TY - GEN
T1 - 5G InterOPERAbility of Open RAN Components in Large Testbed Ecosystem
T2 - 2022 European Wireless Conference, EW 2022
AU - Höschele, Thomas
AU - Kaltenberger, Florian
AU - Grohmann, Andreas Ingo
AU - Tasdemir, Elif
AU - Reisslein, Martin
AU - Fitzek, Frank H.P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - An Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) is a mobile network architecture that allows a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) to use network components from different vendors thanks to open interfaces between components and virtualization of parts of the mobile network which are currently provided by specialized software and hardware. The Open RAN concept enables the flexible customization of mobile network architectures according to specific use cases or required Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). As the diversity of architecture component vendors further increases and innovations further accelerate with 6G, the interoperability of network elements needs to be guaranteed so as to ensure flexible 6G system configurations. This paper describes the interoperability aspects in Open RAN and gives an overview of the available 5G Open RAN testbed ecosystem which is provided by the French-German collaboration project 5G-OPERA. More specifically, three major testbeds are introduced in this paper: 1) The OpenAirInterface (OAI) testbed is an open-source project developing RAN, Core Network (CN), and RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC). 2) The 5G-Core testbed including traditional vendors and Open RAN solutions, currently complemented with open-source CNs. 3) The industrial testbed, which is the largest available Open RAN testbed for private networks in Germany. These testbeds enable the benchmarking of traditional and new vendors and thus provide an environment for examining the interoperability of network components from different vendors as well as particular component features. Moreover, Open RAN boosts innovations, such as network slicing and localization, which can be tested on the 5G-OPERA experimental platform. The insights provided in this paper into 5G testbeds can contribute to the foundations for building experimental platforms for examining the interoperability of future 6G system components.
AB - An Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) is a mobile network architecture that allows a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) to use network components from different vendors thanks to open interfaces between components and virtualization of parts of the mobile network which are currently provided by specialized software and hardware. The Open RAN concept enables the flexible customization of mobile network architectures according to specific use cases or required Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). As the diversity of architecture component vendors further increases and innovations further accelerate with 6G, the interoperability of network elements needs to be guaranteed so as to ensure flexible 6G system configurations. This paper describes the interoperability aspects in Open RAN and gives an overview of the available 5G Open RAN testbed ecosystem which is provided by the French-German collaboration project 5G-OPERA. More specifically, three major testbeds are introduced in this paper: 1) The OpenAirInterface (OAI) testbed is an open-source project developing RAN, Core Network (CN), and RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC). 2) The 5G-Core testbed including traditional vendors and Open RAN solutions, currently complemented with open-source CNs. 3) The industrial testbed, which is the largest available Open RAN testbed for private networks in Germany. These testbeds enable the benchmarking of traditional and new vendors and thus provide an environment for examining the interoperability of network components from different vendors as well as particular component features. Moreover, Open RAN boosts innovations, such as network slicing and localization, which can be tested on the 5G-OPERA experimental platform. The insights provided in this paper into 5G testbeds can contribute to the foundations for building experimental platforms for examining the interoperability of future 6G system components.
KW - 5G-OPERA
KW - 6G Experimental platform
KW - Interoperability
KW - Open RAN
KW - Testbed
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85171998410
T3 - European Wireless Conference, EW 2022
SP - 102
EP - 107
BT - European Wireless Conference, EW 2022
PB - VDE Verlag GmbH
Y2 - 19 September 2022 through 21 September 2022
ER -