Experts see the Open RAN RIC supporting energy and spectral efficiency, service differentiation and more
In an Open RAN network, the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) is, in some circles at least, viewed as the brains of the network–the thing that will propel Open RAN from a difficult exercise in re-aggregating disaggregated radio hardware and software to a dynamic platform for innovation. With the promise of opening up the network to rApps and xApps developed by a host of third-party domain experts, the RIC could be the make or break element of Open RAN.
Given that the RIC can host apps, you’ve got to ask the nearly unanswerable, not to mention tired, question, what will the killer RIC app be? And asked the question was during the recent Open RAN Global Forum, available on demand here; a panel of experts gave some examples of potential killer apps while acknowledging that the unknown is unknowable, and took up a broader conversation around imbuing radio access networks with intelligence.
Richard MacKenzie, a distinguished engineer at BT, called out the importance of the RIC in end-to-end coordination of a multi-vendor radio system which is core to the Open RAN thesis. Beyond that, “It’s an enabler for automation,” he said. “And in the longer term, especially if we integrate it with AI engines, then we can do some serious optimization. But from an operator perspective, one of the other exciting opportunities is simply the opportunity to differentiate from our competitors.” With the correct xApps and rApps—which BT is working on with third parties and in-house—”we can actually build new services quickly and easily, and it enables us to differentiate from other service providers more effectively.”
US Cellular EVP and CTO Mike Irizarry was clear that he sees full RIC functionality, particularly the near-real-time variant, as still very much not ready for primetime, he called the platform “critically important as we evolve the networks because the networks are getting more complicated, not less…You can’t manage that complexity the old ways with processes that are rigid and more people. You need to apply data to AI- and ML-enabled automation to run the networks. So we’re very excited about the prospects of that capability.”
As for potentially killer apps the RIC can deliver, Irizarry mentioned US Cellular’s $2 billion investment on mid-band spectrum. “So we’re very excited about the possibility of this AI-enabled algorithms to further improve spectral efficiency and improved power efficiency–lower our costs.”
Giving the all-important test and measurement of hardening and ensuring Open RAN performance, Viavi Regional CTO for EMEA Chris Murphy talked through how his company is expanded testing processes down to the application level. They attach a RIC to an emulated network that runs through various complex scenarios to verify performance, including that “the apps it’s supporting do what they’re supposed to do and that they work together.”
He continued: “On the app side, we do have another part of our business which is building apps themselves…I don’t need to reiterate the case for needing this RIC ecosystem of apps, but I think the key here is that we’re asking the radio networks to deliver a wide variety of services, and we’re seeing Metaverse services on the horizon which are going to have very strict quality of service requirements in order to do that efficiently. And with RIC efficiency and energy efficiency, we’re going to need to have apps which are able to be put together to deliver those mix of services that the operators have selected. So we’re investing in the apps themselves.”
In a bit of a recursive comment, Fujitsu Head of Product Planning for Network Automation Joe Krystofik discussed the need for openness to still be put into a standardized framework that extends through the network to the RIC and the apps running on the RIC. “It’s challenging to address the use cases and applications without having a standardized approach on how you deliver the data pipeline for ML adoption. So if you’re approaching ML use cases and applications and you don’t have a regimented structure and discipline to how you deliver data from the network in a unified manner, it becomes very challenging to reach the end game or the vision of what an Open RAN can contribute to the network and applications over the top.”
So what about that killer app?
“Energy saving, that’s huge now, that’s a big priority not just for Open RAN but for the RAN in general, one of the main consumers of energy in telecoms and there’s a lot of easy wins there, but there’s a lot of features,” MacKenzie said. “But going beyond that, I think certainly the exciting one for us is when 5G actually becomes real 5G. When you’re 5G standalone and you’re actually doing slicing, and that’s where you truly need multiple services delivered over a single network. And that’s where the flexibility of Open RAN really comes into play.”
Krystofik made clear that whatever the killer app is, it’ll be fleeting because killer apps change as technology develops. “So what you’re looking to do is construct and provide that platform so you can have someone come in and build that app…as quickly as possible and adopt it into a network, manage that, expose the data…The killer app may change and evolve over the network based on services. So it’s hard to say, what’s the killer app.”
Murphy reckoned the market decide what the killer app for the RIC will be. “The applications that the subscribers will use, and that they will be drawn to a particular operator for, will be innovative and they’ll be appealing. And if you’re an operator and you want to offer a new service…then your killer app is the one that can deliver that…That’s your killer app then because that’s what you’re marketing, that’s what you’re differentiating on.”
Irizarry also brought it back to economic realities, whether those are based on making money or saving money. “How do we monetize the network? We were promised that would happen with 5G. It’s very slow right now, so we have to focus on cost without compromising customer experience, coverage and capacity.” Things that lower an operators’ costs and improve its customers’ experiences are killer apps, he said. “But I’ll go back to what I said earlier. It’s still a bit out before we have all of those things working together in a way that doesn’t require more resources to get it set up and keep it running.”
