EANTC co-hosted O-RAN Global PlugFest Spring 2023 at i14y Lab
Berlin, June 2023
The O-RAN Global PlugFest Spring 2023 took place from April 17 – May 12, in the i14y Lab in Berlin, co-hosted by Deutsche Telekom and EANTC, and supported by Orange.
During the testing event, participating vendors got the opportunity to validate the market readiness of their individual solutions and to explore multi-vendor interoperability. The tests were based on O-RAN and TIP test specifications. Furthermore, technical priorities provided by the Open RAN MoU Group of European service providers were considered.
Participants included the solution providers Altran/Capgemini, Benetel, IS Wireless, Net AI, Nokia, Radisys, Rimedo Labs, and VMware. Rohde & Schwarz and Viavi Solutions provided measurement equipment.
What has been achieved during four intensive weeks of testing?
- Three end-to-end scenarios successfully evaluated for functional and performance
- Initial evaluation of four xApps/rApps with three non-RT/near-RT RICs: Traffic steering, anomaly detection, energy saving
- One O-RU conformance scenario successfully tested against M-plane, CU Plane and 3Gpp selected tests
- Support from two test tool vendors: many scenarios tested with nine DUT vendors
In this research project focusing on the evolution of Open RAN, EANTC contributes to developing automated test methods. We are conducting joint interoperability tests together with strong project partners aligned with the European and global testing initiatives of the O-RAN ALLIANCE and Telecom Infra Project.
EANTC, as one of the work package leaders, aims to ensure continuous testing in a vendor-neutral environment. To achieve this, EANTC defines the test cases that reference or complement the O-RAN ALLIANCE and Telecom Infra Project test plans. The goal of EANTC is to automate as many of these test cases as feasible. This way, solution interoperability will be tested efficiently and accurately in a minimum amount of time, closing the gap towards production readiness of Open RAN technology.
EANTC proudly contributes to the essential joint Open Lab initiative to accelerate Open RAN deployments, build a truly open ecosystem, and lower market entry and participation barriers.