Joint White Papers by DOCOMO and SK Telecom

This White Paper reviews further enhancement and advancement of vRAN and AI-RAN-which means intelligent RAN utilizing AI capability, also known as AI-Centric RAN and AI-native RAN-for mobile operators, as well as the associated technical requirements and enabling technologies as follows:

• Strict separation of hardware and software to accelerate new feature introduction
• Resource pooling for flexible infrastructure and improved resource utilization
• Realization of AI computing capabilities (AI-RAN) by leveraging vRAN systems

This White Paper reviews the following:

• Considerations on the direction of technological advancements that are critical to the introduction of vRAN base station equipment
• Considerations on accelerator technologies for signal processing required to implement vRAN base station equipment

This White Paper reviews the following:

• Possibilities to achieve greater energy savings based on power consumption levels measured in the base stations under operations
• Technical analysis of candidate energy-saving technologies, including both hardware and software
• The roles that operators and equipment vendors should play, including the need for greater coordination, in the effort to achieve greater energy savings

This White Paper reviews the following:

• Performance requirements and implementation scenarios for each frequency band, taking into account the characteristics of each frequency
• Issues concerning coverage and devices in high-frequency bands
• Standardization for migration to 6G architecture and application of cloud-native / open architecture