Open RAN Testing

As telecom operators increasingly turn to Open RAN (O-RAN) to enhance network agility, the Distributed Unit (O-DU) becomes critical. But how can you ensure your O-DU is rigorously tested to meet the demanding requirements of real-time functions while delivering consistent, high-quality service? Our comprehensive whitepaper, Open RAN DU Testing Considerations for Accelerated Deployments, dives into everything you need to know about effectively testing and validating the O-DU in a multivendor, cloud-native environment. Inside this essential guide, we outline the unique technical challenges and testing requirements of the O-DU. With its complex architecture—comprising Layer 1 accelerators, protocol stacks, and advanced management functions—the O-DU demands a tailored testing approach to ensure it can support critical functions like low-latency processing, high data throughput, and seamless mobility. For operators, achieving these benchmarks means aligning test strategies with automated CI/CD/CT pipelines to maintain rapid deployment cycles without sacrificing quality.

Leading carriers are beginning to rollout massive 5G deployments, but the associated CapEx and OpEx costs for RAN are huge due in part to necessary increases in the number of cell sites. Open RAN (O-RAN) attempts to solve this problem by disaggregating and splitting the RAN, supporting standardized open and interoperable interfaces, and allowing key functions to run as virtualized software functions on vendor-neutral hardware.

We’ve entered the era of 5G, with blazingly fast speeds, vast coverage density, large area traffic capacity, and super low latency. 5G is more than a step up from 4G; it’s a radical leap that dramatically improves mobile broadband services and empowers the Internet of Things (IoT) by enabling connectivity to billions of global devices. Most providers are taking an evolutionary approach to 5G, starting with 4G evolved pack core (EPC) control / user plane separation (CUPS), then migrating to 5G non-standalone (NSA), and finally deploying full native 5G or adopting Open RAN (O-RAN). Assuring a successful journey from 4G to native 5G requires the ability to test and assure every phase of the journey and every stage of the service lifecycle. Spirent solutions test and assure your evolution to 5G across the service lifecycle — from the lab to the production network. Download our poster depicting 5G network functions for a quick look at the overall structure of the 5G network and associated services.