Tag: ai

One of the key aspects of the Open RAN is embedding native intelligence within the O-RAN framework. To this end, AI/ML plays a crucial role. Some of the goals for AI/ML within RAN are: decreasing the manual effort of going through large data amounts to diagnose issues and make decisions, or predicting the future to take proactive actions. This is being addressed from the beginning within O-RAN ALLIANCE. In this post, we discuss the overall framework for machine learning within O-RAN, including architectural aspects and use cases.

The baseline 5G system was specified within 3GPP Releases 15 and 16, also known as 5G Phase-1 and 5G Phase 2. There are interesting developments within 3GPP, which evolved the system towards Rel-17. More recently, the standardization took the step towards a significant update with the so-called, “5G-Advanced” using Rel-18 for that purpose. This whitepaper provides an overview of the latest development steps along with outlining the main Work- and Study-Items of both 3GPP Rel-17 and Rel-18 within RAN and SA2 work groups.

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.

This post describes the near-Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller. RIC is the heart of the O-RAN system, where the intelligence sits allowing to control and optimize the radio network. The RRM algorithms can be deployed at near-RT RIC by means of xApps defined on a per use case basis.

In this post we look at published trends and forecasts for our area of interest: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and in particular radio communication. We consider technology trends in 2020, from the following sources: Gartner, Deloitte, Future Today Institute, Forbes, IEEE Communication Society, and Ericsson.