RAN Transformation with Open Interfaces and Disaggregation · 2021. 1. 14. · transition the RAN from a traditional hardware-centric design to a software-intensive design, with RAN

1 © Copyright 2021, Altiostar. All rights reserved.

RAN Transformation with Open Interfaces and Disaggregation

Altiostar Open Virtualized Radio Access Networks Solution

Technical Solution Brief


Contents1 The Challenge 3

2 The Opportunity 3

3 The Solution – Open Virtualized RAN (Open vRAN) 3

3.1 What does Open vRAN Mean? 4

3.2 How open vRAN transforms traditional models? 4

3.3 Services Expertise 6

3.4 TCOBenefits 6

4 Open vRAN Solution description 7

5 Commercial Readiness, Standards Support and Ecosystem Development 9

6 RU Partner Ecosystem 11

7 Hardware Partner Ecosystem 11

8 Core/OSS/SDN/SON Ecosystem 11

9 Virtualization / Container Partner Ecosystem 12

10 Security of Open vRAN 12

11 Open vRAN Use Cases 13

11.1 GreenfieldDeployments 13

11.2 OpenvRANBrownfieldModel–GeographicallyClustered 13

11.3 Open vRAN Enterprise Model 14

11.4 OpenvRANVenueDeploymentModel 14

11.5 OpenvRANCBRSDeploymentModel 15

11.6 OpenvRANDeploymentModelwithURLLC 15

12 Summary 16


1 The ChallengeAstherevenuesfromvoiceandInternetdataservicesareplateauing,operatorsarelookingfornewmarketopportunitiessuchasInternetofThings(IoT),enhancedMobileBroadband(eMBB),Ultra-reliableLowLatencyCommunication(UrLLC),Immersivereality,andothers,todrivethenextphaseofrevenuegrowthandtheevolutionto5G.

Soon,wirelessnetworkswillhavebillionsofconnecteddevicesgeneratingmassiveamountsofsignalingtraffic,extremelydiversetypesofapplicationsandcorrespondingnetworkrequirements.

Aconsolidatedmobilenetworkindustryhasresultedinamonolithicvendorapproachthat hasresultedinalackofinnovationandinastaggereddeploymentscenariowhereoperatorswillbelockedintoavendor’sroadmap.

2 The Opportunity5Gcreatestheopportunityforoperatorstobecomemoresuccessfuliftheymakethenetworkaplatform.Ifthenetworkbecomesaplatform,operatorscanleverageopeninterfaces,otherdevelopers,andotherapplicationsas5Gunlocksnewverticalsacrossseveralindustries.Carrierswillhaveaccesstootherecosystemplayerswhowillbeabletoaddvaluebywritingapplicationsonthenew5Gplatform.Private5Gnetworksalsorequireanewarchitectureenablingneweconomicsandprogrammabilityofthenetworkandbeingabletoattachthisapplicationlayerontopofthenetwork.

3 The Solution – Open Virtualized RAN (Open vRAN)Toaddressindustrytrends,AltiostarhasdevelopedOpenvirtualizedRAN(OpenvRAN), anopensoftwareplatformwithopeninterfacesthatcanbeexecutedonCommercialOffTheShelf(COTS)hardwareplatforms.

TheAltiostarcommonsoftwareplatformsupportstechnologiesthatinclude5GNR,LTE-Advanced,MassiveMIMO,InternetofThings(IoT),Coordinatedmultipoint,HeterogeneousNetwork(Hetnet),NetworkFunctionsVirtualization(NFV),Orchestration,andothers.Usingthisplatform,themobileoperatorisprovidedflexibility,performance,andscalabilityatsignificantTCOsavingstodeployavarietyofdifferentnetworks.

TheAltiostarOpenvRANsolutionisasteptowardsrealizationofatrue5Gvision.Softwareprogrammabilityofbearersasperusecaseisrequiredtocreate5Gnetworkslices.Moreover,requirementssuchasultra-lowlatencydatapathcanbeachievedwithintelligentoffloadofselectedbearersrightneartheradiohead.ThesearemadepossiblewithOpenvRANtoday.InternetofThingsandtheusecasesofvariousIoTverticalswillrequiremassivescalabilityinthecontrolplane.Thesediverserequirementsnecessitatetheuseofweb-scalehardwareandsoftwareplatformsfortheRAN,whichiswhatOpenvRANprovides.


Figure 1: Open vRAN model

3.1 What does Open vRAN Mean?

Altiostar’sOpenvRANsolutionprovidesopenandstandardscompliantinterfaces(3GPPandO-RAN)andisvirtualizedtorunongeneralpurposeCOTShardware.RunningaRANonCOTShardwarecommoditizesthehardwareandbringsdowncapitalexpendituresduetoeconomiesofscale.Meanwhile,openinterfacesallowinteroperabilityandprogrammabilityoftheRAN.

Altiostar was the first vendor to demonstrate commercial scale integration of 5G baseband running in general purpose hardware with an O-RAN compliant Radio Unit using an open interface.

3.2 How open vRAN transforms traditional models?

Figure 2: Benefits of Open vRAN

4 ©Copyright2021,Altiostar.Allrightsreserved.


Agility

IntraditionalRANsolutions,introductionofnewfeaturestakesmonthsduetotightcouplingbetweenhardwareandsoftware.Ontheotherhand,cycletimeforintroductionofnewfeaturesinsoftwaretakesamuchshortertime,reducingtimetomarketthroughCI/CDandAgileSoftwaredevelopment.Toincreaseinnovationvelocityandagility,thereistheneedtotransitiontheRANfromatraditionalhardware-centricdesigntoasoftware-intensivedesign,with RAN functions implemented in software.

Flexibility

InanOpenvRANmodel,hardwareisdisaggregatedfromsoftwarewithopeninterfaces.StandardizedcommodityhardwarecanthenbeindependentlyprocuredandupgradedtotakeadvantageofMoore’sLaw.

Programmability

OpenvRANallowsanewlevelofprogrammabilityin5Gnetworks,allowingmobileoperatorstoopennewnetworkapplicationsandservicestothird-partydeveloperstocreatenewusecases.ThisisenabledwithstandardizedApplicationProgrammingInterfaces(APIs)onthenewOpenvRANarchitecturefor5G.WithopenAPIs,anewwaveofinnovationinwirelessnetworkispossible.

Scalability

Standardizedhardwarecanbesharedacrossmultipleworkloads,increasingutilizationthroughstatisticalmultiplexinggains.ThisresultsinasignificantreductioninCapexandincreasedscaleinthenetwork.

Resiliency

InOpenvRAN,applicationloadsforsinglecellsitescanbedistributedacrossmultipleVirtualNetworkFunctions(VNFs)providingmuchbetterresiliencyintheeventoffailureofasingleVNF.

Automation

TheuseofopensourcecloudplatformswithopenAPIsinNetworkFunctionsVirtualization(NFV)bringsahighdegreeofoperationalautomationincludingauto-provisioning,resiliencyagainstfailures,etc.,therebyreducingOpex.AsbasebandfunctionsaredeployedasVNFs,itispossibletoautomatevariousoperationaltaskssuchasnewcellsiteintegration(auto-commissioning),detectionandautomatedrecoveryfromfailures(self-healing),furtherminimizingtheOpex.

Security

AstheAltiostarOpenvRANsolutions,includingboththeDistributedUnit(DU)andCentralUnit(CU),runsonCOTSgeneralpurposehardware,itenjoysthebenefitofusingbest-in-classgeneralpurposeprocessorsthataddressthelatestknownsecurityvulnerabilities.GeneralpurposeprocessorsalsoreceiveuptodatesecuritypatchesfromtheOSandNFVIvendors.

TheAltiostarOpenvRANsolutionsupportsallthe3GPPandO-RANAlliancestandardsecuritymechanisms.AdditionaldetailsonsecuritystandardscanbefoundinSection7ofthisdocument.


3.3 Services Expertise

Withdisaggregationofthesoftwarefromthehardware,amulti-vendorapproachistheacceptednormforOpenvRANdeployments.Thebiggestquestionintheoperator’smind iswhatistheglueholdingeverythingtogether?

AltiostarprovidesthegluethatbindsvariouscomponentsofthedisaggregatedRANtogetherbyactingasaconsultanttotheoperator.AltiostarhasbuiltsignificantexpertiseinsoftwareandhardwaredomainsandexecutespostdeploymentwiththecustomerbyprovidingL1/L2/L3expertiselocally.


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Figure 3: Open vRAN Deployment Cycle

Altiostar also works with an ecosystem of systems integration partners who bring a wealth of experience to Open vRAN deployments. Partners include:

• Cisco • Fujitsu • IBM • NEC • Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP) • Tech Mahindra • Telkom Infra • World Wide Technology (WWT)

3.4 TCO Benefits Altiostar performed a study to identify Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) benefits of an Open vRAN network against a traditional model. The study was conducted for 5G NR deployment over 30,000 sites and over a 10-year period. When all the benefits of Open vRAN, including agility, flexibility, openness, using COTS hardware and automation, are factored in, the savings over a traditional RAN were most prevalent when it came to the diversity of the supply chain and the reusability of hardware.

SolutionDeployment

• DeploymentModels,ProjectPlans,Training,FieldATP

AddressHardwareGaps

• ReferenceDesigns

SolutionDevelopment&Validation

• DesignReviews,LabValidation,SolutionPilot

ManagementFinalization

• NetworkManagement,ServicesManagement,Self-X

RequirementsFinalization

• Features,Performance,Scalability,Availability,NetworkDesign

Figure 3: Open vRAN Deployment Cycle

Altiostaralsoworkswithanecosystemofsystemsintegrationpartnerswhobringawealth ofexperiencetoOpenvRANdeployments.Partnersinclude:

• Cisco

•Fujitsu

• IBM

• NEC

•RakutenCommunicationsPlatform(RCP)

• Tech Mahindra

•TelkomInfra

•WorldWideTechnology(WWT)

3.4 TCOBenefits

AltiostarperformedastudytoidentifyTotalCostofOwnership(TCO)benefitsofanOpenvRANnetworkagainstatraditionalmodel.Thestudywasconductedfor5GNRdeploymentover30,000sitesandovera10-yearperiod.WhenallthebenefitsofOpenvRAN,includingagility,flexibility,openness,usingCOTShardwareandautomation,arefactoredin,thesavingsover atraditionalRANweremostprevalentwhenitcametothediversityofthesupplychainandthereusabilityofhardware.


Figure 4: Open vRAN TCO Savings

4 Open vRAN Solution descriptionAltiostar’sOpenvRAN5GsolutionconsistsofgNBvirtualCentralizedUnit(vCU),gNBvirtualDistributedUnit(vDU),virtualEMS(vEMS),3rdpartyO-RANcompliantRadioUnits(O-RU), and antennas.

ThevCUfor5GissplitintovCUuserplaneandvCUcontrolplane,accordingto3GPPandO-RANspecifications,addingevenmoreflexibilityindeployment.Thesolutionsfor4Gand5GcanrunonaCOTSserveronavirtualizedplatformindependentfromtheunderlyinghardware.Finally,vCUandvDUcaninterfacetoaradioaccordingtotheO-RANspecifications,allowingtheoperatortochoosebest-of-breedhardwarebothforserversandradiounits.

Figure 5: Open vRAN Architecture


Altiostar’ssolution,basedon3GPPoption-2andO-RANoption7.2xsplit5Gprotocolstack canbeflexiblydeployedasasetofCNFstomeetevolving5Gdeploymentscenarios.

ThemultipledeploymentscenariosindicatingthevarioussplitsareillustratedinFigure6.

Figure 6: Flexible Open RAN Architecture

TheimplementationofCUPSarchitectureallowscontrolplaneanduserplanetrafficonCU tobescaledindependently.ProgrammabilityissupportedthroughthesupportofAPIsatvCUandvDUasindicatedinthediagrambelow.

Figure 7: Disaggregated and Open vRAN with C/U Plane Split


AltiostarwillbedevelopingitsownnearrealtimeRICplatformaswellasX-Apps.Additionally,Altiostar will also support 3rdpartyRANIntelligentControllers(RICs)withthefollowingfunctionssupportedfromtheRIC:

•Trafficsteering(includingmobilityloadbalancing,interfrequencyloadbalancing, EN-DCsplitratioguidance)

•Radiochannelresourceoptimizationandresourceallocationstrategies(e.g.PUCCH,PUSCH,PDCCH,PDSCH,etc.)

•SliceQoSmonitoringandenforcement

Figure 8: Altiostar Support for 3rd Party RICs

5 Commercial Readiness, Standards Support and Ecosystem DevelopmentAltiostarhasinvested$300M+insoftwaredevelopmentandQAtobringtomarketacommercial-gradeOpenvRANproduct.Theentiresolutionhasundergoneextensivetestingandhardeninginthefield.AltiostaristheonlyvRANsolutionproviderwithmultiplecommercialdeploymentsacrosstheglobe,withtensofthousandsofmacroradiosinthefieldandsupportingmillionsofsubscribers.Severalothergreenfieldandbrownfieldtrialsandcommercialdeploymentsareinprocess.

Altiostarhaspartneredwithvendorsacrossinfrastructure,radios,andcoresolutionstohelpfurthertheecosystemdevelopment.


•AltiostarhascompletedInteroperabilitywithallmajorvendorsfor3GPPstandardized(Open)interfaceslikeS1/X2.

•Altiostar’ssolutionhasthecapabilitytointegratewith3rdpartyradiosoverCPRI/e-CPRIandoff-the-shelfcomputeservers.

Standards Support

Altiostarhasastrongpresenceandcommitmenttowardsvariousstandardbodiesandassociations.Themotivationistobringthelatestdiscussionsinstandardstosoftwaredevelopmentteamsandalignourproductroadmapaccordingly.Theseincluderepresentationinthefollowingorganizations.

Deployment models and use cases

Altiostar’svirtualsoftwarecomponentsforeNB/gNBcanbeflexiblydeployedtomeettheusecaserequirementsandtransportcapabilitiesofanyoperator’snetwork.Thesedeploymentmodelsrangefromapuredatacentertypemodel,withvCUandvDUdeployedinanEdgecloudservercluster,tohavingthevCU/vDUfunctionsdeployedatthecellsite.Deploymentofthesefunctionscanbedoneinahybridmanner,leveragingdatacenterresourceswherefiberisubiquitousinthenetwork,e.g.,citiesandurbanareas,whilesupportingwirelesstransportcapabilitiestotargetremoteorruralareas.

Manytraditionalservermanufacturersareembracingthedemandforcomputeresourcesat theEdgeor“FarEdge”toenabletheextensionofedgecloudsallthewaytothecellsiteitself.

Figure 9: Open vRAN Deployment Models


6 RU Partner EcosystemAltiostarhasworkedtointegrateitsOpenvRANsoftwaresolutionwithanecosystemofradiopartners.CPRIinterworkinghasbeenenabledbytransparentopeninganddocumentationof interfaces. Adoption of new radios and partners is accelerated with the advent of open standardinterfacesforradiointegration,includingsupportforORAN7-2xinterfaces.Additionally,AltiostarvCUcaninterworkwithOption2enabledradioswithbuilt-inSoC orx86basedDUfromindustryleaders.

ThegrowinglistofradiopartnersinAltiostar’sRUecosystemisoutlinedbelow.

• Airspan

•BlueDanube

•Comba

•Flex

•Fujitsu

• KMW

•MTIMobile

•MTU

• NEC

•Nokia

• Qualcomm

• Sercomm

•Ubicquia

•Xilinx

7 Hardware Partner EcosystemAltiostarhasworkedtointegrateitsOpenvRANsoftwaresolutionwithanecosystemofCOTShardwarepartners.RunningaRANongeneralpurposehardwarebringsdownthecostofdeploymentduetoeconomiesofscale.Meanwhile,openinterfacespromoteinteroperabilityandprogrammabilityoftheRAN.Hardwarepartnersinclude:

• Avantech

•Dell

• HPE

• Intel

• Kontron

• Nvidia

• QCT

• Qualcomm

• Supermicro

8 Core/OSS/SDN/SON EcosystemAltiostarhasworkedtointegrateitsOpenvRANsoftwaresolutionwithanecosystemofpacketcore,OSS,SDNandSONproviders.Partnersinclude:

•AffirmedNetworks

• Cisco

•Fujitsu

• InnoEye

•Netcracker

•NetscoutSystems


9 Virtualization / Container Partner EcosystemAltiostar’svirtualizedandcontainerizedCUandDUareintegratedwiththefollowingvirtualizationplatformpartners:

• Cisco

• IBM/RedHat

•Publiccloudplatforms

•RakutenCommunicationsPlatform

•Robin.io

• VMware

10 Security of Open vRANAstheAltiostaropenvirtualizedRANsolutions(DUandCU)runonCOTSgeneralpurposehardware,itenjoysthebenefitofusingbest-in-classgeneralpurposeprocessorsthataddressthelatestknownsecurityvulnerabilities.GeneralpurposeprocessorsalsoreceiveuptodatesecuritypatchesfromtheOSandNFVIvendors.

Forall3GPPandO-RANinterfaces,theAltiostarOpenvRANsolutionsupportsthe3GPPandO-RANstandardsecuritymechanisms.AltiostarvDUandvCUarecompliantwiththefollowingsecuritystandards:

•3GPPTS33.501,TS33.210andTS33.310

• IETFRFC4301

• IETFRFC4306,7296

•IETFRFC4303

•IETFRFC5246(TLS1.2)

ThefollowingcommonsecurityrisksareaddressedbyusingIPsecandcertificate-basedauthenticationsforinterfacesecurity:

•Eavesdropping

•Spoofing

•Replayattacks

•Denialofserviceattacksbyunauthenticatedandunauthorizedentities

•Maninthemiddleattack

Forinterfacesecurity,AltiostarsupportsIPSecforF1,E1,X2,S1,N3,NG-C(N2)andXninterfaces.ManagementplaneinterfaceusesNETCONFoverSSH/TLS.

Thefollowingsecurityprotocolsaresupported:

• IKEv2

• IPSecwithAES-128-GCM/AES-256-GCMAEADalgorithms

•PDCPwithNEA0,NEA1,NEA2andNEA3encryptionalgorithms(NEA2meetsnearlineratethroughputandisrecommendedforefficiency)


•NIA0,NIA1,NIA2andNIA3integrityprotectionalgorithms

•SHA1andSHA256forIPSecintegrityprotection

•TLS1.2

•FTPS/SFTPforfiletransfer

11 Open vRAN Use CasesAltiostarOpenvRANsupportsanumberofusecasesprovidingnewrevenueopportunities for operators.

11.1 GreenfieldDeployments

•OperatorhasablankslatetoplanLTEand5GnetworksdeployedusingOpenvRAN

•Removeschallengesofintegratingwithlegacynodes/elements

•Thesoftware-enablednetworksimplifiesexpansionsandmakesiteasyforoperators withgreenfieldnetworkstoscaletheirnewnetworkswithlowerTCO

11.2 OpenvRANBrownfieldModel–GeographicallyClustered

•OperatorcarvesoutgeographyinLTEand5GbandstodeployOpenvRAN

•Removesdependenciesoncurrentvendorsinnetwork

•OpenvRANvendorprovidesnetworkintegrationofbasebandsoftwaretothirdpartyRRUs


11.3 Open vRAN Enterprise Model

•O-RANOption7.2xsplit

•DU,CU-CP,CU-UPandUPFatenterprisedatacenterorinTelcodatacenterasaTenant

•Corenetworkcontrolplaneatcentralizedlocationoroperatorhosted(fornetworkas aservicesolutions)

11.4 Open vRAN Venue Deployment Model

•MassiveMIMOLTE/NRAASpanels(mediumpower)

•O-RANOption7.2xsplit

•DU,CU-CP,CU-UPatthevenue

•UL/CLUPF,LADNUPFforlocalcontentbreakouttrafficatthevenue

• Neutral host Open vRAN

•UEsofspectatorsfromdifferentoperators


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11.3 Open vRAN Enterprise Model

• O-RAN Option 7.2x split • DU, CU-CP, CU-UP and UPF at enterprise data center or in Telco data center as a

Tenant • Core network control plane at centralized location or operator hosted (for network

as a service solutions)

11.4 Open vRAN Venue Deployment Model

• Massive MIMO LTE / NR AAS panels (medium power) • O-RAN Option 7.2x split • DU, CU-CP, CU-UP at the venue • UL/CL UPF, LADN UPF for local content breakout traffic at the venue • Neutral host Open vRAN • UEs of spectators from different operators

DU+CU+UPF or PGW-U

5GC

Either hosted in Enterprise


11.5 Open vRAN CBRS Deployment Model

•SupportforSASintegrationwithvirtualDomainProxy

•FlexibleDomainProxyCNFPlacement

•Differentdeploymentmodels–indoor,campus,outdoor

•FCCPart96,OnGoCertificationfortheinteroperability

•CloudProvisionedandOperatedvCU

•Endtoendintegrated,testedandvalidated

11.6 Open vRAN Deployment Model with URLLC

•Grant-basedaccess

•Deterministicaccess

•Guaranteedbitrate

•Resiliencyandverylesspacketloss/errorrate

•PolicybasedQoSControl

•Option7.2xsplitradios

•DU,CU-CP,CU-UPandEPC/5GCinstanceatfactoryfloor


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11.5 Open vRAN CBRS Deployment Model

• Support for SAS integration with virtual Domain Proxy • Flexible Domain Proxy CNF Placement • Different deployment models – indoor, campus, outdoor • FCC Part 96, OnGo Certification for the interoperability • Cloud Provisioned and Operated vCU • End to end integrated, tested and validated

11.6 Open vRAN Deployment Model with URLLC

• Grant-based access • Deterministic access • Guaranteed bit rate • Resiliency and very less packet loss/error rate • Policy based QoS Control • Option 7.2x split radios • DU, CU-CP, CU-UP and EPC/5GC instance at factory floor

CU/DU 5GC In a Box


12 SummaryToday’smobilenetworksareundergoingaprofoundtransformation,aswirelessoperatorsmakethedramaticleapto5Ganditsassociatedbenefits.

GonearethedayswhereanoperatorwaslimitedinitschoiceofRANprovider.TheindustryisshiftingfromtheproprietarysystemsoflegacyindustryvendorstoanopenarchitectureandvirtualizedsystemsthatarebasedonsoftwarefromcompanieslikeAltiostar,runningonoff-the-shelf,general-purposeserversandutilizingradioswithopeninterfaces.

TheAltiostarOpenvRANsolutiondisaggregatesthehardwarefromthesoftwaretoallowthemobilenetworkoperatortopickandchooseeachaspectofthenetworkfromadifferentvendor,ifdesired.Intheend,thisleadstosignificantcapitalandoperationalsavingsfortheoperator,whileenablingthemtoacceleraterevenuegenerationthroughrapiddeploymentofnew services.


AboutAltiostar

BasedintheU.S.,Altiostarprovides4Gand5GopenvirtualizedRAN(OpenvRAN)softwarethatsupportsopeninterfacesandvirtualizesthebasebandunittobuildadisaggregatedmulti-vendor,web-scale,cloud-basedmobilenetwork.Operatorscanaddintelligence,quicklyadaptthenetworkfordifferentservicesandautomateoperationstorapidlyscalethenetworkandreduceTotalCostofOwnership(TCO).AltiostarcollaborateswithagrowingecosystemofpartnerstosupportadiverseOpenRANsupplychain.TheAltiostarOpenvRANsolutionhasbeendeployedglobally,includingtheworld’sfirstcloud-nativecommercial-scalemobilenetworkwithRakutenMobileinJapan.

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www.altiostar.com | [email protected]
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Documents

RAN Transformation with Open Interfaces and Disaggregation · 2021. 1. 14. · transition the RAN from a traditional hardware-centric design to a software-intensive design, with RAN