Ebook: Open RAN : The Definitive Guide

A comprehensive survey of Open RAN technology and its ecosystem.

In Open RAN: The Definitive Guide, a team of distinguished industry leaders deliver an authoritative guide to all four principles of the Open RAN vision: openness, virtualization, intelligence, and interoperability. Written by the industry experts currently defining the specifications, building the systems, and testing and deploying the networks, the book covers O-RAN architecture, the fronthaul interface, security, cloudification, virtualization, intelligence, certification, badging, and standardization.

Virtualization and cloud have unified computing and networking. This unification can be seen in all areas of wired communications. With Open RAN (O-RAN), wireless communications will be able to take advantage of the unification as well. Wireless communications are overtaking wired communications. According to some estimates, traffic from wireless and mobile devices accounts for two-thirds of all IP traffic. However, the deployment of wireless communications is costly. The cost is mainly driven by RAN. For example, substantial increase in the number of cell sites and radio types with massive MIMO (multi-input multi-output) technology required by 5G drives RAN costs even higher. O-RAN attempts to solve this problem by disaggregating and splitting the RAN, supporting standardized interfaces that can interoperate with each other. This standardization drives multivendor radio, hardware, and software deployments with key functions implemented as virtual network functions (VNFs) and cloud-native network functions (CNFs) on vendor-neutral hardware and networks implemented in modular units.

Building O-RAN and ensuring its performance guarantees are huge undertakings. Compared to traditional RAN, installing and operating O-RAN is expected to be substantially more complex and time-consuming. The expense of this model may offset O-RAN cost savings as in virtualized wired networks. However, an open and virtualized model should drive more innovations, flexibility, and automation in wireless communications. For example, RAN Intelligent Controllers (RIC) with open APIs should provide a platform for the developer community to innovate RAN algorithms. This book discusses various industry groups and standardization bodies participating in specifying O-RAN technologies; O-RAN architecture consisting of RIC, Service Management and Orchestration architecture, cloudification and virtualization, open transport, security, and open software; and typical O-RAN deployment scenarios. It is a valuable book in this area.

This critical reference on Open RAN explains how and why an open and disaggregated, intelligent, and fully virtualized network is the way networks should be designed and deployed moving forward. Readers will also find:

A thorough introduction from key industry players, including AT&T, Telefonica, Mavenir, VMWare, Google and VIAVI
Comprehensive explorations of Open X-Haul transport networks and other unique 5G capabilities
Practical discussions of the four pillars of O-RAN architecture: openness, virtualization, intelligence, and interoperability
Comprehensive treatments of how smaller vendors can introduce their own services and customize the network

Perfect for engineers, product managers, and marketing professionals in the telecom industry, Open RAN: The Definitive Guide will also benefit graduate students, researchers, and engineers in government agencies with involvement in the wireless and telecom industries.