CFA-OpenRAN: An Integrated Communication, Computing, and Control Architecture for Wireless Cloud Fog Automation Based on O-RAN
Yijia Liu, Zhibo Pang, Yuemin Ding · 2024
Industrial automation systems are pivotal in enhancing the digitization and intelligence of the industrial sector. In recent years, wireless communication technologies (such as B5G/6G) and Cloud Fog Automation (CFA) have revolutionized the industrial sector, providing unparalleled flexibility and scalability. However, the prevailing CFA architecture predominantly concentrates on network and system levels, often neglecting the optimization of the physical layer communication process. To achieve the optimal system-level performance of wireless CFA, this study introduces CFA-OpenRAN, an integrated architecture encompassing communication, computing, and control. By leveraging the open design, standardized interfaces, and software-defined paradigm of O-RAN, CFA-OpenRAN facilitates cross-domain optimization of communication, computing, and industrial control in wireless CFA. In the end, an application scenario of joint resource allocation and the corresponding experiment setup was developed.