Open RAN Testbeds with Controlled Air Mobility

TL;DR

This paper discusses the design considerations for Open RAN testbeds capable of controlled experimentation with aerial robots, highlighting results from the NSF AERPAW testbed on slicing, programmable vehicles, and radios.

Contribution

It presents key considerations for designing Open RAN testbeds with aerial clients and shares experimental results from the NSF AERPAW platform.

Findings

Demonstrated Open RAN slicing capabilities on the NSF AERPAW testbed.

Showcased programmable vehicles and radios in controlled experiments.

Provided insights into testbed design for aerial client integration.

Abstract

With its promise of increasing softwarization, improving disaggregability, and creating an open-source based ecosystem in the area of Radio Access Networks, the idea of Open RAN has generated rising interest in the community. Even as the community races to provide and verify complete Open RAN systems, the importance of verification of systems based on Open RAN under real-world conditions has become clear, and testbed facilities for general use have been envisioned, in addition to private testing facilities. Aerial robots, including autonomous ones, are among the increasingly important and interesting clients of RAN systems, but also present a challenge for testbeds. Based on our experience in architecting and operating an advanced wireless testbed with aerial robots as a primary citizen, we present considerations relevant to the design of Open RAN testbeds, with particular attention to making such a testbed capable of controlled experimentation with aerial clients. We also present representative results from the NSF AERPAW testbed on Open RAN slicing, programmable vehicles, and programmable radios.