Softwarized and programmable Radio Access Networks (RANs) come with virtualized and disaggregated components, increasing the supply chain robustness and the flexibility and dynamism of the network deployments. This is a key tenet of Open RAN, with open interfaces across disaggregated components specified by the O-RAN ALLIANCE. It is mandatory, however, to validate that all components are compliant with the specifications and can successfully interoperate, without performance gaps with traditional, monolithic appliances. Open Testing & Integration Centers (OTICs) are entities that can verify such interoperability and adherence to the standard through rigorous testing. However, how to design, instrument, and deploy an OTIC which can offer testing for multiple tenants, heterogeneous devices, and is ready to support automated testing is still an open challenge. In this paper, we introduce a blueprint for a programmable OTIC testing infrastructure, based on the design and deployment of the Open6G OTIC at Northeastern University, Boston, and provide insights on technical challenges and solutions for O-RAN testing at scale.

翻译：软件化与可编程无线接入网络（RAN）采用虚拟化与解耦的组件架构，从而增强了供应链的鲁棒性以及网络部署的灵活性与动态性。这是开放无线接入网络（Open RAN）的核心原则，其解耦组件间的开放接口由O-RAN联盟规范定义。然而，必须验证所有组件均符合规范并能够成功实现互操作，且性能不逊于传统的单体式设备。开放测试与集成中心（OTIC）是通过严格测试来验证此类互操作性及标准符合性的实体机构。但如何设计、构建并部署一个能够为多租户、异构设备提供测试服务，且支持自动化测试的OTIC，仍然是一个开放的挑战。本文基于波士顿东北大学Open6G OTIC的设计与部署实践，提出了一种可编程OTIC测试基础设施的蓝图，并就大规模O-RAN测试的技术挑战与解决方案提供了深入见解。