Conflict Mitigation Approach for O-RAN xApps

Open radio access network (O-RAN) is a paradigm shift in telecommunications, facilitating interoperability and innovation through the disaggregation of traditional monolithic architecture, empowering operators to select equipment from diverse vendors. However, within the multi-vendor O-RAN ecosystem, individual xApps may pursue conflicting objectives. While fine-tuned coordination can alleviate conflicts, it often requires extensive information exchange, raising privacy concerns among competing vendors. This paper delves into these challenges, particularly focusing on the interplay between different xApps, such as energy efficiency (EE) and load balancing (LB), and highlights the tradeoff between performance and level of coordination. To address this, we propose novel algorithms to optimize performance across varying levels of coordination. Initial findings underscore the diminishing returns of coordination, with significant performance gains from zero to partial coordination, yet a more modest increase with full coordination.