5G-Advanced ORAN mMIMO Base Station
COMET Foundation is dedicated to advancing research and development in cutting-edge communication systems such as O-RAN and RIS. By focusing on building these technologies in-house, the foundation aims to reduce dependency on imports and foster the growth of an indigenous market within India. This approach not only strengthens the country’s technological self-reliance but also paves the way for innovation and leadership in the global communications industry.
Our aim to achieve at the end of this project
Integrate ORAN Compliant Sub-Systems: To develop a near-commercial-grade massive MIMO base station, ensuring high performance and reliability.
Conduct R&D in 5G-Advanced Technologies: Focus on Physical Layer (PHY), Stack, Radio Intelligent Controller (RIC), AI-ML, and Radio Unit (RU) to push the boundaries of 5G technology.
Human Resource Development: Foster the growth of skilled professionals, entrepreneurship, and national and international collaboration in 5G technology and related areas.
Indigenous 5G Development
Gaining significant traction as India aims to establish self-reliance in 5G technologies.
Complexity of 5G Massive MIMO
Massive MIMO is a highly complex technology, and the massive MIMO stack is currently not available in India, creating a critical need for indigenous development.
Support from Indian Operators
Several Indian telecom operators have announced their commitment to deploying ORAN-compliant 5G base stations, highlighting the need for locally developed solutions.
ORAN’s Open Interfaces
ORAN enables a systems integration approach using open interfaces, which is crucial for fostering innovation and flexibility in telecom infrastructure.
progress so far
Outdoor testing of extreme massive MIMO (set up at IIT Hyd.)
COMET Foundation, in collaboration with various IITs, is spearheading the development of advanced 5G technologies. This includes the creation of a 32TR n78 massive MIMO O-RU (Outdoor Radio Unit), which will be integrated with the Bharat RAN DU (Distributed Unit) to build an ORAN-compliant massive MIMO base station.
The project also involves the development of an FPGA-based accelerator card for the O-DU, enhancing processing efficiency.
In addition to these efforts, the foundation is conducting extensive research and development in areas such as RU (Radio Unit) design, PHY (Physical Layer) stack, AI/ML integration, and RIC (RAN Intelligent Controller) algorithms, all of which are pivotal to advancing 5G technology.
COMET Foundation is indigenously developing a cutting-edge O-DU (Distributed Unit) for 5G networks, which consists of a server integrated with an FPGA-based accelerator card. This accelerator card is being designed from scratch by our team to meet the specific needs of advanced communication systems. It connects to the server via a PCIe Gen 3.0 ×8 interface, capable of supporting data transfer speeds of up to 64 Gbps.
Additionally, the card features a 100 Gbps fronthaul interface, enabling seamless connectivity with the ORAN-Radio Unit, further enhancing the performance and efficiency of 5G networks.
Top view of the accelerator card for the ORAN DU (designed in IIIT Bangalore)