RELIABLE LTE LINK SWITCHOVER FOR IN-VEHICLE NETWORKING

The embodiments presented herein relate to controlling backhaul routing of a mobile router with multiple cellular uplinks. The router has dual-LTE links to different providers that both use cellular management systems. A gateway management module communicates with both providers to gain a full picture of the cellular billing and usage, as well as cellular performance on each provider's network. The gateway management module then becomes a central control point, communicating with the router to control which LTE backhaul link should be used at any given time. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Connected vehicles commonly utilize mobile routers that have primary and secondary backhaul radio links. These links are often both LTE links that are connected to two different service providers. In most cases, only one link is active at a given time, with communications being attempted on the primary link first, and the secondary link serving as a backup. This redundancy is necessary, as a vehicle may encounter geographical areas in which one provider has limited coverage, but another provider has satisfactory coverage. In conventional approaches, a router's decision as to which LTE interface to use is straightforward, with the primary link on always, and the secondary link turned on if the primary link’s signal is lost. This scheme is inefficient, as the cost of service from both providers needs to be paid, resulting in a suboptimal cost model. For example, large data usage may result in overage fees on the primary provider account, and the backup provider account will still 2 Barton et al.: RELIABLE LTE LINK SWITCHOVER FOR IN-VEHICLE NETWORKING Published by Technical Disclosure Commons, 2018 2 5687X require payment even if the service is largely unused. Additionally, this model is reactive rather than proactive, resulting in location with suboptimal efficiency (poor connection before temporal loss, where the system reacts after the problem has occurred). As most fleet management systems start integrating with more advanced management tools, there is a need for a proactive solution that will optimize the LTE billing and backhaul connectivity through intelligent LTE backhaul switchover. The embodiments presented herein present a solution to intelligently solve the link choice problem. When the dual-LTE mobile router is placed on a vehicle, the two LTE links are typically associated with different cellular carriers. Increasingly, mobile carriers are using an LTE SIM management system. A single control center may have no visibility into the LTE activity of another control center. However, with cloud-based central management systems for IoT-enabled devices, a central control point for the two backhaul options can be used. In some embodiments, a gateway management system connects to multiple LTE IoT data management systems and collects data in (near) real time. The gateway management system now has a complete picture of the LTE performance of both carriers, and is able to compare the usage of both LTE connections with the usage and billing contracts. Figure 1 depicts an example of a gateway management system connected to two LTE IoT data management systems.