Merge remote-tracking branch 'Thecave3/e3-agent-framework' into integration_2026_w27
Implementation of the E3 Agent for dApps and E3AP (no service models) (#204)
These changes introduce an E3 Agent for dApps in the OAI codebase. dApps
are real-time microservices designed to operate within the O-RAN
ecosystem, enabling sub-10 ms Artificial Intelligence (AI) routines in
the Radio Access Network (RAN).
The E3 Agent enables spectrum sensing, frequency-domain signal logging,
and dynamic PRB (Physical Resource Block) policies through IPC/ZMQ
communication with dApps or xApps.
The dApps are designed for co-location with the CU/DU, where it can
interact directly with user-plane data to enable different network
management scenarios such as optimizing network slicing, scheduling, and
resource management. A python library for the creation of the dApps is
available here [1].
Additional information about dApps:
- Paper on the dApp architecture [2]
- dApp framework presentation [3]
- Tutorial on dApp deployment on OAI [4]
As agreed in the original MR [5], this PR includes only the agent lifecycle,
configuration parsing, build plumbing, and the nr-softmodem init/destroy
hook.
It registers zero service models, so it builds and runs as an idle
agent. Concrete service models (e.g. spectrum sensing) and the PHY/MAC
hooks that drive them follow in later PRs.
Opt-in and dependencies
- Gated behind the E3_AGENT CMake option (OFF by default) / the
--build-e3 build flag. The default build is unaffected — e3ap is only
compiled and linked into nr-softmodem when E3_AGENT=ON.
- When enabled, requires the external libe3 library [6] (vendor-neutral
E3AP C++ lib), discovered via pkg_check_modules(CLIBE3 REQUIRED
libe3). It is not vendored.
Install libe3 (Debian/Ubuntu):
git clone https://github.com/wineslab/libe3 && cd libe3
./build_libe3 -I # installs deps: build-essential cmake pkg-config libzmq3-dev asn1c nlohmann-json3-dev libsctp-dev ...
./build_libe3 --install # release build + installation
Build & test
Tested in RFsim: the gNB initializes the E3 agent, opens its setup
socket (/tmp/dapps/setup), registers zero service models, and runs
without crashing. Configuration
The agent reads an optional E3Configuration section from the gNB config
file (parsed only when E3_AGENT=ON). If absent, it falls back to
built-in defaults (posix/ipc).
E3Configuration : {
link = "zmq"; # posix | zmq
transport = "ipc"; # tcp | sctp | ipc
};
The same parameters can be overridden on the command line (no
config-file edit required):
sudo ./nr-softmodem -O <gnb.conf> ... --E3Configuration.link zmq --E3Configuration.transport ipc
Validated link/transport combinations: (zmq,ipc) (zmq,tcp) (posix,tcp)
(posix,sctp) (posix,ipc).
Notes
- I have added a new log component E3AP specific for the ops performed
by the E3 Agent.
- This PR ships no gNB config file; the E3Configuration block / CLI
override above is the documented way to enable the agent. Example
configs follow in the next PRs.
[1] https://pypi.org/project/dapps/
[2] https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.16502
[3] https://openrangym.com/o-ran-frameworks/dapps
[4] https://openrangym.com/tutorials/dapps-oai
[5] https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openairinterface5g/-/merge_requests/3361
[6] https://github.com/wineslab/libe3Reviewed-by:
Teodora Vladić <teodora.vladic@openairinterface.org>
Reviewed-by:
Sagar Arora <sagar.arora@openairinterface.org>
Reviewed-by:
Robert Schmidt <robert.schmidt@openairinterface.org>
Showing
openair2/E3AP/CMakeLists.txt
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openair2/E3AP/README.md
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openair2/E3AP/e3_agent.c
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openair2/E3AP/e3_agent.h
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