VIAVI Solutions has announced that the Battelle RavenStar Active Antenna System is the first product to be validated under open radio access network (O-RAN) and Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) test specifications at VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN (VALOR). VALOR is funded by the national telecommunications and information administration (NTIA) public wireless supply chain innovation fund.
VALOR addresses the challenges to accelerate O-RAN adoption and encourages competition by providing access to test capabilities that, typically, have only been within the reach of large, established players. Now, with its highly automated, on-demand ‘pay-as-you-go’ approach to standardised testing, VALOR simplifies the development and deployment of O-RAN technologies, offering new entrants and start-ups a pathway to U.S. certification without the need for significant investment in hardware and software.
RavenStar is an ultra-wideband, steerable radio unit with an integrated antenna. This technology innovation, designed and manufactured in the U.S., is compact and features multichannel capabilities, usually only achievable with costly and complex multi-element arrays. It significantly reduces total cost of ownership through lower power consumption and enhances network capacity with massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO).
At VALOR, RavenStar underwent open radio unit (O-RU) testing, including uplink and downlink throughput leveraging VIAVI’s industry-first PHY performance test, and O-RAN Working Group 4 Open Fronthaul test cases. RavenStar passed all tests, achieving 99 per cent of theoretical uplink and downlink throughput, demonstrating high performance.
Commenting on the announcement, Greg Zink, senior research scientist, Battelle, said, “When Battelle secured NTIA funding, we recognised the importance of testing our pre-production radio unit at an industry-accepted third-party facility. VIAVI is the ideal partner to provide essential test results for our RavenStar technology. These results will guide our design and development decisions as we progress towards our production unit and beyond.”
Meanwhile, Mark Reudink, senior director, product development, Battelle, said, “Successful testing at the VALOR facility is a significant milestone for Battelle and the RavenStar team, reflecting our dedication to developing technologies that make a real difference. Partnering with VIAVI to validate our radio units is critical to success. We are excited about the future possibilities as we continue progressing our product offering.”
In addition, Erik Probstfield, senior director, VALOR, VIAVI, said, “VIAVI is pleased to be trusted by NTIA and Battelle to validate O-RAN readiness for deployment. In addition to successfully validating performance of the RavenStar radio unit, we demonstrated the power of VALOR. The rapid progress from the launch of the lab to first test results has been driven by the unique efficiencies built into our architecture – for example, our ability to integrate with devices under test in just a few hours.”
