During the O-RAN Global PlugFest Fall 2023, VMware by Broadcom delivered a bumper harvest of projects that demonstrate the continued development of our RIC partner ecosystem and the maturity of the VMware RIC product. In all, VMware by Broadcom participated in five demonstrations with long-established partners Aira Technologies, Net AI, Rimedo Labs and VIAVI as well as a demo with a recent addition to our partner program, Future Connections.
One hundred companies and institutions participated in the O-RAN Alliance’s Fall PlugFest, which extended the achievements of the Spring 2023 PlugFest in three areas:
- Validating O-RAN equipment conformance, performance, and interoperability
- Tackling obstacles to wider technology adoption
- Facilitating exploration of new features, scenarios, and applications
Illustrating Use Cases to Optimize the RAN
The projects VMware participated in featured both our non-real-time RAN Intelligence Controller, called VMware Centralized RIC, and our near-real-time RIC, VMware Distributed RIC. The projects demonstrated a variety of use cases for the technology.
Managing Energy Usage with Aira Technologies
Our project with Aira Technologies, which took place at the i14y Lab in Berlin, Germany, demonstrated Aira’s Energy Management rApp, integrated with VMware Centralized RIC through an O-RAN-compliant R1 interface, and utilized the VIAVI TeraVM RAN emulator (RIC Test). The demonstration showed how the rApp can reduce energy consumption on a network by up to 40% without affecting the quality of service (QoS) for subscribers.
Boosting QoE with Net AI
Also in the i14y Lab, we successfully integrated VMware Distributed RIC with the Net AI Quality-of-Experience (QoE) xApp, which uses a throughput forecasting engine to predict future traffic demands for each UE connected to a network. Such forecasts will let you dynamically allocate capacity, adjust transmission power, and manage handovers to efficiently maximize QoE for subscribers. The forecasts and predicted throughput metrics generated by the xApp can also be shared with other xApps, rApps, and the network’s Service Management and Orchestrator (SMO) framework via the VMware RIC shared data layer.
Improving Spectrum Efficiency with Future Connections
The objective of the project with Future Connections was to show how their Spectrum Efficiency rApp running on VMware Centralized RIC can optimize cell coverage and user distribution within a target cluster by reducing the number of overshooting and undershooting offenders. The rApp used performance management and configuration management data obtained from VMware RIC together with geospatial analysis techniques to identify incorrectly configured cells and to adjust configuration settings to improve performance.
Steering Traffic with Rimedo Labs
With Rimedo Labs, we showcased how a Traffic Steering xApp hosted on the VMware Distributed RIC can be instructed by policy information provided by a Traffic Management rApp using standardized A1 interface messages. In a real-world scenario, this application would ensure that first responders arriving at the scene of an emergency would benefit from QoS guarantees and be given precedence over regular users in the allocation of spectrum resources.
Tapping Location Data for Optimization with VIAVI
The demonstration with VIAVI verified how the VIAVI Geolocation xApp hosted on VMware Distributed RIC can use data ingested over the E2 interface to estimate subscriber location. Rich location data can serve as a foundational data source within the RIC framework to drive location-based use cases for network optimization and automation.
Demonstrating Leadership and Maturity to Drive O-RAN Benefits
The scope and breadth of the PlugFest projects undertaken by VMware by Broadcom highlights once again our industry leadership. Membership in the VMware RIC Partner Program has now reached 35 companies, an increase of 15 from earlier this year when VMware was heralded by research company Omdia as the market leader.
This year’s PlugFest projects have shown the increasing maturity of O-RAN standards and interfaces, and illustrated the wide range of applications and features enabled by the RIC platform. As the pace of O-RAN network rollouts increases around the world, VMware by Broadcom has established itself as the ideal partner to help your CSP exploit the programmatic capabilities of O-RAN and deliver new benefits – such as O-RAN sustainability – for your network and subscribers.
To find out more about how our RAN Intelligent Controller and our vibrant O-RAN ecosystem can help you program and optimize your network, see the VMware RIC product page.
