RAN-Core Continuum

With the shift towards distributed RAN deployments, including multiple radio heads and centralized backend units, a new control plane becomes necessary for near real-time adaptations of the radio environment and efficient user distribution across available radio resources.

RAN-Core Continuum
RAN-Core Continuum Fraunhofer FOKUS

Our research focuses on integrating user control core network functionality within the near real time RAN control to adapt the local communication to momentary needs. Key aspects include:

  • Dynamic network topology control – Centralizing self-organized network management to adapt to momentary network conditions and requirements, improving RAN performance, communication service quality, reliability, security, and energy efficiency, through RAN parameters adaptation.
  • User distribution – allocating radio resources to devices, support for administrative handovers distributing users on overlapping RAN resources and allocation of radio resources, dynamically adjusting user distribution in near-real time.
  • User centric policies – a new mechanism to distribute indications to UEs to assist them with network information in user centric RAN operations.

Building on our extensive experience with 5G and 4G core networks, Fraunhofer FOKUS is developing near-real-time radio interface controller (RIC) apps for topology control and user distribution as part of the core network and relevant AI-based optimization algorithms to enable and coordinate these functionalities with the core network.