Mississippi State University (MSU) has been awarded a $1,498,872 Project Grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Grant Program (CFDA 11.038). The grant, awarded on December 1, 2023, supports MSU's development of a Tester User Equipment (Soft Tester UE or Soft T-UE) to test 5G and Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) systems, with a focus on RAN security testing. The key activities funded under this grant include developing a well-maintained software repository with documentation, automated pipelines, benchmarks, configuration files, hardware setup instructions, testing scripts, and data collected from various test cases. The expected outcomes are an open testing method with modular procedures and new security metrics that will make RAN testing more affordable, customizable, scalable, and practical. This will facilitate security inspections of 5G, Open RAN, and future generation networks before deployment and during operations. The intended beneficiaries are telecom companies, institutions, and service providers who will be made aware of new vulnerabilities and assisted in identifying and addressing potential security threats early.
Mod # | Description | Reason For Modification | Federal Obligation (Click to sort descending) | Date (Click to sort ascending) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $1.3m | 11/21/23 |