Programmable RAN Platform for Flexible Real-Time Control and Telemetry

Abstract

A key transformation of the Radio Access Network (RAN) in 5G is the migration to an Open RAN architecture, that sees the RAN functions virtualized and disaggregated. Open RAN, aims at accelerating innovation through the introduction of a programmable RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC). However, due to latency and safety challenges, the telemetry and control provided by the RIC is mainly limited to higher layers and time scales (>10ms), while also relying on predefined service models which are hard to change. In this work, we demonstrate Minerva, a programmable monitoring and control platform, specifically designed with the RAN idiosyncrasies in mind. Minerva introduces two novel components called Janus and Decima, for the deployment of safe RAN control and telemetry applications by trusted third-parties. Janus enables the deployment of codelets in the RAN functions using userspace eBPF for fast inline control and filtering of data. Decima, enables the deployment of sandboxed real-time control applications, by leveraging data collected from Janus and the OS. We demonstrate the benefits of Minerva through two applications related to interference detection and inter-cell interference mitigation, by leveraging a commercial-grade 5G testbed deployment.