Institute for Telecommunication Sciences / Research / 5G / 5G RAN Innovation
5G RAN Innovation
5G Mailing Lists
To receive announcements about all NTIA - ITS 5G efforts, send an email to join-5g-innovation@osmmail.ntia.doc.gov. To receive annoucements about IRIS and upcoming online meetings, send an email to join-iris@osmmail.ntia.doc.gov.
Upcoming 5G Events
International RAN Innovation Symposium (IRIS)
ITS anticipates hosting in-person symposium for September 2027 in the U.S. Symposium topics will include the full frontier of RAN innovation, including state-of-the-art topics such as AI-enabled RAN (AI RAN), 6G, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), advanced testing and automation, supply chain security, and international standards leadership. IRIS 2027 will include presentations, panels, small group discussions, and a lab tour.
IRIS will be held August 31 to September 2, 2027, in Arlington, Virginia, USA.
Arlington is across the Potomac River from Washington DC and near three airports: Ronald Regan Washington National Airport (3 to 6 miles), Washington Dulles International Airport (22 to 30 miles), and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (35 to 45 miles).
Online Virtual Meetings
In the months leading up to IRIS 2027, ITS will host a series of online meetings to promote knowledge sharing. Sign up for the iris email list to receive announcements.
What is Open RAN?
Today, mobile wireless networks are assembled by mobile network operators and composed of many proprietary solutions. Each discrete element typically has custom, closed-source software and hardware. Changes to any single element require complex and meticulous verification of the entire network. This industry dynamic increases costs, slows innovation, and reduces competition. Security issues are often difficult to detect and fix.
ITS is working to accelerate the adoption of 5G open interfaces, interoperable subsystems, secure networks, and multi-vendor solutions by fostering a large, vibrant, and growing vendor community dedicated to advancing 5G interoperability towards true plug-and-play operation.
We made these tutorial videos for our 2022 5G Challenge Event to explain 5G and Open RAN basics.
Traditional RAN vs. O-RAN
What is the difference between Standalone and Non Standalone 5G?
Accelerating a vision for RAN subsystem plug-and-play operation
Private vs. Public
5G Interfaces
Past Events
International Open RAN Symposium (IORS)
The International Open RAN Symposia (IORS) is a series of annual, multi-day convenings to accelerate the adoption and deployment of interoperable Open Radio Access Networks (RAN). NTIA hosted the first symposium in Golden, Colorado, in September 2024, and the second symposium in Tokyo, Japan, in December 2025.
The goal of these symposia was to create a community of practice for consistent and repeatable Open RAN testing which includes existing or newly initiated testing laboratories, government partners, industry, and standards development organizations. The two in-person events were supplemented by a series of five online meetings: AI RAN for 6G, Improving test plans, Key performance indicators and quality of experience, Experiences in lab peer review and procedure harmonization for inter-lab and tool-independent reproducibility in O-RAN testing, and Lab-to-lab collaboration inventory.
RIC Forum
The RIC is a radio access network (RAN) Intelligent Controller in an Open RAN network. RIC Applications (Apps) manage network functions in near-real time (xApps) and non-real time (rApps), providing network programmability to maximize performance.
ITS, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense’s FutureG Office, hosted the RIC Forum in Dallas, Texas, from March 26 to 28, 2024.
5G Challenge
ITS in collaboration with the Department of Defense Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) carried out two 5G Challenge events to accelerate the adoption of: open interfaces, interoperable subsystems, and modular, multi-vendor solutions.