Any potential interference would occur in a very narrow band of radio frequency, one that is technically not even part of the C-band (3.7-3.98 GHz) being utilized by communication service providers.

Radar altimeter (RADALT) systems use the 4.2-4.4 GHz band. However, there is potential for interference from the edges of these bands, which can be mitigated by testing and adjusting both 5G networks and RADALT systems prior to live deployment.

VIAVI has established a testbed consisting of:

• The VIAVI ALT-9000, which provides altitude simulations with true RF time delay and path loss models to test any format of RADALT system including Low Probability of Intercept (LPI), Combined Altitude Radar Altimeter (CARA) & Next Generation variants.

The ALT-9000 is instrumental in enabling rigorous test procedures and workflows to assess, evaluate, and monitor the RADALT vulnerability to any potential 5G interference.

• The VIAVI OneAdvisor 800, which provides real-time spectrum analysis for the 5G C-band range of frequency with 2D and 3D spectrogram plot.

The OneAdvisor 800 monitors and detects channel leakage and frequency bleeding as well as spurious emissions that potentially can impact RADALT operations.

• The VIAVI Ranger, which provides broadband recording and playback of RF signal environments. The Ranger records real-world 5G signals and plays them back into RADALT devices during test to simulate 5G C-band interference.

When used in conjunction with the ALT-9000 and One Advisor 800, the Ranger enables advanced testing under real-world conditions.

“At VIAVI, we have a unique current understanding about potential interference in C-band, as we are deeply involved in both 5G communications and RADALT technologies,” said Sameh Yamany, chief technology officer, VIAVI, and author of “Understanding 5G.” “From this vantage point, we aim to help the industry and government regulators tackle any issues comprehensively, to enable communication service providers and aviation to operate harmoniously.”

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• Advancing Industry Standards Through Collaboration: TIP partners with VIAVI to expand VALOR’s testing for Open RAN.
• Streamlined Testing: Establishes VALOR as the first Telecom Infra Project -authorized test lab, reducing testing duplication.
• Industry-wide impact: Accelerates Open RAN adoption and drives global industry alignment.

Viavi Solutions Inc., and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) have announced a strategic collaboration aimed at expanding the testing capabilities of the VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN (VALOR).

VALOR, made possible by a $21.7 million grant from the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (PWSCIF), provides fully-automated, open and impartial testing and integration for Open RAN. VALOR provides a pathway to certification in the U.S. for new entrants, startups, and academia and ensures the interoperability, performance, and security of Open RAN components.

Telecom Infra Project, a global consortium dedicated to advancing and adopting open and disaggregated networks, thrives on the collective contributions of its member companies.

These contributions are critical to bringing innovation to the industry and facilitating a collaborative environment where innovative technologies are developed, tested, and certified, ready for deployment.

VIAVI’s involvement with TIP exemplifies this collaborative spirit. By bringing VALOR’s test-as-a-service capabilities to TIP, VIAVI advances the mission of TIP’s OpenRAN Project Group (PG) and enhances the broader industry’s ability to implement and certify Open RAN technologies.

TIP-authorized labs expand on the success of TIP’s network of Community Labs. This collaboration will streamline the certification process by VALOR becoming the first TIP-authorized test lab, reducing duplication of efforts and accelerating time-to-market for Open RAN solutions.

TIP’s and VIAVI’s strategic cooperation promotes innovation and broad industry alignment, driving widespread adoption of Open RAN technologies globally.

Strategic Collaboration Overview:

1. Key Benefits and Contributions: VALOR offers cloud-based and virtual testing capabilities critical for modern, scalable network performance assessments. These capabilities will be incorporated into TIP’s system performance certification program, providing a robust and flexible testing framework for component vendors and operators.

2. Enhancing Testing Capabilities: VIAVI and Telecom Infra Project will enhance VALOR’s testing capabilities that build on top of the O-RAN test specifications. This comprehensive approach will support the TIP community by ensuring that Open RAN systems meet high-performance standards and are robust enough to handle real-world network complexities.

3. Establishing VALOR as the first Authorized Test Lab: VALOR will become the first of TIP’s network of authorized test labs, streamlining the certification process, reducing duplication of efforts, and accelerating the time-to-market for Open RAN solutions.  Additionally, establishing VALOR as one of TIP’s authorized test labs ensures a high standard of testing and certification processes.

4. Developing a System Performance Certification Framework: TIP’s community will leverage VALOR’s testing capabilities to help build a robust system performance certification framework, promoting innovation and industry alignment.

VIAVI and TIP’s collaboration to expand VALOR’s testing capabilities for Open RAN is poised to significantly reduce integration time and costs and improve data reliability and performance, resulting in the collective progress of open and disaggregated networks globally.

Supporting Quotes

Kristian Toivo, executive director, TIP, said,

“Through this appointment of VALOR as one of the TIP’s authorized labs, we are committed to advancing the Open RAN landscape by providing robust and streamlined testing frameworks. Comprehensive end-to-end testing ensures that Open RAN systems meet high-performance standards and are robust enough to handle real-world network complexities, thereby maintaining service quality and reducing downtime. In addition to the extreme performance testing, VALOR’s Open RAN virtual testing environment brings new capabilities to TIP Labs and the community. This strategic engagement fosters innovation, improves supply chain resilience, and accelerates the global adoption of Open RAN technologies, offering operators more flexible, cost-effective, and high-performance network solutions​.”

Dr. Sameh Yamany, chief technology officer, VIAVI, said,

“The collaboration between VIAVI and TIP enhances Open RAN system maturity by addressing multi-vendor deployment challenges, ensuring end-to-end system level performance testing from different vendors. VIAVI’s participation in TIP’s OpenRAN PG and Test and Validation Committee is supporting the creation of industry test plans at a global level. VALOR supports comprehensive end-to-end testing to verify performance, stability, and security under real-world conditions. Additionally, this initiative aims to reduce market fragmentation, create supply chain efficiencies, and build marketplace confidence through standardized testing and certification processes​.”

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As 6G is the first AI-native generation of wireless communications, data sources such as a 6G city-scale digital twin will be vital for training other elements of the network such as the 6G AI-Native Air Interface.

6G City-Scale Digital Twin

In 2022, VIAVI announced support for research at the Institute for Wireless Internet of Things and the Open6G cooperative research center at Northeastern University, as part of the VIAVI 6G Forward Program.

A key aspect of the research was large-scale RF propagation channel modeling based on AI and ML technologies to develop a city-scale digital twin of a 6G network.

The digital twin research has expanded to include:

• Use of AI/ML to augment ray tracing for radio frequency (RF) propagation modeling to drive the digital twin
• Conducting real-world measurement campaigns in the Northeastern Boston campus using the VIAVI Ranger rugged RF capture and playback instrument
• Incorporating higher-layer KPIs in the digital twin, to more effectively model effects of network conditions on application performance.

“Our research collaboration with Northeastern University has led to breakthroughs in the use of AI/ML for radio propagation modeling,” said Dr. Ian Wong, CTO Office, VIAVI. “We believe this research is critical in enabling large-scale network digital twins, which VIAVI is well poised to deliver given our leading network emulation solutions in the lab and network monitoring and optimization solutions in the field, gathering data from actual operator networks.”

“At Northeastern’s Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT), we have been using VIAVI’s state-of-the-art testing and measurement equipment to model and deploy high-fidelity digital twins of real-world wireless networks on our Open RAN Digital Twinning platform, Colosseum,” said Professor Tommaso Melodia, Director of WIoT at Northeastern University. “This will facilitate the research, development, and experimentation of AI-driven solutions for 5G and beyond networks in a risk-free digital-twinned world with hardware in the loop.”

6G AI-Native Air Interface (AI-AI)

The AI-Native Air Interface (AI-AI) has appeared as a shift in the conventional methods of developing, standardizing, and commercializing communication technologies with the goal of effectively supplying data to applications while addressing communication problems and hardware limitations.

In the physical layer of wireless communications, the neural receiver concept suggests replacing traditional signal processing blocks with trained AI models.

To enable comprehensive testing of neural receivers, VIAVI has developed and demonstrated its own receiver as part of an end-to-end test and training environment.

The base station employs an AI-aided constellation design, where the modulation block is replaced with a neural network to design custom constellation for the receiver.

The VIAVI in-house developed neural receiver is generalizable over various channel models and modulations, delay and doppler, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and other conditions, which is vital for deployment in practical systems.

VIAVI used open-source and in-house libraries to implement the transceiver architecture.

“VIAVI continues to explore and develop groundbreaking future generations of wireless technology, and we are at the frontier of AI-native 6G,” said Dr. Stephen Wang, managing director, VIAVI Marconi Labs. “From neural receivers to rate-splitting multiple access for semantic networks, our 6G research helps the industry create networks that dynamically adapt to different environments and conditions. We look forward to working with research labs and network equipment manufacturers to accelerate development of these technologies.”

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This is VIAVI’s highest number of partner collaborations at MWC, highlighting the company’s integral role in the ecosystem and the need for aligning advancement in the industry.

“Open, intelligent and automated networks depend on trusted ecosystems delivering solutions whose conformance, performance, interoperability and security have been independently verified,” said Sameh Yamany, Chief Technology Officer, VIAVI. “VIAVI has harnessed its decades of leadership in network test and optimization, our critical role in industry organizations such as the O-RAN ALLIANCE, and our relationships with other major vendors to ensure our customers have access to tailored and best-of-breed solutions.”

Throughout MWC Barcelona, VIAVI will be conducting joint demonstrations with the following technology and solution partners:

New architectures and solutions to maximize 5G performance and lay the groundwork for 5G Advanced and 6G:

• Cisco. Cisco will showcase the Mobile Services Platform Ecosystem including RAN, devices, and applications. The VIAVI CLAW GPS simulator will provide synchronization (NCS540) during live radio turn up. Location: Cisco Stand #3E30.
• NEC. NEC will demonstrate vRAN with Arm, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Red Hat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks, Inc., featuring the VIAVI TM500 Network Tester. Locations: Arm Stand #2I60, Red Hat Stand #2F30, Qualcomm Stand #3E10 and NEC Stand #2H40.
• Rohde & Schwarz. The two companies will demonstrate an end-to-end Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN-NR) testbed including the VIAVI TM500 Network Tester. Location: Rohde & Schwarz Stand #5A80 and VIAVI Stand #5A18.

Proving the commercial robustness, maturity and cost effectiveness of Open RAN

• AMD and SRS. AMD will demonstrate end-to-end O-RAN performance with the VIAVI TMLite2 providing subsystem testing and core emulation. The demo uses AMD silicon for both the O-RU and vRAN (O-DU/CU). AMD has collaborated with SRS for the software stack running on a SuperMicro IoT A+ EPYC 8004 Server. Location: AMD Stand #2M61.
• DELL. VIAVI and DELL will showcase how the Open Telecom Network will fuel innovation in all layers, realizing the full potential of 5G at optimal cost of ownership. Demonstration of DELL’s methodology and benchmarking at Open Telecom Ecosystem Labs (OTEL) and the VIAVI NITRO Wireless O-RAN Test Suite. Location: VIAVI Stand #5A18.
• Digital Catapult. Digital Catapult will validate O-DU/O-CU security using the VIAVI O-RAN Security Suite. Location: VIAVI Stand #5A18.
• Ericsson. Ericsson will demonstrate secure, interoperable Open RAN Fronthaul. VIAVI will provide the XHaulAdvisor for real-time fronthaul analysis, and the TM500 for RU and UE simulation. Locations: Ericsson Stands #OA1.20 and #2O60 and VIAVI Stand #5A18.
• Metanoia. The VIAVI TM500 O-RU Tester and R&S SMW200A Vector Signal Generator, R&S FSVA3000 Spectrum Analyzer and R&S Vector Signal Explorer software validate FR1 conformance of the 5G Metanoia Jura O-RU Reference Design for 4T4R Sub-6GHz market. Location: Metanoia Stand #5L26MR.
• Rohde & Schwarz. The VIAVI TM500 O-RU Tester will support: a joint demonstration of O-RU radio frequency (RF), protocol and performance testing; improvement in network efficiency and energy savings at the O-RU; and a new compact solution for O-RU R&D testing. Location: Rohde & Schwarz Stand #5A80 and VIAVI Stand #5A18.

RAN Intelligence and AIOps (featuring VIAVI TeraVM RIC Test for platform validation and app training)

• Aira Technologies. Aira will demonstrate RANGPT on the VMware RIC in conjunction with AWS and Tech Mahindra. Locations: AWS Stand #8.1C64 and Tech Mahindra Stand #2C40.
• Broadcom. The VIAVI Geolocation xApp and rApp and Intent-Based Optimizer rApp will run on the VMware RIC. A second collaboration will demonstrate the joint VMware/VIAVI RIC Testbed As A Service which will enable mobile operators to evaluate and benchmark RIC applications before deployment. Location: VMware Stand #3M11, Hall 3 and VIAVI Stand #5A18.

• Ericsson. Ericsson will showcase the VIAVI Geolocation rApp on the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform. Locations: Ericsson Stands #OA1.20 and #2O60 and VIAVI Stand #5A18.

• Rakuten Symphony. Rakuten will demonstrate its RIC platform. Location: Rakuten Symphony Stand #2D46.
• Samsung. Samsung’s Non-RT RIC platform provides APIs to onboard, deploy and register for configuration and performance data services. It monitors rApp lifecycle management and checks the status of multiple rApps —VIAVI’s Geolocation rApp, Zinkworks’ traffic & QoS prediction rApps, and a QoS-based handover optimization rApp. Samsung displays the status of these rApps on its platform’s rApp dashboard. Location: Samsung Stand #2M20.
• Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). SUTD presents an integration of its energy-saving rApp with VMware’s Non-RT RIC and the VIAVI TeraVM RIC Test. Employing state-of-the-art AI technologies, the rApp optimizes cell control, achieving significant energy savings without compromising service quality in realistic scenarios. Location: VIAVI MWC 2024 Stand #5A18.

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The grant is a total amount of $21.7 million in funding over a three-year performance period for the VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN (VALOR).

VALOR is based on VIAVI’s industry-leading NITRO Wireless test portfolio, delivered through Lab-as-a-Service (LaaS) and Test-as-a-Service (TaaS) models.

This solution is designed to manage and support 5G and Open RAN projects that would benefit from access to tools and expert staff with a minimal ramp-up time.

VIAVI provides dedicated engineers (onsite or offsite), automated test processes, access to comprehensive testing capabilities and expertise, standard and customized tools and libraries, and assistance with demonstrations.

VALOR intends to empower Open RAN component providers to leverage LaaS in a structurally cost-effective way that the NTIA grant will further augment, regardless of the scale of a component provider’s operation.

“VIAVI is proud to be a recipient of a grant from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, which will make Open RAN testing accessible, affordable, and sustainable for the entire ecosystem,” said Oleg Khaykin, president and Chief Executive Officer, VIAVI. “Open RAN is critical to securing the telecommunications supply chain of our nation, but the inherent openness and flexibility of this technology also bring about complexities. As a leader in 5G and upcoming 6G, VIAVI is committed to certification, benchmarking, optimization and verification to enhance the efficiency, automation, and security of Open RAN systems.”

“Innovation in Arizona continues to flourish thanks to our work on the CHIPS and Science Act,” said Senator Kristen Synema, Arizona. “The $21.7 million grant we secured for VIAVI Solutions in Chandler will fuel economic growth, spur innovation, and lower costs — and we couldn’t be prouder to help make it a reality.”

“Thanks to cutting edge companies like VIAVI, Arizona is a hotbed for industries of the future, including the next generation of wireless technologies,” said Senator Mark Kelly, Arizona. “As a lead negotiator of the Chips and Science Act, I worked to secure investments that will fuel innovation, increase competition, and reduce reliance on wireless equipment providers that threaten our national security.”

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Seventh annual “The State of 5G” from VIAVI also reveals:

• US displaces China to top the 5G cities leaderboard
• Manufacturing sector emerges as clear leader in Private 5G
• Standalone 5G gains momentum with 45 operator networks
• Diverse and widespread interest in mmWave across the globe 
• But, report didn’t reveal much about Africa

In its seventh annual “The State of 5G”, VIAVI revealed that there are 2,497 cities globally with commercial 5G networks, across 92 countries. A further 23 countries have pre-commercial 5G trials underway and 32 countries have announced their 5G intentions.

This leaves just 48 countries, many of which are smaller island nations, that have not publicly announced plans for 5G.

A total of 18 countries announced their first 5G deployments in 2022. The new 5G countries include two of the largest developing economies, India and Mexico, as well as other emerging economies such as Angola, Ethiopia, and Guatemala. The data also revealed several other major trends relating to 5G deployments:

US displaces China to top the 5G cities leaderboard for the first time

The United States has topped the 5G cities leaderboard for the first time, displacing China, which was the leader in previous VIAVI State of 5G updates since 2021.

In the U.S., the number of cities with 5G networks has grown significantly to 503, compared with just 297 in May 2022, a 69 percent increase.

In contrast, the number of 5G cities in China has remained static at 356 since the June 2021 update.

The number of 5G cities is just one aspect of the relative success of the two nations’ 5G evolution, with China ahead in other key metrics.

The United States’ breadth of 5G coverage contrasts with China’s depth of 5G coverage, with China remaining ahead in data speeds, 5G subscribers and base stations deployed.

Manufacturing sector emerges as clear leader in Private 5G

The manufacturing sector has emerged as the clear leader for private 5G networks globally, with 44 percent of the publicly announced deployments, followed by logistics, education, transport, sports, utilities, and mining.

This trend appears to suggest a clear pragmatism about how the business world is tackling private 5G, where organizations with the biggest connectivity pain points and greatest opportunities for smart applications are naturally emerging as the Private 5G front-runners.

Businesses within these sectors often operate in challenging environments where high-speed connectivity may not be a given.

These verticals also cross over with the sectors where IoT applications have evolved most strongly, leading to discussions of smart factories, smart cities and so on.

The close relationship between private 5G and IoT opportunities also coincides with a new realism among telecom operators about IoT being an almost entirely vertically-focused revenue opportunity.

Standalone 5G gains momentum with 45 operator networks

5G Standalone (SA) networks, meaning networks that have been built using a new 5G core and which operate independently of existing 4G infrastructure, are rapidly gaining momentum around the world. As of January 2023, there were 45 5G SA networks in place, across 23 countries. This contrasts with January of 2022, when there were just 24 NSA networks globally.

Often considered to be “true” 5G, 5G SA networks offer a wider array of use cases and monetization models compared to non-standalone networks (NSA), which are relatively limited in their applications beyond enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), meaning faster data speeds.

With a near doubling of 5G SA networks, more operators will start to realize more of the long-promised commercial benefits of 5G, while consumers and businesses in those countries may start to notice improved network speeds.

Diverse and widespread interest in mmWave across the globe

Spectrum for 5G in the millimeter wave (mmWave) band, generally considered to be 24 GHz and above, has garnered a lot of interest from diverse countries.

The spectrum range offers significant benefits with the highest speeds, lowest latency and highest capacity. However, it also comes with downsides such as lower ranges, higher equipment costs and the need for dense deployments.

Countries that have made mmWave spectrum available span every continent and represent an extremely diverse mix of population sizes, economies, and levels of technological advancement. Several of the largest mobile markets in the world, including China, India, and the United States have made mmWave available as well as those with tiny populations such as Seychelles and Guam.

The same pattern of diversity holds true across developed markets such as Germany and Japan through to emerging economies like Indonesia and Vietnam.

The diversity of countries licensing mmWave shows that there is a clear appeal from regulators combined with a natural interest from spectrum-hungry operators. Nonetheless, with clear benefits and drawbacks, the mmWave story is likely to have many twists and turns over the coming years.

“2022 was 5G’s graduation year,” commented Sameh Yamany, CTO at VIAVI Solutions. “It evolved from being a developed markets phenomenon into a global phenomenon. On a technical level too, with a near doubling of Standalone 5G networks, the capabilities of 5G have expanded significantly and we can look forward to more sophisticated network and business capabilities from operators. In the coming year, a major focus will be network quality and the further development of Open RAN technologies – and we’ll be playing our part in ensuring those are as successful as possible.”

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Jackson Labs develops and supplies modules, subsystems and box-level solutions that include front-end receivers, transcoders, rack-mounted equipment, and patented retrofit technology.

Their broad customer base includes armed forces, defense contractors, energy distribution infrastructure, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) operators, and 5G service providers.

Jackson Labs’ next-generation M-Code solutions complement and advance VIAVI’s timing and synchronization portfolio at a time when PNT requirements for defense, space, commercial aviation, transportation and telecommunication networks are expanding and becoming increasingly critical.

“As telecommunications, avionics and mission-critical infrastructure adopt next-generation technology, legacy timing and synchronization protocols are no longer sufficient. Jackson Labs is a trusted provider of PNT solutions in these markets, and we look forward to addressing these opportunities together,” said Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO of VIAVI. “With this acquisition, we are continuing to drive operational scale via the addition of advanced technology and high-performance products that address market segments with strong growth and profitability.”

“Being a part of VIAVI will significantly expand Jackson Labs Technologies’ market reach worldwide, and allow us to further deliver world-class solutions for the rapidly developing PNT landscape as it enters a new era,” said Said Jackson, CEO of Jackson Labs Technologies.

DelMorgan & Co. acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Jackson Labs in connection with the transaction. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

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