Mission: Update to newer O-RAN specs (E2,A1,O2,O1) and related features.

Original primary goals: Update to E2APv1.1 (E2 Node configuration transfer in E2 Setup and E2 Configuration Update (even if likely changing again in E2APv2.0) and E2SM OID support in internal E2SM function query interfaces) // support for A1-EI (as per A1APv3.0) // support for O2 as per WG6 use cases // support for RIC-708 O1-CM to xApps // RIC-734 Include time series database into RIC platform (InfluxDB) for usage by xApps // RIC-421 O1 mediator graceful restart with O1 data being persisted over restarts // Concrete alarms from RIC platform (related to message overload): RIC-204, RIC-203 // SDK package, well documented interfaces to be used by xApps via xApp frameworks // Portability SDK (in xApp project) // REST interface for subscription management. 35 Epics planned: link and 11 items as stretch goals: link

Achieved D release highlights (2021-06-10):

• REST interface for xApps towards E2 subscription manager. No need to encode E2AP subscription messages in the xApps anymore. The Xapp framework for Go already supports/uses this.
• Support for A1-EI (Enhancement information) to xApps
• A lot of extra load/scalability testing (using a new bouncer xApp) and functionality testing (E2, ...) was done under RIC-150 using a "bouncer xApp".
• Wider scope of the xapp framework for python (RIC-778, RIC-773).
• We added InfluxDB as optional platform service time series database (RIC-734)
  
• Support for O2 as per WG6 use case "Deploy xAPP in Near-RT RIC" in O-RAN Orchestration Use Cases v2.0. This also includes a change in how xApps register as part of their startup.
• libe2ap (asn1c-based) can be re-used by components to encode/decode E2AP ASN.1 PDUs (Protocol Data Unit)
• E2 statistics are now visible as VES metrics events
• RMR raises alarms using the RIC alarm system in temporary overload situations
• The Near-RT RIC can be deployed on Kubernetes 1.18 and helm 3. For the first time, this and all robot framework based "end-to-end" tests have also been verified in the O-RAN SC lab.
• The Near-RT RIC project now achieved the CII (Core Infrastructure Initiative) badge "passing": (link).

Status 2021-06-11: Work is about to complete for the following 25 (19 epics and 6 "others") items link. 13 14 of these are already "done". The following 22 items (16 epics and 6 "others") we had to move out from Dawn content link. None of the stretch goals (link) has been worked on. See release highlights (above) for what has been achieved. Most notable items that were dropped are support for the E2APv1.1 capabilities "config transfer" and "OID support (i.e., we continue with E2APv1.0), RIC-708 O1-CM to xApps. Discussion on the portability SDK is still work in progress. We continue to support all the existing SDKs via the xapp Frameworks for C++, python and go.

Status 2021-03-03: Work started on many items. 31 Epics planned: link and 15 items as stretch goals: link. Start of release snapshot (MS Excel): link For CII compliance (link)we now do some checks every two weeks in the status meeting and have started a Release criteria checklist template that we go through before releasing, Note that we update to E2APv1.1