Resource Allocation in Open Radio Access Networks (O-RANs): A Correlated Equilibrium Game Theoretic Approach

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

School of Computer Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Radio access network (RAN) provides integrated wireless communication between user devices and the core network as an interface. Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) is an updated model of RAN design, similar to cloud RAN (C-RAN) and virtualized RAN (vRAN). In addition to finer-grained disaggregation features in network functions and the use of general-purpose server architecture, O-RAN benefits from the use of smart controllers, making it more suitable for 5G and 6G networks. Consequently, resource allocation in O-RAN requires different approaches. Controllers in O-RAN are categorized into Near-Real-Time (Near-RT) and Non-Real-Time (Non-RT) types, where the former utilizes applications called xApps and the latter uses applications called rApps to manage network resources. In this paper, we address the problem of joint allocation of open radio units (O-RUs) to users and sub-channels to O-RUs under uncertain and time-varying channel quality conditions. We formulate the problem using Markov modulated games and propose a multi-agent tracking equilibrium algorithm to achieve convergence and track the stable operating point of the network. Furthermore, through simulations, the efficiency of the proposed method is compared and evaluated against previous related solutions.

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References

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Tabriz Journal of Electrical Engineering

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 05 March 2025

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