The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has disclosed the identities of the seven participants in a multi-vendor prize competition. The competition is jointly hosted by the NTIA and the Department of Defence. The primary objective of the competition is to demonstrate the interoperability of radio access network architectures, as they pertain to the fifth-generation mobile technology standard.
The contest, “2023 5G Challenge“, will consist of paired teams of contestants, each assigned to test subsystems that support the 5G standard. The first group of contestants comprises Mavenir Systems/NewEdge and Radisys/Lions Technology, while the second group includes Capgemini Engineering, Fujitsu Network Communications, and AT&T. Additionally, the service-disabled veteran-owned small business, GXC, will participate in the second group.
The contestants will undergo testing phases in wrap-around emulation, end-to-end integration, and mobility, with one member of each pair providing central and distributed units, and the other supplying a radio unit. Throughout the contest, a panel of judges will evaluate the performance of subsystems, with the NTIA Institute for Telecommunication Sciences offering cash and in-kind prizes totalling up to $7 million to the winners. During the application period, 23 white papers were submitted to the agency.