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O-RAN has recently published 23 new or updated specifications and the O-RAN Use Cases and Deployment Scenarios white paper
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The 2nd release of O-RAN
software “Bronze” adds support for new key elements of the O-RAN
architecture and updates aligned with the latest O-RAN specifications
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O-RAN Virtual Exhibition adds more demonstrations of O-RAN based technologies
(BUSINESS WIRE) -- The O-RAN ALLIANCE has continued its progress towards making the Radio Access Networks (RAN) truly open, intelligent, virtualized and fully interoperable.
The
O-RAN ALLIANCE welcomes TELUS Communications Inc. and U.S. Cellular as
new operator members, bringing the total to 26 major carriers. O-RAN now
has over 200 companies driving the definition and realization of O-RAN
technology.
Recently Released Specifications and White Paper
Published in February 2020, the O-RAN Use Cases and Deployment Scenarios white paper introduces the initial set of O-RAN use cases and cloud native deployment support options.
O-RAN
use cases drive the O-RAN architecture and demonstrate its unique
benefits, including utilization of AI/ML modules to empower network
intelligence through open and standardized interfaces in a multi-vendor
network. The white paper also introduces the O-Cloud cloud computing
platform that can host relevant O-RAN functions to enable flexible
deployment options in virtualized telco clouds.
Recently
published specifications bring new or updated features to all parts of
the O-RAN architecture, allowing vendors to progress with improved O-RAN
based implementations. For more details, please check this O-RAN Blog post.
O-RAN Software Community Bronze Release
On
June 21, 2020, working with the Linux Foundation, the O-RAN SW
Community published its second SW release dubbed “Bronze.” The software
adds support for new key elements of the O-RAN architecture and provides
updates to align with the latest O-RAN specifications:
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The initial release of an A1 policy
manager and an A1 controller that implements the Non-Real-Time Radio
Intelligent Controller (Non-RT RIC) architecture.
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The Near-Real-Time RIC updated to current O-RAN E2 and A1 specifications with 5 sample xAPPs.
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Initial O-CU and O-DU Low/High code
contributions that support a FAPI framework and integration between the
O-DU and RIC with E2 functionality and subscription support.
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A Traffic Steering and Quality
Prediction use case leveraging an E2 interface data ingest pipeline to
demonstrate the functionality of RAN traffic steering with an E2
interface KPI monitoring capability.
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OAM use cases that exercise Health Check call flows including the Near-RT RIC and its O1 and A1 interfaces.
“The
new use cases, the Bronze software release, and the new O-RAN ALLIANCE
members are indications that this global forum is working exactly as
intended, reaching across borders to drive innovation and build
consensus,” said Andre Fuetsch, Chairman of the O-RAN ALLIANCE and Chief
Technology Officer – Network Services, at AT&T. “As this coalition
evolves, we look forward to seeing how it continues to broaden access to
5G and other new access technologies.”
“Over
the past 6 months, O-RAN working groups and the O-RAN Software
Community have extensively engaged to achieve tight alignment between
the specifications and the Bronze release open source code,” said
Chih-Lin I, the Co-Chair of O-RAN Technical Steering Committee.
“Specific progress related to both the Non-RT-RIC and the Near-RT-RIC
frameworks and associated key interfaces deserves special mention for
its importance in enabling AI/ML capabilities in RAN. The O-RAN virtual
showcase further demonstrates the growing momentum towards global
adoption and deployment of O-RAN solutions.”
“Ericsson
is actively engaged in shaping the future of the O-RAN initiative by
enabling Non-RT RIC (Non-Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller) and A1
interface to support fine-grained intelligent steering of the RAN,” said
Per Beming, Head of Standards and Industry Initiative in Ericsson.
“During OSC Bronze release, Ericsson continued as the key contributor to
Non-RT RIC project by improving support for intent based intelligent
RAN optimization using A1 interface. This specific capability allows
operators to leverage both RAN and non-RAN data to enrich end user
experience.”
“The
work within the O-RAN ALLIANCE is a great example of how strong
industry collaboration can help accelerate technology innovation,” said
Udayan Mukherjee, Intel Fellow, Network Platforms Group and Chief
Technologist, Wireless Infrastructure, at Intel. “As a major contributor
to the FAPI library specifications, architectures and software in
O-RAN, Intel is pleased to see how this work can enable an O-RAN
Distributed Unit platform that is compliant with O-RAN standardized
stack interfaces.”
“The
O-RAN Software Community has reached an important achievement with its
second software release. This milestone is the result of a tremendous
effort from across the O-RAN community,” said Gil Hellmann, vice
president, Telecom Solutions Engineering, Wind River. “As the lead for
the INF project delivering the edge cloud infrastructure portion for the
O-RAN workgroup based on the Yocto and StarlingX open source projects,
Wind River looks forward to continuing our contributions to the
community to accelerate the commercialization of 5G vRAN.”
To learn more about the O-RAN Software Community “Bronze” release please read this O-RAN Blog post, and to access the code, check out the O-RAN Software Community website.
Expanded O-RAN Virtual Exhibition
With the cancelation of MWC-Barcelona, on April 21, 2020 the O-RAN ALLIANCE created an online showcase. The O-RAN Virtual Exhibition includes demonstrations of real O-RAN based equipment in the form of videos, animations, charts and text.
In addition to previously announced demos, O-RAN member companies have recently created 12 new virtual demonstrations of real O-RAN technology:
The
first demo sponsored by SageRAN demonstrates end to end high throughput
traffic running over through SageRAN’s 5G Stand Alone Open RAN Stack.
This demo includes both X86 and ARM based O-DU/O-CUs and an eCPRI based
O-RU.
The
second demo sponsored by Keysight demonstrates Keysight’s O-RAN Test
Solution for O-RUs. This test suite enables NEM
development/manufacturing, Operator, and OTIC Labs to accelerate O-RU
conformance testing.
The
third demo sponsored by VIAVI demonstrates VIAVI’s O-RAN validation
Solution for O-CU subsystem test. This complete wraparound framework
enables NEMs, Operators, OTIC Labs and integrators to ensure that the
O-CU can be robustly tested and optimized for high-quality and
performance.
The
fourth demo sponsored by Benetel demonstrates a 5G Non Standalone (NSA)
platform comprised of Benetel’s product family of 4G & 5G Remote
Radio Units, developed in compliance with the O-RAN specification, and a
O-CU & O-DU implementation that is based on the OAI software stack
and supports O-RAN’s 7.2x open fronthaul specification.
The
fifth demo sponsored by Parallel Wireless demonstrates a unified 2G
through 5G cloud-native O-RAN solution. This makes Parallel Wireless’s
software-based Open RAN stack easy to manage and delivers cost-savings
to MNOs using it to modernize or expand their networks.
The
sixth demo sponsored by ArrayComm showcases two O-RAN Whitebox
demonstrations: The first demo is an end to end demo using an ARM Based
Multi-vendor Whitebox 5G gNB. The second demo demonstrates Whitebox’s
FPGA real time downlink bit processing (CRC, FEC, RateMatching) and
uplink bit (CRC, FEC, RateMatching, HARQ) processing throughput test.
The
seventh demo sponsored by Lenovo and NTS demonstrates an integrated
small cell solution based on cloudification and virtualization. This
demo showcases the decoupling of hardware and software based on O-RAN
architectural principles.
The
eighth demo sponsored by NVIDIA demonstrates an O-RAN Open
fronthaul-based hyper converged 5G CloudRAN, Core Network and MEC
solution for the edge. This demo showcases the value of NVIDIA GPU and
Mellanox SmartNIC-based, cloud-native, and scalable NVIDIA EGX platform,
that enables software-defined, high performance and low latency
solution on COTS servers.
The
ninth demo sponsored by Comba Telecom showcases macro open RAN high
efficiency multi-RAT RRU solution fully compliant with the O-RAN
architecture supporting Split 7-2x and Split 8 fronthaul interface to
O-DU, as well as E2E 5G NR indoor Open RAN solution built upon
Intel-based server platform and Intel FPGA.
The
tenth demo sponsored by Baicells, QCT and Keysight demonstrates the 5G
SA indoor pico cell solution with multiple O-RUs via Fronthaul Gateway
based on Indoor Pico Cell (IPC) Hardware Reference Design (HRD). To
verify the performance of IPC HRD, the multi-UE emulator is used to test
the cell merging as well as active UE numbers.
The
eleventh demo sponsored by Baicells, QCT, Wind River, Keysight and
China Unicom demonstrates the E2E Indoor Pico Cell solution based on IPC
HRD and Open Cloud platform. In addition, the co-platform for both
O-CU/O-DU and 5GC are tested with multi-UE emulator to showcase the
commercial readiness for practical deployment.
The
twelfth demo sponsored by Ericsson illustrates how the OSC (O-RAN
Software Community) A1 controller function supports QoE refinement in
RAN through the use of A1 policies. This specific capability allows
operators to implement policy aware service assurance, application aware
QoE prioritization and perform continuous evaluation of current vs.
target QoE. O-RAN’s Non-RT RIC function and A1 interface enable
fine-grained and intelligent control of the RAN.
About O-RAN ALLIANCE
O-RAN
ALLIANCE is a world-wide community of over 200 mobile operators,
vendors, and research & academic institutions operating in the Radio
Access Network (RAN) industry. As the RAN is an essential part of any
mobile network, O-RAN ALLIANCE’s mission is to re-shape the industry
towards more intelligent, open, virtualized and fully interoperable
mobile networks. The new O-RAN standards will enable a more competitive
and vibrant RAN supplier ecosystem with faster innovation to improve
user experience. O-RAN-compliant mobile networks will at the same time
improve the efficiency of RAN deployments as well as operations by the
mobile operators. To achieve this, O-RAN ALLIANCE publishes new RAN
specifications, releases open software for the RAN, and supports its
members in integration and testing of their implementations.
For a short video describing O-RAN’s progress, see www.o-ran.org/videos
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200701005778/en/
Contacts
O-RAN ALLIANCE PR Contact
Zbynek Dalecky
pr@o-ran.org
O-RAN ALLIANCE e.V.
Buschkauler Weg 27
53347 Alfter/Germany
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