Sionna Research Kit: A GPU-Accelerated Research Platform for AI-RAN

TL;DR

The paper presents the NVIDIA Sionna Research Kit, a GPU-accelerated platform built on OpenAirInterface for developing, testing, and deploying AI/ML algorithms in 5G NR networks, enabling real-time processing and research in AI-RAN.

Contribution

It introduces a flexible, high-performance research platform leveraging GPU acceleration and open-source tools for AI-driven 5G network research and development.

Findings

Demonstrated real-time neural receiver in 5G NR network

Achieved high throughput with GPU acceleration

Enabled rapid deployment of AI algorithms in 5G networks

Abstract

We introduce the NVIDIA Sionna Research Kit, a GPU-accelerated research platform for developing and testing AI/ML algorithms in 5G NR cellular networks. Powered by the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin, the platform leverages accelerated computing to deliver high throughput and real-time signal processing, while offering the flexibility of a software-defined stack. Built on OpenAirInterface (OAI), it unlocks a broad range of research opportunities. These include developing 5G NR and ORAN compliant algorithms, collecting real-world data for AI/ML training, and rapidly deploying innovative solutions in a very affordable testbed. Additionally, AI/ML hardware acceleration promotes the exploration of use cases in edge computing and AI radio access networks (AI-RAN). To demonstrate the capabilities, we deploy a real-time neural receiver - trained with NVIDIA Sionna and using the NVIDIA TensorRT library for inference - in a 5G NR cellular network using commercial user equipment. The code examples will be made publicly available, enabling researchers to adopt and extend the platform for their own projects.