SimpleRAN

Transparent, carrier-grade vRAN is available today

SimpleRAN is an open initiative to drastically simplify the deployment of carrier-grade 4G/5G networks based on transparent standards for virtal radio access networks (vRAN)

Objectives

The goal of the SimpleRAN initiative is to publish a series of standards that ensure interoperability and transparency in the vRAN ecosystem. SimpleRAN promotes a practical approach aiming to accelerate commercial deployments while remaining compatible with legacy infrastructure.

Key Benefits

  • vendor neutral;
  • should rather than must;
  • no dependency to proprietary acceleration hardware;
  • already deployed by commercial carriers;
  • four times fewer components, half the cost;
  • based on existing standards (3GPP, ETSI, etc.);
  • compatible with existing infrastructure;
  • compatible with 4G;
  • dynamic spectrum sharing (4G/5G);
  • distributed core network;
  • no NDA needed to join;
  • 5 RRH vendors already certified;
  • full performance on 5G (6 Gbps).

Design Principle

The design principle of the SimpleRAN architecture is "four times fewer components, half the cost". 

SimpleRAN tries to minimise the number of components, simplify the architecture and remove dependencies to vendor-specific hardware such as accelerators. It maximises flexibility by using “dumb” remote radio heads "RRH" that support any protocol: 4G, 5G, 6G, etc. 

Simple RAN Illustration

Governance

The core concept of SimpleRAN is:  “do whatever you want as long as you tell us how to connect to it”. Any product or service can be SimpleRAN compliant if its specification and interfaces are public.

SimpleRAN does not require (“must”) to implement any standard, following our principle "should rather than must". SimpleRAN however recommends (“should”) to follow a certain number of standards and provides testing tools for those standards. We recommend in particular to use 3GPP and ETSI standards rather than inventing yet another incompatible standard for radio acess networks.

SimpleRAN does not require to sign any NDA and does not have any formal leader. It is an Unincorporated association of self-regulated individuals or companies, hosted by the Libre Endowment Fund. The Libre Endowment Fund provides a juridical structure and tax breaks for any financial contributions to SimpleRAN that are published under open source licenses.

Publications

News and blogs