5G-Advanced ORAN mMIMO Base Station
Project overview
One of COMET Foundation's flagship initiatives under the DST NMICPS programme is the development of indigenously built 5GAdvanced ORAN Massive MIMO base station technologies reducing import dependency and placing India at the frontier of global wireless infrastructure.
Massive MIMO is among the most complex technologies in modern wireless communications, and a complete indigenous stack has not previously existed in India. COMET is changing that. In collaboration with IIIT Bangalore, IIT Hyderabad, and IIT Rourke, COMET is developing critical subsystems from the ground up from the Radio Unit to the Distributed Unit accelerator card while maintaining full compliance with 3GPP and ORAN international standards.
Indian telecom operators have committed to deploying ORAN compliant 5G base stations. COMET's work directly serves that national need, creating a clear pathway from indigenous research to production ready infrastructure.
WHAT WE AIM TO ACHIEVE
Develop and Integrate ORAN Compliant Subsystems
To develop a near commercial grade Massive MIMO base station with high performance and reliability. This means delivering a complete, standards compliant 32TR Radio Unit and Open DU Accelerator Card.
Human Resource Development
Fostering the growth of skilled professionals, entrepreneurship, and national and international collaboration in 5G technology and related areas. The programme actively supports researcher training, startup incubation, and knowledge transfer across academic and industry partners.
Conduct R&D in 5GAdvanced Technologies
Focused research across the Physical Layer (PHY), Stack, Radio Intelligent Controller (RIC), AIML integration, and Radio Unit design pushing the boundaries of what is achievable indigenously in India. This includes an FPGA based accelerator card for the ODU, advanced beamforming, and real time signal processing.
CORE HARDWARE
The 32TR Massive MIMO Radio Unit
Developed and funded by COMET and built at IIIT Bangalore in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad, the 32TR Radio Unit is the centrepiece of India's indigenous 5G base station programme. It operates on the n78 band (3.5 GHz) with 32 transmit receive RF chains, compliant with both 3GPP and ORAN standards.
Architecture design and Engineering Validation Testing have been completed. Design Validation and Testing is currently ongoing, with a commercial version targeted for 2026.
Band: n78 (3.5 GHz)
RF Chains: 32 Transmit / 32 Receive
Standards: 3GPP, ORAN compliant
Status: Engineering Validation Testing complete; Design Validation ongoing
Commercial Target: 2026
The ODU Accelerator Card is a reflection of COMET Foundation's commitment to open, reliable, and power conscious Radio Access Network infrastructure built to the highest engineering standards at every stage of development.
The Open DU Accelerator Card
Designed entirely in house at IIIT Bangalore, the Open DU Accelerator Card is built on a 16layer PCB and accelerates 5G NR physical layer processing. It connects to the server via PCIe Gen 3.0 x8, supporting up to 64 Gbps transfer speeds, with a 100 Gbps optical front haul interface for seamless ORAN Radio Unit connectivity. Up to nine cards can be integrated per centralised server, meeting the most demanding signal integrity, power, and thermal requirements for high performance 5G deployment.
PCB: 16layer
Front haul: 100 Gbps optical
Server Interface: PCIe Gen 3.0 x8 — 64 Gbps 5G Transmission: Up to 4layer support Scalability: Up to 9 cards per centralised server
Fabrication: Version 2 on track for end of May 2026
WHY THIS PROJECT MATTERS
India's telecom operators have committed to deploying ORAN compliant 5G base stations. Until now, no complete indigenous Massive MIMO stack existed to meet that commitment. COMET's programme fills that gap not with imported components rebranded, but with genuinely indigenously developed hardware designed from first principles in Indian institutions.
The ORAN approach using open interfaces enables a systems integration model that fosters flexibility and innovation across the telecom supply chain. COMET's 32TR Radio Unit and Open DU Accelerator Card are built to plug into this ecosystem from day one, enabling Indian operators to deploy 5G infrastructure without strategic dependency on foreign controlled technology stacks.
Beyond the immediate project, the hardware platforms being developed here are directly enabling Pre6G research at IIT Hyderabad including the validation of India's first indigenous Pre6G physical layer waveform. COMET's investment in this programme is simultaneously advancing India's position in both 5G deployment and 6G research and standardisation.