Near-RT RIC architecture: E2 termination, SDL, xApp framework

Inside the Near-RT RIC Platform

The near-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller is the brain of the O-RAN architecture, executing control loops between 10 ms and 1 second. At its core sits the E2 termination point, which maintains SCTP associations with every E2 node — CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, or O-eNB — in the RAN. E2 termination decodes ASN.1-encoded messages from E2AP and demultiplexes them to the appropriate xApp based on RAN function ID and subscription. The platform runs as a set of microservices on Kubernetes, with each functional block deployed as an independently scalable pod.