Category: Mobile Networks

3GPP Rel-18: 5G-Advanced RAN Features
2021-12-21
3GPP Rel-18 is the first release of the 5G-Advanced standard. On the 17th of December 2021, 3GPP TSG RAN plenary (3GPP RAN TSG #94e) approved 28 Release-18 projects (i.e., Study- and Work-Items, SI/WI) with the following split among RAN groups: 12 RAN1-led projects, 10 RAN2-led projects, 5 RAN3-led projects, and 1 RAN4-led project. Those topics include AI/ML for NR and NG-RAN, NTN and MIMO enhancements, evolution for sidelink, UAV, RedCap, SON, QoE, XR services, to name a few. In this post, we elaborate on each of the approved projects entering 5G-Advanced standardization.
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RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC): Overview, xApps, and rApps
2021-12-13
RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) is to enable abstracting out part of functionality from the eNB or gNB that was traditionally hosted at the base station in the form of xApps or rApps in the O-RAN architecture. The functions, to which we relate here in the RAN domain include e.g., mobility management or interference management. The decisions are made in the xApps, and RIC then enforces policies towards the RAN elements and controls them using the open interface, namely E2. In this post, we elaborate on the RIC, its functional split, xApps, and rApps.
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O-RAN Non-RT RIC: Architecture and rApps
2021-12-01
The goal of Non-RT RIC is to support intelligent RAN optimization by providing policy-based guidance, model management, and enrichment information to the Near-RT RIC function so that the RAN can be optimized. Non-RT RIC works within the management plane and operates on seconds and minutes timescale. In this post, we provide the architecture of the Non-RT RIC and discuss the example applications, called rApps.
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V2X within the 3GPP standards – Overview, Requirements and Architecture
2021-11-26
As the aim of the 5G system is to provide ubiquitous connectivity, communications in transportation are an important part of it, formulating one of the so-called verticals. In this post, we present the main features of the 3GPP cellular vehicle-to-anything (C-V2X) standards, that comprise the Release 14/15 LTE-V2X and its successor – NR-V2X. Both utilize the so-called PC5 interface, also known as sidelink.
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Open RAN (O-RAN) Webinar Collection
2021-10-06
In the past couple of months, we delivered several webinars together with Intelefy University related to Open RAN. In this post, you can find the collection of them, in the particular order, where the first one serves as an overview and high-level discussion, whereas the next ones dig more and more into details of O-RAN, as specified by O-RAN ALLIANCE.
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xApp Implementation: O-RAN Traffic Steering Use Case
2021-09-13
In this post, we focus on the implementation of a simple xApp tailored for the traffic steering use case. The goal of this xApp is to support the network providers to reassign the traffic from one gNB to the other in order to meet some predefined criteria. We will see some results of the great opportunity offered by Open RAN that the operator can easily install, modify or remove the xApp when needed.
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