[MWC 2022] O-RAN ALLIANCE announces new demonstrations of O-RAN technology and details of its industry briefing

O-RAN ALLIANCE welcoming Mobifone as its newest operator member will hold hold its next industry event on March 1,  2022 from 17:05-17:50 CET at MWC Barcelona 2022, hosted by Deutsche Telekom at Hall 3 Stand 3M31. The event will include:

• Keynote from Andre Fuetsch, Chairman of the O-RAN ALLIANCE and Chief Technology Officer of AT&T
• Industry panel discussion on O-RAN Radio Intelligent Controllers and SMO, and on O-RAN security

During the gala event, there will be 46 demos of O-RAN solutions, with 22 planned to be presented at the MWC Barcelona 2022 exhibition. Many of those demos plus an additional 24 demos will be available online at the O-RAN Virtual Exhibition.

Intelligent RAN control demonstrations at MWC Barcelona include:

• Ericsson presents its approach to SMO as an enabler of automation and value creation in the context of open innovation with rApps. Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform provides multi-vendor and multi-technology support for RAN and empowers CSPs to accelerate in the automation journey and materialize its benefits from day one. Visit the demo at Hall 2 Stand 2O60 (Ericsson).
• Juniper Networks and Keysight jointly demonstrate O-RAN based RAN Slice SLA assurance use case using Juniper Non-RT RIC, Near-RT RIC, RAN Slice SLA Assurance rApps and xApps with Keysight RICtest agents (O-CU/O-DU emulators). Visit the demo at Hall 2 Stand 2D21 and 2DMR14 (Juniper Networks).
• Juniper Networks and AirHop Communications demonstrate RACH parameter optimization use case using Juniper Near-RT RIC, AirHop RACH optimization xApp, and O-CU/O-DU emulators as RIC test agents. The demonstration highlights the benefits of O-RAN based Near-RT RIC deployed 3rd party xApp to automatically detect and resolve RACH parameter conflicts. Visit the demo at Hall 2 Stand 2D21 and 2DMR14 (Juniper Networks).
• Mavenir demonstrates an O-RAN based AI-powered closed-loop Near-RT RIC platform along with the traffic steering that substantially reduces network overhead and improves cell capacity savings. The demo validates a real-time learning framework using cloud-native network APIs for xApp to xApp communication and integration of 3rd party apps. Visit the demo at Hall 2 Stand 2H60 (Mavenir).
• Parallel Wireless demonstrates its Open RAN, ALL G – 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G, O-RAN based software platform showcasing an open, secure, and intelligent RAN architecture to deliver wireless connectivity, enabling people to be connected whenever, wherever, and however they choose. Visit the demo at Hall 5 Stand 5C61 (Parallel Wireless).
• Qualcomm Technologies demonstrates the use of O-RAN ALLIANCE framework including disaggregated network components and RAN Intelligent Controller to create a high reliability 5G solution for Industrial IoT use-cases. Visit the demo at Hall 3 Stand 3E10 (Qualcomm Technologies).
• Rakuten Symphony, Intel and Juniper Networks demonstrate Symware, a collaborative effort to pioneer a carrier-grade Open RAN solution for mobile network operators to modernize radio cell sites by leveraging the latest cloud-native architecture, while providing support for O-RAN fronthaul interfaces to the O-RU. Visit the demo at Hall 3 Stand 3E31 (Intel).

Open RAN demonstrations at MWC Barcelona include:

• AccelerComm is demonstrating a fully compliant O-RAN Acceleration Abstraction Layer (AAL) Forward Error Correction (FEC) product for the Xilinx Telco Accelerator cards. This carrier-grade product enables AccelerComm’s high performance 5G NR LDPC encoding and decoding IP solutions to be rapidly and efficiently used as hardware accelerators in industry standard servers across a PCIe bus using the O-RAN AAL interface. Visit the demo at Hall 7 Stand 7C24 (AccelerComm).
• Analog Devices, Intel, VIAVI Solutions and Rohde & Schwarz jointly demonstrate O-RAN open fronthaul conformance. Analog Devices & Intel’s 4T4R O-RU Reference Design is validated by VIAVI’s automated TM500 O-RU tester with R&S SMW200A vector signal generator, R&S FSVA3000 spectrum analyzer and the R&S VSE signal analysis software. Visit the demo at Hall 5 Stand 5A80 (Rohde & Schwarz).
• Analog Devices demonstrates its O-RU Reference design fronthaul conformance testing with Keysight technology. The O-RU integrates ADI’s turnkey 7.2x split low PHY IP with ADI’s latest 8T8R RadioVerse SoC with integrated DFE, connected to Keysight’s Open RAN Studio O-DU emulator and PathWave Test Automation framework for fronthaul conformance testing. Visit the demo at Hall 2 Stand 2F25 (Analog Devices).
• Arm and partners demonstrate a low-footprint 5G Network-in-a-box O-RAN solution based on arm Neoverse N1 CPU, suitable for distributed small cells and private networks deployments. The E2E solution comprises O-CU, O-DU, Core and Edge platforms all running on one Gigabyte server using Capgemini and Phluido software and Benetel O-RU. Visit the demo at Hall 5 Stand 5A19 (Arm).
• Casa Systems, Rohde & Schwarz and VIAVI Solutions jointly demonstrate O-RAN open fronthaul conformance. Casa Systems’ Apex 5G Evo O-RU is validated by a setup featuring VIAVI’s TM500 O-RU Tester as DU emulator, O-RU test manager SW interacting with R&S SMW200A vector signal generator, R&S FSW50 spectrum analyzer and R&S VSE Vector Signal Explorer SW. Visit the demo at Hall 5 Stand 5A80 (Rohde & Schwarz).
• Fujitsu, NTT DOCOMO, Wind River and NVIDIA partnered for the 5G Open RAN Ecosystem (OREC) to build vRAN testbed with remote access capability. The demonstration shows Open vRAN using O-RAN open fronthaul interface between O-RU and O-DU. Fujitsu’s 5G Open vRAN ecosystem is very flexible and highly scalable network covering implementation, operation and maintenance. NTT DOCOMO, Fujitsu and the partners will release the Open vRAN network with multi-vendor connective capability. Visit the demo at Hall 2 Stand 2G60 (Fujitsu).
• NEC showcases the new massive-MIMO solution including radio unit, based on O-RAN open fronthaul. NEC shows its advanced technologies and commercial deployment experiences in domestic market. In addition, NEC’s Global Open RAN Center of Excellence (CoE) will lead the integration and validation of the multi-vendor ecosystem. Visit the demo at Hall 2 Stand 2F10 (NEC).
• NEC, Dell, NTT DOCOMO, Red Hat and Xilinx partnered for the 5G Open RAN Ecosystem (OREC) to build vRAN testbed with remote access capability, and demonstrates NEC’s vRAN. The software is consistent with O-RAN Reference Architecture. It is implemented on the latest virtualization infrastructure, and on a commercially available server using the latest microprocessors and hardware acceleration. Visit the demo at Hall 2 Stand 2F10 (NEC).
• STL demonstrates 5G Small Cell Split 7.2 O-RU (GARUDA) interworking with ASOCS vRAN for Private Network (CYRUS®), based on O-RAN IoT profiles. The setup included STL O-RU and ASOCS O-DU, CU and Core VM. The scope included demonstration of M-Plane and S-plane connectivity as per the O-RAN ALLIANCE specifications. Visit the demo at Hall 2 Stand 2E18 (STL).
• VIAVI Solutions and AMD demonstrate testing of an O-DU with the VIAVI TMLite that does both UE and O-RU emulation with AMD processors in a single commercially available server. This demo is to show that both UE emulation and O-DU testing can be achieved cost effectively in one server. Visit the demo at Hall 2 Stand 2M61 (AMD).

Additional 24 demos will be showcased at the O-RAN Virtual Exhibition by: Auray, Baicells, Capgemini, Comba Telecom, Dell Technologies, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Groundhog, iConNext, Intel, IP Infusion, IPLOOK, IS-Wireless, ITRI, Keysight, LIONS Technology, Mavenir, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, Pegatron, Radisys, Telefonica, TIM, University of Utah, VIAVI Solutions, Vodafone, Wind River and WNC.