CableLabs congratulates Capgemini Engineering, Fujitsu Network Communications, Mavenir Systems Inc., Radisys Corporation and Signal System Management for being selected as contestants in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (NTIA-ITS) 5G Challenge. The competition is hosted by CableLabs. Including Rakuten, the early bird contestant, this group of six participants highlights the diversity of vendors working to develop open and interoperable networks for 5G and beyond.

Collectively, nine subsystems will be tested from the contestants, which vary from well-established vendors in the telecom space to newer entrants in the ecosystem of emerging technologies involving the Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN). The 5G Challenge prize competition aims to accelerate the adoption of open interfaces, interoperable components and multi-vendor solutions toward the development of an open 5G ecosystem.

Cutting-Edge Lab Capabilities

Over the past few months, CableLabs’ expert technical team prepared its state-of-the-art 5G Lab by adding new lab capabilities to test contestants’ O-RAN subsystems. The capabilities include Viavi’s TeraVM and TM 500 systems for wrap-around testing on each of the O-RAN subsystems—Centralized Unit (CU), Distributed Unit (DU) and Radio Unit (RU)—and one of the industry’s first Open Distributed Unit (O-DU) testers. CableLabs and Kyrio staff are finalizing work to ensure that participants can reliably and securely test the support of industry specifications and the interoperability of the contestants’ subsystems. Multiple CU, DU and RU systems will be tested during the 5G Challenge with the goal of accelerating the development and deployment of O-RAN in the 5G ecosystem.

The test plans for each O-RAN subsystem were developed by CableLabs in conjunction with the NTIA to focus on conformance with the O-RAN Alliance and 3GPP specifications. Each system will be tested for integration, interface conformance, functionality and performance. These tests will provide information to the vendors, NTIA-ITS, the Department of Defense and the larger 5G ecosystem about the current status of the O-RAN vendor community, the benefits of interoperability, and the potential for future development of open and interoperable systems for 5G and future wireless networks.

Staff Expertise and Analysis

Contestants and the government will not only benefit from access to the state-of-the-art 5G Lab but also from access to the wireless network expertise of CableLabs and Kyrio staff. Staff will assist each contestant team to ensure complete and accurate testing. As the Host Lab, CableLabs will also provide technical analysis of each test to NTIA-ITS.

We’re looking forward to seeing all the contestants at the 5G Lab this summer and continuing CableLabs’ long-term investment in open and interoperable networks.

Bringing rapid innovation and increased diversity and competition to mobile services is a national imperative. To accomplish this goal, the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS)—the research and engineering arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)—is encouraging the evolution of open and interoperable 5G networks through the 5G Challenge.

The goal of the 5G Challenge is to accelerate the development and widespread deployment of open and interoperable 5G networks with true plug-and-play operation. In support of this effort, CableLabs was recently named the Host Lab for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and NTIA 5G Challenge. CableLabs brings an advanced mobile wireless network laboratory and expertise with open and interoperable network technologies to this collaborative initiative.

The 5G Challenge will leverage CableLabs’ recent lab deployment of fully virtualized 5G networks, including multiple cores, multiple radio access networks and new network emulation equipment—as well as our growing expertise in mobile network technologies. Moreover, CableLabs is well situated to host the 5G Challenge, given our long-standing role in the industry and our work with multiple vendors to drive interoperable network technologies. The value of CableLabs’ 5G lab extends well beyond this challenge as a resource for ongoing research and development and interoperability testing in mobile network technologies.

CableLabs is deeply involved in the industry’s work to develop flexible 5G technologies—including at 3GPP, O-RAN Alliance and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP)—to enable new vendor opportunities, enhance network security and streamline integration and interoperability. We’ll leverage this experience and our state-of-the-art 17,000-square-foot lab to host a successful 5G Challenge that meets NTIA’s goals. We’re constantly building for the future and looking to support initiatives and vendors that can help us revolutionize the technology the world relies on. More details will be available this spring when NTIA releases the invitation to participate in the challenge.

Read more about the 5G Challenge initiative by visiting NTIA’s site.