The IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed is proud to announce a major enhancement to its platform: full support for Open RAN testing and development, including integration with the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) and xApp development environments. This expansion reflects our commitment to enabling cutting-edge innovation and interoperability across the global 5G and emerging 6G ecosystem.
A New Frontier for RAN Innovation
As Open RAN (O-RAN) architectures become increasingly central to the evolution of mobile networks, developers, researchers, and equipment vendors need access to realistic, standards-compliant test environments. The IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed now provides precisely that: a flexible, vendor-neutral platform for testing disaggregated RAN components—CU, DU, RU—and evaluating performance, interoperability, and compliance with O-RAN Alliance specifications.
Key Features of the Open RAN Expansion
RIC Integration: The Testbed includes a near-real-time RIC for testing and validating intelligent control strategies and RAN optimization algorithms.
xApp Development Support: Participants can build, deploy, and test xApps in a live, monitored environment, with access to real-time network telemetry and orchestration tools.
End-to-End Testing: Pre-scripted test cases and automation tools allow for rapid evaluation of Open RAN components in concert with 5G core functions.
Flexible Deployment: Testing can be fully cloud-based with emulators, or run through the physical layer with IEEE hardware, or through the Testbed’s “bring your own hardware” commitment (integration via secure VPN tunnel from the Testbed to your on-premises hardware).
Test Bench Add-On: A GUI-based interface provides intuitive orchestration and execution of tests, streamlining validation workflows for new RAN features or configurations.
Why It Matters
Open RAN brings the promise of vendor diversity, innovation at the software layer, and more agile network evolution. But realizing that promise requires trusted environments for rigorous testing and collaboration. The IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed is uniquely positioned to accelerate the maturity of Open RAN technologies through standardized interfaces, transparent benchmarking, and community-driven development.
Test Bench O-RAN Testing
The new Open RAN functionality is implemented in the primary/base architecture of the IEEE Testbed, but IEEE also offers the Test Bench add-on which contains fully-orchestrated O-RAN testing. In the Test Bench, in collaboration with Rebaca, users get access to a GUI-based interface that provides intuitive orchestration and execution of pre-scripted tests, streamlining validation workflows for new RAN features or configurations.
Join the Initiative
Whether you’re a university lab, a telecom operator, a software vendor, or a startup innovating at the edge, we invite you to take advantage of the new Open RAN capabilities within the IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed and Test Bench. Let’s shape the future of open, intelligent, and resilient mobile networks—together.
To get started or learn more, contact us.