Aira Technologies showcases a new GenAI-based capability for securely querying, controlling and automating the Radio Access Network (RAN) ushering in new possibilities for RAN automation
SARATOGA, CALIFORNIA; February 15, 2024 – Aira Technologies, a pioneer in the application of Machine Learning (ML) to radically improve wireless telecommunications, today announced a new capability, RANGPTTM, that enables observability, analysis, control, and automation of the RAN using conversational language. These capabilities make RANGPT an indispensable tool to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) seeking deep insights on how to improve the performance of the RAN while optimizing network operations. Aira is demonstrating RANGPT at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 in partnership with VMware, recently acquired by Broadcom, and VIAVI.
With 5G, the increased complexity of mobile networks poses many operational challenges for MNOs as they try to balance performance, sustainability and economic efficiency. Mobile networks generate enormous amounts of data that operators know can be valuable in improving the design of networks, managing customer experience, lowering the cost of running the network and even deploying new revenue-generating services. However, useful experimentation with this data has been tedious and time consuming since it requires expertise and coordination between multiple teams such as wireless and data science groups.
“Quick experimentation is impossible and ideas get killed in the process. Aira addressed these challenges by creating RANGPT to provide a natural language interface to network data,” said Ravikiran Gopalan, co-founder and CTO of Aira Technologies. “With RANGPT, a wireless expert can analyze data, gain insights, iteratively experiment, and ultimately deploy code as rApps in a matter of hours—a swift process which previously would have taken months.”
“Aira’s foundational premise is that applying ML to all layers of the RAN infrastructure stack can deliver breakthrough performance benefits to the operator community,” said Anand Chandrasekher, co-founder and CEO of Aira Technologies. “Our RANGPT achievement showcases the extraordinary potential for ML in cutting-edge wireless applications, offering accessibility without compromising control or security. We are proud to usher in the era of AI defined networking to make cellular networks significantly more efficient.”
RANGPT is hosted in the cloud and communicates with the VMware Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) framework via the R1 interface to the non-RT RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC). The non-RT RIC communicates with the RAN via the O1 interface to the network. For the purposes of the MWC demo, this network was emulated by O-CU, O-DU and UE emulators from VIAVI.
“VMware delivers an SMO and RIC platform that enables CSPs and ecosystem partners to harness the full power of generative AI,” said Padma Sudarsan, chief of Architecture, Telco, Software-Defined Edge Division, Broadcom. “This RIC and SMO platform offers flexibility and functionality that enables Aira’s RANGPT to transform RAN automation and optimization across the industry. Our work with Aira aligns to our software-defined edge approach—enabling network programmability and optimizing placement of workloads at the edge.”
RANGPT enables MNOs to interact with the network through conversational queries, gaining insights on the state of the RAN by analyzing network data. These are rendered back to the user in any convenient form, including text, graphics and charts. RANGPT retains the context of queries to allow for ever more sophistication in successive probing. The insights gained from such analyses help address performance issues and optimize drivers of MNO opex, including energy consumption. A sequence of RANGPT query and control instructions can be stitched together easily to create RAN automation applications that achieve network opex reduction targets.
RANGPT can also control the RAN to manage the underlying hardware for troubleshooting or fault isolation. Query and control features, coupled with the ability to generate software code as required, means that RANGPT can serve as an automatic code generator for new xApps and rApps.
RANGPT is built with security and privacy of MNO Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data in mind. The LLM used can be a proprietary capability, residing in a private cloud, so the MNO has full control of all the RANGPT modules.
Mobile World Congress 2024 attendees can visit with us at the VMware by Broadcom stand (Hall 3, Stand 3M11) to see the technology in action.
About Aira Technologies Inc.
Aira Technologies, an AI software technology company, was founded in 2019 by wireless industry veterans including CEO Anand Chandrasekher (ex-Intel, ex-Qualcomm) and CTO Dr. Ravikiran Gopalan (ex-Bell Labs, ex-Qualcomm) and wireless researchers Dr. Pramod Viswanath (Professor, Princeton University) and Dr. Sreeram Kannan (Professor, University of Washington, Seattle). Aira’s vision is to use a data-driven, ML-powered approach to radically re-imagine wireless design, deployment, and control to improve efficiency and performance. Aira is laser focused on enabling the RAN of the future – a fully autonomous, self-learning RAN. Aira has assembled a team with a rare combination of 5G wireless technology and cutting-edge AI expertise. More information is available at www.aira-technology.com.
For further information about Aira, contact:
Maureen Bradford
1-510-897-3300
pr@triaza.com