Automatic Backhaul Planning for 5G Open RAN Networks based on MNO Data

Abstract

The Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for the 5th Generation (5G) services are ambitious and broad, particularly for the latency targets. To cover those, a flexible and cost-efficient Radio Access Network (RAN) is essential as proposed by the Open-RAN (O-RAN) concept. In addition, the deployment of O-RAN 5G networks can be expedited by considering network access, aggregation, and core locations of legacy technologies, where physical requisites as power supply, fiber optic links, and others are already met. With this in mind, this paper extends previous simulation work that proposed a radio network planning algorithm for 5G Millimeter Wave (mmWave) small cells to O-RAN-based networks. The backhaul planning algorithm considers both the 5G/O-RAN QoS constraints, a real 4th Generation (4G) network topology, and the respective Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) as the foundation to plan an O-RAN compliant backhaul network. Our findings identified that the latency of current networks is greatly determined by the network load. In the utmost case, comparing the network baseline and busy hour KPIs, the baseline planned O-RAN network requires 7%of the equivalent busy hour network nodes. This approach has the potential to help MNOs to outline an enlightened strategy, minimizing Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and augmenting QoS towards upgrading legacy networks to O-RAN 5G networks.