Case study of Future RAN Competition (FRANC), which awarded ~£36m in R&D funding to support the UK's 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy.
The Future RAN Competition was launched in 2021 with DSIT providing funding of £36M to 14 successful applicants which was matched with ~£36M private funding. It included over 56 organisations.
The objectives were to:
- Accelerate the development of 5G Open RAN solutions that meet UK dense urban requirements by 2025.
- Attract new 5G RAN suppliers to conduct R&D in the UK and foster professional collaboration between potential new entrants to the UKs public network.
- Contribute to the delivery of the 5G supply chain diversification strategy's objectives of disaggregated supply chains, open interfaces by default, and security being a priority in network deployment.
FRANC was the first intervention targeting a more diverse UK telecoms ecosystem launched at pace in a developing policy landscape. The market responded well with a wide selection of companies submitting high quality bids building on the partners, projects, and relationships developed as part of the 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme to support an innovative ecosystem.
All 14 projects have now concluded this case study looks to give a brief overview of the projects and what they developed through the course of the DSIT funding.
Proteus
- DSIT Funding: ~£3.3m
- Project dates: December 2021 - March 2024
- Main location(s): Bristol
- Partners: Parallel Wireless UK Limited, British Telecommunications PLC, University of Bristol, Real Wireless Limited, Benetel
A key technical achievement of the Proteus project was the development and implementation of a fundamentally new approach to Distributed Unit (DU), which is software that's part of a 5G network responsible for real-time radio signal processing and coordination between radio equipment and the wider network.
The project created DU software that runs on a new, universal technology platform, rather than being tied to specific, proprietary hardware. This platform is designed to support the next generation of RAN technology and act as a foundation for a new ecosystem of chipsets and RAN base stations from multiple suppliers.
Over the course of the project, Proteus progressed from an initial concept to an operational prototype product. This prototype was successfully demonstrated in a live network environment.
Key takeaways from Proteus include the technical feasibility of next-generation Open RAN architectures and exploring how software-led innovation can be used to help diversify the 5G supply chain.
