Nokia Korea (CEO Taeho Ahn) and Yonsei University (President Dongseop Yoon) are jointly building a 5G open RAN research platform on the Yonsei University campus, and it is expected that this will further accelerate future open RAN, vRAN, and AI-RAN research.

Nokia announced on the 28th that it has jointly installed a 5G open RAN research platform based on a specialized network utilizing the 5G frequency with Yonsei University on the Yonsei University campus.

Specialized networks are 5G-based private mobile networks built for specific purposes and are being used in a variety of fields, from smart factories to university research.

Nokia and Yonsei University signed a business agreement in April 2023 and installed a specialized network at Yonsei University. This specialized network has become the starting point for Yonsei University to lead major national research projects such as the vRAN (virtualized radio access network) research platform, the Open RAN/6G cloud talent training project, and the Korea-EU 6G joint research.

Open LAN (Open Wireless Access Network), which is attracting attention as a next-generation communication technology, is the latest technology that has 'openness' that standardizes the specifications between the radio unit and digital unit of the base station to increase interoperability between different manufacturers, 'cloudification' that virtualizes the digital unit and control unit with software, and 'intelligence' that applies AI/ML to wireless access. Recently, the government and industry have been focusing on fostering it as a core technology for next-generation communications, and it is attracting attention from the industry as it enables collaboration between small and medium-sized enterprises and global communications companies.

Kim Seong-ryun, a professor at Yonsei University’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, expressed his expectations, saying, “This open RAN research platform will go beyond the laboratory and become a large test bed where the Yonsei University campus can experiment with open RAN, vRAN, and AI-RAN.”

Han Hyo-chan, CTO of Nokia Korea, explained, “The system being installed at Yonsei University this time is an open LAN system that grafts Nokia’s distributed unit onto the specialized network base station wireless unit of a domestic small and medium-sized enterprise, and is the first case of an open LAN based on a specialized network to be installed at a domestic university.”

He continued, “Nokia, a global telecommunications company, is emphasizing that its partnership with Yonsei University is a particularly important case among its collaborations with major universities.”