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Todo o mundo It is called a near real-time RIC because it controls parts of the network infrastructure that require a latency of less than one second. The non-real-time controller controls aspects of the network infrastructure that can wait longer than one second for a response. To maintain a good user experience, networking resources are provisioned to users and services with the greatest need. Open RAN interface standards allow artificial intelligence (AI) to more easily communicate with the rest of the network and optimize use quality of experience (QoE).
AI software can use algorithms to recognize traffic and network health to determine how to provision resources. The machine learning models that train the AI can be done offline in a non real-time RIC because the training does not have to respond to anything in real time. The near real-time RIC is used to enforce the decisions made by the AI software. Enforcing the decisions has to take place in the near real-time RIC because timing affects the QoE.
Quality of service (QoS) is similar to QoE; however QoS maintains the performance of a network service. QoE focuses more on maintaining a good connection for users. In a 5G RAN, traffic patterns change quickly and the infrastructure is heterogeneous. This means QoS policies cannot be generalized and require adaptive capabilities.
Resource allocation controlled by QoS policies are used by both non real-time and near real-time RICs to optimize how resources are given to users using the same service. A non real-time RIC is able to take in information on resource demand and select users to prioritize for resource allocation. From there, the near real-time RIC can enforce the resource allocation in the RAN’s central and distributed units.
Traffic steering, where network software determines where to send traffic across the network, requires automation and intelligence from the software. The AI within a RIC enables the controller to predict network conditions, such as congestion, so the controller can find an optimal path to send traffic over.
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