Institute for Telecommunication Sciences / Research Topics / RIC Forum

RIC Forum, March 26–28, 2024

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Vision

Authentic xApp and rApp demonstrations to showcase the current state of Open RAN RIC xApps and rApps.

Logistics

  • Venue: Embassy Suites by Hilton Dallas Market Center, 2727 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas TX 75207.

  • In-person attendance at this event will be by invitation only. Send in-person attendance requests and other questions to ricforum@ntia.gov.

  • On-line attendance will be open to the public. On-line attendees will be in listen only mode. Registration for on-line attendance is coming soon.

Overview

NTIA/ITS, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense FutureG Office, is hosting a Forum where radio access network (RAN) Intelligent Controller (RIC) Application (App) vendors and universities can demonstrate the current state of the Open RAN RIC App market.

This event provides a venue for the demonstration of viable RIC Apps and their use cases, for the purposes of technical knowledge sharing. Presenters will showcase RIC App demonstrations (not simulations) that measure and display the effects of their xApps and rApps on a 5G Open RAN network.

An Informational Webinar for participants was held August 17, 6:00 a.m. MT. A video recording is available here.

Forum Format

The RIC Forum schedule will be available soon (PDF file).

Morning on-site presentations with live-streamed demos: Live demonstrations (no video recordings) of actual, non-simulated RIC and App. Each presenter will have 35 minutes to describe their App and demonstrate dynamic network changes triggered by the RIC App. Presentations will include a live video stream from the site where the RIC App is deployed.

  • Accelleran
  • AT&T Corp.
  • Capgemini
  • Juniper Networks
  • Mavenir Systems, Inc.
  • Microsoft
  • Northeastern University
  • Radisys Corporation
  • Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)
  • Telecom Infra Project (TIP)

Afternoon tables with short demos: To facilitate interaction between presenters and attendees, each presenter will have a table to perform short demos. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage in an open rotation forum. Demos will include a mixture of live video streams from remote installations and pre-recorded videos. The demo room is adjacent to a networking area with bar, to encourage small group conversations. On-line attendees will not be able to view this portion of the event.

Lightning talks: NTIA/ITS is introducing lightning talks as a new element, in addition to the onsite presentations. Each lightning talker will have 15 minutes to describe their App using recorded videos, instead of a live system feed. Lightning talks are intended to spark conversation around innovative App use cases and to showcase the RIC's impact on real world networks.

  • Cohere Technologies
  • Compal Electronics
  • Northeastern University and George Mason University 
  • Novowi
  • Open Networking Foundation (ONF)
  • Rakuten Mobile USA LLC
  • Rimedo Labs
  • University of California San Diego (UCSD)

RIC App value: The 1st and 2nd days of the RIC Forum (March 26–27) will include the following keynotes and panel discussions: 

  • RIC capabilities, now and in the future
  • Military use cases and requirements
  • What is dual-use, really?
  • How the RIC can provide security

Open RAN value proposition: The 3rd day of the RIC Forum (March 28) will delve into the value proposition of Open RAN, through a series of keynotes and panel discussions from industry and market experts. The topics span technology, market, and policy.

  • Business case for RIC and Open RAN
  • Government role in accelerating Open RAN
  • RIC use cases now and in the future
  • Next version of xApps in the Cloud
  • Open RAN market and deployment use cases
  • Operators who have deployed Open RAN
  • Case study: enterprise 5G private network deployment
  • Open RAN vendors’ visions for full deployment
  • Vision for Open RAN deployment