TORNADO: TOSCA-enabled Orchestration for RAN Network Functions Automating DevOps in O-Cloud

Open Cloud (O-Cloud) is the Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) computing infrastructure spanning edge to cloud sites defined by the O-RAN Alliance to support and coordinate RAN infrastructure management shared among multiple Mobile Network Operators (MNO). In the standard definition, O-Cloud ensures reliable connectivity, active coordination, and efficient distribution of the Radio Access Network (RAN) deployments. Thanks to these properties, O-Cloud can support Mobile Network and Infrastructure operators to achieve fully automated infrastructure management, self-service MNO portals, enhanced security measures, and O-Cloud infrastructure-agnostic management. In this paper, we present TORNADO: TOSCA-enabled Orchestration for RAN in Next-Generation Networks Automating DevOps in O-Cloud, an O-Cloud automation infrastructure designed to ease DevOps deployment and operation phases of RAN network functions for multiple MNOs. Our solution introduces infrastructure-agnostic automation for multi-site, multi-MNO RAN components, offering high-level, secure self-service MNO portals for defining RAN deployments. Performance evaluation of our solution for various RAN network functions demonstrated the capability of TORNADO to automate the deployment in a multi-site, multi-MNO heterogeneous infrastructure.