Use Case Name

Use Case Overview & Description

This feature requirement enhances A1 Policy Management for the O-RAN has defined A1 interface specification in the context of the management of 5G RAN elements to provide capabilities provided in Rel 6, 7 & 8. Work will continue by extending & evolving support for using A1 Policies to manage 5G RAN elements by providing intent based policies for optimization of the RAN network performance. This requirement enhances the support for Managing and Mediating O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP.  This extends work contributed in Rel 6 - Frankfurt (REQ-38) and Rel 7 - Guilin (REQ-352). A1 Adapter functionality was introduced in Frankfurt. In Guilin The A1 adapter was improved and a A1 Policy Management Service was added. Planned enhancements for Rel 8 9 include : support of new A1 interface version in alignment versions to align with new versions & improvements to O-RAN alliance , common logging/audit. improved CSIT and OOM alignment, easier configuration, an improved NBI, and improved security cert management.specifications.

Use Case Key Information

BUSINESS DRIVER

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Executive Summary: This feature requirement enhances A1 Policy Management for the O-RAN has defined A1 interface specification in the context of the management of 5G RAN elements to provide capabilities provided in Rel 6, 7 & 8. Work will continue by extending & evolving support for using A1 Policies to manage 5G RAN elements by providing intent based policies for optimization of the RAN network performance. This requirement enhances the support for Managing and Mediating O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP.  This extends work contributed in Rel 6 - Frankfurt (REQ-38) and Rel 7 - Guilin (REQ-352). A1 Adapter functionality was introduced in Frankfurt. In Guilin The A1 adapter was improved and a A1 Policy Management Service was added. Planned enhancements for Rel 8 9 include : support of new A1 interface version in alignment versions to align with new versions & improvements to O-RAN alliance , common logging/audit. improved CSIT and OOM alignment, easier configuration, an improved NBI, and improved security cert managementspecifications.

Business Impact: Continuing the convergence convergency between ONAP and ORAN for A1 Policy interface to used by all service providers and avoid duplicate development efforts.

Business Markets: Enhanced  Enhanced A1 Policy capabilities , once developed, will be usable by any service provider deploying and using ONAP.

Funding/Financial Impacts: A1 interface provides a flexible way for the operator to manage wide area RAN network optimization, reducing capex investment needs.

Organization Mgmt, Sales Strategies: There is no additional organizational management or sales strategies for this use case outside of a service providers "normal" ONAP deployment and its attendant organizational resources from a service provider.

Key Contacts : John Keeney (Ericsson EST) Michela Bevilacqua Zu Qiang

Development Status

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Use cases define how different users interact with a system under design. 

Enhancements for

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Istanbul Release

• Add support for O-RAN Alliance A1 Specification evolution (A1-AP v2.1 specification (A1 Policy only)
• Improve alignment with OOM deployment & configuration options
• Improve alignment with CSIT way of working for function tests
• New REST interface for configuration
• New A1 Policy Management NBI (REST & DMaaP)
• Improved security cert management
• Stretch: Investigate if A1 Policy manipulation can be incorporated into other use cases (e.g. Slicing, OOF) - TBC& A1-TP)
• A1 Policy State Management & Persistent Storage in A1 Policy Management Service
  • Support failover, restart, etc.
• HTTP/HTTPS proxy support in A1 Adapter (A1 Southbound only)
• Improved A1-REST response code transit through A1 Adapter
• Support updated RESTCONF spec (RFC 8040 - used in ODL) between A1 Policy Management Service & A1 Adapter
  • RFC 8040 : https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8040
  • Older RESTCONF (https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-bierman-netconf-restconf-02) being phased out. 
• Re-align OOM configuration for near-RT-RICs in A1 Policy Management Service config
• Add more fine-grained near-RT-RIC in A1 Policy Management Service REST runtime config interface
  
  Improved documentation & testing
• A1 Policy Management participant for use in ONAP Control Loops (Stretch – TBC)
• Support A1 Policy operations in SON usecases (RAN Slicing & PCI – TBC) (Stretch – TBC)

Synchronize A1 Policy Information in RAN

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Integration of bordering ONAP components:

• TBCDemonstrations with other Use cases, Components, PoCs
• Integration with other use cases & functions (Stretch)

Interfaces:

• Northbound Interface
  • Add/Change CCSDK A1 Policy Management Service NBI for A1 Policy Management As before (Honolulu)
  • Continue deprecating A1-PMS v1 NBI (REST & DMaaP)
  • The new version of the PMS REST API complies with the ONAP REST API and Zalando style guidelines and fixes some naming inconsistencies.
    
    • REST (New version)
    • DMaaP (New version)
    • Ref: CCSDK-3077
• Configuration
  • File based, supports dynamic refresh - including K8s ConfigMap (existing)
  • CBS/Consul (existing)
  • REST (New)
    • CCSDK-2966

• Southbound Interfaces – See earlier section
  Southbound Interfaces
  • As before (Honolulu)
    • OSC A1 v2.1 (Existing)
    • O-RAN A1 v1.1 (Existing)
    • O-RAN A1 v2
    .1 (New
    • .0 (Existing)
    • O-RAN A1 v3.0 (Planned – small evolution)

• Internal Interface (A1 Policy Management Service <-> A1 Adapter)

  • RESTCONF: Add support for RFC 8040 RESTCONF version (See above)

Usage outside ONAP:

• Used in O-RAN-SC NONRTRIC Project (Downstream)
• Southbound Interface: O-RAN A1 Interface + Information Model is specified and maintained by O-RAN Alliance

Modelling Impacts:

• TBCNone

Other:

• Update Documentation with evolved A1 interface aspects
• Update Integration & Existing Test requirements

Use Case Functional Definitions

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