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In August 1991, Linus Torvalds, then a 21-year-old student of computer science at the University of Helsinki, casually announced through a Usenet posting: “I'm doing a free operating system, just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like GNU….” As it happened, his hobby resulted in the development of the world’s first free operating system, the Linux kernel, and kickstarted the open source software movement. Exactly three decades later, “open” has become one of the major ways in which software is developed. Companies use open source software extensively, and it’s increasingly shaping enterprise software architectures . Developing and deploying open source software is no longer just a novel idea. It’s a strategic necessity in a fast-changing digital world.

It started with Linux 30+ years ago …

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That was then, this is NOW … LF/LFN complete NextG open-source stack

OCUDU, Duranta, OSC

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That was then, this is NOW … O-RAN Open Source Focus Group (OSFG) charter

The O-RAN Open-Source Focus Group (OSFG) is a Focus Group under O-RAN TSC (Technical Steering Committee). OSFG facilitates collaboration between open-source communities and the O-RAN ALLIANCE with the goal of accelerating the development of robust specifications and adoption of O-RAN in the marketplace.

To accomplish this, OSFG will:

Define open-source strategies for the O-RAN ALLIANCE
Engage directly with open-source communities to help align open-source implementations with current as well as emerging O-RAN architecture and specifications
Facilitate feedback from open-source communities to O-RAN ALLIANCE WGs/FGs regarding published and draft specifications
Motivate open-source awareness within O-RAN ALLIANCE WGs/FGs and encourage open-source community engagement
Encourage open-source communities to implement O-RAN ALLIANCE use cases

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Eagerly awaited open-source projects

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LFN & OSA announce DURANTA (open CU/DU)

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SRS and DEEPSIG announce OCUDU

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Feature	OCUDU (Open Centralized Unit/Distributed Unit)	Duranta
Primary Focus	Carrier-grade, open-source CU/DU software stack implementation. Emphasizes production-readiness, high performance, and AI-RAN extensions.	Open Source RAN and User Equipment (UE) reference stack built on the OpenAirInterface (OAI) community software. Focuses on a broader end-to-end framework, including operations and testing.
Origin Key Collaborators	Innovation Helix-as-a-Service (IHaaS) with universities (knowledge generation), industry (application), and government (policy/funding)	Collaboration between LF Networking and the OpenAirInterface Software Alliance (OSA), built upon OAI's existing software assets. Strong roots in academic research.
Foundation Software	Built on the proven srsRAN platform (developed by SRS).	Built on OpenAirInterface (OAI) community software.
Specific Emphasis	Delivering a fully open, secure, and carrier-grade CU/DU for real-world deployments, with a focus on AI-driven physical layer processing and intelligent control.	Providing neutral governance, structured support, and an expanded roadmap to help OAI's research-focused CU/DU stack mature for industrial adoption and end-to-end integration.

LFN Projects OCUDU and Duranta – unique, distinct, and complementary

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Open Source RAN: Both are open-source projects under the LFN umbrella, committed to creating non-proprietary, disaggregated RAN architectures aligning with O-RAN Alliance specifications

Focus on CU/DU: Both projects provide an open-source implementation for the Centralized Unit (CU) and Distributed Unit (DU)—critical components in a disaggregated RAN

NextG/6G Orientation: Both explicitly target the development, testing, and evolution of wireless networks beyond 5G, with roadmaps that include capabilities for 6G (NextG) concepts

Industry and Research Collaboration: Both aim to bring together the research community, academic institutions, and industry adopters (operators, vendors, system integrators) to accelerate innovation and deployment

LFN Governance: Both projects benefit from the LFN's model of neutral governance, which helps ensure broad community participation, transparent decision-making, and access to LFN's infrastructure, labs, and security best practices

Despite their differences, OCUDU and Duranta share common ground & goals

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Open source for learning;

student projects & industry experiments

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Why Open-Source Software (OSS) instead of the alternatives?

Affordability and Accessibility: OSS and resources are often free or low-cost, making them accessible to students and educational institutions, especially those in underserved or poor communities for whom expensive proprietary software is out of reach.

Collaboration and Community: OSS encourages collaboration among students, educators, and developers (industry) worldwide, fostering a sense of community and allowing for shared learning and problem-solving.

Customization and Flexibility: OSS can be easily customized and adapted to meet specific learning needs, allowing educators to tailor their teaching methods and resources to their students.

Active Learning and Engagement: By allowing students to explore, modify, and contribute to open-source projects, educators can promote active learning and engagement, moving beyond passive learning and towards hands-on experience.

Real-World Skills: Working with open-source projects prepares students for real-world professional environments, where collaboration, problem-solving, and continuous learning + CI/CD are essential skills.

Innovation and Development: OSS fosters innovation by allowing developers to build upon existing code and contribute to the development of new tools and technologies.

Open-Source Education: Provides students with the opportunity to learn about open-source principles, practices, and tools, preparing them for careers in the tech industry and beyond.

Transparency and Trust: OSS is transparent - anyone can examine the code and see how it works, fostering trust and accountability.

Flexibility and Adaptability: OSS is highly flexible and adaptable - meets the specific needs of students and curriculum.

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Student OSS project at COSMOS�(Amarisoft + SDR + OAI + OSC SMO)

Open source implementation of 5G

End to end session from UE to Internet

Network control and management applications (SMO)

Applications (rApps)

Resilience
Security
Frequency

Framework Services

Topology Service
Topology Visualization
Alarm Generator
Spectrum Sensing Service

*** O-RAN alignment with work-arounds as necessary

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Ryan Speaking Script:

Topology service: retrieves topology for the day and changes based

Hello everyone, we’re the 5G/Next-G group.

In terms of our goals for this project we want to create an open-source implementation of a 5G network which isn’t easy but allows for more flexible experimentation. We then plan to develop software applications that can interface with the network for specific attributes such as resilience of security (which we’ll explain further on in the presentation). And this is all within the context of O-RAN architecture.

What is O-RAN? It stands for Open Radio Access Network and in short it is a disaggregated way of structuring a radio network which can be useful for various purposes. At the bottom, we have UEs or user equipment such as your phone or computer which connect to a network. This connects to the RUs or Radio Units which act as antennas to receive signals. Both of these are Custom-made hardware. The CU/DU are where the baseband processing of packets happen. These can be either commercial hardware or custom hardware. Finally we have the SMO or Service Management Orchestration which controls the rest of the aforementioned components.

The goal is to create an open source software implementation of the RU, DU, CU and CORE as well as creating applications in the SMO to interact with the RAN

All our work is at the forefront of O-RAN research

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How to set up srsRAN 5G network (OCUDU) in COSMOS1

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LOCAL:�COSMOS indoor sandbox environment at Rutgers WINLAB for dev/test/demo

COSMOS outdoor testbed deployment for OTA field trials

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GLOBAL:�NSF COSM-IC�O-RAN OTIC�NTIA IORS

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Innovating with impact & rapid prototyping:

O-RAN UCTG Network Energy Saving

thanks in advance for your feedback re demo!

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Commercialize; deploy at scale

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NTIA PWSCIF NOFO1 T&E + R&D �

Increase availability, affordability, and accessibility of T&E to support development, deployment, and adoption of open and interoperable, standards-based radio access networks
Conduct open and interoperable, standards-based 5G T&E with a comprehensive and feasible technical approach, work plans, and milestone plans
Lead to sustained and accessible testing resources and data that advance industry adoption of open RAN
Analysis and safeguarding of data collected from the testing; sharing information with participants and other interested parties
Provide ongoing neutral T&E outside of T&E events; expand access to companies to develop open and interoperable 5G radio access network solutions, including small and medium-sized companies, start-ups, and SEDI owned businesses, which otherwise may not be able to afford high-cost test equipment for product development.
Provide technical assistance and support to new and emerging industry entities in the 5G T&E ecosystems
Additional activities proposed to facilitate the programs goals, e.g., professional development
Long-Term Sustainability

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Typical Testbed Design

UEs�emulated or commercial

5G Core�emulated or commercial

Traffic Generators

Lab Infrastructure �COTS Bare-Metal, Switches, Laptops

Test results

Device under Test (DuT)

O-RU

O-DU

O-CU

Repositories

Reference Implementation(s)

O-RU

O-DU

O-CU

UEs

5G Core

Test cases

Security
User plane
Control plane
Sync plane
Management plane
Energy efficiency
others

Test Specification

O-RAN
3GPP
SCF
others

Test automation

Deployment
Topology changes
Execution
Profiles

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NTIA PWSCIF NOFO2 O-RU Commercial; O-RU Innovate �

https://www.ntia.gov/funding-programs/public-wireless-supply-chain-innovation-fund/innovation-fund-round-2-2024-open-ru

SPECIFIC RESEARCH FOCUS AREAS

SRFA 1: – Open Radio Unit (RU) Commercialization: Projects funded under SRFA 1 focus on accelerating the development of open RU products to the point where they meet carrier needs and are ready for commercial trials

SRFA 2: – Open RU Innovation: Projects funded under SRFA 2 focus on improving the overall performance and capabilities of open RUs through targeted research and development.