IntelligentRAN, Enhancing Wireless Network Intelligence and Enabling Digital Transformation

With the deployment of 5G networks going deeper, the vision of 5G full connectivity is unfolding in our field of vision. In order to better meet the diverse connectivity needs of 5G, network automation and intelligence become the key to the digital transformation of operators. In this context, Huawei proposed IntelligentRAN, a new generation architecture for wireless networks, which integrates intelligence into wireless network business, experience and operation and maintenance to realize a self-intelligent network with smart business operation, smart network optimization and smart operation and maintenance, enabling wireless to move from interconnection of everything to smart connection of everything. Huawei's Gan Bin speaks at the Huawei Wireless Innovative Products and Solutions Conference and MWC2022 Pre-Conference Five trends driving wireless networks towards intelligence Trend 1: Businesses are moving from experience-driven to real-time agile uptime. By 2030, 5G will enable explosive growth in personal, industrial and home applications. In the face of huge business types and fast and real-time business experience requirements, operators must break the previous tradition of relying on manual experience to open business for months, and introduce automation and intelligence into the business process to realize one-stop business subscription, flexible business scheduling, automated resource allocation, grayscale testing and finally full network opening, so as to achieve zero waiting for business opening. Trend 2: From eMBB spectrum priority to optimal network efficiency for multi-dimensional services There are 10 to 100 times differences in the upstream and downstream rates, time delays, positioning, reliability and other network capabilities required for various services in 5G. From the perspective of wireless network development, more and more frequency bands, higher and higher frequencies, and larger and larger bandwidth differences, the resulting network capacity differences in coverage, capacity, and latency are also significant. Therefore, between the demand for multiple services and the choice of multiple frequency bands, wireless networks need to achieve the most efficient use of multiple frequencies and the best multi-dimensional service experience through an intelligent approach. Trend 3: Experience from cell-centric to user-centric Traditional wireless networks are cell-centered, and as wireless networks move toward multi-production and multi-station, the single-user experience will be affected by different coverage between cells and interruptions between stations. In the future, wireless networks will realize user-centered dynamic real-time intelligent clustering through active prediction based on user business type and network environment to continuously provide the best service area, and enhance the edge experience through inter-site multi-TRP, so that users can enjoy a consistent experience with "zero fluctuation" throughout the business process. Trend 4: Green and low carbon, from the best performance to the best experience and energy efficiency The industry predicts that mobile network traffic will grow 100 times by 2030, which will result in a rapid increase in wireless network energy consumption due to the overlap of sites, frequency bands, bandwidths and channels. Global carriers have made green and low carbon a strategic goal for sustainable development, so it is inevitable to incorporate green into equipment and intelligence into the network. The intelligent network will adjust the network resources such as stations, spectrum and carriers in real time according to the needs of the business, so that both experience and energy efficiency can be improved. Trend 5: Operation and maintenance from reactive to proactive prediction and prevention to achieve "zero" network failure In the 5G era, "business is always online" has become the mainstream trend, so network operation and maintenance will become the key. According to statistics, there are 300 million alarms and 70 million upstations per month worldwide, which is a heavy burden for operators. The global mainstream operators want to reduce the operation and maintenance workload through the autonomous management of wireless networks. Therefore, in the future, the operation and maintenance of wireless networks will need to move from ex post troubleshooting to ex ante proactive prediction and prevention, and gradually achieve "zero" network failures. "The development of artificial intelligence technology can help wireless networks realize big data correlation analysis, intelligent prediction and intelligent decision making, and IntelligentRAN is born to achieve the vision of intelligent wireless networks, such as business wise operation, network wise optimization and operation and maintenance wise simplification, with the goals of zero waiting, zero fluctuation in experience, zero network failure, and both experience and energy efficiency. This will support the continuous expansion of new space and new business modes in the 5G era. This is what Gan Bin said at the press conference. Huawei released ADN (Automated Driving Network) in 2018, and IntelligentRAN, as the carrier of ADN in wireless networks, opens the way for wireless networks to evolve from operation and maintenance automation to network intelligence, introducing MIE (Mobile Intelligence Engine) based on MAE (MBB Automation Engine), and realizing the whole process intelligence of wireless networks through the real-time mobile intelligence engine (MIE-RT) on the base station side and the non-real-time intelligence engine (MIE-NRT) on the network side, combining their synergies in data, modeling and decision making. Five technologies to open the road to wireless intelligence Key Technology 1: Smart Experience, Air Port Intelligence Enables Multi-band Multi-site Heterogeneous Network Experience and Capacity Optimization The base station intelligence is more reflected in the air port intelligence. Under the condition of multi-band and multi-station multi-scene wireless network, IntelligentRAN can predict coverage, spectrum efficiency and business experience based on historical grid data and real-time information through intelligent grating technology, so as to select the best carrier for users; through the scheduling dictionary, signal strength and interference prediction based on historical coverage and neighbor interference, so as to make accurate scheduling of air port resources for users; through channel Through the spectrum analysis of user's historical service and channel state prediction, we can perform more accurate beam matching for users. The three technologies are combined to achieve the best experience and capacity. Key technology 2: Intelligent Green, through intelligent realization of all-weather deep energy saving, experience remains unchanged, energy saving multiplied In the context of energy saving, IntelligentRAN analyzes and predicts coverage, load, business type and KPI for different business types, and carries out non-real-time band selection, channel selection and other strategies from the network side through intelligent carrier selection, intelligent channel shutdown and intelligent symbol dormancy, and carries out real-time symbol scheduling and transmitting power configuration from the station side, thus realizing network-wide second-level strategy configuration and achieving the greatest energy saving on the basis of ensuring network KPI stability. Key Technology 3: Agile Business, Realizing Precise and Fast Business Opening and Reliability Assurance IntelligentRAN enables the operator's wireless network to participate in the process of business planning, new service changes, and dynamic business experience assurance in a more intelligent and flexible manner. First of all, during the new business start-up phase, based on the electronic map and business requirements, accurate and intelligent SLA site planning is conducted based on deep learning to improve investment efficiency; when business requirements change, new SLA requirements can be met by dynamic configuration of parameters only without changing the site layout, which also fits the direction of flexible manufacturing in the future factory; during business operation, self-learning based on AI In the process of business operation, the AI-based self-learning monitors/predicts the changes of object experience in real time and dynamically adjusts the parameter model to ensure the consistency of SLA under the dynamics. Key Technology 4: Intelligent operation and maintenance, enabling the network to move toward zero failure and zero business interruption In the daily operation and maintenance of the network, IntelligentRAN achieves precise fault identification and intelligent root cause analysis through the introduction of intelligent capabilities such as self-learning of fault characteristics and knowledge mapping, so that fault handling can move from manual to automatic prediction and prevention, changing passive response to active maintenance, enhancing network robustness, and moving toward a "zero-fault" wireless network. Key Technology 5: Intelligent MDT, enabling accurate network modeling, optimal three-dimensional network planning and optimization Intelligent MDT (Minimized Road Test) creates a more accurate raster map for network performance through the experience and location information reported by the terminal, and then performs 3D positioning through M-MIMO beam user vertical orientation measurement and other technologies, realizing high-precision mapping from flat to three-dimensional, and more accurately guiding wireless network planning, optimization, and VIP user protection. At the same time, IntelligentRAN is able to achieve the best multi-frequency performance and significantly reduce electromagnetic radiation intensity to meet the power limit of some countries through intelligent collaborative power control. "IntelligentRAN will empower thousands of industries with intelligent wireless networks, accelerate the transformation and upgrade of industries, and promote the sustainable development of the digital society and mobile industry. We look forward to working with operators and industry partners to accelerate the realization of this goal. Mr. Gan concluded the conference with a call to action.