How can automation speed CBRS rollouts?

Co-authored with Krutik Sharma, Senior Solution Integrator for Rakuten Symphony

Data has become a “fourth utility” for enterprises and service providers. It is as important a resource as power, water, or energy.

Recognizing this reality, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the use of Band 48 (3.5 GHz), also known as Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), to fulfill fast and secure data access for organizations of all sizes.

Cellular network technology is increasingly capable of augmenting or replacing Wi-Fi in support of next generation use cases. Specifically, CBRS is being hailed for its low barrier to entry and flexibility to support LTE and 5G network components, plus a range of devices. In general, CBRS was established to address spectrum congestion, support increased data traffic, improve network performance, facilitate private network deployments, and foster innovation in wireless communications.

However, CBRS deployments have not accelerated as expected due to implementation challenges.  

This article explores real world experiences leveraging the power of automation to make planning, deploying and operating CBRS networks as simple, efficient and fast as possible. It also details the role of the Rakuten Symphony Symworld^TM platform in supporting deployments for any size network.

What is CBRS?

CBRS, or Citizen Radio Broadband Radio Service, is 150 MHz spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band, ranging from 3550 – 3700 Mhz. This band was historically used by U.S. federal government radar systems, fixed satellite receivers and wireless internet service providers. To manage the influx of new mobile users with additional spectrum, the FCC identified the sparsely used band for broader use to free spectrum for shared wireless. 

To ensure quality access for commercial purposes, CBRS is equipped with a three-tiered spectrum framework. At the top is the Incumbent Access Tier allocated to existing users such as Department of Defense personnel and U.S. Naval Radar, which are entitled to receive permanent priority and protection. The second tier can be purchased at auction with limited rights known as Priority Access License (PAL). The last tier is General Authorized Access (GAA), which covers the remainder of the spectrum and is available for general use.

‍

With an understanding of the spectrum CBRS occupies, let’s review the fundamental components of a CBRS system:

• Spectrum – 3.5 GHz band, ranging from 3550 MHz to 3700 MHz.
• Spectrum Access System (SAS) – Responsible for managing and coordinating spectrum access among users while ensuring interference mitigation.
• Citizen Broadband Radio Service Device (CBSD) – The user equipment or devices in the CBRS spectrum such as Small Cells, Access Points, Base Stations, and other wireless devices.
• CBRS Network Core – Consists of the infrastructure and software components necessary to manage and support the CBRS system, including network management systems, authentication servers, policy controllers, and databases for user and spectrum management. 

Why should CBRS deployments be automated?

Next generation networks are only exciting if they can support new use cases. With new opportunity comes new complexity, making manual management all but impossible.

Automating CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) deployments offers several key advantages, making this approach critical for efficient and effective utilization of the spectrum:

• Efficiency and Speed: Faster and consistent network deployments, allowing CBRS 5G networks to be deployed more rapidly and with improved accuracy.
• Rapid Deployment: Quicker rollout of new services, allowing operators to respond promptly to market demands and changes in user needs.
• Simplified Network Configuration: Simplifies the configuration of CBRS 5G networks by automatically applying standardized settings and parameters.
• Resource Optimization: By continuously monitoring network conditions and adapting configurations in real-time, automation improves spectral efficiency, maximizes capacity, and ensures optimal utilization of available resources.
• Fault Detection and Remediation: Detect network anomalies, performance degradation, or equipment failures in real-time.
• Network Optimization and Self-Healing: Facilitates continuous network optimization and self-healing capabilities.
• Scalability and Flexibility: As the network expands or evolves, automated processes can easily accommodate changes, such as adding new base stations, integrating additional services, or adapting to changing traffic patterns.

How Rakuten Symphony Symworld powers CBRS automation

The additional spectrum CBRS unlocks and gives service providers more flexibility in how they address high data demands. Costs are mitigated as obtaining Priority Access Licenses (PALs) offer an upper edge of exclusivity in the spectrum and increased flexibility in planning and deployment.

In North America, a tier-one cable operator launched a nationwide wireless service utilizing CBRS to strategically offload traffic where congestion was creating experience issues.  

Rakuten Symphony Symworld was implemented to convert complex supporting tasks into scalable, reliable, and inexpensive business processes.

The platform transformed the traditional approach for setting up network services to a lightweight solution offering cloud maturity, strategic importance, and architectural strategy for different sets of users and organization types to manage and control end-to-end network lifecycle with three simple phases:

1. Plan to build (planning and construction)
2. Service integration (Day 0, Day 1 configuration and commissioning)
3. Service assurance (monitoring and operation)

Rakuten Symphony Symworld applications are organized to support each phase of the network lifecycle:

• Symbuild: Comprises products that facilitate seamless execution of cross-functional activities and tasks in various roles through a centralized platform. It automates the CSP’s journey from planning to managing and maintaining sites, data center facilities, as well as physical and logical inventory. The solution provides end-to-end visibility and control over site management activities, ensuring better implementation of tasks and real-time control, and monitoring of concurrent projects to be executed across different geographies, thereby reducing operational expenses and enabling a high-performance automated network.
• Symplan: Symplan offers a suite of products that brings unparalleled scale and automation to holistically empower network engineers in planning and optimization activities.
• Symcloud Platform: End-to-end orchestrator enabling automation of lifecycle management of network slices, network services, network functions including VNF and CNFs, and multi-cluster Containers as a Service (CaaS) resources. Symcloud platform fulfills the NFVO role defined by ETSI NFV MANO, 3GPP communication service, network slice and slice subnet management, and multi-cluster CaaS manager.
• Symops: Service assurance solution transforming existing service assurance operations with equivalent capability to existing solutions, but with a platform for fundamental operational change and large-scale automation, AI-led processes ready for the cloud-based network of the future. Symops offers a complete multi-vendor performance and observability framework that feeds and informs incident management, providing real-time incident processing capability that scales.
• Symworld Platform Applications: Provides a foundation for all groups of applications following high standard of security compliances for component connections internally or externally.

Powering CBRS 5G deployments with Symworld

Another complex CBRS use case right for automation is managing Wi-Fi and wireless network processes and monitoring. Symworld’s closed loop automation framework is uniquely capable of overcoming this complexity with three simple network lifecycle phases. This use case applies to greenfield and brownfield scenarios in deployments where new sites are planned and installed on newly built site locations as well as existing cable infrastructure to cover indoor and outdoor connectivity to mitigate coverage gap for users with high-speed data connectivity.

• CBRS Site Creation: Using Symplan and Symbuild application to integrate legacy systems for pulling data and create a site automatically.
• Inventory Creation: Planning data and field data create central database for project management for tracking and further use in commissioning and service assurance.
• RAN EMS Integration: Specific use case requires integration with EMS for Symworld to validate EMS level, node level details to be added in central database.
• CBRS Node Configuration: Configuration parameter library building in Symworld for Day 0 and Day 1 configuration.
• CBRS Node Commissioning: Zero touch provisioning for CBSD (CBRS Radio Device) using Symworld Orchestrator.
• CBRS Network Performance Monitoring: Performance KPI creation and Monitoring using live counter data.
• CBRS Network Fault Monitoring: Alarm Library creation along with Fault Monitoring for preventing maintenance in live network.  
• CBRS Network SAS Integration: Symworld is integrated with SAS through Federated Wireless for real-time update on CBSD stages and tracking it.
• CBSD Billing Reconciliation: Billing reconciliation for CBSD authorized state timing for billing to FCC

Conclusion

In closing, the critical role of automation in Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) deployments cannot be understated. As we navigate the increasing complexity of modern wireless communication, automation streamlines network operations, bolsters service delivery, and mitigates the risk of human error, effectively elevating the standards of wireless communication. 

As a comprehensive suite offering orchestration, automation, and other critical network functions, Symworld stands at the helm of this transformative journey. By supporting automation in CBRS deployments, it brings us closer to achieving a more dynamic, efficient, and resilient network infrastructure with the ability to transform the current landscape of wireless communication, while paving the way for unprecedented innovation in the future.