Systems and methods to enable programmable xHaul transport

1 . A method comprising:

receiving, by a device, a plurality of wireless communication network policies from an orchestration system;

sending, by the device, a subscription request to a radio access network (RAN) central unit (CU) to receive notifications relating to Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sessions set up by the RAN CU, wherein the RAN CU is located in the RAN;

receiving, by the device, a notification from the RAN CU that a PDU session has been set up in the RAN, wherein the notification includes information associated with the PDU session, based on the sent subscription request;

identifying, by the device, a programmable transport network switch located in the RAN, wherein the programmable transport network switch is associated with the PDU session, and wherein the programmable transport network switch is located along an xHaul connection in the RAN;

selecting, by the device, a policy, from the plurality of wireless communication network policies, based on the information associated with the PDU session; and

configuring, by the device, the programmable transport network switch to apply the selected policy to the PDU session along the xHaul connection in the RAN.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the policy, from the plurality of wireless communication network policies, based on the information associated with the PDU session includes:

determining a network slice associated with the PDU session; and

selecting a network slice policy associated with the determined network slice for the PDU session.

3 . The method of claim of 1 , wherein the selected policy includes at least one of:

a Class of Service (CoS) policy,

a mobility management policy,

a security policy,

a policy to collect values for a particular key performance indicator (KPI),

a Self-Optimizing Network (SON) policy, or

or a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) policy.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

collecting at least one metric value associated with the PDU session from the programmable switch; and

reporting the collected at least one metric value to another device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

reporting a status of the programmable transport network switch to another device.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving an update for the selected policy from the orchestration system; and

reconfiguring the programmable transport network switch based on the update.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving another notification from the RAN CU indicating that the PDU session has ended; and

configuring the programmable transport network switch to remove the applied policy, in response to receiving the other notification.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the programmable transport network switch is located along the xHaul connection from a radio unit (RU) to a distributed unit (DU).

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the programmable transport network switch is located along the xHaul connection from a distributed unit (DU) to the CU.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the programmable transport network switch is located along the xHaul connection from the CU to a core network.

11 . A device comprising:

a processor configured to:

receive a plurality of wireless communication network policies from an orchestration system;

send a subscription request to a radio access network (RAN) central unit (CU) to receive notifications relating to Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sessions set up by the RAN CU, wherein the RAN CU is located in the RAN;

receive a notification from the RAN CU that a PDU session has been set up in the RAN, wherein the notification includes information associated with the PDU session, based on the sent subscription request;

identify a programmable transport network switch located in the RAN, wherein the programmable transport network switch is associated with the PDU session, wherein the programmable transport network switch is located along an xHaul connection in the RAN;

select a policy, from the plurality of wireless communication network policies, based on the information associated with the PDU session; and

configure the programmable transport network switch to apply the selected policy to the PDU session along the xHaul connection in the RAN.

12 . The device of claim 11 , wherein, when selecting the policy, from the plurality of wireless communication network policies, based on the information associated with the PDU session, the processor is further configured to:

determine a network slice associated with the PDU session; and

select a network slice policy associated with the determined network slice for the PDU session.

13 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the selected policy includes at least one of:

a Class of Service (CoS) policy,

a mobility management policy,

a security policy,

a policy to collect values for a particular key performance indicator (KPI),

a Self-Optimizing Network (SON) policy, or

or a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) policy.

14 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

collect at least one metric value associated with the PDU session from the programmable transport network switch; and

report the collected at least one metric value to another device.

15 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive an update for the selected policy from the orchestration system; and

reconfigure the programmable transport network switch based on the update.

16 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive another notification from the RAN CU indicating that the PDU session has ended; and

configure the programmable transport network switch to remove the applied policy, in response to receiving the other notification.

17 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the programmable transport network switch is at least one of:

located along the xHaul connection from a radio unit (RU) to a distributed unit (DU),

located along the xHaul connection from a distributed unit (DU) to the CU, or

located along the xHaul connection from the CU to a core network.

18 . A system comprising:

a radio access network (RAN) central unit (CU), located in the RAN, configured to:

receive a request to set up a protocol data unit (PDU) session from a core network device; and

set up the PDU session in the RAN based on the received request; and

a switch controller configured to:

receive a plurality of wireless communication network policies from an orchestration system;

send a subscription request to the RAN CU to receive notifications relating to PDU sessions set up by the RAN CU;

receive a notification from the RAN CU that the PDU session has been set up in the RAN, wherein the notification includes information associated with the PDU session, based on the sent subscription request;

identify a programmable transport network switch located in the RAN, wherein the programmable transport network switch is associated with the PDU session, wherein the programmable transport network switch is located along an xHaul connection in the RAN;

select a policy, from the plurality of wireless communication network policies, based on the information associated with the PDU session; and

configure the programmable transport network switch to apply the selected policy to the PDU session along the xHaul connection in the RAN.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein, when selecting the policy, from the plurality of wireless communication network policies, based on the information associated with the PDU session, the switch controller is further configured to:

determine a network slice associated with the PDU session; and

select a network slice policy associated with the determined network slice for the PDU session.

20 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the selected policy includes at least one of:

a Class of Service (CoS) policy,

a mobility management policy,

a security policy,

a policy to collect values for a particular key performance indicator (KPI),

a Self-Optimizing Network (SON) policy, or

or a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) policy.