O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP

Owned by Maxime Bonneau
Last updated: Aug 06, 2024 by John Keeney (Ericsson EST)
2 min read

KEY INFORMATION

Gerrit: repo: https://gerrit.onap.org/r/admin/repos/ccsdk/oran

Meetings:   https://lf-o-ran-sc.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RICNR/pages/15073287/Meetings & ONAP/O-RAN-SC/SMO Meetings

Docs: https://docs.onap.org/projects/onap-ccsdk-oran/en/latest/index.html

Email List: ONAP "discuss" mailing list: onap-discuss@lists.onap.org

Related work in OSC: https://lf-o-ran-sc.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RICNR

JIRA (Epics):

Requirements (Older):

PROPOSALS BY RELEASE

The following table shows the progression of the O-RAN A1 Policy functions by release.

RELEASE

WIKI PAGE

RELEASE

WIKI PAGE

R6 Frankfurt

A1 Adapter in ONAP

R7 Guilin

ONAP/3GPP & ORAN Alignment: A1 Adapter extensions

R8 Honolulu

R8 A1 Adapter and Policy Management Extension

R9 Istanbul

R9 A1 Policy Function Extensions

R10 Jakarta

R10 Proposals: A1 Policy Function Extensions

GUIDES & DOCS BY RELEASE

The following table shows the developer guides and documentation sites for the O-RAN A1 Policy functions.

RELEASE

WIKI PAGE

Docs

RELEASE

WIKI PAGE

Docs

R7 Guilin (Q4 2020)

O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP Guilin



R8 Honolulu (Q2 2021)

O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP Honolulu



R9 Istanbul (Q4 2021)

O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP Istanbul

https://docs.onap.org/projects/onap-ccsdk-oran/en/istanbul/

R10 Jakarta (Q2 2022)

O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP Jakarta

https://docs.onap.org/projects/onap-ccsdk-oran/en/jakarta/

R10 Kohn (Q4 2022)

O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP Kohn

https://docs.onap.org/projects/onap-ccsdk-oran/en/kohn

R11 London (Q2 2023)

O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP London

https://docs.onap.org/projects/onap-ccsdk-oran/en/london/

R12 Montreal (Q4 2023)

O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP Montreal

https://docs.onap.org/projects/onap-ccsdk-oran/en/montreal/

R13 New Delhi

O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP New Delhi

https://docs.onap.org/projects/onap-ccsdk-oran/en/latest/ 

R14 Oslo

O-RAN A1 Policies in ONAP Oslo

https://docs.onap.org/projects/onap-ccsdk-oran/en/latest/ 



DESCRIPTION


The O-RAN Alliance defines a new management interface "A1" for Radio Access Network (RAN) Management. This interface interconnects a new logical "Non-RealTime RAN Intelligent Controller (Non-RT-RIC)" function in the Service Management & Orchestration (SMO) layer with a new logical "Near-RealTime RAN Intelligent Controller (near-RT-RIC)" function in the RAN. This new A1 interface allows the Non-RT-RIC to provide Policy Guidance to the RAN (near-RT-RIC) to steer its operation. These policies are defined by the O-RAN Alliance as "A1 Policies". The specifications for the A1 Interface, including A1 Policy support, can be found on the O-RAN Alliance Specifications portal

New functions to support A1 Policies have been added to ONAP. The A1 Policy functions are Orchestration and Automation functions for non-real-time intelligent management of RAN functions. The primary goal of the A1 Policy functions is to support non-real-time radio resource management, higher layer procedure optimization, policy optimization in RAN, and providing guidance, parameters, policies and AI/ML models to support the operation of Near-RealTime RIC (RAN Intelligent Controller) functions in the RAN to achieve higher-level non-real-time objectives. 

A1 Policy functions form part of a Non-Realtime RIC as defined by O-RAN Alliance. Non-Realtime RIC functions include service and policy management, RAN analytics, and model-training for the Near-RealTime RICs. The ONAP A1 Policy work provides concepts, specifications, architecture and reference implementations for A1 Policy support as defined and described in the O-RAN architecture.

As shown in the Component Architecture diagram below, the A1 Policy functions exist within the ONAP eco-system, leveraging existing infrastructure to support non-real-time control of the RAN (Radio Access Network).

Functional view of ONAP A1 Policy functions

The figure above shows a functional view of the A1 Policy functions in ONAP.



GERRIT