At & T corp and verizon are proposing to strengthen the testing and evaluation ecosystem to accelerate incumbent, AKA brownfield, operator evaluation, testing, and deployment of open ran systems by:…

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded a $47,538,987.72 Project Grant to AT&T Corp. under the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Grant Program (CFDA 11.038). The purpose of the grant is to establish an Open RAN Testing and Evaluation Center to accelerate the development, deployment, and adoption of open, interoperable 5G radio access networks (RAN).

Key activities to be performed under this 4-year grant include: 1) Creating a consortium of U.S. mobile network operators to serve as the structure for a comprehensive program dedicated to the acceleration of Open RAN compatibility and commercialization; 2) Establishing an Open RAN testing, evaluation, and R&D center in the Dallas technology corridor and a satellite location in the Washington, D.C. area; and 3) Facilitating research into new testing methods to enhance existing approaches for validating the evolving Open RAN ecosystem. The grant will also fund subawards to universities such as the University of Texas at Dallas, Northeastern University, and Virginia Tech to integrate their lab resources into the proposed federated testing platform.

Activities

At & T and verizon will create a consortium of US mobile network operators (MNOS) with the mission of serving as the structure for a comprehensive program dedicated to the acceleration of compatibility and commercialization of open ran deployments (ACCORD) in the U.S. An open ran testing, evaluation, and R & D center within the dallas technology corridor and a satellite location in the washington, DC area will be created. T & E activities will focus on interoperability, performance, and security against industry-accepted test cases and best practices for 5G systems. The center will also facilitate research into new testing methods to enhance existing methods of testing, evaluation, and validating the evolving open ran ecosystem to support the accelerated adoption of open ran networks.

Expected outcomes

Ecosystem partners, vendors, suppliers, and US-based operators to increase T & E activities to accelerate the development, deployment, and adoption of open ran network, focusing on the challenges faced by incumbent operators.

Intended beneficiaries

Speeding the transition towards more open, modular networks will increase vendor diversity in the open ran ecosystem. In turn, these new innovations will directly benefit a broad range of customer types including consumers, enterprises, public safety and the government.

Subrecipient activities

The recipient proposes subawards to verizon to provide mobile network operator project management that will fully integrate with at & T PMO. Subawards to university of texas at dallas, northeastern university, iowa state university, rutgers university, and virginia tech will provide principal investigators to integrate the lab resources from their respective institutions into the proposed federated lab as a service for open ran T & E activities.