By Catherine Sbeglia

CommScope and Meta Connectivity are collaborating on flexible and open reference designs to accelerate the adoption of Open RAN. Working alongside a network of industry ecosystem companies in the Evenstar programme, the pair will develop a Massive MIMO (mMIMO) reference design based on O-RAN Alliance interoperability specifications, focusing on high-level architectural requirements, open standardized antenna and radio interfaces and best practice calibration designs.

CommScope said in a statement that the mMIMO reference design will “provide operators with the option to further disaggregate the filter/antenna elements from the radio unit, supporting flexibility and delivering implementation options to the market.”

Because Massive MIMO substantially increases spectral efficiency to deliver more network capacity and wider coverage, it is considered critical for delivering the true promise of 5G and is one powerful way to address the increasing demand for data.

Within the partnership, CommScope will handle the creation and Over-the-Air (OTA) testing for open interface reference designs for Massive MIMO antennas and filter panels, while Meta will work with control unit (CU) and distribution unit (DU) software vendors who will manage interoperability testing.

“CommScope is thrilled to be joining Meta Connectivity’s global Evenstar ecosystem,” said senior vice president of Outdoor Wireless Networks, CommScope, Farid Firouzbakht. “Open RAN is gaining momentum in the marketplace and mMIMO 5G deployments will require cooperation and collaboration between vendors based on competitive reference models.”

The Evenstar programme was announced two years ago as part of the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), an initiative co-founded by Facebook (now Meta). Evenstar’s goal is to develop general purpose Open RAN reference designs, as well as design and build open RAN radios.