Artificial Intelligence in Open-Radio Access Network

This tutorial seeks to outline the proposed Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN)\ndeployment for Fifth generation (5G) wireless networks. O-RAN seeks to supplant\nhardware-specific Radio Access Network (RAN) components (e.g., the mobility\nmanagement entity (MME) or base station (gNB)) with generic hardware,\nspecialized software, and open signaling interfaces. The virtualization and\nnetwork slicing features of 5G allow for software to replace previously\nhardware specific functions. Software further provides faster analytics, thus\nsupporting 5Gs latency requirements and advanced usage scenarios (i.e.,\nenhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC),\nand ultra-reliable low latency communications (uRLLC)). Furthermore, as\nsoftware annexes control of the RAN, there is freedom to integrate Artificial\nIntelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) algorithms into RAN management\n(particularly at the user plane). This integration is one of the goals of\nO-RAN. Lastly, relying on generic hardware and specialized, open-source\nsoftware eliminates reliance upon specific device manufacturers. This paper\nwill provide questions regarding the future of O-RAN, with a focus on 5G\nnetwork device security.\n