Transparent Integration of IoT devices in a 5G ORAN Network
Description
The fifth generation (5G) of cellular communication is migrating towards higher frequenciesto cater to the demand for higher data rate applications. However, in higher
frequency ranges, like mmWave and terahertz, physical blockage poses a significant
challenge to the large-scale deployment of this new technology. Reconfigurable Intelligent
Surfaces (RISs) have shown promising potential in extending the signal coverage
and overcoming signal blockages in wireless communications. However, RIS integration
in networks requires high coordination between network notes, resulting in
barriers to the wide adoption of RISs and similar IoT devices. To this end, this work
introduces a practical study of integrating a remotely controlled RIS in an Open RAN
(ORAN) compliant 5G private network with minimal software stack modifications.
This thesis proposes using cloud technologies and ORAN features, such as the Radio
Intelligent Controller (RIC) and eXternal Applications (xApps), to coordinate the
RIS transparently with a 5G base station operation. The proposed framework has
been integrated into a proof-of-concept hardware prototype with a 5.8 GHz RIS. Experimental
results demonstrate that the framework can control the beam steering in
the RIS accurately within the network. The proposed framework shows promising potential
for near real-time RIS beamforming control with minimal power consumption
overhead.
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2024
Agent
- Author (aut): Roy, Abhradeep
- Thesis advisor (ths): Alkhateeb, Ahmed
- Thesis advisor (ths): Syrotiuk, Violet
- Committee member: Trichopoulos, Georgios
- Publisher (pbl): Arizona State University