Transforming the 5G RAN with Innovation: The Confluence of Cloud-native and Intelligence
20 February 2022
To meet the diversified business demands in the upcoming years, a novel architecture framework for the evolution of 5G RAN is proposed. The architecture framework benefits from a deep convergence of cloudification and artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI/ML): rapid deployment, unified operation and agile iteration are enabled by cloudification; Accurate and real-time network optimization is brought in by AI/ML to sense, predict and fine-tune RAN behaviors. Furthermore, the convergence facilitates customized and deterministic Service Level Agreement (SLA) assurance highlighted by the synergy of network and business services. The techniques that enable this concept are discussed, as well as a few selected use cases demonstrating the promising opportunities. A brief analysis of the challenges and open points are also presented.