202 connected to an antenna 204. The radio modem 202 maintains radio links to other devices within the same network. Further, the modem 202 may also transmit and receive messages for FSU signalling as commanded by an FSU controller 206. The FSU controller 206 is configured to negotiate with other radio devices according to a common FSU protocol. As a result of the FSU negotiation, the FSU controller 206 obtains an FSU status. The FSU status is a restriction on transmissions to prevent intolerable interference at other radio nodes. The FSU status comprises information about the radio resources assigned to the radio node for transmission and reception of data. The FSU controller 206 is connected to a scheduler 208, providing the FSU status. The scheduler 208 schedules data transmission according to the restrictions of the current FSU status and transmits them through the radio modem 202 via a wireless channel. The radio node may comprise a HARQ processor 210 connected to the radio modem 202 and the FSU controller 206. The HARQ processor is configured to control the utilisation of hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission processes. Thus, if normal HARQ is in use and an error is detected in a received data packet, the HARQ processor may control the radio modem to send a retransmission request. The radio modem 202 may comprise a transmitter and a receiver.

The realization of the radio modem depends on the parameters of the network and radio system the radio node belongs to. The FSU controller 206 and the scheduler 208 may be realised with one or more processors or other suitable hardware and associated software. Figures 3A and 3B illustrate examples of a division of a spectrum into radio resources and an FSU status. The FSU status for one particular node, for example the node 100 in Figure 1 , is illustrated in Figure 3A. The FSU status is the outcome of an FSU negotiation protocol.

Figure 3A illustrates a section of a radio resource spectrum allo- cated for the reception and transmission of signals in the network the radio node belongs to. In the example of Figure 1 , the same radio spectrum was allocated to two networks. Frequency is on the x-axis, divided into 5 MHz wide sections. Each section corresponds to a radio channel resource. An "O" mark above a radio resource denotes that the radio resource may be used for transmission by the radio node 100. The radio node may not transmit on resources marked with an "X", because the transmission would cause intolerable interference to other radio nodes.

Figure 3B illustrates another example of an implementation of an FSU status of a radio node. Here, the number above the radio resource identi- fies a constraint on transmit power on that particular radio resource, relative to a nominal maximum transmit power P₀. For example, number "-3" indicates that the scheduler may use the radio resource for transmission, but the transmission on that resource must be attenuated by -3 dB. Thus, only half the nominal transmit power is available compared to an unrestricted resource. A very small number, such as -30 (in dB), effectively prohibits transmissions on that resource.

Figures 4A to 4B are flowcharts illustrating some embodiments of the invention.

In step 400 of the embodiment of Figure 4A, information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by a radio node is received by an FSU controller of a radio node. The data traffic transmitted by the radio node comprises data packets.

In step 402, the FSU controller receives information on radio resources available to the radio node for the transmission of data packets. The information may be a result of an FSU negation protocol.

In step 404, the FSU controller controls the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

As is known, the requirements set for the performance of a radio link differ according to the nature of traffic or the service the radio node is utilizing. For example, audio streaming requires a comparatively low bit rate with a low maximum delay. Video streaming utilizes a higher bit rate but may tolerate larger delay variations. File downloading benefits from a high average data rate but is not latency critical. Web browsing is characterized by periods of inactiv- ity, followed by bursts of data.

These differences may be taken into account when controlling the transmission. The FSU controller may be configured to transmit several instances of the same data packet on different radio resources at the same time to gain reliability at the expense of throughput. Thus, referring to Figure 3A, the FSU controller may control the radio node to transmit the same data packet simultaneously on more than one radio resource marked with an "O".

Figure 4B illustrates another embodiment. Some of the steps are similar to the steps of Figure 4A. However, the steps are numbered sequentially for simplicity. In step 406, an FSU controller of a radio node receives information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by a radio node. The data traffic transmitted by the radio node comprises data packets.

In step 408, the FSU controller negotiates with other radio nodes by using a flexible radio use protocol to obtain a list of radio resources for the ra- dio node.

In step 410, the FSU controller receives, via a radio modem, information on radio resources available to the radio node for the transmission of data packets.

In step 412, the FSU controller determines parameters of the data packet transmission control. The type of the data traffic and the available resources may be taken into account when determining the parameters. In step 414, the FSU controller controls the radio node to inform a receiving radio node to process the instances of the data packet as hybrid automatic repeat request re-transmission (HARQ) packets.

In step 416, the FSU controller controls the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

Figure 4C illustrates in more detail an example of how step 412 may be realised.

In step 420, the FSU controller determines the number of instances of a data packet transmitted simultaneously. The number may depend on the available radio resources, the type of the traffic, information sent by a receiving radio node, or current interference situation, for example.

In step 422, the FSU controller allocates different transmission powers to different instances. The FSU controller may take signal to noise plus interference ratio at the receiving radio node into account when controlling the transmission powers. Referring to Figure 3A, the FSU controller may control the radio node to transmit the same data packet simultaneously on more than one radio resource marked with an "O" and apply different transmission powers in the transmission to different resources. In an embodiment, the FSU controller may reduce the average transmit power on the radio resources used, thereby reducing the geographical area where use of the radio resources is denied to other radio nodes due to interference. Thus, the radio node may use a wider bandwidth but reduce spectral power density in the transmission of data packets. Figure 5 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the invention.

In step 500, the FSU controller of a radio node negotiates with other radio nodes using a flexible radio use protocol to obtain a list of radio resources for the radio node.

In step 502, the FSU controller receives, via the radio modem, in- formation on radio resources available to the radio node for the reception of data packets.

In step 504, the FSU controller receives information indicating that multiple instances of the same data packet to be received on different radio resources are to be processed as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmis- sion (HARQ) packets. The FSU controller may inform the HARQ processor responsible for HARQ processing that the data packets received on different radio resources may be utilised as HARQ retransmission packets.

In step 506, the FSU controller controls the reception of data packets. In step 508, the HARQ processor may combine with each other multiple instances of the same data packet received on different radio resources if one or more instances of the same data packet comprise errors.

In an embodiment, where multiple instances of the same data packet are received on different radio resources, the HARQ processor may check if any of the received instances is received without errors. In such a case, the valid packet may be utilised in the reception. If all packets are received with errors, the HARQ processor may combine one or more packets with each other to obtain an error-free packet.

In general, the HARQ processor may utilise known HARQ tech- niques in the reception taking into account that the multiple instances of the same packet may be processed as HARQ packets. Thus, actual retransmissions are not required and reliability of the transmission is increased.

The proposed solution implements a variable throughput-vs-fairness tradeoff with minimal hardware complexity, using the existing HARQ proces- sor. Additional hardware is not needed.

In some radio systems, it is required to keep transmitting on a radio resource in order to mark it as occupied or give the current user of a radio resource privileged future access to the resource. The presented solution can be used to maintain a continuous transmission in such systems. In addition, the proposed solution adds robustness to time-varying interference, especially for delay-critical data.

Figure 6 illustrates ideal bit error rate curves in a Rayleigh fading channel when the number of simultaneous links is one 600, two 602, three 604 and four 606. Compared with the well-known BER curve in a Gaussian non- fading channel, the slope on the right hand side is rather gentle. For the curve 600 corresponding to a single link, the slope is "1 " - a ten time increase in signal power leads to a BER reduction of "only" a factor of 10. The bit error rate curve is dominated by the probability that the channel quality is above a given threshold. Using more power in the transmission only offsets the threshold, but does not dramatically improve reliability in a Rayleigh fading channel (neither does changing the modulation/coding scheme used in the transmission). The curve 602 corresponds to a case where two independent radio links are used in transmission. In such a case, a bit error only results when both channels are below the given threshold at the same time.

In general, the probability of a bit error decreases exponentially with the number of links, and therefore the slope of the BER curve matches the diversity order.

Comparing the curves at a signal-to-noise ratio of 20 dB (dashed line), it can be seen that using four links with independent fading instead of one link reduces the probability of an error by almost a factor of 100.

Figure 7 illustrates simulated combined rate curves of different modulation-and-coding schemes in an LTE radio system. The LTE (Long Term Evolution) system is a radio communication system based on the release 8th of the standardization work performed by a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In LTE, it is possible to utilise different coding schemes with different parameters. Signal-to noise ratio is on the x-axis and an obtained number of bits/symbols per subcarrier is on the y-axis. For example, a signal-to-noise ratio in excess of 20 dB allows transmitting 5.4 bits per subcarrier, which comes close to uncoded QAM64 modulation (6 bits).

When a fixed transmission power is split into n links, the power per link is reduced by an amount P_dlff according to the formula P_dιff = 10 logio n. Accordingly, the signal-to-noise ratio in every link is reduced, compared to a single link. This can be taken into account by choosing a different modulation and coding scheme. The following table illustrates the situation when using up to four radio links.

Table 1

For example, assume that a radio node is transmitting a streamed audio link. This type of traffic is sensitive to dropped packets. In FSU negotiations, the radio node may request to allocate four times more bandwidth com- pared to a single link audio connection, using the bandwidth to improve reliability.

Comparing the first and the fourth line in the above Table 1 shows that if four links are used instead on one link, the data rate is reduced slightly: 3.6/5.4=66%. However, bit error rate BER improves by a factor of 50.

Figure 8 illustrates a simulated time-varying frequency response of a radio channel. Time in seconds is on the x-axis and frequency in MHz is on the y-axis. The black areas denote instants when the frequency response is below a given threshold denoting a dropout. In this example it is assumed that mobile radio nodes move slowly (10 cm / second).

A radio node is allocated a radio resource 800 utilising frequency f_c. In this example, the radio resource is a 4 MHz sub band. On the given sub band, five dropouts 802, 804, 806, 808, 810 occur during the illustrated five seconds. If another radio resource (sub band 812) were used, only a single dropout 814 coincides with one dropout 810 in the first sub band.

When also a third sub band 816 is used, there are no dropouts occurring on all three links at the same time. Thus, by allocating more than one radio resource to the radio node the link that was initially intolerably bad be- comes almost error-free.

In an embodiment, instances of packets are advantageously sent separately on the different radio resources, as interleaving over the radio resources could result in packet loss when a single one of the radio resources is in a deep fade. A notable aspect in a system employing a flexible spectrum use is the nature of interference, which differs substantially from conventional cellular systems.

For example, a conventional solution to improve reliability is the feedback of channel state information from the receiver to the transmitter. The transmitter then schedules its transmission on the resources providing the best channel quality. This is a good solution for dealing with fading and random noise. However, in a system employing a flexible spectrum use it does not work very well, because also other radio links continuously adapt their transmissions. Therefore, the duration where channel state information provides a meaningful estimate for the actual channel may be comparatively short. Another difference from conventional systems is that sudden strong interference is quite likely, especially on sub bands where a receiver is not allowed to obtain a reservation.

Figure 9 illustrates an example of radio resource allocations to dif- ferent nodes. An access point 900 serves downlink data to several radio nodes 902, 904, 906, 908, 910 in a radio system employing a flexible spectrum use. Here, each radio node has been able to obtain a reservation on one radio resource where its reception is protected against interference. In the example of Figure 9, all radio nodes hold a reservation to a different radio resource. The radio node 902 has a reservation to resource 1 , the radio node 904 has a reservation to resource 2, the radio node 906 has a reservation to resource 3, the radio node 908 has a reservation to resource 4 and the radio node 910 has a reservation to resource 5. The access point 900 is allowed to transmit on all five radio resources. If there is no data for a given radio node in the buffer of the access point, the access point may use the radio resources allocated to the given radio node to transmit to another radio node. The access point may try to improve the reliability of a delay-critical transmission by sending the same data packets using more than one resource. The radio node receiving the packets may utilise the data packets as unrequested HARQ retransmission packets.

The steps and related functions described in Figures 1 to 9 are in no absolute chronological order, and some of the steps may be performed simultaneously or in an order differing from the given one. Other functions can also be executed between the steps. Some of the steps can also be left out or re- placed with a corresponding step.

An apparatus able to perform the above-described steps may be implemented as an electronic digital computer, which may comprise a working memory (RAM), a central processing unit (CPU), and a system clock. The CPU may comprise a set of registers, an arithmetic logic unit, and a control unit. The control unit is controlled by a sequence of program instructions transferred to the CPU from the RAM. The control unit may contain a number of microinstructions for basic operations. The implementation of microinstructions may vary depending on the CPU design. The program instructions may be coded by a programming language, which may be a high-level programming language, such as C, Java, etc., or a low-level programming language, such as a machine language, or an assembler. The electronic digital computer may also have an operating system which may provide system services to a computer program written with the program instructions.

An embodiment of the invention may be realised as a computer program or programs embodied on a distribution medium, comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an electronic apparatus, are configured to execute methods described above in connection with Figures 1 to 9.

The computer program or programs may be in source code form, object code form, or in some intermediate form, and may be stored in some sort of carrier, which may be any entity or device capable of carrying the pro- gram. Such carriers include a record medium, computer memory, read-only memory, and a software distribution package, for example. Depending on the processing power needed, the computer program may be executed in a single electronic digital computer or processor or it may be distributed amongst a number of computers or processors. The apparatus may also be implemented as one or more integrated circuits, such as application-specific integrated circuits ASIC. Other hardware embodiments are also feasible, such as a circuit built of separate logic components. A hybrid of these different implementations is also feasible. When selecting the method of implementation, a person skilled in the art will consider the requirements set for the size and power consumption of the apparatus, the necessary processing capacity, production costs, and production volumes, for example.

It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are not limited to the examples described above but may vary within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured to receive information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmit- ted by a radio node, the data traffic comprising data packets; receive information on radio resources available to the radio node for transmission of data packets; control the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , configured to control the radio node to inform a receiving radio node to process the instances of the data packet as hybrid automatic repeat request retrans- mission (HARQ) packets.

3. The apparatus of any preceding claim, configured to control the radio node to allocate different transmission powers to different instances.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, configured to take an estimate of signal to noise plus interference ratio at the receiving radio node into account when controlling the transmission powers.

5. The apparatus of any preceding claim, configured to negotiate with other radio nodes by using a flexible radio use protocol to obtain a list of radio resources for the radio node.

6. The apparatus of any preceding claim, configured to determine parameters of the data packet transmission control on the basis of the type of the data traffic and the available resources.

7. The apparatus of any preceding claim, configured to receive the parameters of the data packet transmission control from another radio node.

8. An apparatus comprising a radio modem for transmission and reception of signals; a scheduler for controlling transmission of data packets; a processor configured to receive information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmit- ted by the radio modem, the data traffic comprising data packets; receive information on radio resources available to the apparatus for the transmission of data packets; control the radio modem and scheduler to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to control the radio node to inform a receiving radio node to process the instances of the data packet as hybrid automatic repeat request retrans- mission (HARQ) packets.

10. The apparatus of any preceding claim 8 to 9, wherein the processor is configured to control the radio node to allocate different transmission powers to different instances.

11. The apparatus of any preceding claim 8 to 10, wherein the processor is configured to negotiate with other radio nodes by using a flexible radio use proto- col to obtain a list of radio resources for the radio node.

12. The apparatus of any preceding claim 8 to 11 , wherein the processor is configured to determine parameters of the data packet transmission control on the basis of the type of the data traffic and the available resources.

13. The apparatus of any preceding claim 8 to 12, wherein the apparatus is configured to receive the parameters of the data packet transmission control from another radio node.

14. A method comprising receiving information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by a radio node, the data traffic comprising data packets; receiving information on radio resources available to the radio node for transmission of data packets; controlling the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: controlling the radio node to inform a receiving radio node to process the instances of the data packet as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets.

16. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising: controlling the radio node to allocate different transmission powers to different instances.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: taking an estimate of signal to noise plus interference ratio at the re- ceiving radio node into account when controlling the transmission powers.

18. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising: negotiating with other radio nodes by using a flexible radio use protocol to obtain a list of radio resources for the radio node.

19. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising: determining parameters of the data packet transmission control on the basis of the type of the data traffic and the available resources.

20. The method of any preceding claim, further comprising: receiving the parameters of the data packet transmission control from another radio node.

21. An apparatus comprising a radio modem for transmission and reception of signals; a processor configured to receive information on radio resources available to the apparatus for reception of data packets, receive information indicating that multiple instances of the same data packet to be received on different radio resources are to be processed as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets, control the radio modem to receive data packets; and a HARQ processor for combining with each other multiple instances of the same data packet received on different radio resources if one or more instances of the same data packet comprise errors.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the apparatus is configured to negotiate with other apparatuses by using a flexible radio use protocol to obtain information on the radio resources available for the reception of data packets.

23. A method comprising: receiving information on radio resources available for the reception of data packets, receiving information indicating that multiple instances of the same data packet to be received on different radio resources are to be processed as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets, controlling the reception of data packets; and combining with each other by a HARQ processor multiple instances of the same data packet received on different radio resources if one or more instances of the same data packet comprise errors.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising: negotiating with other radio nodes by using a flexible radio use pro- tocol to obtain information on the radio resources available for the reception of data packets.

25. An apparatus comprising: means for receiving information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by a radio node, the data traffic comprising data packets; means for receiving information on radio resources available to the radio node for the transmission of data packets; means for controlling the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the con- trol being based on the type of the data traffic.

26. An apparatus comprising transceiving means for transmitting and receiving signals; scheduling means for controlling transmission of data packets; means for receiving information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted, the data traffic comprising data packets; means for receiving information on radio resources available to the apparatus for the transmission of data packets; means for controlling the transceiving means and scheduling means to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

27. An apparatus comprising transceiving means for transmitting and receiving signals; means for receiving information on radio resources available to the apparatus for the reception of data packets, means for receiving information indicating that multiple instances of the same data packet to be received on different radio resources are to be processed as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets, means for controlling the transceiving means to receive data packets; and means for combining with each other multiple instances of the same data packet received on different radio resources if one or more instances of the same data packet comprise errors.

28. A computer program product embodied on a distribution medium readable by a computer and comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute a method, comprising: receiving information regarding the type of data traffic to be transmitted by a radio node, the data traffic comprising data packets; receiving information on radio resources available to the radio node for transmission of data packets; controlling the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time, the control being based on the type of the data traffic.

29. A computer program product embodied on a distribution medium readable by a computer and comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute a method, comprising receiving information on radio resources available to a radio node for reception of data packets, receiving information indicating that multiple instances of the same data packet to be received on different radio resources are to be processed as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets, controlling the reception of data packets; and combining with each other by a HARQ processor multiple instances of the same data packet received on different radio resources if one or more instances of the same data packet comprise errors.

30. An apparatus comprising a processor configured to receive information on radio resources available to a radio node for transmission of data packets; control the radio node to transmit more than one instance of a data packet on different radio resources at the same time; and control the radio node to inform a receiving radio node to process the instances of the data packet as hybrid automatic repeat request retransmission (HARQ) packets.