Microelectronics technology INC. (MTI) proposes project ?development of five open ran macro radios for operation with four worldwide MNOS? Through which they will develop a family of five…

This Project Grant award from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Grant Program (CFDA 11.038) provides $43,285,439.25 to Microelectronics Technology Inc. (MTI) to develop a family of five energy-efficient, standards-compliant Open RAN macro radios. These radios will be designed for operation with four global mobile network operators, including DISH Wireless, and will comply with 3GPP Release 19 and O-RAN Fronthaul Version 16 specifications. The project aims to deliver fully FCC- or regulator-certified radios ready for commercial deployment by the award's completion date of December 31, 2026. Key innovations include the adoption of energy-efficient GaN technology, security enhancements, and integration methodologies to enable faster time-to-market. The radios will also be deployed in the networks of subrecipients Rakuten Mobile and Mobicom as part of this grant.

Activities

MTI will apply innovative test and integration methodologies for a multi-vendor environment, leading to faster time to market. Beyond IOT (interoperability test) completion, MTI will direct integration activities performed by a system integrator, who is assigned to RE-aggregate O-ran network elements and responsible for end-to-end (E2E) and field testing. MTI will implement new energy savings features, such as adoption of energy efficient gallium nitride (GAN) devices, resulting in lower power consumption and lighter weight. The new radio will consolidate more functionality with fewer components, leading to a smaller product. MTI is further modernizing product security, including new measures to safeguard the supply chain. All of these innovations represent significant advances to mtis current generation of macro O-RUS.

Expected outcomes

With each O-RU sharing similar requirements, MTI will CO-develop all five radios concurrently, using a common platform. By creating a portfolio of O-RUS with the SRFA1 funding, MTI can address an important industry-wide need, the lack of standards-compliant radios supporting the latest O-ran and security specifications in the open ran marketplace. At the conclusion of the grant, these radios will be fully FCC- or national regulatory-certified and ready for commercial deployment.

Intended beneficiaries

Designed for two of dishs licensed sub-6GHZ bands, the dual band lead radio product supports wideband operation across 250MHZ.

Subrecipient activities

Once interoperability is confirmed, these radios will be deployed in rakuten mobile and mobicom networks, the subrecipients of this award.