Written by
Team Nucleus
Content
Written on
27th January, 2021
SHARE ARTICLE
TELESOFT TO USE OFCOM RADIO LICENSE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION
Telesoft Technologies are pleased to announce that we have been granted an Ofcom radio license for innovation and research. Telesoft Technologies have over 30 years’ experience within the telecom industry and we are excited to bring our capability into the 5G telecoms market. With the approval to test radio technologies within our in-house lab, our remit of developing cutting-edge technology has been extended. We are planning to use our newly acquired license alongside our membership with the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) to help push development and innovation alongside the global community.
THE TIP OPENRAN PROJECT
The TIP OpenRAN project is composed of a group of companies coming together to define and build 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G RAN solutions based on vendor natural hardware, software, and open (O-RAN) interfaces. From 2016, many 5G RAN focused groups started arising with a united focus, to make RAN more open using standardised interfaces. It was only a matter of time until overlapping of work would occur.
In February 2020, two of the biggest OpenRAN groups, the O-RAN Alliance and TIP, formed an agreement to align both overlapping efforts. Not only does this reduce the duplication of work, but it allows for a much stronger community to evolve, a community who wants to develop an interoperable openRAN solution.
The OpenRAN environment is split into 3 core blocks:
- Radio Unit (RU)
- Distributed Unit (DU)
- Centralised Unit (CU)
The RU is commonly located near the antenna and is connected to the DU via fronthaul interface. The interface used is called eCPRI, an enhanced version of CPRI allowing a way to split up baseband functions, placing some of the functionality within the Radio Unit to reduce the freight of bandwidth.
The DU sits between the RU and CU. Distributed Units provide support for the lower layers of the protocol stack (MAC, RLC, and Physical). The interface between CU and DU is called F1, specified by the 3GPP specification. This open interface allows different vendors to mix and match any of these core components with each other.
The CU provides support for higher layers of the protocol stack (PDCP, RRC, SDAP) and has a one-to-many relationship with DU’s; a CU will control many DU’s. On the other side of the chain, the CU will be connected to the mobile core.
READY FOR THE CHALLENGES THAT 5G INFRASTRUCTURE BRINGS
5G technology brings a wealth of opportunity to nearly all industries such as manufacturing, energy, agriculture, retail, financial services, automotive, media, and transportation. But with more devices becoming connected, challenges start to arise and that’s why Telesoft Technologies are excited to provide innovation and technology to the 5G industry. Telesoft Technologies believes in open, disaggregated, and standard based solutions that will deliver the highest quality of connectivity our current climate needs.
