Skip to main content
Log in

Federated learning for efficient spectrum allocation in open RAN

  • Published:
Cluster Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the evolving landscape of Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN), the dynamic and unpredictable nature of network conditions presents significant challenges for traditional spectrum allocation strategies. This paper introduces an innovative framework that leverages Federated Learning (FL) to refine and enhance spectrum allocation within Open RAN. Utilizing the decentralized architecture of FL, our model introduces a system that is not only more adaptive to real-time changes but also offers enhanced robustness for spectrum management. We delve into the advantages of this approach, such as significant improvements in data traffic management, latency reduction, and overall network capacity enhancement. Additionally, we address potential implementation challenges, providing strategic countermeasures to ensure the successful deployment of our FL-based framework. Through this exploration, our paper underscores the transformative potential of integrating FL with Open RAN, marking a significant step forward in the application of AI technologies for optimizing wireless communication networks. This contribution opens new avenues for research in AI-driven spectrum allocation, setting a foundation for future empirical validations and the development of more efficient, intelligent telecommunication infrastructures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Algorithm 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The original contributions presented in the study and included in the article; further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

References

  1. Pei, J., Li, S., Yu, Z., Ho, L., Liu, W., Wang, L.: Federated learning encounters 6g wireless communication in the scenario of internet of things. IEEE Commun. Stand. Mag. 7(1), 94–100 (2023)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Larsen, L.M., Christiansen, H.L., Ruepp, S., Berger, M.S.: Toward greener 5g and beyond radio access networks-a survey. IEEE Open J. Commun. Soc. 4, 768–797 (2023)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Abdalla, A.S., Upadhyaya, P.S., Shah, V.K., Marojevic, V.: Toward next generation open radio access networks: what o-ran can and cannot do! IEEE Netw. 36(6), 206–213 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kułacz, Ł, Kliks, A.: Dynamic spectrum allocation using multi-source context information in openran networks. Sensors 22(9), 3515 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Niknam, S., Roy, A., Dhillon, H.S., Singh, S., Banerji, R., Reed, J.H., Saxena, N., Yoon, S.: Intelligent o-ran for beyond 5g and 6g wireless networks. In: 2022 IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps), pp. 215–220. IEEE (2022)

  6. Lira, C.J., Almeida, R.C., Jr., Chaves, D.A.: Spectrum allocation using multiparameter optimization in elastic optical networks. Comput. Netw. 220, 109478 (2023)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Singh, A.K., Nguyen, K.K.: Mcoranfed: communication efficient federated learning in open ran. In: 2022 14th IFIP Wireless and Mobile Networking Conference (WMNC), pp. 15–22. IEEE (2022)

  8. Singh, S.K., Singh, R., Kumbhani, B.: The evolution of radio access network towards open-ran: Challenges and opportunities. In: 2020 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference Workshops (WCNCW), pp. 1–6. IEEE (2020)

  9. Peng, M., Sun, Y., Li, X., Mao, Z., Wang, C.: Recent advances in cloud radio access networks: System architectures, key techniques, and open issues. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 18(3), 2282–2308 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Azariah, W., Bimo, F.A., Lin, C.-W., Cheng, R.-G., Jana, R., Nikaein, N.: A survey on open radio access networks: challenges, research directions, and open source approaches. arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.09125 (2022)

  11. Motalleb, M.K., Shah-Mansouri, V., Parsaeefard, S., López, O.L.A.: Resource allocation in an open ran system using network slicing. IEEE Trans. Netw. Serv. Manag. 20(1), 471–485 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Wypiór, D., Klinkowski, M., Michalski, I.: Open ran-radio access network evolution, benefits and market trends. Appl. Sci. 12(1), 408 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Bonati, L., Polese, M., D’Oro, S., Basagni, S., Melodia, T.: Neutran: an open ran neutral host architecture for zero-touch ran and spectrum sharing. IEEE Trans. Mob. Comput. 23, 5786–5798 (2023)

  14. Sharara, M., Hoteit, S., Vèque, V.: Reinforcement learning for inter-operator sharing in open-ran. In: IEEE INFOCOM 2024-IEEE Conference on Computer Communications Workshops (INFOCOM WKSHPS) (2024)

  15. Dahrouj, H., Douik, A., Dhifallah, O., Al-Naffouri, T.Y., Alouini, M.-S.: Resource allocation in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks: advances and challenges. IEEE Wirel. Commun. 22(3), 66–73 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.2015.7143328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Katsaros, G.N., Nikitopoulos, K.: Power efficient and ultra dense open-ran vehicular networks with non-linear processing. IEEE Access 12, 38150–38162 (2024)

  17. Al-Karawi, Y., Al-Raweshidy, H., Nilavalan, R.: Optimizing the energy efficiency using quantum based load balancing in open radio access networks. IEEE Access 12, 37903–37918 (2024)

  18. Dong, S., Zhan, J., Hu, W., Mohajer, A., Bavaghar, M., Mirzaei, A.: Energy-efficient hierarchical resource allocation in uplink-downlink decoupled noma hetnets. IEEE Trans. Netw. Serv. Manag. 20, 3380–3395 (2023)

  19. Mohajer, A., Daliri, M.S., Mirzaei, A., Ziaeddini, A., Nabipour, M., Bavaghar, M.: Heterogeneous computational resource allocation for noma: toward green mobile edge-computing systems. IEEE Trans. Serv. Comput. 16(2), 1225–1238 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Mohajer, A., Sorouri, F., Mirzaei, A., Ziaeddini, A., Rad, K.J., Bavaghar, M.: Energy-aware hierarchical resource management and backhaul traffic optimization in heterogeneous cellular networks. IEEE Syst J 16(4), 5188–5199 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Azariah, W., Bimo, F.A., Lin, C.-W., Cheng, R.-G., Nikaein, N., Jana, R.: A survey on open radio access networks: challenges, research directions, and open source approaches. Sensors 24(3), 1038 (2024)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Zhang, T., Lam, K.-Y., Zhao, J., Li, F., Han, H., Jamil, N.: Enhancing federated learning with spectrum allocation optimization and device selection. IEEE/ACM Trans. Netw. 31, 1981–1996 (2023)

  23. Asad, M., Shaukat, S., Hu, D., Wang, Z., Javanmardi, E., Nakazato, J., Tsukada, M.: Limitations and future aspects of communication costs in federated learning: a survey. Sensors 23(17), 7358 (2023)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Asad, M., Moustafa, A., Ito, T.: Fedopt: towards communication efficiency and privacy preservation in federated learning. Appl Sci 10(8), 2864 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Asad, M., Otoum, S.: Towards privacy-aware federated learning for user-sensitive data. In: 2023 Fifth International Conference on Blockchain Computing and Applications (BCCA), pp. 343–350. IEEE (2023)

  26. Shome, D., Waqar, O., Khan, W.U.: Federated learning and next generation wireless communications: a survey on bidirectional relationship. Trans. Emerg. Telecommun. Technol. 33(7), 4458 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Yin, R., Zou, Z., Wu, C., Yuan, J., Chen, X.: Distributed spectrum and power allocation for d2d-u networks: a scheme based on nn and federated learning. Mob. Netw. Appl. 26, 2000–2013 (2021)

  28. Gao, Z., Li, A., Gao, Y., Li, B., Wang, Y., Chen, Y.: Fedswap: A federated learning based 5g decentralized dynamic spectrum access system. In: 2021 IEEE/ACM International Conference On Computer Aided Design (ICCAD), pp. 1–6. IEEE (2021)

  29. Asad, M., Moustafa, A., Ito, T.: Federated learning versus classical machine learning: a convergence comparison. arXiv preprint arXiv:2107.10976 (2021)

  30. Seelam, S.J., Andra, S., Jain, P.C.: Impact of remote radio head on 5g open-ran technology. In: 2022 8th International Conference on Signal Processing and Communication (ICSC), pp. 131–136. IEEE (2022)

  31. Bouzinis, P.S., Diamantoulakis, P.D., Karagiannidis, G.K.: Wireless federated learning (wfl) for 6g networks part i: research challenges and future trends. IEEE Commun. Lett. 26(1), 3–7 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Kułacz, Ł, Kliks, A.: Federated learning-based spectrum occupancy detection. Sensors 23(14), 6436 (2023)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Li, T., Sahu, A.K., Zaheer, M., Sanjabi, M., Talwalkar, A., Smith, V.: Federated optimization in heterogeneous networks. Proc. Mach. Learn. Syst. 2, 429–450 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Jiang, Y., Konečnỳ, J., Rush, K., Kannan, S.: Improving federated learning personalization via model agnostic meta learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:1909.12488 (2019)

  35. Gao, D., Liu, Y., Huang, A., Ju, C., Yu, H., Yang, Q.: Privacy-preserving heterogeneous federated transfer learning. In: 2019 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data), pp. 2552–2559. IEEE (2019)

  36. Moustafa, A., Asad, M., Shaukat, S., Norta, A.: Ppcsa: partial participation-based compressed and secure aggregation in federated learning. In: International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications, pp. 345–357. Springer (2021)

  37. Asad, M., Otoum, S., Shaukat, S.: Resource and heterogeneity-aware clients eligibility protocol in federated learning. In: GLOBECOM 2022-2022 IEEE Global Communications Conference, pp. 1140–1145. IEEE (2022)

  38. Mansouri, M., Önen, M., Jaballah, W.B., Conti, M.: Sok: Secure aggregation based on cryptographic schemes for federated learning. Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (2023)

Download references

Funding

This research was supported by the College of Technological Innovation, Zayed University (ZU), and the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) under grant numbers RIF-20130 & EU2205.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

MA, as the lead author and postdoctoral researcher, was responsible for the conceptualization, methodology, data analysis, and drafting of the manuscript. SO, as the supervisor, provided guidance on the research direction, and significantly contributed to refining the research framework and manuscript review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Asad.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no Conflict of interest regarding the publication of this research article.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Asad, M., Otoum, S. Federated learning for efficient spectrum allocation in open RAN. Cluster Comput (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-024-04500-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-024-04500-9

Keywords

Navigation