mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Understanding O-RAN: Architecture, Interfaces, Algorithms, Security, and Research Challenges

arXiv 2202.01032 ↗First posted 2 Feb 2022cs.NI eess.SPcited by 54

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Abstract (arXiv)

The Open Radio Access Network (RAN) and its embodiment through the O-RAN Alliance specifications are poised to revolutionize the telecom ecosystem. O-RAN promotes virtualized RANs where disaggregated components are connected via open interfaces and optimized by intelligent controllers. The result is a new paradigm for the RAN design, deployment, and operations: O-RAN networks can be built with multi-vendor, interoperable components, and can be programmatically optimized through a centralized abstraction layer and data-driven closed-loop control. Therefore, understanding O-RAN, its architecture, its interfaces, and workflows is key for researchers and practitioners in the wireless community. In this article, we present the first detailed tutorial on O-RAN. We also discuss the main research challenges and review early research results. We provide a deep dive of the O-RAN specifications, describing its architecture, design principles, and the O-RAN interfaces. We then describe how the O-RAN RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICs) can be used to effectively control and manage 3GPP-defined RANs. Based on this, we discuss innovations and challenges of O-RAN networks, including the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) workflows that the architecture and interfaces enable, security and standardization issues. Finally, we review experimental research platforms that can be used to design and test O-RAN networks, along with recent research results, and we outline future directions for O-RAN development.

Key facts. Cited by 54 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 2 Feb 2022.

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2022: 9; 2023: 5; 2024: 12; 2025: 19; 2026: 9.

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  1. 2023Calibrating Wireless Ray Tracing for Digital Twinning using Local Phase Error Estimatescited by 14
  2. 2022Evolutionary Deep Reinforcement Learning for Dynamic Slice Management in O-RANcited by 11
  3. 2022Programmable and Customized Intelligence for Traffic Steering in 5G Networks Using Open RAN Architecturescited by 11
  4. 2025Beyond Connectivity: An Open Architecture for AI-RAN Convergence in 6Gcited by 10
  5. 2022A Survey on XAI for 5G and Beyond Security: Technical Aspects, Challenges and Research Directionscited by 8
  6. 2024Meta Reinforcement Learning Approach for Adaptive Resource Optimization in O-RANcited by 8
  7. 2023Attention-based Open RAN Slice Management using Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 7
  8. 2022OpenRAN Gym: AI/ML Development, Data Collection, and Testing for O-RAN on PAWR Platformscited by 5
  9. 2024What If We Had Used a Different App? Reliable Counterfactual KPI Analysis in Wireless Systemscited by 5
  10. 2022Federated Meta-Learning for Traffic Steering in O-RANcited by 4
  11. 2025XAInomaly: Explainable and Interpretable Deep Contractive Autoencoder for O-RAN Traffic Anomaly Detectioncited by 4
  12. 2026ML-Enabled Open RAN: A Comprehensive Survey of Architectures, Challenges, and Opportunitiescited by 4
38 more
  1. 2024Mobile Network Configuration Recommendation using Deep Generative Graph Neural Networkcited by 3
  2. 2024Automatic AI Model Selection for Wireless Systems: Online Learning via Digital Twinningcited by 3
  3. 2025Near-Real-Time Resource Slicing for QoS Optimization in 5G O-RAN using Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 3
  4. 2022Near Real-Time Distributed State Estimation via AI/ML-Empowered 5G Networkscited by 2
  5. 2023FROST: Towards Energy-efficient AI-on-5G Platforms -- A GPU Power Capping Evaluationcited by 2
  6. 2024On the use of Probabilistic Forecasting for Network Analysis in Open RANcited by 2
  7. 2024Adapting MLOps for Diverse In-Network Intelligence in 6G Era: Challenges and Solutionscited by 2
  8. 2024Towards Secure Intelligent O-RAN Architecture: Vulnerabilities, Threats and Promising Technical Solutions using LLMscited by 2
  9. 2025Rogue Cell: Adversarial Attack and Defense in Untrusted O-RAN Setup Exploiting the Traffic Steering xAppcited by 2
  10. 2025Prompt-Tuned LLM-Augmented DRL for Dynamic O-RAN Network Slicingcited by 2
  11. 2025The LLM as a Network Operator: A Vision for Generative AI in the 6G Radio Access Networkcited by 2
  12. 2025MobiLLM: An Agentic AI Framework for Closed-Loop Threat Mitigation in 6G Open RANscited by 2
  13. 2022On the Implementation of a Reinforcement Learning-based Capacity Sharing Algorithm in O-RANcited by 1
  14. 2022Using Deep Reinforcement Learning for mmWave Real-Time Schedulingcited by 1
  15. 2023Intelligent O-RAN Traffic Steering for URLLC Through Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 1
  16. 2024Decentralized Multi-Party Multi-Network AI for Global Deployment of 6G Wireless Systemscited by 1
  17. 2024OpenRANet: Neuralized Spectrum Access by Joint Subcarrier and Power Allocation with Optimization-based Deep Learningcited by 1
  18. 2024Slicing for AI: An Online Learning Framework for Network Slicing Supporting AI Servicescited by 1
  19. 2025Multi-Objective Hyperparameter Selection via Hypothesis Testing on Reliability Graphscited by 1
  20. 2025Probabilistic Forecasting for Network Resource Analysis in Integrated Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Networkscited by 1
  21. 2025AI-Native Open RAN for Non-Terrestrial Networks: An Overviewcited by 1
  22. 2025On AI Verification in Open RANcited by 1
  23. 2026Conformal Changepoint Localization and Root Cause Analysis with Corrupted Observationscited by 1
  24. 2026Confounding-Valid Conformal Inference for Counterfactual KPIs in Wireless Networkscited by 1
  25. 2022FORLORN: A Framework for Comparing Offline Methods and Reinforcement Learning for Optimization of RAN Parameterscited by 0
  26. 2023A Deep RL Approach on Task Placement and Scaling of Edge Resources for Cellular Vehicle-to-Network Service Provisioningcited by 0
  27. 2024ML-based handover prediction over a real O-RAN deployment using RAN Intelligent controllercited by 0
  28. 2024Enhancing Cloud-Native Resource Allocation with Probabilistic Forecasting Techniques in O-RANcited by 0
  29. 2025Heterogeneous Resource Allocation with Multi-task Learning for Wireless Networkscited by 0
  30. 2025Agile Orchestration at Will: An Entire Smart Service-Based Security Architecture Towards 6Gcited by 0
  31. 2025Percentile-Based Deep Reinforcement Learning and Reward Based Personalization For Delay Aware RAN Slicing in O-RANcited by 0
  32. 2025Oranits: Mission Assignment and Task Offloading in Open RAN-based ITS using Metaheuristic and Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 0
  33. 2025Quantum-based QoE Optimization in Advanced Cellular Networks: Integration and Cloud Gaming Use Casecited by 0
  34. 2025Communication-Efficient and Interoperable Distributed Learningcited by 0
  35. 2025From Description to Detection: LLM based Extendable O-RAN Compliant Blind DoS Detection in 5G and Beyondcited by 0
  36. 2025XAI-on-RAN: Explainable, AI-native, and GPU-Accelerated RAN Towards 6Gcited by 0
  37. 2026Post-Selection Distributional Model Evaluationcited by 0
  38. 2026LLM-assisted gNB Parameter Configuration for Radio Access Networkcited by 0

50 most cited of 54 All 54 (JSON)