Energy-Efficient Virtual Network Function (VNF) Management in Open Radio Access Networks

Abstract

In this thesis, we are exploring the energy efficient resource management in Open Radio Access Networks(Open RAN).Wearemainlyfocusedonoptimization of processing functions between centralized unit(CU) and distributed unit(DU). We proposed a system level model to analyze and evaluate the impact of selection functional splits and algorithms complexity on total energy consumption. Threshold-based heuristic, Binary Integer Programming (BIP) and Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) have been chosen as main algorithms for analysis and evaluation due to the fact that they are differ in the cases of algorithm complexity, thus they all have different power and computational resources consumption profiles. For evaluation purposes we analyzed them under different conditions, considering processing, transport and control energy components. The results demonstrate that MILP is far superior in comparison to other two algorithms because it achieves the highest energy savings due to jointly optimizing resource allocation. In the cases of less complex algorithms they demonstrate close to MILP results in the cases of off peak hours traffic and far worse results at the peak hours. This work mainly shows the exchange between energy optimization and algorithmic complexity in Open RAN architecture.