Open ICDT Convergence of IT, CT and DT for 5G RAN

OpenICDT:ConvergenceofIT,CTandDTfor5GRANandbeyondOpenICDT:ConvergenceofIT,CTandDTfor5GRANandbeyond2019OpenICDT:ConvergenceofIT,CTandDTfor5GRANandbeyondExecutiveSummaryWiththeadventof5G,thewirelessnetworksarebecomingmoreandmorecomplexthanpreviousgenerations.Thereareseveralreasonsbehindthat,includingthemuchhighernetworkdensification,thelargernetworkscale,themoredemandingapplicationswithdiverserequirements,andsoon.However,thecurrentnetworksaredevelopedinaclosed,insteadofopenwaywithtightcouplingamongdifferentcomponents,leadingtothedifficultyinquicksystemupgrade,compatibility,fastserviceroll-out,innovationetc.Aforeseeablebigchallengeliesaheadoflarge-scaledeploymentof5Gandbeyond.Whilearchitectsinthetelecomindustryisdesigningfuturenetworksofmuchhigherflexibility,scalability,agilityandmanageability,alotofexperiencecouldbeandisbeinglearnedfromneighboringindustriesofITandDT.Inthepastfewdecades,thesocietyhaswitnessedthehugesuccessbyIDTtechnologiessuchasthevirtualization,thecloud,theartificialintelligenceetc.In2015,FuTUREFORUMpublishedtwolandmarkWhitePapers,proposingthatthe5Gnetworksshouldfeature“soft”and“green”.TheWhitePaper(WP)isacontinuityofpreviousWhitePapers,reflectingthecontinuousthinking,progresssandevolvementonthe5Gnetworkdesignphilophy,whichmakesitselftheprogrammaticdocumentforotherWPspublishedinthesameseries.InthisWP,itispointedoutthatthedesignoffuturewirelessnetworksisdeemedtoajourneyofconvergenceofIT,CTandDTtechnologies.Infact,suchtrendhascometothesurfaceforthefirsttimein2010whentheconceptofC-RAN(Centralized,Collaborative,CloudandCleanRAN)wasfirstproposed.Thenitdidnotreceiveenoughattentionuntilin2012whentheETSINFVISGwassetuptospecifytheadoptionofvirtualizationtechnologiestothetelecomnetworks.Recentlymoreandmorepeopleareawareoftheimportanceandthehugepotentialbybigdataandtheartificialintelligence.Theconvergencetrendisacceleratingitsmomentum.TheO-RANAlliance,whichwasformedin2018andtargetedatdesigninganopenandsmartRANisatypicalrepresentativeofsuchtrend.OpenICDT:ConvergenceofIT,CTandDTfor5GRANandbeyondThewhitepapergivesanintroductionoffuture5GnetworksbasedonICDTconvergence.Essentially,theICDTconvergence-basaedrutureRANfeaturestwopoints.•OpenX.Therearemultiple-foldmeanings,includingopenarchitecture,openinterface,opensourceandopenhardwarereferencedesign.Openinterfacesareessentialtoenablesmallervendorsandoperatorstoquicklyintroducetheirownservices,orenableoperatorstocustomizethenetworktosuittheirownuniqueneeds.Italsoenablesmulti-vendordeployments,enablingamorecompetitiveandvibrantsupplierecosystem.Whileopensourcesoftwareenablesfasterproductdevelopmentandencouragesinnovation,openingthereferencedesignforhardwarecouldfurtherreducestheR&Dcostandtheentrythresholdforsmallvendors,whichfurtherspurstheinnovationthroughouttheindustryandbringprosperitytotheecosystem.•EmbeddedRANintelligence.ThebasicideaistoendowtheRANwithintelligencewiththeintroductionofML/AItechniques,whichcouldnotonlyhelpoptimizeandsimplythenetworkmanagementandorchestration,butalsohelpimprovesystemperformanceoptimization.OpenICDT:ConvergenceofIT,CTandDTfor5GRANandbeyond摘要随着5G的到来，无线网络比前几代变得越来越复杂。其背后的原因有很多，包括更高的网络密度，更大的网络规模，更多有着不同需求的应用等等。但是，当前的网络是封闭，而不是开放的，网络中各个组件之间紧密耦合，导致系统在快速升级、兼容性、快速服务推出、创新等方面存在困难，这一可预见的巨大挑战就影响5G的大规模部署商用。为了应对上述的巨大挑战，电信行业的架构师们正致力于设计更具灵活性、可伸缩性、敏捷性和可管理性的未来网络。在这一过程中，来自IT和DT行业经验被大量汲取。近几十年来，虚拟化、云计算、人工智能等IDT技术取得了巨大的成功。2015年，未来论坛发布了两份具有里程碑意义的白皮书，提出5G网络应具有“绿色”与“柔性”的特性。目前这版白皮书是之前版本的延续，反映了对5G网络设计理念的不断思考、进步和发展，同时它也是同一系列其他白皮书的纲领性文件。它指出，未来无线网络的设计将是IT、CT和DT技术的融合过程。实际上，这种趋势早在2010年，C-RAN（集中化、协作化、云化和绿色RAN）概念首次提出时就已浮出水面。然后，直到2012年ETSINFV-ISG成立，并开始制定电信网络虚拟化技术时，这一理念才受到足够的关注。近年来，越来越多的人们意识到大数据和人工智能技术的重要性和巨大潜力。理念趋同的趋势正在加速这一发展势头。而这种趋势中的典型代表是成立于2018年，并致力于设计开放和智能RAN的O-RAN联盟。本白皮书介绍了基于ICDT融合的未来5G网络。基于ICDT融合的未来无线接入网具有如下两个特点：1、开放。包括开放架构，开放接口，开源和开放硬件参考设计。开放接口能够使小型供应商和运营商快速引入自己的服务，也能够使运营商定制网络以满足自身的独特需求；此外，开放接口还支持多供应商部署，从而实现更具竞争力和活力的供应商生态系统。开源软件能够加快产品开发速度、鼓励创新。而开放硬件参考设计可以进一步降低研发成本和小厂商的准入门槛，从而进一步推动整个行业的创新并为生态系统带来繁荣。2、智能。通过引入ML/AI技术使RAN具有智能，这不仅可以帮助优化和简化网络管理和编排，还可以帮助提高系统性能。OpenICDT:ConvergenceofIT,CTandDTfor5GRANandbeyondTableofContents1Background...........................................................................................................................................................12KeytechnologiesforICDTconvergencefor5G/B5G/6GRAN..........................................................................22.1Virtualization............................................................................................................................................22.1.1Hardwareandsoftwaredecoupling...............................................................................................22.1.2Networkslicing.............................................................................................................................22.1.3Networksharing............................................................................................................................42.1.4Challengesandfuturestudies...........................................................