Joint O-RAN & O-RAN Software Community Plugfest/PoC Back to Globe
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In summer 2020, the O-RAN ALLIANCE successfully conducted its second worldwide plugfest and proof of
concept to demonstrate the functionality as well as the multi-vendor interoperability of O-RAN based
network equipment.
The joint O-RAN & O-RAN Software Community (OSC)
Plugfest/PoC hosted by AT&T and Verizon took place within the indoor/outdoor city-scale “living
labs” established by the Platforms for Advanced Wireless research (PAWR) initiative:
COSMOS in the New York City metropolitan area
POWDER in Salt Lake City, Utah
Plugfest participants
AirSpan, Altiostar, AT&T, Cisco, CommScope, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Juniper, NEC,
Nokia, Samsung, Verizon, VIAVI, and more
O-RAN members contributing to the design, development, deployment, and initial operations of these
community labs over the past 12+ months include AirSpan, Altiostar, AT&T, Cisco, CommScope, Ericsson,
Fujitsu, Juniper, NEC, Nokia, Samsung, Verizon, and Viavi (a partial list). The investment of time and
effort made it possible for the North American Plugfest/PoC to proceed regardless of the Covid-19
pandemic, as participants were able to establish secure connections from their private lab spaces to
COSMOS or POWDER and then execute test cases or conduct experiments remotely, safely, and
cost-effectively with the support of the community.
The primary focus this year, building upon
the results obtained during the first O-RAN Plugfest/PoC in 2019, was to demonstrate the evolution of
key O-RAN specifications in conjunction with the enhancements and new capabilities being delivered by
Release 2 “Bronze” from the O-RAN Software Community. Note that the specifications and the software are
being worked in parallel, and the software is considered pre-specification:
Configuration & Persistency Service (C&PS) and its relationship with O1 interface, presented by
Nokia and Ericsson with ODL and ONAP components imported from Linux Foundation Networking (LFN)
A1 interface with OSC components (A1 Adapter & Policy Management Service), demonstrated by Ericsson
O-RAN Information Model and Data Models (IM/DM) within OSC and aligned with 3GPP, i.e., published
models (available for implementation) and recent contributions (experimental) from Accelleran, AT&T,
Cisco, Ericsson, highstreet technologies, Mavenir, Nokia, and VMware
O1/Open Fronthaul and SMO with O-RAN early adopters, e.g., Kumu Networks
Integration of novel xApps in Near-Real-Time RIC deployed using Akraino REC and AirFrame openEdge
infrastructure, demonstrated by Nokia and AT&T
Bulk Performance Management (O1/OAM, SMO) with IPv4/IPv6, demonstrated by Nokia
Non-Real-Time RIC with performance and configuration feeds from live network to optimize key
performance indicators, demonstrated by Mavenir
Software upgrade over O1 interface, demonstrated by Ericsson
Performance Management counter collection over O1 interface, demonstrated by Ericsson
LNF (ONAP R7) 5G & PNF use cases aligned with O-RAN and 3GPP, presented by Nokia
The next steps within the North American region will include increased coordination and
collaboration with other regions across the globe as part of the upcoming O-RAN/OSC Release 3 “Cherry”
Proof of Concept scheduled to take place in 1Q 2021.
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