Improved Immersive Content Delivery in a Combined Service-based-Virtualized/Open-RAN Network Environment

The stringent requirements of the latest immersive applications (i.e., 360° video, VR, AR, XR, etc.) combined with the scarcity of radio resources are challenging the service operators of the various telecommunication networks. In the recent literature, HetNets have been proposed as an alternative to overcoming these challenges. In previous work, the authors presented SVORA, an architecture for integrating different radio technologies, combining virtualized/open RAN architectures and SBA-based RAN for efficient spectrum usage. In this work, the authors upgrade the previously proposed solution to deliver immersive video efficiently. The paper presents imeNF, a new set of Network Functions that support delivering high-bitrate immersive video-based applications with increased quality of service. Simulations-based testing shows how, based on imeNF, a 16k video can be sent with delays of 15 ms, while traditional D-RAN, V-RAN, and O-RAN-based approaches take more than 300 ms.