Open RAN (ORAN) Architecture, Evolution, and Deployment

Course details

Are you looking to explore the essentials of Open Radio Access Network (ORAN)? This course covers fundamental ORAN principles, design goals, and standardization efforts by 3GPP and the O-RAN Alliance, as well as challenges compared to traditional RAN architectures. Compare traditional RAN with ORAN, examining the shift toward disaggregated RAN, 3GPP functional splits, and the role of service management and orchestration. Next, learn about the 5G NR protocol stack in ORAN, including Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3 functionalities. Evaluate AI and ML applications in ORAN, such as control loops, traffic steering, and quality of experience (QoE) optimization, along with deployment via RAN Intelligent Controllers, xApps, and rApps. By the end of this course, you’ll be prepared to effectively analyze, design, and manage ORAN solutions.

Learning objectives
Define Open RAN (ORAN) and its key principles, including design goals, standardization efforts (3GPP and O-RAN Alliance), and challenges compared to traditional RAN architectures.
Compare traditional RAN with ORAN, analyzing the evolution toward disaggregated RAN, 3GPP functional splits, and the role of service management and orchestration.
Explain the 5G NR protocol stack in ORAN, including Layer 1 (PDCCH, PDSCH, PUCCH, and PUSCH), Layer 2 (RLC, MAC, PDCP, and SDAP), and Layer 3 (RRC) functionalities through simulations.
Evaluate the role of AI and ML in ORAN, including control loops, use cases (traffic steering and QoE optimization), and deployment via RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICs), xApps, and rApps.
Assess cloud-native ORAN deployment, covering O-Cloud, NFV/SDN orchestration, MEC integration, and deployment scenarios.

Concepts

Introduction

Introduction to open radio access network

Open RAN Overview

What is open RAN (radio access network)
Open RAN terminologies
Open RAN standards
Open RAN design goals
Challenges with open RAN

Open RAN Architecture

Traditional telecom network
Traditional radio access network (RAN)
Stages for RAN evolution
Evolution to disaggregation RAN
RAN deployment scenarios during evolution
Protocol layer overview
Protocol layer functionalities
Open RAN architecture - 3GPP split 2
Open RAN architecture - O-RAN alliance
Service management and orchestration (SMO)

Open Distributed Unit (O-DU) Functionality

Physical layer overview (DL)
Layer 1 functional block - PDCCH
PDCCH - Simulation
PDSCH and DL reference signals
PDSCH and reference signals - Simulation
Physical uplink control channels (PUCCH)
Physical uplink shared channels (PUSCH)
Uplink signals and channels - Simulation
Layer 1 (5G NR physical layer) - Simulation
Layer 2 functional block - RLC protocol module
Layer 2 - MAC protocol module and scheduler

Open Central Unit (O-CU) Functionality

Layer 2 data flow
Packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)
Service data adaptation protocol (SDAP)
Layer 3 - Rdio protocol architecture
Layer 3 - Radio resource control (RRC)

Machine Learning (ML) and Radio Intelligent Controllers (RICs)

What is machine learning
Machine learning types
ML functionality - Control loops in open RAN
ML deployment in open RAN
ML use cases in the telecom industry
ML use cases in open RAN - Traffic steering
ML use cases in open RAN - QoE and 3D MIMO
Radio intelligent controllers (RICs) and ML deployment
xApps - Use case (near-real-time RIC)
rApps - Use case (non-real-time RIC)

Cloud, Virtualization, SDN, MEC, and Open RAN Deployment Scenarios

O-cloud overview
O-cloud platform in open RAN
NFV and orchestration overview
NFV and orchestration deployment
Software-defined network (SDN) overview
Software-defined network (SDN) deployment
Multiaccess edge computing (MEC) overview
Multiaccess edge computing (MEC) deployment
Open RAN deployment
Open RAN deployment scenarios

Conclusion

Next steps