Policy-Based Traffic Steering and Load Balancing in O-RAN-Based Vehicle-to-Network Communications

Abstract

Vehicular communication (V2X) is one of the challenging use cases in the context of 5G and beyond networks due to its temporal and spatial dynamics. It is very specific and demanding from the perspective of a mobile network, especially since it covers a wide range of services with different requirements. On the other end, one of the key ideas behind the Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) concept is to embed intelligence into the RAN to allow network and resource optimization through tailored applications. This is possible due to the introduction of the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), along with xApps and rApps. In this paper, we bring both of these worlds together and propose the use of Traffic Management and Traffic Steering applications in V2X scenarios. We also emphasize the usage of enrichment information (EI), enabled by O-RAN, specific to vehicular services (e.g., car platoon geolocation, or emergency situation notifications) which allows for optimal policy control. The numerical results for multiple V2X use cases show that the flexibility, provided by the O-RAN architecture enables optimized handling of the resources through policy control when dynamic changes occur on the road. Thus, we conclude that O-RAN is fit for purpose for the V2X scenarios.