Anomaly detection in offshore open radio access network using long short-term memory models on a novel artificial intelligence-driven cloud-native data platform

The Radio Access Network (RAN) is a critical component of modern telecommunications infrastructure, currently evolving towards disaggregated and open architectures. These advancements are pivotal for integrating intelligent, data-driven applications aimed at enhancing network reliability and operational autonomy through the introduction of cognitive capabilities, as exemplified by the emerging Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) standards. Despite its potential, the nascent nature of O-RAN technology presents challenges, primarily due to the absence of mature operational standards. This complicates the management of data and intelligent applications, particularly when integrating with traditional network management and operational support systems. Divergent vendor-specific design approaches further hinder migration and limit solution reusability. These challenges are compounded by a skills gap in telecommunications business-oriented engineering, which remains a key barrier to effective O-RAN deployment and intelligent application development. To address these challenges, Boldyn Networks developed a novel cloud-native data analytics platform, specifically designed to support scalable Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration within O-RAN deployments. This platform underwent rigorous testing in real-world scenarios, and applied advanced AI techniques to improve operational efficiency and customer experience. Implementation involved adopting Development Operations (DevOps) practices, leveraging data lakehouse architectures tailored for AI applications, and employing sophisticated data engineering strategies. The platform successfully addresses connectivity challenges inherent in real-world offshore wind farm deployments using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models for anomaly detection in network connectivity. After integrating the LSTM models into the network control, more than 90 percent of connectivity issues were reduced in runtime. This marks a step toward autonomous, self-organizing, and self-healing networks.