亚信科技

Background of achievements

5G network intelligence is one of AsiaInfo’s strategic development goals of “One Consolidation, Three Developments”. AsiaInfo has started in the 4G era to conduct targeted technical pre-research and talent reserve in advance for the field of 5G network and data intelligence, and created a full-stack product system in the field of 5G network intelligence which has been fully implemented in the commercial use of China’s 5G in last two years. At the same time, AsiaInfo has also become one of the main contributors to international standard proposals in the field of network intelligence in international standard organizations such as ITU, 3GPP, and ETSI.

In August 2021, the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence organized a meeting in Beijing to appraise the technological achievements of the “R&D of 5G network intelligent system and industrial large-scale application” jointly completed by AsiaInfo and Tsinghua University.

The Achievement Appraisal Committee is led by 4 academicians. Among them, Academician Sun Ninghui (Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Academic Director of the Institute of Computing Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences) serves as the Chairman of the Committee, Academician Zhang Yaqin (Academician of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academician of the Australian Academy of Engineering and Dean of Institute for AI Industry Research and Chair Professor of Intelligence Science of Tsinghua University), Academician Yao Yudong (Academician of Canadian Academy of Engineering, Tenured Professor of Stevens Institute of Technology), Academician Yang Qiang (Academician of Canadian Academy of Engineering, Chief AI Officer of WeBank, Director of Computer Department of HKUST), Professor Chen Shanzhi (Member of the Standing Committee of Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of CICT), Professor Hu Qinghua (Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence, Tianjin University), Professor Cao Jiguang (Deputy Director of the Institute of Technology and Standards of CAICT), Researcher Ge Jingguo from Institute of Information Engineering of CAS, and Researcher Chen Shudong from Institute of Microelectronics of CAS serve as committee members.

Photo: Expert members of Technological Achievements Appraisal Committee

Comprehensive conclusion of the Appraisal Committee:

The technological achievements of AsiaInfo’s “R&D of 5G Network Intelligent System and Industrial Large-scale Application” have high complexity in technology, large difficulty in system development, and high innovativeness, and has reached the domestic leading and international advanced level on the whole.

5 subdivision technologies have reached the international leading level:

• 5G network slicing end-to-end management technology

• Network experience perception technology

• Massive MIMO intelligent optimization technology of 5G network

• Network energy-saving optimization technology

• Network intelligent operations technology

Photo: Certificate of technological achievements appraisal

AsiaInfo communication AI technology as the driving force of 5G network intelligence

On behalf of the joint R&D team of AsiaInfo and Tsinghua University, Dr. Ouyang Ye, CTO and Senior Vice President of AsiaInfo, conducted a defense report as the PI (Principal Investigator) for nearly 5 hours. The Appraisal Committee listened to R&D report, technical report, application report, and economic and social benefits analysis report, watched a real-time demonstration of technological achievements, reviewed the novelty search report, test report and data examination report, and conducted multiple rounds of questioning.

Photo: The defense scene of the meeting of technological achievements appraisal on August 11

After reviewing by the meeting, the Appraisal Committee held the opinion that AsiaInfo and Tsinghua University have independently developed a 5G network intelligence system, formed 46 international standard proposals on 5G network intelligence which were accepted and applied in large scale in China’s 5G network construction, took the lead in reaching L3-L4 of network intelligence level defined by the International Organization for Standardization, supported the construction of 5G communication software systems for three major communication operators in China, and facilitated the continuous evolution and technological innovation of 5G network intelligence.

This technical system builds the intelligent technical system of the fifth-generation mobile communication network, including:

1. The comprehensive integration of communication AI and 5G network ecosystem is realized through the construction of a new 5G intelligent network element set for 5G core network, access network, and network management;

2. The capabilities of 5G network open to vertical industries are realized through 5G network slicing technology;

3. The twinning and intelligence of the planning, construction, optimization and operations of entire life cycle of 5G networks are realized through the combination of network digital twin technology and AI;

4. A new type of 5G network management architecture that with software and hardware decoupling is realized through network automation, virtualization, and cloud technology.

The innovations of this technological achievement include:

1. By using communication AI technology, including communication federated learning technology, network reinforced learning technology, etc., intelligent optimization of 5G Massive MIMO, 5G network intelligent energy-saving, intelligent optimization of 5G network coverage, capacity, performance and other functions are realized;

2. The 5G network slicing intelligence technology based on O/B domain integration realizes the end-to-end full life cycle management and operation of 5G network slicing, and satisfies the network capability requirements of 5G for vertical industries;

3. A new 5G intelligent network element for 5G core network, access network, and network management has been constructed, and intelligent analysis and decision-making functions of 5G network are realized with NFV and SDN technologies, which improves the level of 5G network intelligence and the efficiency of network intelligent operations;

4. Full element simulation of 5G network is realized based on network digital twin and communication AI technologies, which can realize 5G twin network’s virtuality & reality interaction with the physical network, scenario orchestration, real-time simulation, trend prediction, decision scheduling and other functions.

The Committee agreed that the results of this technical system can be applied to the construction of China’s fifth-generation mobile communication software ecosystem, virtualization and intelligent evolution of the fifth-generation mobile communication network, and IT infrastructure virtualization and intelligent evolution of the fifth-generation mobile communication network.

AsiaInfo’s integration of “production, learning, research, and application” as the practitioner of 5G network intelligence

The project result of the “R&D of 5G Network Intelligent System and Industrial Large-scale Application” is a joint research and development between AsiaInfo and Tsinghua University, originating from AsiaInfo’s undertaking the construction of software ecosystem for the fifth-generation mobile communication for China’s three major communication operators and its technological evolution goal of full automation and intelligence.

Photo: Intelligent evolution of the fifth-generation mobile communication infrastructure ecosystem

Communication AI technology:

• Taking the lead in 3GPP in proposing the application of federated learning standards in the communications field, and a series of NWDAF standards.

• Carrying out RIC integration verification in cooperation with operators in the 5G network environment, which promoted the commercialization process of RIC.

• Realizing the large-scale commercial use of intelligent energy-saving system of wireless network, which promotes the development of green 5G network.

• Making the entire life cycle of network planning, construction, maintenance, and optimization intelligent, and promoting the intelligence level of some scenarios to L4.

Network slicing technology:

• The end-to-end slicing business perception optimization based on O/B domain integration is incorporated into the ETSI GS ENI standard system.

• Realizing the commercialization with many domestic operators and having a leading market share.

Network digital twin technology:

• Formulating a series of standards for “Industrial Field Network Digital Twin Scenarios and Requirements” of CCSA as a leading manufacturer.

• Taking the lead to carry out pilot projects of network digital twin applications such as dummy resource equipment quality inspection and network monitoring of Asian Games.

Network automation, virtualization, cloud technology:

• The commercialization of multiple network-wide NFV and SDN projects of operators, and realization of unified management of heterogeneous/different manufacturers’ networks for all projects.

• NFV-MANO policy management is enhanced, and NFV standard test case templates and other proposals are included in standard system of ETSI NFV network function virtualization.