O-RAN Performance and User Experience Evaluation Using Real UEs

In this webinar, Deepak Sivakumar explains how to evaluate network performance and user experience on RAN and Open RAN (O-RAN)-based 5G networks using Real UEs, introduces Keysight’s Nemo solution for both field and lab measurements, and shares some real-life use cases of how we at Keysight have helped our customers build their O-RAN systems. The webinar is intended for persons working at O-RAN labs at companies such as mobile network operators, vendors providing solutions to the O-RAN systems, such as DU, CU, and RU vendors, as well as network equipment manufacturers, device manufacturers, regulators, and defense companies. 

We will look into O-RAN testing challenges in the lab and in the field, how to automate testing UEs and O-RAN systems end-to-end (E2E) performance, and introduce to O-RAN test case package according to TIFG specifications. 

O-RAN system is a multi-vendor RAN system where the RAN is disaggregated into multiple base station functions, such as CU, RU, DU, and RIC controller. As all the components in an O-RAN chain may be serviced by different vendors, it is important to test the overall interoperability of all these different functions. There is a high need for automation, as the large number of permutations and variations in the O-RAN chain make individual and manual testing complex. O-RAN alliance has come up with their own specifications as part of the Test and integration focus group (TIFG) for standard test cases for example for 5G standalone (5G SA), 5G non-standalone (5G NSA), VoLTE, Voice over NR (VoNR), video over LTE, video over NR. O-RAN testing needs to be done by combining automation and standardized test cases. Testing with real UEs is needed in order to get a realistic user experience from the network. Especially when there is an O-RAN chain of different vendors servicing different base station functions, testing with real UEs is needed to understand how the network is performing. 

There is also a need to get a good understanding of how the UEs are performing on the network and establish a baseline, that you can use as a benchmark to compare other devices or do some regression testing. The baseline can be used to test with a variety of different UEs anytime an operator deploys a network, compare new devices before releasing them out to the network, and ensure that the latest vendor versions in the O-RAN system are performing equal or better than before. O-RAN systems need to be tested both in the lab and the field before deployments to gain information on real-world performance issues. You will need a single solution for both lab and field testing to maintain consistency, especially when testing a large amount of test cases. 

The main components in the Keysight solution for the O-RAN network performance and user experience testing consist of Nemo Outdoor UE measurement solution, a platform that controls all the devices in the lab and in the field. The devices are real UEs, such as off-the-shelf smartphones from major device and chipset vendors. The second component is packaged test cases from the O-RAN alliance, and finally automation from our analytics and reporting system.