The open networking foundation (ONF) and rutgers winlab propose a joint research project to research, develop, and validate accurate and effective test methods to measure energy efficiency of 5G…

This $1,964,462 federal Project Grant award, funded through the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (CFDA 11.038) program administered by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), supports a collaborative research project between the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) and Rutgers University's WINLAB.

The key objectives of this two-year grant are to: 1) Develop test methods to accurately measure power consumption of 5G radio access network (RAN) and core network components; 2) Establish energy efficiency metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track and assess the effectiveness of energy optimization strategies; 3) Create energy consumption models to estimate power usage as a function of load; and 4) Evaluate the impacts of various energy-saving applications and techniques. Rutgers WINLAB, as a sub-recipient, will leverage its 5G testbed infrastructure and personnel to conduct experimental testing and research in support of these goals.

Activities

1. Develop test methods to measure power consumption of various ran and core components. This includes experimental measurements of power for various scenarios and parameters and identifying a minimal set of test scenarios to provide an accurate and efficient method. 2. Develop energy efficiency/consumption metrics and kpis to enable energy consumption tracking and assessment of the effectiveness of various energy saving strategies. This will build on standards available in 3GPP and provide more granular detail as needed for disaggregated components. 3. Develop energy consumption models which would provide an estimate of energy consumption of various ran/core components as a function of load (number of users/sessions, traffic load etc.). This would build on the state of the art, with calibration of models enabled by tests of real equipment. 4. Develop methods to assess the effectiveness of various energy strategies and rapp/xapp applications. This would be done efficiently by leveraging the energy consumption model, and the use of simulated networks as needed.

Expected outcomes

The expected outcome of this research is to innovate and validate efficient test methods for measuring energy consumption of various ran and core components based on a set of efficient energy consumption metrics.

Intended beneficiaries

Beneficiaries of this project include vendors, suppliers, companies, and institutions in the O-ran space.

Subrecipient activities

Rutgers university's winlab, a non-profit entity, is a subrecipient, receiving funding for personnel (1 full-time graduate student, an experienced research engineer, and lab technical support staff); and to support travel to academic and industry conferences, presenting to industry, and to coordinate with other teams. Rutgers winlab is engaging in this joint project to research, develop and validate accurate and effective test methods to measure the energy efficiency of 5G network components as well as the effectiveness of end-to-end open ran energy optimization strategies. Experimental testing will be conducted in established rutgers winlab test labs as well as virtual cloud infrastructure, leveraging synergy with work in the COSMOS experimental wireless testbed and the rutgers winlab (COSMOS) O-ran open test and integration center (OTIC) site which is one of the only two OTIC sites in north america.