Deutsche Telekom partnered with Juniper Networks, AirHope, VMware and Viavi for this multi-vendor trial
German carrier Deutsche Telekom announced technical details of a multi-vendor trial around programmable radio access networks that demonstrates the potential of the non-real-time RIC and rApp concept to automate and optimize disaggregated RAN.
The telco said that this trial is part of the telco’s commitment to the development of Open RAN (O-RAN) technology.
The carrier said that non-RT RIC brings agility, and programmability to disaggregated radio access networks and enables third-party applications (rApps) that can perform closed-loop automation and optimization of RAN elements and resources.
Deutsche Telekocom, together with its partners AirHop, Juniper Networks, Viavi Solutions and VMware, completed a RAN closed-loop optimization proof of concept (PoC) within Deutsche Telekom’s lab environment in a multi-vendor setup based on ONAP & O-RAN specifications.
During the PoC, the partners successfully executed two use cases:
-Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) optimization focused on detection and resolution of PCI confusion and collision scenarios.
-Energy Savings dynamic Multi-Carrier management (ESMC) using an artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) model, trained to determine the optimum time to enable/disable sleep-mode on capacity cells in order to save energy while maintaining user quality of experience (QoE).
Deutsche Telekom noted that initial tests were performed in a real end-to-end lab setup using a small O-RAN network to validate end-to-end configuration and performance management (CM & PM) integration for a real network environment. Most tests were executed on a more complex network setup using an O1 network emulator to validate rApp logic and stress test the RIC components to benchmark the various solutions, Deutsche Telekom said.
For this trial, Deutsche Telekom provided a self-developed service management and orchestration (SMO) framework along with a Non-RT RIC solution based on the O-RAN SC Non-RT RIC
Meanwhile, Juniper Networks and VMware integrated their Non-RT RIC products into the carrier’s SMO framework, while Viavi provided their RIC tester to emulate the O1 interface.
“With this PoC, we set out to assess the technical integration complexity of the components delivered by each party, the level of customization required, to gauge the maturity of products and to identify potential future standardization requirements,” said Petr Ledl, VP and head of network trials and Integration Lab at Deutsche Telekom.
A RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) is a software-defined component of the O-RAN architecture that’s responsible for controlling and optimizing RAN functions behavior, Deutsche Telekom explained. The RIC enables fast onboarding of third-party applications (Apps) that automate and optimize RAN operations at scale.
The non-real-time RIC (Non-RT RIC) is part of the SMO framework, which is centrally deployed in the service provider network. According to the German telco, it enables greater-than-one-second control and policy guidance over the RAN elements and their resources through so called rApps.
It also enables AI/ML capabilities for the RAN and uses long-term network data, such as performance metrics as well as enrichment data from external applications to train and generate AI/ML-driven applications, Deutsche Telekom said.