AI-Native Open RAN: A Roadmap from xApps and rApps to Autonomous Network Agents

2026-09-14

AI Summary

本文综述了AI在O-RAN中的应用，提出了一种从xApps和rApps到自主网络代理的演进路径，以解决资源管理、预测等挑战。

Abstract

Open Radio Access Networks (O-RAN) have emerged as a transformative paradigm for future wireless systems by introducing openness, virtualization, disaggregation, and programmable intelligence through the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC). The availability of standardized interfaces and near-real-time control loops has created unprecedented opportunities for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into radio access network management and optimization. Over the past several years, a broad range of AI techniques have been proposed to address key O-RAN challenges such as radio resource management, network slicing, traffic prediction, mobility management, interference mitigation, and spectrum sharing. Despite significant progress, existing solutions often remain task-specific, require extensive retraining, and exhibit limited generalization across deployment environments and network conditions. This paper presents a comprehensive review of AI-enabled O-RAN systems and provides a unifying perspective on the evolution of intelligence in wireless networks. We first examine the O-RAN architecture and the role of intelligence within near-real-time and non-real-time RIC frameworks. We then develop a taxonomy of AI approaches for O-RAN, covering machine learning, deep reinforcement learning (DRL), digital-twin-assisted optimization, and emerging foundation-model-based architectures.

Problem

• O-RAN
• Artificial Intelligence
• Generalization
• Deployment Environments
• Network Conditions

Innovation

• O-RAN
• Intelligent Controller
• Machine Learning
• Deep Reinforcement Learning
• Digital Twin