Accelerating Open RAN Research Through an Enterprise-scale 5G Testbed
Paramvir Bahl, Matthew Balkwill, Xenofon Foukas, Anuj Kalia, Daehyeok Kim, Manikanta Kotaru, Zhihua Lai, Sanjeev Mehrotra, Božidar Radunović, Stefan Saroiu, Connor Settle, Ankit Verma, Alec Wolman, Francis Y. Yan, Yongguang Zhang
Abstract
Open RAN is an emerging paradigm in mobile networks where the Radio Access Network (RAN) functions are disaggregated and virtualized on commodity servers. Despite the importance of Open RAN research, existing platforms often lack the fidelity and stability required to address a wide range of research problems. In response to this limitation, we have developed an enterprise-scale Open RAN testbed aimed at conducting state-of-the-art research in key areas that have received limited attention due to the lack of suitable platforms. In this poster, we provide an overview of the testbed we have created and examples of the research it has enabled, with the hope of catalyzing future open RAN research and innovation.