Among the open RAN vendors selected for the 5G Challenge are Mavenir, Rakuten

Mavenir, Rakuten, Radisys and Capgemini are among half a dozen Open RAN vendors who have been selected as competitors in a federal 5G Challenge that supports the development and interactivity of the 5G Open RAN system.

The challenge is being organized by the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (NTIS ITS) of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in collaboration with the Department of Defense. CableLabs acts as the host lab for participants. Competitors were selected based on white paper submissions and now have to go through two stages of simulated integration and network integration test.

This part of the challenge is actually an initial challenge event focusing on 5G RAN subsystem interoperability, ultimately encouraging real plug-and-play network capabilities and a larger ecosystem of vendors. Details of the next 5G Challenge final event will not be released until 2023.

DoD’s challenges usually last more than one year and involve financial rewards In the first year of the 5G Challenge, competitors can win up to $ 3 million for their 5G Open RAN subsystem, which includes Central Units (CUs), Distributed Units (DUs) and Radio Units (RUs).

According to NTIA, Capgemini will submit Engineering, Mavenir, Rakuten and Signal System Management CUs; Radisys, Rakuten and Signal System Management will submit DU; And Mavenir and Fujitsu will submit network communication RU. Deposits must comply with 3GPP Release 15 and the Open RAN Alliance specification.

CableLabs is offering an emulated Viavi Solutions 5G test system, two standalone 5G network cores and two virtualized radio access networks, the core of which is capable of supporting up to 10,000 subscribers and connections. The lab can simulate 128 end-user devices and 128 connections across a 10 Gb / s interface. NTIA Dr..