What is vRAN or Virtual Radio Access Network?
How does it compare to traditional RAN?
Hi, I'm Dan Kehn from IBM Cloud,
and before I answer those questions, please click like and subscribe.
The short answer is vRAN is network functionality delivered as software instead of hardware.
Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are already investing in 5G,
so the timing is good to be able to think about other ways they can make their networks more flexible.
That's where Virtual Radio Access Networks, which follow the Open RAN architecture, can help.
To better understand vRAN it helps to compare them side by side,
vRAN versus traditional RAN.
So, we've all seen a traditional site of a cell tower -- up there as an antenna.
Along with the antenna is a Remote Radio Unit, or RU for short.
Down on the ground there's a different device called a Base Band Unit, or BBU.
The BBU takes the signals from the RU
and then forwards it on to the next place in the chain, the central unit.
The central unit is connected to multiple BBUs within a small region
and concentrates them to forward it on to the core network.
So, for vRAN, the picture starts out basically the same:
we have a tower, antenna, and RU.
But what's different is, instead of the BBU,
we have a different device called a VDU, or Virtual Distribution Unit.
It then connects to a different piece of equipment called a VCU, or Virtual Central Unit,
which connects then to the core network just as before.
So, on the surface, these look pretty much the same but there are some key differences.
The BBU is a fixed piece of hardware, proprietary with fixed capacity.
On the other hand, the VDU and VCU, it runs on commercial off-the-shelf hardware.
And then, installed on that, is software called a VNF, or Virtual Network Function.
That provides the same functionality as the BBU, but using software on commercial off-the-shelf hardware.
So, now with that quick overview, let's look at three different scenarios to see how they differ.
The first one I call "Road Trip".
So, let's imagine that you're driving down the highway, you're listening to music
on your favorite streaming service.
That signal is coming from this cell tower
and, unfortunately, you run across a traffic jam.
Now, you and the other drivers are going to want to think about ways you perhaps avoid this traffic jam.
So, you bring up your navigation app,
you might even call your family and say you're going to be late,
resulting in lots of different signals hitting the same tower, potentially overwhelming this BBU.
The scenario plays out a little bit differently in the case of vRAN.
Now, I showed just one VDU in the initial drawing,
but more realistically a CSP would install multiple VDUs in what's called a "VDU cluster".
So, that means they can handle the situation much more elegantly
because they can bring on additional capacity on demand.
So, let's look now at another scenario, which is not quite so unpredictable as road trip, I call "Downtown".
So, we have a cluster of buildings
and with that cluster of buildings we have lots of people.
Because there's lots of people,
we can make predictions about what their usage patterns might be.
And so that means we'll be able to plan, essentially, or automate
what capacity we need at what times.
For example, if we have office workers that come in the morning,
take lunch, and then leave in the evening, we might see rises in demand at those specific times.
But in the evening we may only need minimal capacity
and thus we can apply the level of capacity that's required given the demand.
OK, there's one final scenario that i would like to cover.
One that doesn't involve monitoring the dynamic nature of the network.
I call this one "Campus".
So, we've left the highway, we're no longer downtown, we're on campus.
And on this campus they have a cell tower. It's serving 5G.
The dean of this campus wants to provide wi-fi capability throughout the campus.
Not just in the buildings, but anywhere outside, so they can have outdoor classrooms, for example.
So, the CSP can make an offer to them.
They suggest that they install a wi-fi capable antenna on the existing tower
and because the VDU is software based, that means they can install new services.
In this case, a wi-fi capable VNF.
That wi-fi capability can be brought up during the day while students are there and be used actively.
And in the evening, where the demand drops off, they can also reduce the capacity that it provides
therefore offering a lot more flexibility in how they deliver services.
And here we offered a lot more dynamic way of addressing our capacity demands.
Together, these two really paint a picture of automation.
Now, automation, or network automation,
is really a separate topic in and of itself and deserves its own video,
so please look below in the description for links about it.
Thank you for watching.
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