With the large-scale deployment of 5G commercial networks, the launch of the "sailing" action plan for 5G applications and the implementation of "carbon neutrality goals" in China, new scenarios, new services and new ecosystems of 5G networks have injected infinite possibilities into the innovation of various industries, and have also put forward new requirements for network transformation and service capability evolution. The traditional network-centric, KPI-targeted and centralized O&M strategies, architecture, technologies and services cannot precisely meet the differentiated needs of network development in different periods, regions and service scenarios. Based on the innovative practice of digitization, intelligence and service-based concept, combined with the latest development of information theory, cybernetics, system theory and AI technologies, ZTE has rolled out the industry's first flexible resource orchestration solution based on BBU native intelligence, aiming at building high-quality, system efficient, low-carbon and value-oriented intelligent networks.
New Network, New Paradigm
Facing the highly complex network environment as well as differentiated service requirements and terminal capabilities, the core mission of 5G network is to precisely meet diverse 2C and 2B experience goals including large bandwidth, high reliability, and low latency. From the perspective of network operation, the basic logic of network value creation is undergoing profound changes. The context-aware experience economy is gradually replacing the traditional payload-based bit economy and becoming the new network philosophy that leads the all-round reconstruction of 5G network and service paradigm, and finally realizes the "BEST" network under joint consideration of multi-dimensional value, namely benefit, experience, simplicity and transformation. The shift in the network paradigm involves:
—From network to user: The traditional network KPI cannot precisely reflect the experience of each user, because it is a cell-level indicator. However, according to differentiated service needs of users, the context-aware user experience needs to flexibly orchestrate radio resources through the combination of user and network orchestration, so as to achieve accurate and reachable user experience with optimal network efficiency.
—From physical to virtual: Application scenario can be extended by segmentation. Traditional application scenarios such as schools, hospitals, and shopping malls represent physical attributes, while virtual scenarios need more fine-tuned information including wireless environment, service characteristics and user behavior from multiple levels like grid level, cell level, site level and regional level. This provides the structured scenario basis for a personalized experience using machine learning and reasoning.
—From human experience to machine knowledge: Based on the intelligence of virtual scenarios, the knowledge such as network serving capability and user reachable experience in each scenario can be machine learned and updated iteratively, so as to realize the transition from rough manual experience to fine-grained scenario perception.
—From commonality to individuality: Personalized policy-based intelligent reasoning and enhanced learning are implemented anytime and anywhere to precisely meet the dynamic needs in different time and space scenarios.
—From experience to intention: The intention-driven network paradigm can be realized through the integrated intention recognition and intelligent mapping between service requirements and network serving capability. This helps to achieve diverse scenario specific intention, extreme experience, and lowest energy consumption.
—From technology to business: The intention-driven network paradigm effectively builds a bridge between business goals, technical goals and intelligent services, and continues to promote the value of network intelligence.
New Architecture, New Computing
Based on the new paradigm of user-centric experience, context-aware policy and flexible resource orchestration, new challenges are posed to the evolution of network intelligent architecture and the ability of network perception, cognition, decision-making and reinforcement learning. The centralized, non-real-time automation and intelligence capabilities carried by outside-BBU intelligence such as network management system and big data system cannot meet the growing requirements of diverse services for computing flexibility, timeliness, accuracy and economy.
The distributed intelligence that is highly integrated with computing power and BBU has unique value in quickly responding to environmental changes, making effective decisions in time, and improving the real-time perception/cognition ability at the edge of the network. Therefore, it is the key driver of user-centric experience. Compared with the edge computing based on independent infrastructure, the ICT transformation and continuous computing enhancement of base stations have laid a foundation for distributed edge intelligence with more flexibility, lower cost and simpler O&M. With its future-oriented intelligent BBU native computing architecture as well as efficient collaboration between communication computing and intelligent computing, ZTE can provide an ideal choice of incremental expansion and s mooth evolution for on-demand deployment of edge intelligence in different scenarios and industries.
Heterogeneous intelligence is stemming from the joint of distributed computing based on BBU native intelligence and centralized computing based on outside-BBU intelligence, which makes full use of their advantages and integrates them efficiently. The distributed native intelligence enhances the communication process in near real-time with efficient, accurate, and highly autonomous user-centric computing services, provides agile closed-loop of the last mile computing intelligence, and applies to centralized intelligence for optimal resource allocation on the network layer as needed. The centralized exogenous intelligence centered on networks provides intelligent active O&M capability to ensure network quality at low costs, as well as multi-dimensional resource orchestration driven by efficiency, income and other goals, and provides necessary constraints and protection mechanisms for micro-level intelligent behaviors at the macro level.
New Service, New Value
In June 2021, ZTE officially released its Radio Composer, the industry's first intelligent radio resource orchestration solution, including network orchestration and user orchestration driven by BBU native intelligence. Through hierarchical flexible resource orchestration services, Radio Composer flexibly and precisely meets the diverse core value needs of network development in different periods and different scenarios, and continues to empower the high-quality development of 5G networks by enhancing user experience, accelerating traffic migration, strengthening resource sharing, and reducing power consumption.
—Enhancing user experience to expand 5G user base: Through the orchestration, users can be guided in time to the frequency and cell with the best experience and the highest resource efficiency. This increases user satisfaction and attracts more 5G users.
—Accelerating traffic migration to improve 5G network value: While ensuring user experience, user orchestration improves 5G camping ratio and data consumption, and increases 5G network value.
—Strengthening resource sharing to improve 5G spectrum gain: Network orchestration employs intelligent traffic prediction, precise traffic steering, adaptive LTE shutdown and flexible interference coordination to optimize 5G experience with least impact on 4G users, thus providing operators with more profitable resource sharing solutions.
—Reducing power consumption to improve 5G network efficiency: Through the coordination of user orchestration and network orchestration, users are precisely migrated to the frequency and cell with the highest energy efficiency without affecting legacy user experience, thus maximizing 5G network efficiency.
New Economy, New Future
The rise of experience economy and "dual-carbon" goal has put forward a new proposition for the mobile industry to drive digital transformation and sustainable development with a greener and more efficient paradigm. It has also placed new basic requirements on collaborative evolution of heterogeneous intelligence, flexible orchestration and context-aware policy. ZTE will work with industrial and academic partners to deepen cooperation in the vision of a low-carbon digital society, and drive the development of new networking and computing theory, integrated computing and network architecture and key technologies, industry standards and commercial applications. With the two-wheel drive of technology and value innovations, they will jointly build a new people-oriented digital future.
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