5G Challenge Preliminary Event: RAN Subsystem Interoperability

Advancing 5G interoperability towards true plug-and-play operation.

Other Funding
  • Program Type
    Other Funding
  • Funding Award
    $3,000,000
  • Submission Deadline
    05/05/22 07:00 PM EDT
  • Program Duration
    Three Stage Challenge
  • Industry Focus
    5G & Interoperability
  • Eligibilty Requirements (Y/N)
    Yes

Join the 5G Challenge to help accelerate the adoption of 5G open interfaces, interoperable subsystems, and multi-vendor solutions by fostering a large, vibrant, and growing vendor community dedicated to advancing 5G interoperability towards true plug-and-play operation.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (NTIA/ITS), in collaboration with the Department of Defense’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)), is conducting the 5G Challenge to accelerate the adoption of open interfaces, interoperable subsystems, and modular, multi-vendor solutions by fostering a large, vibrant, and growing vendor community dedicated to advancing 5G interoperability towards true plug-and-play operation.

5G Challenge - Accelerating a vision for RAN subsystem plug-and-play operation

The 5G Challenge is administered by NTIA's Institute for Telecommunications Sciences (ITS), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

Why Compete?

The 5G Challenge Preliminary Event provides contestants with an:

  • Opportunity to showcase their 5G RAN subsystems to the broader U.S. government market, including DoD and NTIA, for 5G innovation opportunities
  • Opportunity to win part of the $3,000,000 Preliminary Event cash prize pool
  • Early exposure to DoD and NTIA/ITS in the Preliminary Event in 2022 in anticipation of a much larger prize pool in the Final Event in 2023
  • Opportunity to showcase how a single supplier RAN component integrates into an independent host lab environment, in an open innovation prize competition
  • Advanced-level competition for high-performing contestants to integrate with fellow contestants and the host lab to test interoperability with different RAN component configurations
  • Opportunity to use a host lab and work with their engineers, who have extensive knowledge and expertise working with multiple vendors to achieve integration and interoperability

    • Host Lab Capabilities

    CableLabs, the host lab for the 5G Challenge Preliminary Event, is a not-for-profit innovation and R&D lab that has global impact through its 63 member companies, serving more than 150 million households and mobile users worldwide with its state-of-the-art research facility and collaborative ecosystem. The 5G Challenge builds on CableLabs’ experience as an independent arbitrator and host of industry interoperability events.

    The host lab will provide an emulated Viavi 5G test system, two (2) SA 5G cores, and two (2) virtualized Radio Access Networks (vRAN). The host lab will verify interoperability and measure performance metrics of submitted designs. The host lab can emulate up to 128 UEs and 128 connections across a 10Gb/s interface. The 5G core can support up to 10,000 subscribers and connections. For details on the host lab’s 5G systems, click the Resources tab to view the Host Lab Specification document. Note that references to the “host lab system” may refer to multiple host lab system configurations.

    Future Phases

    Check out an overview of each competition phase below - complete rules for each phase will be released as the competition progresses.

    Documents