North West

In London on the 27th of April, the UK Telecoms Innovation Network officially launched to a packed room.

As part of the Open Networks Ecosystem (ONE) Competition DSIT is offering applicants the chance to attend two teach-ins which cover three key areas of the application process.

Our 34,000km private telecoms network spans the UK providing a range of high capacity connectivity and collaboration solutions.

National network maps

The Telecom Infra Project-led Accelerating RAN Intelligence in 5G project (ARI-5G) will drive progress on network management and optimisation for Open RAN.

Beacon-5G will develop a high performance Open RAN 5G system aligned with Open RAN framework and principles, focusing on reconfigurability, security, trustworthiness, and service architecture agility.

Best of British, or BoB will build high performance small cells 100 per cent designed and manufactured in the UK. The apparatus it produces will significantly reduce the cost of deploying a small network through advanced radio design.

The Coordinated Multipoint Open Radio Access Network (CoMP-O-RAN) will deploy densified outdoor small cell clusters using 5G New Radios (NR) to complement existing mobile networks, reduce the cost-per-bit and deliver enhanced 5G network performance.

One of the most challenging components in a mobile network site is the ‘Distributed Unit’ or DU. This performs signal processing, converting radio signals to data traffic that can then be transported by the microwave, optical and wireline networks to the core network infrastructure.

The Energy-efficient Cloudlets for ORAN, or ECORAN project will reduce the power consumption of the commodity hardware used by Open RAN.

A key feature of ORAN is the use of commodity hardware made up of servers, accelerators, storage and programmable interfaces, together with open software.

The project will be used to test and demonstrate a multiple operator, neutral host solution using an Open RAN ecosystem.

O-RANOS main motivation is to address key architectural and technological challenges for deploying end-to-end O-RAN multi-domain (private-public) interoperable networks.

Almost every piece of 5G hardware requires multiple semiconductor switching devices to generate the signals being transmitted. Gallium nitride (GaN) switching devices are used in a wide range of applications from consumer electronics to defence radar systems.

Proteus is breaking open the proprietary nature of mobile base stations by creating a flexible layer of software which interfaces directly to the radio hardware. This will allow companies, large and small, outside the handful of big vendors to develop competitive products which are quicker to market.

The project will develop ground-breaking, UK-made, scalable, cost-effective optical interface technology, to enable the dense roll out of optical fibre 5G radio access networks with open digital interfaces for interoperability and low latency.

This project uses world leading British expertise to develop a more efficient PA, for base stations with a power output of up to 10W, along with the hardware and software needed to drive it in a flexible and secure manner. This will work alongside a radio architecture developed by the project.

The Towards AI project uses artificial intelligence and machine learning, along with the latest advances in cloud technology to optimise the network more efficiently.

Although the smallest project in FRANC in terms of funding, the FRAT project packs a punch and will produce equipment to be used in the development of mobile base station infrastructure.

Findings from the 5G Smart Ports Collaboration as part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s 5G Testbeds and Trials programme, May 2022.

Executive Summary

Explore the different options available to transport & logistics organisations to secure 5G.

View the slideware from the DCMS briefing event.

DCMS has launched a £25m competition to enable academics and the telecoms industry to conduct early-stage research into open and interoperable telecoms solutions, such as Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN), for us in 5G and future networks such as 6G.