5G-Enabled Distributed Intelligence Based on O-RAN for Distributed IoT Systems

Abstract

Edge-based distributed intelligence techniques, such as federated learning (FL), have recently been used in many research fields thanks, in part, to their decentralized model training process and privacy-preserving features. However, because of the absence of effective deployment models for the radio access network (RAN), only a tiny number of FL apps have been created for the latest generation of public mobile networks (e.g., 5G and 6G). There is an attempt, in new RAN paradigms, to move toward disaggregation, hierarchical, and distributed network function processing designs. Open RAN (O-RAN), as a cutting-edge RAN technology, claims to meet 5G services with high quality. It includes integrated, intelligent controllers to provide RAN with the power to make smart decisions. This paper proposes a methodology for deploying and optimizing FL tasks in O-RAN to deliver distributed intelligence for 5G applications. To accomplish model training in each round, we first present reinforcement learning (RL) for client selection for each FL task and resource allocation using RAN intelligence controllers (RIC). Then, a slice is allotted for training depending on the clients chosen for the task. Our simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms state-of-art FL methods, such as the federated averaging algorithm (FedAvg), in terms of convergence and number of communication rounds.

Keywords

• IoT, distributed intelligence
• federated learning
• reinforcement learning
• fifth-generation mobile network (5G)
• O-RAN