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1. Introduction

This document is intended as a guide for developers creating xApps for the dRAX platform.

1.1 Supported Versions

This version of the xApp Framework is used with the Accelleran [2024.2.2] release.

1.2 Background

dRAX is Accelleran’s O-RAN aligned Cloud Native RAN platform. dRAX is cloud native by design and encompasses the O-RAN defined CU function, a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) layer, as well as a near real-time RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) platform. It features a micro-service oriented architecture with containerized functions orchestrated via Kubernetes and supports both 4G and 5G technologies.

The dRAX RIC platform is a Near Real-Time platform. It allows developers to implement xApps that can leverage dRAX near real-time open RAN data and communicate with other xApps to bring new services and functionalities. It offers seamless integration with other orchestration platforms and lowers the technology barrier to implement Enterprise cellular networks by implementing artificial intelligence techniques for the configuration and operation of private cellular networks. This document serves as the developers guide in creating and deploying xApps on the Accelleran dRAX.

To make the development and integration of xApps into dRAX as smooth as possible, we have created the dRAX xApp Framework. This framework consists of a number of predefined and pre-developed resources that can communicate with the rest of the entities within the dRAX RIC. This allows the framework to seamlessly integrate with dRAX on deployment. Using abstractions of the lower level details, the xApp Framework exposes easy to use methods which allows the developers to only focus on the functionality of their xApp.

The dRAX xApp Framework consists of the following components, which are shown below:

  1. The xApp Library - a Python library which interfaces with the dRAX RIC platform
  2. The xApp Database - Redis server for storage of configuration data
  3. The xApp Core - the core logic of the xApp written by the developer
  4. The xApp Helm Chart - a Helm Chart used to deploy the xApp and integrate it with dRAX RIC

dRAX xApps Framework