The Ericsson RAN Energy Cockpit rApp drives radio- and system-level energy efficiency with visualization, automated root cause analysis, and resolution capabilities
As communications service providers (CSPs) invest in the evolution to cloud-native, open radio access network (RAN) technologies, Ericsson has emerged as a clear leader in the space. With its long-running leadership in the standard-setting O-RAN Alliance, a significant Open RAN collaboration with AT&T, and commitment to open interfaces in its Cloud RAN and service management and orchestration (SMO) portfolios, the company is uniquely positioned to drive network transformation while also delivering on its commitment to improve the energy efficiency of mobile networks with higher performance to deliver enhanced user experience.
One of the promises of disaggregated, Open RAN architectures is creating a distributed platform for intelligence that can support a variety of near-real time and non-real time applications, xApps and rApps, respectively. These applications can be deployed on the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) which facilitates data transfer and decision-making between the RAN, the RIC and the SMO. Ericsson has combined SMO and RIC functionality in its Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform. The bigger picture here is that Ericsson has a long-standing commitment to designing solutions for energy efficiency and sustainability; that’s all part of redefining the best network to include energy efficiency alongside performance-based metrics.
On the application side, the company has launched an rApp directory featuring its own, and third-party, applications. Included in the directory is the Ericsson RAN Energy Cockpit rApp which addresses a major CSP goal of reducing operational expenses by enhancing RAN energy efficiency without impacting end-user quality of experience.
Ericsson’s Frank Li, strategic product manager for the Cloud RAN Product Line, detailed in a blog the link between Open RAN, rApps and sustainability. “The latest rApps for energy efficiency are the evolution of Ericsson network services in the new Open RAN architecture, maintaining preemption and prediction principles to secure the highest level of service support required for 5G. CSPs can leverage rApps to reduce their operational costs, improve network performance and reduce energy consumption, making these apps the ‘secret sauce’ when it comes to network energy efficiency and sustainability.”
“The days of plugging in a radio and letting it run 24/7…are long gone”
RAN energy efficiency is a top priority for CSPs around the world as it immediately links to opex reduction while also setting the stage for long-term sustainability targets. Ericsson research has found that in most mobile networks the RAN consumes more than 80% of all energy used across network domains. Based on field measurements, Ericsson has shown that its 5G massive MIMO radios—crucial for delivering coverage and capacity in mid-band frequencies—can transmit 13 times more data for the same amount of energy consumed by 4G radio kit. While energy efficient hardware is key for lowering the cost per Gigabyte, it’s also critical to deploy energy saving software solutions to optimize overall network energy performance.
Drilling into the Ericsson RAN Energy Cockpit rApp, the solution helps CSPs visualize overall and site-specific energy efficiency, and uses AI/ML to provide an energy efficiency ranking. From there, an automated process identifies and isolates the root cause of energy inefficiencies which are typically related to misalignment between network resource loading and real-world demand. Finally, the rApp provides the relevant monitoring team with a recommendation for resolution; CSPs can also, in some scenarios, enable closed loop resolution.
Key characteristics of the Ericsson RAN Energy Cockpit rApp are:
- Data-driven algorithms that measure throughput and energy consumption data to understand the energy cost of providing data.
- Algorithmic ranking of energy efficiency on a per radio basis which is then expanded across the RAN.
- A powerful graphical user interface (GUI) that provides CSPs with a map of network energy efficiency distribution.
- Microservice implementation to speed up output results and support flexible deployment of the rApp, meaning the application doesn’t require a dedicated server.
- Automated root cause analysis from measurement to alarm to presentation to resolution.
Taken as a whole, this set of tools gives CSPs improved network energy efficiency and improved network performance, accelerated time-to-market (and time-to-value) given the scalable, software-centric approach. Also, the simplification of opex-focused key network operations processes provides CSP teams the opportunity to focus on more high-value tasks.
“The days of plugging in a radio and letting it run 24/7 to provide connectivity are long gone – no one in the industry is prepared to turn on the heating and leave their windows open any longer,” Li wrote. “Together with our customers and our partners, we are driving the development of the technologies that ensure that we can build a future based on the most sustainable idea of all – that of doing more with less.”
For more information on Ericsson’s approach to delivering more energy efficient mobile networks, read the following:
