VIAVI Provides Benchmarking and Validation for Global O-RAN PlugFest, Demonstrating Technology Maturity, Performance and Security

Chandler, Arizona – Viavi Solutions Inc. (VIAVI) (NASDAQ: VIAV) today shared the company’s role in the O-RAN PlugFest organized by the O-RAN ALLIANCE and hosted by industry leaders. The PlugFest involved a series of on-site demonstrations across multiple countries, conducted in May and June 2022.

VIAVI was relied upon to provide benchmarking and validation for PlugFest tests and demonstrations hosted by:

• AT&T and Dish Wireless at the following locations:
  • COSMOS Lab, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, USA
  • TIP Community Lab hosted by Meta in Menlo Park, USA
  • University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory in Durham, USA 
• Telefónica in Madrid, Spain; and
• Auray OTIC and Security Lab in Taiwan.

“The increasing maturity of the O-RAN ecosystem was evident across the entire PlugFest,” commented Dr. Ian Wong, CTO Office, VIAVI and Co-Chair, Testing and Integration Focus Group, O-RAN ALLIANCE. “Open Radio Units (O-RUs) are completing fronthaul conformance certification, and moving beyond certification into performance testing. Interoperability in multi-vendor environments beyond the O-RU was also more in focus, with key combinations including O-RU and Open Distributed Unit (O-DU), O-DU and Open Central Unit (O-CU), and complete end-to-end networks being demonstrated. Vendors showcased the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) and its potential to bring AI/ML techniques to network optimization and service management. And with security of open networks growing in importance, this PlugFest session also included running O-RAN and 3GPP security test cases.”

The VIAVI Test Suite for O-RAN Specifications supported conformance, performance, interoperability and end-to-end testing:

• O-RU – VIAVI and Rohde & Schwarz partnered on O-RAN Fronthaul (OFH) conformance and 3GPP pre-conformance testing of O-RUs from Foxconn and other vendors. The two companies also jointly validated an O-RU reference design with components from Analog Devices and Intel. The combined testbed includes the VIAVI TM500 O-RU Tester and the Rohde & Schwarz SMW200A Vector Signal Generator (VSG), FSW Signal and Spectrum Analyzer and Vector Signal Explorer (VSE) software, with the O-RU Test Manager providing a seamless user experience. Separately, VIAVI supported conformance and performance testing of a C-Band 64TRX Massive MIMO Fujitsu O-RU, providing the TM500 O-RU Tester, TM500 UE Emulator and T-BERD/MTS 5800 PTP/SyncE grandmaster.
• Transport – VIAVI also provided the T-BERD/MTS-5800 for Xhaul Transport and Synchronization testing on ADVA’s FSP 150-XG418 as a Cell Site Gateway (CSG) and Ensemble Activator network operating system (NOS) on Edgecore AS7316-26XB as a Hub Site Router (HSR), and validating the compatibility of third-party optics plugs from Precision Optical Transceivers.
• End-to-end interoperability and security testing – The VIAVI TM500 UE Emulator and TeraVM Core Emulator were used for E2E and security testing of multiple vendor combinations, including: the Foxconn O-RU and REIGN CORE; the Pegatron O-RU, O-CU and O-DU; and equipment from ASKEY.
• RIC – VIAVI demonstrated near real-time RIC platform performance benchmarking by integrating another vendor’s xApp with the VIAVI TeraVM RIC Test. The two companies also partnered to demonstrate traffic steering in near real-time RIC by integrating anomaly detection, quality prediction and traffic steering xApps with the TeraVM RIC Test, in a fully automated, closed-loop fashion, and in a multi-vendor, multi-technology environment.

“Interest in cross-industry collaboration on O-RAN has grown so substantially that we have moved to multiple PlugFest sessions during the year,” said Stephen Hire, Vice President of Wireless Marketing, VIAVI. “Beyond the number of participants, complexity is introduced in terms of end-to-end interoperability, AI- and ML-driven automation in assurance and optimization, and security. VIAVI enabled our partners to surmount this complexity by delivering comprehensive and relevant test cases on proven platforms, known for simplicity of use and expedited results.”

VIAVI offers the most comprehensive test suite on the market for lab validation, field deployment and service assurance of O-RAN networks. With vast experience validating network products for operators and manufacturers worldwide, VIAVI allows any node – O-RU, O-DU, O-CU, RIC and Core – and complete end-to-end testing to be performed on premise, in the cloud or as a service.