PIN - SONIC Lab Products for Open RAN Outdoor Network (Site 4)

Description

The SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre Laboratories (SONIC Labs) is a joint programme between Digital Catapult (DC) and Ofcom. The programme creates a range of platforms for existing and emerging vendors to test the interoperability and integration of open and software-centric networking solutions, starting with 5G Open RAN technology. Launched in February 2022, the DSIT-funded SONIC Labs will be deployed across indoor and outdoor locations, providing a unique opportunity for UK-based operators and Open RAN vendors to get involved and showcase their capabilities. Additionally, SONIC Labs will provide a testing ground for longer-term advanced technologies, expanding to other use cases and open networking technologies. This opportunity specifically relates to the low level design, supply, implementation and support of an OpenRAN outdoor mobile network. Digital Catapult is seeking to engage with outdoor OpenRAN vendor(s) who have the capability to design, supply, Install, configure and Integrate different Open RAN components - hardware (Radio Units) and software Centralised Unit (CU), Distributed Units (DU) and RAN Intelligent Controllers (RIC). The vendor(s) shall provide services to build, implement and integrate an outdoor 5G Open RAN system. In addition, we require services for ongoing support and maintenance for a two year period following go-live. This network will need to be a representative of an outdoor 5G SA deployment in the ‘real’ live environment, which means a combination of micros at street level and macros on rooftops/towers which would be the optimum requirement to represent the Open RAN solutions in outdoor field trial conditions. Attached to this notice you can find more detailed document containing: Figure 1 (An example of an outdoor private mobile network); Figure 2 (High level architecture for outdoor SONIC Open RAN network); Appendix A (High Level Outdoor Reference Network architecture); Lot 1: The primary objective of the SONIC Labs Outdoor Standalone (SA) Network is to evaluate the deployment, scalability and manageability of Open RAN systems in an outdoor environment reflecting the typical challenges seen in a real network. The outdoor site will host Open RAN systems constituting multiple Radio Units (RUs), Distributed Units (DUs),Centralised Units (CUs) and RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICs) to support outdoor field testing at a moderate scale. It is to be assumed by the vendor that the passive infrastructure and power for the vendor products will be in place (except Antennas) for this network. SONIC Labs Outdoor Field Testing for the 5G Standalone Network will be used to undertake the following experimentation and testing: - Assess the maturity of Open RAN implementations for outdoor radio equipment of different physical sizes, including where possible MIMO and mMiMo capabilities; - Assess the scalability of Open RAN systems by deploying multiple RUs in a medium-scale outdoor environment, including the RU-DU-CU ratios; - Assess the operational stability of Open RAN networks in an urban outdoor deployment; - Assess the viability of disaggregated RAN functions and corresponding interfaces (Open RAN networks) in an outdoor field environment; This will include the ability of the vendor to introduce variants or partners for the CU, DU, RU and RIC to demonstrate Open RAN standards. We do not envisage frequent RU swap experiments for the high-power outdoor RUs, not more than twice a year, anticipating a longer-lived installation. The Open RAN products deployed at the field site should be mature enough for operator-like testing in an outdoor environment. - Conduct handover/mobility experiments in a medium-scale outdoor Open RAN deployment. Mobility would be tested from Macro to Micro and Micro to Micro in the proposed architecture. - Verify whether Open RAN maintains the coverage and capacity KPIs in an outdoor environment against best predicted performance/ RF budgets (subject to product maturity). - Verify open RAN RIC xApps and rApps applications such as traffic steering in a medium-scale outdoor Open RAN environment. - Assess the feasibility of different deployment scenarios of Open RAN networks in a medium-scale outdoor Open RAN deployment, i.e. co-located and geographically distributed RAN components. - Assess the constraints on the service management and orchestration (SMO) systems as Open RAN functions are scaled up to outdoor deployments.