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The O-RAN alliance is defining the various components and interfaces required to disaggregate 5G RAN. According to the O-RAN site, the "O-RAN ALLIANCE is transforming the Radio Access Networks industry towards open, intelligent, virtualized and fully interoperable RAN." One of the components defined by O-RAN is the Non-Real-Time Radio Intelligent Controller (NONRTRIC).
According to the O-RAN Software Community (O-RAN-SC), that implements parts of the O-RAN specification, the NONRTRIC performs the following:
The Non-Real-Time RIC (RAN Intelligent Controller) is an Orchestration and Automation function described by the O-RAN Alliance for non-real-time intelligent management of RAN (Radio Access Network) functions. The primary goal of the NONRTRIC is to support non-real-time radio resource management, higher layer procedure optimization, policy optimization in RAN, and providing guidance, parameters, policies and AI/ML models to support the operation of near-RealTime RIC functions in the RAN to achieve higher-level non-real-time objectives.
Earlier this week, I demonstrated the NONRTRIC development environment from the O-RAN-SC Bronze release. As the name suggests, the development environment allows users to develop different functionalities and interfaces for the NONRTRIC. Please check out the webinar recording here.
Ultimately, we will offer a fully productized commercial-grade NONRTRIC as part of our Aarna Networks Multi Cluster Orchestration Platform (AMCOP) product.
Separately, ONF announced the first Release of SD-RAN v1.0 Software Platform for Open RAN and mentioned that we are a member of the project. Our goal is to work on the interop between our NONRTRIC and the ONF Near-Real-Time RIC.
If you are interested in replicating any of this in your lab, feel free to contact us.
