The Essential Guide for

Understanding O-RAN
INTRODUCTION

O-RAN based radio access networks represent the mobile communication

industry’s move toward an open, virtualized, and disaggregated architecture.
O-RAN revolutionizes how mobile network operators (MNOs) can build
their radio access networks (RANs) using a multivendor, interoperable, and
autonomous supply ecosystem.

RAN deployment for 4G and earlier generations of cellular technology relied on

a single-vendor model. These networks used proprietary hardware and software
systems, not compatible with other vendors’ products, creating a closed and
uncompetitive environment.

O-RAN breaks down the traditional hardware-centric RAN into building blocks
(radios, hardware, and virtualized functions) using open and standardized
interfaces. Network vendors can focus on specific building blocks rather
than building an entire RAN. Operators gain the ability to mix and match
components from multiple vendors.

In this new model, you must perform testing to ensure multivendor

components work together seamlessly and without compromising
performance. This eBook will bring you up to speed quickly on the following
O-RAN topics: O-RAN architecture, conformance and interoperability testing,
transport network requirements, and performance metrics.
Contents

CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4

O-RAN Basics O-RAN Interface Transport Network O-RAN Performance

Learn more about the O-RAN
Conformance and Requirements Metrics
architecture and its benefits Interoperability Review key requirements Understand the key
Go to chapter 1 > for processing RAN data performance indicators
Explore test strategies
for O-RAN
for all interfaces Go to chapter 3 >
Go to chapter 4 >
Go to chapter 2 >
CHAPTER 1

O-RAN Basics

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CHAPTER 1
O-RAN Basics
The mission of an open radio access network (O-RAN) is to create an open,
virtualized, and intelligent radio access network (RAN) architecture to enable a
multivendor, interoperable, and competitive ecosystem.

The O-RAN Alliance is a worldwide community with its members developing

a unified roadmap for future O-RAN standards and specifications, a reference
architecture, and the interfaces between the various components of the network.

Understanding the O-RAN architecture and the benefits it can deliver are key
to helping you assess if this model is right for you.

0-RAN FOCUS GROUPS 0-RAN TECHNICAL WORKGROUPS

Workgroup #1: use cases and overall architecture

Workgroup #2: non-real-time RIC and A1 interface
SECURITY
Workgroup #3: near-real-time RIC and E2 interface
STANDARD Workgroup #4: open fronthaul interfaces
OPEN SOURCE
DEVELOPMENT Workgroup #5: open F1/W1/E1/X2/Xn interface
Workgroup #6: cloudification and orchestration
TEST AND
INTEGRATION Workgroup #7: white-box hardware
Workgroup #8: stack reference design
Workgroup #9: xHaul transport
Workgroup #10: OAM

Figure 1. O-RAN Alliance working groups

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 RIC

E2 E2
RF O-RAN
O-RAN Core Network
Fronthaul Backhaul
Midhaul F1

0-RU O-DU O-CU

UEs

5G RAN / gNB 5G Core

Figure 2. O-RAN architecture with UEs and core network

Architecture
A 5G O-RAN architecture includes the following key components:

• O-RAN radio unit (O-RU) for processing the lower part of the physical layer
• O-RAN distributed unit (O-DU) for baseband processing, scheduling, radio link
control, medium access control, and the upper part of the physical layer
• O-RAN central unit (O-CU) for the packet data convergence protocol layer
• O-RAN intelligent controller (O-RIC) to gather information from the network
and perform the necessary optimization tasks

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 Benefits
The O-RAN architecture addresses traditional RAN challenges by creating a
disaggregated and virtualized network with standard interfaces. In doing so, it
delivers four key benefits:

Transformation

• Enabling more open, virtualized, and fully interoperable radio access networks.

Innovation

• Choose from the latest and best 5G RAN components with access to a
wide variety of product, service, and feature options across vendors.
• Prepare for the future by adopting an architecture that supports 4G and
5G, and even 6G.

Agility

• Gain the flexibility to mix and match RAN components from more than
one vendor to construct a 5G network that works best for you.
• Deploy and upgrade your 5G network at a faster pace with help from
multiple specialized vendors.

Capital expenditure savings

• Reduce your 5G network deployment costs with a competitive

supplier ecosystem.

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CHAPTER 2

O-RAN Interface
Conformance and Interoperability

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CHAPTER 2
O-RAN Interface Conformance
and Interoperability
Next-generation 5G new radio (NR) RAN equipment design, validation, and
production teams face new test challenges. O-RAN standardized fronthaul
architectures and gNB disaggregation are driving the need for testing gNB
components in isolation, flexible peer emulation, and conformance and
interoperability testing of new O-RAN devices. These tasks require multi-
domain test solutions with O-RAN protocol generation and measurement
capabilities spanning all O-RAN interfaces.

Conformance testing ensures each component and its interfaces comply with
industry standards. Interoperability testing ensures all elements work together.
Both types of assessments are necessary to correct performance issues
before network deployment.

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 DU emulator

CU S M CU S M L-PHY Signal
sources

PTP Yang PTP Yang

eCPRI SyncE eCPRI SyncE NetConf RF
NetConf OTA
conducted
Ethernet MAC Ethernet MAC

Signal
Ethernet PHY Ethernet PHY analyzers
0-RU

Reference clock signals and triggers

Figure 3. O-RU conformance test setup

Fronthaul Conformance Test

The fronthaul interface connects the O-RAN radio unit to the O-RAN distributed
unit and transmits time-sensitive messages at extremely high data rates.

The O-RU requires extensive testing to ensure compliance with

O-RAN specifications.
WANT MORE INFORMATION?

Test tips Check out Keysight’s Open RAN Studio software for O-RU conformance testing

• Use a test sequencer to automate the hundreds of tests needed for

conformance test.
• Analyze the RF response of the O-RU to determine if it understands the
distributed unit correctly.

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 RIC

RF O-RAN
O-RAN
Fronthaul
Midhaul F1

0-RU O-DU O-CU

UEs

Figure 4. Fronthaul 5G RAN / gNB

interoperability test setup

UeSIM CoreSIM
UE Emulation RAN Solution Core Simulation RAN Solution

Fronthaul Interoperability Testing

Fronthaul interoperability requires you to validate O-RAN units from different
vendors. You need to overcome challenges such as the wide variety of
O-RUs, the flexibility in the management plane (M-plane) implementation, and
tight synchronization between the O-DU and O-RU.

Test tips WANT MORE INFORMATION?

• Choose a test solution with broad capabilities to cover different radio
Check out Keysight’s UeSIM – UE emulation and Core Simulation RAN solutions
units and simulate various behaviors.
• Use an actual distributed unit and radio unit combined with user
equipment simulation to test the fronthaul interoperability of both units.
• Ensure your solution supports synchronization plane (S-plane) features.
• Use various setups to accommodate different network architectures,
such as non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA).

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 Service Management and Orchestration Framework

Non-RT-RIC
AI/ML-enabled

A1
xApp QoS xApp TS

Near-RT-RIC (Device Under Test)

E2 E2
E2 E2
DU... M E2 DU... M E2
DU... M E2 DU... M E2
Cells 1... X DU... M E2 DU... M E2
UE 1... K DU 1... M CU 1... M 5G Core
F1 N1, N2, N3

Figure 5. RIC test setup

Near Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller Testing

The RAN intelligent controller (RIC) leverages artificial intelligence and
machine learning to control and optimize radio access network elements
and resources based on the applications running on the network. It connects
to the O-DU and O-CU via an E2 interface. WANT MORE INFORMATION?
Test tips Check out Keysight’s RICtest demonstration
and RICtest – Radio Intelligence Control Solutions
• Prepare to simulate thousands of distributed units, control units, and
other applications to test the RIC E2 nodes.
• Use a cloud-based software solution to accelerate the process by
automating the required tests.

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CHAPTER 3

Transport Network Requirements

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CHAPTER 3
Transport Network
Requirements
Testing the transport network is necessary to ensure optimal network
performance since the O-RAN radio unit, O-RAN distributed unit, and
O-RAN central unit can only communicate through the transport network.

The 5G radio access network adopts a functional split from the O-RAN Alliance
and 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) because it requires different
data rates and latency tolerance. Latency and speed tests are critical for fast
and secure data processing.

The transport network also processes tasks such as time synchronization,

deterministic delivery of critical data, segment routing, data encryption, and the
virtualized deployment of the 5G-xHaul network. Tests like time-error budget,
network slicing, and encryption are important for the transport network.

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 5G Core

IP RRC
Max latency
Option 1
PDCP
Option 2 High layer
Layer 2 RLC Option 3
Option 4
MAC Option 5
Option 6

PHY Option 7 Low layer

Layer 1
Option 8
RF
Required bandwidth

5G Core CU DU RU
TSN
Backhaul Midhaul Fronthaul

> 10 ms 1 ms 100 μs

Figure 6. 5G split of the radio stack

WANT MORE INFORMATION?

Check out the Validation Challenges for the New 5G
RAN Transport webinar

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Because of the O-RAN Alliance and 3GPP functional split, the fronthaul
interface requires a data rate with low latency tolerance. Fronthaul testing
requires a fast hardware connection, making such testing challenging.

Test tips

• Choose a test environment that can emulate low-priority traffic mixed with
express traffic for latency testing.
• Select test equipment that supports wide bandwidths, fast connectors,
and cables to simulate the fronthaul transport network.
• Use a wrap-around strategy to test both latency and speed — one
simulator can emulate all O-RAN units.
WANT MORE INFORMATION?
• Leverage software and cloud-based solutions for protocol validation,
network performance, resiliency testing, and hyperscale data center Check out Keysight’s IxANVL and IxNetwork solutions
security analysis.

Ethernet links Fronthaul switch

(up to 400 Gbps)

Fronthaul

Figure 7. Wrap-around testing setup

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CHAPTER 4

O-RAN Performance Metrics

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CHAPTER 4
O-RAN Performance Metrics
New services like remote surgery, autonomous driving, and smart cities Peak data rate User experienced
have different data transmission requirements than smartphones. An O-RAN (Gbit/s) data rate (Mbit/s)
enabled network must handle the increasing amount of traffic and service 20 100
types without sacrificing efficiency or reliability. IMT-2020
10
The International Mobile Telecommunications - 2020 (IMT-2020) standard 1
Area traffic
identifies eight key characteristics for 5G network performance versus Spectrum
capacity
efficiency
4G. The O-RAN architecture must meet these 5G performance targets to (Mbit/s/m2) 10 3x
1 1x
compete against traditional radio access networks effectively. 0.1

1x 350
10x 400
100x 500
Network IMT-advanced Mobility (km/h)
energy efficiency

105 10

10º 1

Connection density Latency (ms)

(devices/km2)

Figure 8. IMT-2020 performance metrics for 5G

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 RIC

RF O-RAN
O-RAN
Fronthaul Backhaul
Midhaul

0-RU O-DU O-CU

UEs

5G RAN / gNB 5G Core / EPC

UE simulator and performance testing system

Figure 9. O-RAN end-to-end performance testing

UE Emulation with Wrap-Around Testing WANT MORE INFORMATION?

Simulating large numbers of user equipment (UE) with different data types
Check out Keysight’s UeSIM – UE Emulation Solutions
over radio is the ideal solution for ensuring network performance.
and Performance Benchmarking Solution
Test tips

• Use wrap-around testing to check all eight key performance indicators

for O-RAN.
• Simulate thousands of concurrent mobile devices with voice and
application data to test end-to-end performance.
• Create a test strategy that considers multiple real-life scenarios, such
as varying radio conditions, different priorities, and a mix of device types.
• Simulate key 5G features such as multiple-input and multiple-output
(MIMO), beamforming, and ultra-low latency.

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Summary
O-RAN is a revolutionary technology set to transform the mobile communications
industry. It will accelerate 5G deployment, reduce operational costs, lower
maintenance complexity for operators, and foster innovation in the radio
access network ecosystem.

A complex infrastructure requires thorough testing and validation. O-RAN

conformance and interoperability testing ensure components from different
vendors work together seamlessly and comply with industry standards.
Transport network testing is crucial for maintaining optimal radio access
network performance. Massive user equipment emulation ensures the O-RAN
architecture meets all key performance metrics.

The 5G and O-RAN revolutions are unfolding simultaneously, unlocking a

new world of possibilities. Mastering O-RAN’s test requirements and using
integrated solutions to perform the necessary testing are critical to your success.

WANT MORE INFORMATION?

Discover Keysight Open RAN Architect (KORA) solutions

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Information is subject to change without notice. | 7121-1103.EN © Keysight Technologies, 2021 | Published in USA, August 6, 2021 | keysight.com