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Ease of Use Developing with Aether SD-RAN

By April 16, 2025No Comments

This is the fifth blog in a series of weekly posts that focuses on highlights from the “Open Source Near-RT RIC Comparison v1.0” report by Rimedo Labs.

Introduction

For developers working on Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) solutions, the ease of use of a Near-Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller (Near-RT RIC) can significantly impact development efficiency, xApp creation, testing, debugging, and deployment. A well-designed Near-RT RIC should provide clear documentation, streamlined development and troubleshooting tools, and robust support for onboarding new developers.

This blog post focuses on the developer experience and ease of use of Aether SD-RAN, an open-source Near-RT RIC built with modern development practices and cloud-native principles. The insights presented here are based on Section 5.5 of the ‘Open Source Near-RT RIC Comparison v1.0’ report by Rimedo Labs. For those interested in comparisons across other Near-RT RIC implementations, the full report provides additional context.

Key Factors Affecting Developer Experience

Aether SD-RAN stands out in its developer-friendly design, offering:

  • Structured and Evolving Documentation: Guides for installation, xApp development, and architecture.
  • Modular xApp Development: Microservice-based approach with well-defined interfaces.
  • Comprehensive Tooling and Debugging: Built-in observability using gRPC tracing and logs.
  • Kubernetes-Native Deployment: Simplifies orchestration, scaling, and management.
  • Engaged Community Support: Backed by the Linux Foundation ecosystem, with active collaboration.

Let’s explore how each of these contributes to a productive development experience.

Documentation and Learning Curve

Aether SD-RAN provides structured documentation that continues to evolve. It caters to both newcomers and advanced developers, helping them:

  • Understand the architecture and components.
  • Follow step-by-step guides for installation and configuration.
  • Develop and deploy xApps efficiently with sample workflows and code references.

This approach significantly reduces the onboarding time for new developers.

Ease of xApp Development

Aether SD-RAN simplifies xApp development through its modular and microservice-oriented architecture. Developers benefit from:

  • Clear and consistent APIs.
  • SDKs that abstracts the infrastructure complexity simplifying understanding.
  • Defined workflows for xApp registration, communication, and scaling.

This design makes it easier to focus on business logic and innovation without being burdened by low-level implementation concerns.

Tooling, Debugging, and Observability

Efficient debugging and monitoring are essential for developing stable xApps. Aether SD-RAN includes:

  • gRPC tracing for service communication insights.
  • Structured logging mechanisms.
  • Integration with observability tools for monitoring cluster health and xApp behavior.

These tools provide developers with the visibility needed to quickly identify and resolve issues, accelerating the development lifecycle.

Ease of Deployment and Orchestration

Built with Kubernetes-native deployment, Aether SD-RAN offers:

  • Helm charts for streamlined installation and updates.
  • Automatic scaling of xApps and RIC components based on traffic or resource usage.
  • Recovery and self-healing capabilities to restart failed components and maintain system integrity.
  • Compatibility with cloud-native CI/CD workflows, allowing automated build, test, and deployment of xApps and RIC components using tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, or ArgoCD. This enables fast iteration, version control, and seamless integration into modern DevOps pipelines.

These attributes make it easy to test locally and scale in production, enabling developers to move seamlessly from development to deployment.

Community Support and Engagement

Aether SD-RAN benefits from being part of the Linux Foundation ecosystem, which brings:

  • Regular collaborative community meetings and updates.
  • Open-source collaboration via GitHub.
  • Channels for submitting issues, sharing ideas, and contributing to the codebase.

This supportive environment ensures developers aren’t working in isolation and have access to peer feedback and guidance.

Conclusion

Aether SD-RAN offers a modern and developer-friendly experience for those building and deploying xApps in O-RAN environments. With its structured documentation, modular architecture, powerful debugging tools, and native cloud orchestration, it lowers the barrier to entry and supports rapid innovation.

As the O-RAN ecosystem grows, enhancing the developer experience will be key to accelerating adoption. Aether SD-RAN is already ahead in this area, making it an attractive choice for development teams.

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