RU Energy Modeling for O-RAN in ns3-oran

2025-09-13

AI Summary

Existing O-RAN simulations lack fine-grained, configurable power models for Radio Units (RUs), hindering accurate energy-efficiency evaluation and xApp-driven optimization. Method: This paper proposes a hardware-parameterized, centralized RU power model integrated into the ns-3-oran simulator. It jointly captures RF chain characteristics, power amplifier nonlinear efficiency, mmWave protocol overhead, and multi-level sleep mechanisms—enabling precise energy consumption modeling under dynamic transmit power variations. The model is implemented as an xApp-programmable energy abstraction and tightly coupled with ns-3’s energy tracing framework. Contribution/Results: Numerical validation confirms the model accurately reproduces real RU nonlinear power behavior and identifies optimal operational working points. It provides the first reproducible, quantitative tool for simulation-driven energy-efficiency assessment in O-RAN and establishes a foundation for xApp-based real-time energy management strategies.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Applications
• Machine Learning: Hardware-aware ML
• Search and Optimization: Sampling/Simulation-based Search

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: On-Device user modeling, personalization, and recommendation
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed and flexible power consumption model for Radio Units (RUs) in O-RAN using the ns3-oran simulator. This is the first ns3-oran model supporting xApp control to perform the RU power modeling. In contrast to existing frameworks like EARTH or VBS-DRX, the proposed framework is RU-centric and is parameterized by hardware-level features, such as the number of transceivers, the efficiency of the power amplifier, mmWave overheads, and standby behavior. It enables simulation-driven assessment of energy efficiency at various transmit power levels and seamlessly integrates with ns-3's energy tracking system. To help upcoming xApp-driven energy management strategies in O-RAN installations, numerical research validates the model's capacity to represent realistic nonlinear power scaling. It identifies ideal operating points for effective RU behavior.

Problem

• Modeling RU power consumption in O-RAN networks
• Developing ns3-oran simulator with xApp control capability
• Assessing energy efficiency across transmit power levels

Innovation

• RU-centric power model with hardware parameters
• xApp-controlled energy management integration
• Nonlinear power scaling simulation for efficiency