Open RAN solutions deliver energy efficiency, transport reliability, and test repeatability to support scalable and sustainable 5G Open RAN deployments

Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) showcased its Open RAN leadership in collaboration with global industry partners during the O-RAN Alliance Spring 2025 Global PlugFest.

O-RAN Global PlugFests, co-sponsored by the O-RAN ALLIANCE, aim to accelerate Open RAN development through comprehensive testing and integration. The Spring 2025 event ran from February through May across 19 labs in Asia, Europe, and North America, organized around themes designed to advance the Open RAN ecosystem.

Keysight’s Open RAN Architect (KORA) solutions powered 11 multi-vendor integration test demonstrations in labs across several countries, validating real-world Open RAN deployments.

O-RAN Energy Consumption, Efficiency, and Savings Testing

As 5G networks scale, energy efficiency is critical for both cost reduction and environmental impact. Keysight contributed to multiple O-RAN energy efficiency test efforts, validating power-saving techniques across RIC, O-DU, and O-RU components.

• Rimedo Labs and Juniper Networks – Energy Efficiency Optimization testing: Keysight demonstrated Rimedo Labs’ Cell On/Off Switching (COOS) xApp/rApp, and Traffic Steering (TS) xApp coordination on Juniper’s Non-Real-Time (Non-RT) and Near-Real-Time (Near-RT) RIC at the i14y lab, together with consortium partners Deutsche Telekom and EANTC AG. This test used Keysight’s RICtest solution for RAN simulation to validate optimized energy use based on Deutsche Telekom network data.

• Digital Catapult’s Sonic and Xelera Labs – Energy efficiency testing: Keysight used its RuSIM and CoreSIM solutions to evaluate and analyze energy efficiency gains from Xelera’s O-DU/O-CU accelerator card, using two different platforms, x86 and ARM, and aligned with ETSI TS 103 786, at Digital Catapult’s SONIC Labs. Interesting insights emerged from this evaluation that will trigger further exploration and testing.
• Vodafone Central ORAN Lab and 1Finity Triple Band O-RU – Automated energy testing: Keysight conducted automated energy testing of 1Finity’s Triple Band O-RU across various traffic load conditions (ETSI ES 202 706-1) using its E-Plane test suite at Vodafone Central ORAN Lab in Newbury.
• Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Symphony and Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT) demonstrate energy savings at the Japan OTIC Lab: RF channel reconfiguration research has been conducted by Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Symphony and QCT to validate energy savings for a complete end-to-end 4G mobile network lab demonstration setup. Energy savings have been achieved through RF channel reconfiguration rApp using real-time power measurement tools from the Japan OTIC lab which provides an independent and open interconnectivity verification environment to test and certify hardware including base station equipment.

• ONF/Aether and Rutgers University/WINLAB using the North American OTIC in the NYC Metro Area/East (COSMOS) – O-RU testing: Keysight supported O-RU energy efficiency testing using its O-RU E-Plane testing solution.

Demonstrations of Consistent and Repeatable Open Fronthaul Testing in Multiple Labs

Consistent and repeatable open fronthaul testing is essential for validating disaggregated network components, ensuring vendor interoperability, and supporting scalable deployments.

• AERPAW OTIC – Repeatable test scenarios validation: At the Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW) OTIC, Keysight, together with Open Air Interface and LITEON, validated repeatable test scenarios aligned with WG4 conformance goals using Keysight Open Radio Access Network Architect (KORA).
• Northeastern University Open6G, EURECOM, and Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) xG Testbed/Virginia Tech – Repeatable tests across different environments: To further validate test repeatability across different environments, Northeastern University Open6G, EURECOM, and CCI xG Testbed/Virginia Tech collaborated with Keysight to conduct a test and integration focus group (TIFG) validation of the OpenAirInterface (OAI) CU/DU in end-to-end scenarios, using Keysight RuSIM and CoreSIM solutions in the two North American labs. These tests confirmed consistent results across multiple sites and test vendors, reinforcing the reliability of the O-RAN ecosystem.
• Northeastern University Open6G also performed additional End-to-end TIFG tests with multiple RU, DU, and CU partners.

Open Fronthaul Transport Testing with Multiple O-RUs

Reliable transport is the foundation for O-RAN performance, especially as xHaul networks face increasing congestion and impairment. Validating open fronthaul transport behavior under these conditions is key to ensuring stable, scalable, and standards-compliant deployments.

• European OTIC in Madrid hosted in the Telefónica Technology & Automation Lab – xHaul Transport Validation: Telefónica together with Keysight validated the robustness of commercial xHaul transport solutions using the AresOne 400G and Vision E400 platforms. By injecting controlled impairments, Keysight demonstrated realistic network emulation to support WG9 and TIFG E2E testing for O-RAN xHaul compliance at the European OTIC in Madrid hosted in the Telefónica Technology & Automation Lab.
• Auray Lab – End-To-End O-RAN Deployment: Keysight collaborated with LITEON and AERPAW OTIC from North Carolina State University (NCSU) to validate end-to-end O-RAN deployment using OAI O-DU/O-CU with LITEON O-RU. Leveraging Keysight KORA solutions, the demonstration showed the precision and interoperability of the U/C/S-Plane functionalities in a real-world deployment scenario.

Richard Chiang, Smart Life Applications SBU GM, LITEON Technology, said: “We are honored to collaborate with Keysight in the O-RAN Spring 2025 Global PlugFest. By integrating LITEON’s O-RU with Keysight’s KORA solutions and OAI’s O-DU/O-CU, we have jointly validated the performance, precision, and interoperability needed for real-world O-RAN deployments. This partnership underscores LITEON’s commitment to advancing open network architectures and delivering reliable 5G solutions to our global customers.”

Casper Tsai, COO, Auray Technology, said: “We successfully demonstrated Auray's deployed OAI O-CU/O-DU integrated with commercial O-RU at this PlugFest, achieving TIFG E2E and WG8 IoT testing through Keysight's E2E test solution. This demonstrated the highly integrated testing of Keysight's E2E test solution in addition to establishing Auray's capabilities in OAI O-CU/O-DU. We look forward to further deepening our cooperation and making greater contributions to the secure development of O-RAN.”

Dr. Femi Adeyemi, Head of Wireless at 1Finity, said: “Automated energy testing, conducted with Keysight, demonstrated the power savings benefits of 1Finity’s triple-band radio units, which deliver high power efficiency at all traffic loads. 1Finity congratulates all O-RAN Alliance Plugfest participants for continued progress in accelerating Open RAN.”

Paul Sludden, Project Director, SONIC Labs at Digital Catapult, said: “With our network of vendor-agnostic testbed facilities, and in our role as an O-RAN Alliance PlugFest host, Digital Catapult is advancing the development and deployment of future networks in the UK. By bringing together expertise across the Open RAN ecosystem, we are proud to be collectively working with valued partners such as Keysight to drive the disaggregation, diversification, and interoperability of networks through the practical application of Open RAN technologies in industry.”

Alexander Lange, Head of Software Engineering, Xelera, said: “Energy efficiency is critical to the future of 5G networks. Digital Catapult's PlugFest was an important step in showcasing how hardware acceleration can reduce power consumption while maintaining performance at scale, and Keysight's simulators made it exceptionally easy to integrate, test and measure Xelera's solution.”

Mike Yang, President of QCT, said: “QCT is committed to advancing the maturity and sustainability of Open RAN deployments by participating in multi-vendor testing efforts. We are delighted to once again collaborate with Keysight at O-RAN Spring 2025 Global PlugFest to validate energy-saving apps for next-gen O-RAN solutions.”

Kalyan Sundhar, Vice President, and General Manager for Keysight’s Wireless Group, said: “Keysight remains committed to accelerating Open RAN deployments. By fostering collaboration among diverse industry players, we enable the development and rigorous testing of advanced Open RAN features and use cases, ensuring a robust and interoperable ecosystem.”

Resources

• Industry Page: Accelerate Open RAN Innovation
• Solutions Page: Radio Access and Core Network Test

About Keysight Technologies

At Keysight (NYSE: KEYS), we inspire and empower innovators to bring world-changing technologies to life. As an S&P 500 company, we’re delivering market-leading design, emulation, and test solutions to help engineers develop and deploy faster, with less risk, throughout the entire product life cycle. We’re a global innovation partner enabling customers in communications, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, automotive, semiconductor, and general electronics markets to accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Learn more at Keysight Newsroom and www.keysight.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250724227204/en/