A spreadsheet of 120 use cases for intelligence and automation in open RAN was developed in recent research. The diagram provides an analysis of the use of intelligence on the x-axis (from analytics through to more complex machine learning) and automations on the y-axis.
The distribution on the graphic illustrates that there is a requirement for more complex models in many of the functions – optimization and prediction seem to be key modelling requirements, although ML will also be used to understand complex situations with many factors affecting the outcome and to handle the large data sets which are being generated. On the y-axis, there is less need overall for more complex, cross-domain automations – with most of the requirements being between rApps and xApps or to modify some parameters/carry out instructions between an r/xApp and a function in the RAN.
