A Coverage-Aware VNF Placement and Resource Allocation Approach for Disaggregated vRANs

Disaggregated and virtualized RANs (vRANs) offer the opportunity for flexible and efficient use of computing resources through the proper placement of the RAN Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs). However, many works neglect the necessary coordination between VNF placement and the processing of the RAN tasks inside these VNFs. This can negatively impact important tasks such as resource scheduling and interference control. In this work, we introduce a new approach for VNF placement that is aware of the wireless coverage and its associated tasks. Our solution was designed in the context of O-RAN architecture, exploring functionalities of monitoring and closed-loop decision making. Simulation results illustrate the benefits of our solution, mainly related to improvements for edge users who are exposed to the worse conditions of spectral efficiency and throughput.