The O-RAN ALLIANCE (O-RAN) has awarded $200,000 in seed funding to the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things at Northeastern University for their proposal to develop an O-RAN digital twin platform based on the Colosseum network emulator, with the capability to automate end-to-end AI/ML development, integration, and testing.
The funding initiative was led by O-RAN ALLIANCE's next Generation Research Group (nGRG). Its objective is to provide a forum to facilitate O-RAN related 6G research efforts and determine how O-RAN may evolve to support mobile wireless networks in the 6G timeframe and beyond, by leveraging industry and academic 6G research efforts worldwide. The purpose of the seed funding is to be a significant enabler for broader funding of research platforms for next generation infrastructure.
In addition to the winning proposal, the O-RAN ALLIANCE also recognized two other proposals with honorable mentions for their excellent quality and value for the industry:
- EURECOM and OpenAirInterface Software Alliance – Evolving 5G End-to-End Network Platform towards a Next Generation Infrastructure
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and George Mason University – FEMO-CLOUD: Federated, Multi-site O-Cloud Platform for Next generation RAN Research and Experimentation
“The O-RAN ALLIANCE continues to focus on developing a stable and mature specification framework for open and intelligent RAN, enabling the RAN industry to deliver commercial products and solutions,” said Alex Jinsung Choi, Chair of the Board of O-RAN ALLIANCE, and SVP Network Technology at Deutsche Telekom. “It’s great to see such high interest and cooperation in research for open innovations in future RAN generations, which will provide the basis for upcoming detailed specifications by the O-RAN ALLIANCE to enable even higher-performing and more feature-rich mobile networks.”
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