OpenRAN

Open RAN vs OpenRAN

Open RAN (or O-RAN)

• From the O-RAN Alliance.

  • Aims to define open interfaces of split RAN architecture.

  • Open and Virtualized RAN (vRAN).

OpenRAN.

• From Telecom Infra Project.

  • Aims to disintegrate mobile network RAN architecture.

  • By having multi-vendor interoperable solutions.

  • Built on general purpose COTS.

• Aims to speed up adoption and deployments

• Uses O-RAN’s interfaces.

• Works with 3GPP, ONF, ...

Contemporary RAN

Virtualized RAN (vRAN) approach

Benefits

• Avoid Vendor lock-in.

• Reduce cost.

• Quick time to market.

• Best of breed.

• Spur Innovation.

• Participate in HW/SW development.

Challenges

• New HW and SW requirements.

• Interoperability.

• Complex automation.

• Virtualization security.

• Reliability and Availability.

• High fronthaul bandwidth low-latency.

Ecossystem and Business Roles

Logical Open RAN Architecture

RIC → RAN Intelligent Controller.

Non-RT RIC.

• FCAPS of O-RAN network functions.

  • Fault, configuration, accounting, performance and security.

• RAN optimization in Non-RT (>1 second).

Near-RT RIC.

• Enables near-time control and optimization of O-RAN nodes (10ms to 1 sec).

  • O-CU

    • Centralized Unit.

  • O-DU

    • Distributed Unit.

• Here, decision latency is very important and thus has to be closer to the ran nodes.

O-DU.

• Open Distributed Unit.

• Terminates the fronthaul interface.

• Logical node hosting High-PHY layers based on a lower layer functional splut.

O-CU-CP and O-CU-UP

• O-RAN Central Unit.

• Control Plane (CP).

• User Plane (UP).

• CP.

  • Hosts the RRC (Radio Resource Control) and the control plane part of the PDCP (Packet Data Convergence) protocol.

• UP hosts the user plane part of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP (Service Data Adaptation) protocol.

O-RU

• O-RAN Radio Unit.

• Hosts Low-PHY layers and RF processing.

O-Cloud

• The generic cloud infrastructure.