Interoperability in 5G O-RAN          

The benefits of Open RAN are clear and compelling, with the promise of lower costs, diverse supply chains and gear interoperability.

As traditional RAN continues to innovate, it promotes greater O-RAN participation, thus spurring innovation further. Within this dynamic environment, more and newer players are independently innovating and providing richer solutions at a much faster pace, thereby reducing the time to market for new offerings. The benefits of Open RAN are clear and compelling, with the promise of lower costs, diverse supply chains and gear interoperability. By dis-aggregating and splitting the RAN, supporting standardized open and interoperable interfaces and allowing key functions to run as visualized software functions on vendor-neutral hardware, an environment evolves, where networks can be deployed with a more modular design. However, building a new O-RAN from the ground up and ensuring it performs as planned is a massive undertaking—especially when coupled with a move to 5G, which is already pushing technical boundaries.

Disaggregation of network functions brought by the O-RAN presents an opportunity for a lot of NF vendors and there are different network functions that are viable entrants for disaggregation. The specifications are open and hence the interpretations can differ. In such a situation, the validation of each of the O-RAN components becomes critical for any 5G solution providers. O-RAN helps bring out specialized network functions, custom built to focus on specific services offered. Today, experts can emulate the functionality of any critical NFs or even emulate the whole network around a NF for the complete validation cycle. Added to this, real-world network conditions inside controlled environments can be emulated to make sure that any components or the whole network doesn’t violate the promised performance figures. Smart solutions that are designed for O-RAN function, performance and scale, help emulate real use cases and traffic to verify product design and network performance. They drive innovation and ensure reliability, while reducing time-to-market and associated costs. There are many such unique and groundbreaking solutions in the O-RAN ecosystem meant to make 5G a reality.

O-RAN and interoperability in 5G networks

We live in exciting times. edge computing, 5G, and mobile clouds are all trans-formative technologies that enable bold new business models. Industry 4.0, autonomous vehicles and remote medicine are examples of the advances these new technologies offer. Open RAN presents a foundational framework to foster this revolution. It allows this transformation to occur at pace and scale and the journey is worth it.

The promise of Open RAN is clear: lower costs, faster innovation and new monetization opportunities. There are concerns about multi-vendor interoperability as the standards are not 100% complete. Interoperable interfaces are a core principle of Open RAN. In this phase, it is not just interoperability, but interoperability at scale, as CSPs get a first look at how critical components will perform together in the field. The need for heavy systems integration is vital to make the multivendor products work in harmony.

Addressing Open RAN Testing Challenges

For Open RAN to achieve its potential and address the many stakeholder requirements and challenges, a comprehensive and proven testing and assurance strategy is key. All players (service providers, network vendors, system integrators and hyperscalers) in the Open RAN ecosystem must perform rigorous testing to ensure compliance with standards, interoperability, performance, and scalability.

Testing and assurance occur at crucial points in the entire life cycle - from lab to live - and ultimately continue, as long as components are deployed. To realize success with Open RAN, a comprehensive and mature automated testing strategy must address performance across RU, DU, CU and the Core, while also accounting for security, conformance, interoperability, synchronization, and more.

Testing comprehensively and continuously — from lab to live - with a smart strategy, driven by best practices to ensure these challenges have been met effectively now, in the real world, and in the future. Vendor-neutral testing and assurance are crucial for building industry confidence that Open RAN is a truly safe and viable option. Open RAN experts help in continuously validating the performance, robustness and parity to traditional RAN, while ensuring multi-vendor interoperability, collaboration and open ecosystems at the same time realize cost efficiencies, innovation benefits and accelerate time to market.

Authored By- Sreerag Parameswaran,Senior Business Development Manager – APAC South, Spirent Communications