Towards Deploying Secure and Highly Available O-RAN Components

Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) is a new paradigm for beyond 5G networks and infrastructures as a solution for the huge increase in IoT devices’ traffic. This is possible by employing concepts such as Cloud Computing (CC), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Service Function Chains (SFCs), and Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). However, the challenges for performance metrics such as availability, reliability, as well as security of the network need further discussions. In this paper, we propose a method to maximize the availability of the O-RAN components considering the security requirements by applying different Virtual Security Functions (VSFs). Since the underlying optimization problem is NP-hard and therefore, cannot be solved in polynomial time, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is proposed which ensures the optimal placement of the components considering the whole SFC. Experimental evaluation shows the superiority of the proposed strategy to enhance the availability level compared to the existing solutions.