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RIC Platform by Northeastern University#

The Northeastern University (NEU) Wireless Institute of Things (WIoT) Institute is advancing the integration of O-RAN technology with NVIDIA’s Aerial Testbed platform. One research topic is integrating an end-to-end (E2E) O-RAN E2 interface within the Aerial Testbed software stack. The integration leverages key components of the O-RAN ecosystem, including the O-RAN Software Community (OSC) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), and the OpenRAN Gym framework.

The integration enables two critical functionalities:

  • Streaming of key performance metrics (KPMs): The system can now transmit relevant performance data in real-time

  • Enforcement of control actions: Decisions made by the xApps on the near-real time (Near-RT) RIC can be implemented swiftly.

Recent Developments

In July 2023, NEU showcased a significant milestone:

  • A data-collection xApp running on an OSC RIC

  • Deployed in a fully automated OpenShift cluster

  • Connected to an InfluxDB database for telemetry storage

  • Visualization of on a Grafana dashboard.

Ongoing Work

NEU is currently focused on enhancing the system’s capabilities:

  • Near-RT Control: The team is working to enable Near-RT control functionalities on the existing infrastructure

  • 8-Node Deployment: The institute is supporting an 8-node NVIDIA Aerial Testbed deployment, which serves as the testbed for these advancements.

This project represents a significant step forward in the implementation of O-RAN technology, potentially improving the flexibility, efficiency, and intelligence of radio access networks.

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