NetXRate: Network-Assisted Rate Recommendation for XR Service Optimization

eXtended Reality (XR) Applications are characterized by stringent Quality of Service (QoS) demands, including low latency, high reliability, and sustained high data rates. These requirements are particularly challenging to satisfy in dynamic 5G network environments, where conventional Over-The-Top (OTT) rate control strategies—such as adaptive bitrate streaming and packet pacing—operate without visibility into network conditions. While recent efforts like CAMARA APIs aim to expose QoS capabilities, they primarily offer coarse-grained, reactive control mechanisms that do not address user-specific service degradation. This work introducesNetXRate, an O-RAN-compliant Network as a Service (NaaS) framework designed to enable user-centric rate adaptation for XR traffic.NetXRateintegrates 3GPP Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) insights with a fairness-aware xApp deployed within the O-RAN Radio Intelligent Controller (RIC), enabling rate recommendations from the network to the XR application. Extensive simulation-based evaluations demonstrate that, compared to OTT adaptation methods,NetXRateachieves up to96%outage reduction when XR sessions are not prioritized and up to85%outage reduction when XR traffic is prioritized. Our results also demonstrate that by making more efficient use of spectrum, introducingNetXRatealso enhances the performance of eMBB services in cells where both XR users and eMBB users coexist.