Network slicing allows Telecom Operators (TOs) to support service provisioning with diverse Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The combination of network slicing and Open Radio Access Network (RAN) enables TOs to provide more customized network services and higher commercial benefits. However, in the current Open RAN community, an open-source end-to-end slicing solution for 5G is still missing. To bridge this gap, we developed ORANSlice, an open-source network slicing-enabled Open RAN system integrated with popular open-source RAN frameworks. ORANSlice features programmable, 3GPP-compliant RAN slicing and scheduling functionalities. It supports RAN slicing control and optimization via xApps on the near-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) thanks to an extension of the E2 interface between RIC and RAN, and service models for slicing. We deploy and test ORANSlice on different O-RAN testbeds and demonstrate its capabilities on different use cases, including slice prioritization and minimum radio resource guarantee.

翻译：网络切片使电信运营商能够支持具有多样化服务等级协议的服务供给。网络切片与开放无线接入网的结合，使得电信运营商能够提供更定制化的网络服务和更高的商业效益。然而，在当前的开放RAN社区中，仍缺乏一个开源的端到端5G切片解决方案。为填补这一空白，我们开发了ORANSlice——一个集成了主流开源RAN框架、具备网络切片功能的开源开放RAN系统。ORANSlice具有可编程、符合3GPP标准的RAN切片与调度功能。通过扩展RIC与RAN之间的E2接口以及切片服务模型，该系统能够借助近实时RAN智能控制器上的xApp实现RAN切片的控制与优化。我们在不同的O-RAN测试平台上部署并测试了ORANSlice，并通过包括切片优先级调度和无线资源最低保障在内的多种用例展示了其功能。