RF PLANNING FOR OPEN RAN NETWORKS
How does planning Open RAN networks differ? Up to this point, the RF planning capabilities we have outlined apply equally to traditional architecture networks and Open RAN networks. There are however some specific capabilities a planning tool needs to ensure a successful RF design for an Open RAN network.
Support for Open RAN nodes To accurately represent and model an Open RAN network requires support for Open RAN specific network nodes such as the Radio Unit (RU), the Distributed Unit (DU) and the Centralized Unit (CU). Without this basic support, many of the capabilities we present below are not possible.
How can Planet help?
Since the release of version 7.7, Planet has supported RU, DU and CU Open RAN nodes. This enables Planet to accurately model Open RAN networks and provides the groundwork for many other Open RAN network analysis capabilities.
Open RAN friendly views An RF planning tool has two traditional views which all RF planning engineers will be familiar with. These are the site explorer where the network hierarchy is represented in a tree view and the map view where the cell sites are displayed at their physical co-ordinates on a map. When planning an Open RAN network, it is important that the Open RAN nodes are represented in these views, so engineers have a clear picture of the network.
How can Planet help?
The Planet site explorer includes CU, DU and RU nodes in its hierarchy helping planning engineers understand how everything is connected. Due to the disaggregated nature of Open RAN nodes, perhaps even more important is Planet’s ability to show a logical view of the Open RAN network on the map view. The gives an engineer a user-friendly representation of where all the nodes in the network sit physically and how they are logically connected.
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