VIAVI TeraVM O-CU Tester with O-DU Simulator for O-RAN O-CU Wraparound Testing

Software-based O-CU subsystem tester that emulates O-DUs, UEs and core networks over F1, X2/Xn and S1/NG for O-RAN O-CU validation.

Emulated DUs: up to 64 DUs
Connection attempts: 40 million connection attempts per hour
Traffic: 50+ Gbps

Datasheet

Overview

The VIAVI TeraVM O-CU Tester with O-DU Simulator provides wraparound validation of the O-CU, the Open Central Unit of the disaggregated O-RAN gNB that is responsible for the RRC and PDCP layers. It is part of the TeraVM family, a fully virtualized set of test products that runs on x86 Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware or in the cloud, giving network equipment manufacturers and service providers a repeatable test environment that can be used without engineers entering the test lab.

The tester emulates many O-DUs and UEs to generate 5G control plane and/or user plane traffic towards the O-CU under test. Over the F1 interface it emulates network-topology and slice-aware UE sessions and O-DUs with stateful 3GPP and O-RAN compliant F1-C and F1-U procedures. Over X2 (NSA EN-DC) and Xn (SA) it emulates eNBs and gNBs, and over S1 (NSA EN-DC) and NG (SA) it emulates an EN-DC capable EPC or a 5G SBA core. Application traffic flows can be run over the established 4G PDN sessions and 5G network slices and PDU sessions.

The test suite checks that the O-CU conforms to 3GPP standards and O-RAN C-plane and U-plane profiles, interoperates with other 5G and O-RAN network functions, and performs under full load with complex mobile traffic profiles. Emulating high data rates and large numbers of O-DUs matters because the O-CU is the first data aggregation point between the RAN and the core. Negative test cases are supported as standard.

Optional elements

Other parts of the test suite are available as options to cover more use cases: a 5G SA/NSA Core Emulator for setups without a real core network, an X2 CU Tester for 5G NSA tests and an Xn CU Tester for 5G SA tests. The tester works alongside the VIAVI TM500 and other TeraVM products. It supports CI/CD integration and open-source automation tools such as Jenkins.

Key Features

O-CU wraparound test compliant with latest 3GPP and O-RAN standards
Runs in lightweight VM on standard COTS x86 hardware
CI/CD automation integration
Functional testing
Performance and capacity testing
Supports open source automation tools such as Jenkins
Optional Core Emulator and vRAN Emulator
Stateful 3GPP and O-RAN compliant F1-C and F1-U session emulation
X2 (NSA EN-DC) and Xn (SA) eNB/gNB emulation with X2-C/U and Xn-C/U procedures
S1 (NSA EN-DC) and NG (SA) core emulation with S1-MME/S1-U and NG-C/U procedures
Application traffic flow emulation over 4G PDN sessions and 5G network slices and PDU sessions
Negative test cases supported as standard
Simultaneously emulates a large number of DU nodes at the F1 interface to the CU
Delivers real traffic from large populations of UEs
Tests both 5G SA and NSA scenarios
Supports X2-U data traffic for split bearer testing
Single API for test case definition
Deploy and configure in real time
Deterministic, consistent test outcomes
Frequent updates to recent 3GPP specifications

Specifications

Capacity

Emulated DUs	up to 64 DUs
Connection attempts	40 million connection attempts per hour
Traffic	50+ Gbps

Network Functions and Interfaces

Network functions	O-DU Emulator
Interfaces	F1, X2
Emulated interfaces (web page)	F1-C/F1-U, X2-C/U, Xn-C/U, S1-MME/S1-U, NG-C/U Xn, S1 and NG emulation listed on the product page; datasheet lists F1 and X2 for the O-CU Test DU Sim, with core and Xn testers as optional elements

Standards Compliance

X2	3GPP TS 36.423: E-UTRAN – X2 Application Protocol Contact VIAVI for latest spec compliance
F1	3GPP TS 38.473: NG-RAN F1 Application Protocol Contact VIAVI for latest spec compliance

Functional Test Types

X2 procedures	X2 EN-DC Setup Procedure; X2 EN-DC Configuration Update Procedure; X2 Reset; X2 EN-DC Partial Reset
Secondary node procedures	Secondary Node Addition (Option 3a, 3x); Secondary Node Release (Option 3a, 3x); Secondary Node Change (Option 3a, 3x)
Mobility and security	MeNB Change; MeNB to eNB Change; PCell Change; Security Key Change Procedure; Addition/Removal of SN terminated split bearer
F1 procedures	F1 Setup/Reset; gNB-DU Configuration Update; gNB-CU Configuration Update; gNB-DU Resource Coordination; gNB-DU Status Indication; UE Context Setup/Release/Modification CU initiated and DU initiated; UL/DL RRC msg transfer

Hardware

Server platform	POWEREDGE R740 Datasheet page 3 also describes the system as 1U server based
Processor	Two Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors, 18 cores per processor
Memory	192 GB ECC DDR per server
Power supply	Platinum; Hot plug power supplies with full redundancy
Form factor	Rack (2U)
Max depth	752 mm
Power dissipation	550W/ 700W/ 850W maximum for 0/ 1/ 2 Radio Cards