Japanese company NEC announced the joint development of RAN Intelligent Controllers (RIC) with compatriot firm NTT Docomo in support of intelligent Radio Access Networks (RAN).
The two companies said they are aiming to reduce RAN operational costs, improve performance and reduce power consumption through the use of RIC.
NEC said that the equipment conforming to O-RAN Fronthaul Interface Specifications enables interoperability with different vendors’ products as well as the deployment of an optimal and flexible network that meets the needs of various use cases and network technology requirements. Furthermore, the introduction of RIC utilizing AI allows more sophisticated and efficient control of networks, the Japanese tech company said.
Both companies plan to initiate joint development of RIC mainly aimed at reducing the operating costs of RAN, such as automating base station settings. As a next step, NEC and Docomo will improve the performance of RAN through measures that include reducing the power consumption of network equipment by automatically and autonomously optimizing radio resources.
In the future, the partners said, the RIC control cycle will be advanced from slow control to fast control, and from the base station unit level to a user-based level of control. At the same time, optimization will be performed in conjunction with the control of different elements, such as radio resources and computing resources.
NEC’s subsidiary, Netcracker, provides an Open RAN Domain Orchestration solution aligned with the O-RAN Alliance Service Management and Orchestration framework, including RIC functionality developed by Netcracker. The solution is based on Netcracker’s Digital OSS, and brings together the orchestration, real-time OSS, and advanced analytics required to fully automate RAN domain operations.
NEC and Docomo have been working jointly to verify and test Open RAN technologies and promote their use since 2018. In June 2020, NTT and NEC entered into a capital and business alliance with the aim of developing and selling new internationally competitive products for 5G and beyond, including further accelerating the penetration of Open RAN specifications.
In related news, NEC announced the launch of new radio units (RU) for 5G base stations that are geared for global markets and are scheduled to be available in 2022.
In terms of functionality, the new RUs will be compatible with the n77, n78 and C-Band 3.7 GHz frequency band (3.3-4.2 GHz).
Also, the new RUs will feature higher output and wider bandwidth when compared to conventional products, the Japanese vendor said.
The RUs will conform to O-RAN fronthaul interface specifications defined by the O-RAN Alliance and will be compatible with base station equipment from different vendors.
