Zain, Rakuten Symphony to deploy open RAN in Kuwait

Zain, Rakuten Symphony to deploy open RAN in Kuwait

The O-RAN ALLIANCE has successfully concluded its seed funding initiative, launched in November 2023, to support research and development of next-generation open Radio Access Network (RAN) infrastructure. The funding, co-led by the O-RAN ALLIANCE's next Generation Research Group (nGRG), was aimed at facilitating O-RAN-related 6G research efforts and determining how O-RAN may evolve to support mobile wireless networks in the 6G timeframe and beyond [1].

The funding initiative, totaling $200,000, was awarded to the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things at Northeastern University. The university utilized the sponsorship to evolve its Colosseum lab and research platform into a comprehensive, automated O-RAN Digital Twin (O-DT) platform. This platform is designed to accelerate innovation at the intersection of AI, open RAN, and network optimization.

The evolved O-RAN Digital Twin platform enables researchers to deploy O-RAN-based networks—including base stations, user equipment, and Radio Intelligent Controllers (RIC)—in just a few clicks. It automatically initiates data collection, training, and testing pipelines for RIC-based xApps and rApps, and plays a key role in continuous validation of open-source protocol stacks. Additionally, it is ready to support future development of dApps for real-time network control and other cutting-edge use cases.

Michele Polese, Research Assistant Professor at Northeastern University and PI of the O-RAN O-DT project, noted that the O-RAN ALLIANCE seed funding has significantly advanced the Colosseum platform. "This initiative has sparked the creation of new solutions to tackle the next fundamental challenge toward fully realizing the Open RAN vision, i.e., intelligent and dynamic network control and optimization. We look forward to further evolving the O-RAN Digital Twin to address future needs of modern RANs," said Polese.

Ravi Sinha, VP Technology and Solution Development at Reliance Jio and co-chair of nGRG, expressed excitement about the outcomes of the seed funding initiative. "These research outcomes form the basis for future specification development within the O-RAN ALLIANCE, enabling a global market of scaled, innovative, and competitive solutions, advancing our mission towards an open, intelligent, virtualized, and fully interoperable RAN," said Sinha.

The O-RAN ALLIANCE, a worldwide community of mobile operators, vendors, and research & academic institutions, aims to reshape the industry towards more intelligent, open, virtualized, and fully interoperable mobile networks. The new O-RAN specifications enable a more competitive and vibrant RAN supplier ecosystem with faster innovation to improve user experience and enhance the efficiency of RAN deployments and operations by mobile operators.

References:
[1] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/o-ran-digital-twin-platform-co-funded-by-o-ran-alliance-powers-research-and-innovation-in-ai-and-open-ran-302463063.html