Open RAN

Prepared by – Rahul Kaundal

Index

• Origin of Open RAN

• What is Open RAN

• How Open RAN works

• Why Open RAN

• Challenges of Open RAN

• Addressing Challenges

• Push from Govt.

• Trials and Deployment

Origin of Open RAN

• The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) is a global community of companies and organizations that
are driving infrastructure solutions to advance global connectivity.

• Open RAN is a standard led by the Telcom Infra Project (TIP). It aims to “accelerate innovation
and commercialization in RAN domain with multi-vendor interoperable products and
solutions that are easy to integrate in the operator’s network and are verified for different
deployment scenarios.” It is committed to creating an Open RAN for 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G.

• Source - TIP
What is Open RAN?

• Open here refers to something which is not a proprietary of an individual or a company. It

(Something) can be Hardware, Software, interface, API, source code etc.

• So, Open RAN (O-RAN) is a radio access network where hardware from any equipment
supplier can be used with software, API, source code, interface etc. from other different
suppliers. Shift from Proprietary to COTS (Commercial off the shelf).

• Open RAN split key RAN functions among different nodes to manage different services and
applications (real time and non-real time). Open RAN is also known as Disaggregated
RAN.

• Open RAN is broadly Software enabled Network.

• Cloudification is an integral part of Open-RAN.

How Open-RAN works?

Source - Viavi
Why Open-RAN?

• Low Capex: Almost 70% of total network cost is related to RAN segment only. Any reduction
in the RAN equipment cost will significantly help to reduce the overall Capex.

• Low Opex: Modernizing legacy networks, in addition to deploying 5G, will reduce overall
network OPEX as there will have one unified network to run and manage. Cost of upgrade
will also reduce with a smaller number of nodes.

• No Vendor Lock-in: The concept of Open RAN goes beyond just standards interoperability. In
theory, a RAN built by any of the legacy vendors is supposed to be interoperable with any
device, any core, and any transmission network due to its conformance with 3GPP standards.
But this does not happen in real world.

• Time to Market: Open RAN enable multi supplier interoperability and decrease time to
market.

• Intelligent Network: Open RAN improves performance by introduce intelligence using AI/ML
(Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning).
Challenges

• Maturity: There are concerns about multi-vendor interoperability. The standards are not
100% complete. Worries persist that, in the rush to bring Open RAN to market, some vendors
will forge ahead with their own proprietary flavor of Open RAN, which will involve the need
for heavy systems integration to make the multivendor products work in harmony. Providers
were also concerned about the performance and robustness of Open RAN in live
deployments.

• Security Risk: The combination of disaggregation and introducing multiple vendors expands
the threat surface. This requires adding security safeguards throughout the Open RAN. The
fear is that this added security overhead will offset potential cost savings. Included in this
assessment is the perception that many of the new, smaller vendors appearing in the new
Open RAN landscape will not provide bulletproof 24x7 support.

• Operational readiness: This represents another barrier to entry for SPs, as they must own
the operational and automation/ DevOps aspects of Open RAN. This is a new high-
requirement capability, with numerous complexities and requirements for knowledge,
technical capabilities, and qualified expertise for them to gain in a compressed period.

• Integration with legacy Network: With the move towards Open RANs, operators and
integrators need to test that all this technology works together before it goes into the live
network. One example of this challenge concerns the wide range of components being used
by different vendors. How to deliver the best possible service?
Challenges

• Operations: Another major challenge is, once the technology has been deployed, when a
problem arises who solves it and how do you do this? The traditional single-vendor network
has meant that when product-related network performance issues arise, operators can easily
work with just one single vendor to solve the problem. With an Open RAN network, when a
problem arises, you must work with multiple vendors to resolve the issue. Who takes the
onus to resolve the issue when there are multiple vendors involved?

• Connectivity: 5G networks critically rely on optical fibre links to connect the radio antennae
to the electronic processing base station equipment. Fronthaul, Midhaul and Backhaul have
stringent requirements.
Addressing Open RAN Testing Challenges

For Open RAN to achieve its potential and address the many stakeholder requirements and
challenges, a comprehensive and proven testing and assurance strategy is a key. To achieve
accelerated Open RAN adoption, stakeholder confidence is critical.

Open RAN Ecosystem Testing Requirements - All players in the Open RAN ecosystem must
perform rigorous testing to ensure compliance with standards, interoperability, performance,
and scalability. In addition, members of the Open RAN ecosystem have a range of targeted test
requirements such as:

• Performance
• Conformance
• Interoperability
• Service assurance
• Network capacity
Push for Open RAN from UK govt.

• Shift current market of oligopoly to perfect competition - In theory, Open RAN would
unlock the gates for technology specialists & suppliers which will fuel competition.

• Local Suppliers (BOB Project) - Ministers spotted an opportunity to cultivate a local

ecosystem of suppliers – something the UK had not enjoyed since the days of Marconi. The
Best of British RAN Development project (BoB) will demonstrate a commercial and technically
viable Radio Access Network architecture designed, developed and manufactured in the UK

• Economic opportunities - Advances in cloud technology for the edge can enable next-
generation telecoms networks that will not only improve connectivity but also create
significant economic opportunities by enabling new UK innovations

UK Government is funding open RAN development projects, including the UK’s Future RAN
Competition which pledged up to £35 million to fund projects that could expedite adoption of
open RAN technologies.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/future-ran-diversifying-the-5g-supply-chain-competition-winners
Push for Open RAN from UK govt.

Flexible, Efficient and High-Performance 5G Open RAN (Flex-5G)

•Funding: £4,681,242
•Location: London, Surrey, Cambridgeshire, Berkshire, plus other locations across the UK
•Partners: University of Surrey, Vodafone Limited, Commscope Solutions UK Limited, Viavi Solutions UK Limited, O2 (UK)

UK 5G DU-Volution
•Funding: £4,659,606
•Location: Glasgow, Leicestershire, York, Ipswich, Southampton
•Partners: ADVA Optical Networking Ltd, AccelerComm Ltd, British Telecommunications Plc, CommAgility Ltd, University
of York, Scotland5GCentre

Energy-efficient Cloudlets for ORAN (ECORAN)

•Funding: £492,000
•Location: Leeds
•Partners: University of Leeds, Ultracell Networks Ltd

Accelerating RAN Intelligence in 5G (ARI-5G)

•Funding: £2,377,686
•Location: Newbury, Ipswich, London, Cambridge, Birmingham, Stevenage
•Partners: Telecom Infra Project (TIP), Amdocs, British Telecommunications Plc, VIAVI
Open RAN Trials ongoing - Globally

Source - TIP
Thanks