Introduction

Workgroup

nGRG

Workgroup Name

next Generation Research Group

Workgroup Charter

•Provide a forum to facilitate O-RAN related 6G research efforts and to publish research findings

•Leverage industry and academic 6G research efforts and determine how O-RAN may evolve to support 6G and beyond, considering regional research efforts, ITU-R, and 3GPP development

•Achieve O-RAN sustainability from 4G/5G to 6G and beyond

•Consider the impact of 6G on O-RAN areas of interest and work with Industry Partners to unify the 6G technology path/timeline to avoid incompatibility b/w O-RAN and other SDOs

•Define the O-RAN nG research agenda and key priorities

•Establish research streams based on defined research priorities, and solicit research items under corresponding research streams

•Organize regular discussions and reviews of the progress/outcomes of research streams  

•Publish white papers and research reports based on the outcomes of the studies in the Group

•Recommend appropriate actions through white papers

•Sponsor topical workshops, seminars, and summits with appropriate partners

Workgroup Scope

•Near term (2022-2025): Align with Industry Partners and perform a high-level impact analysis of potential 6G technology trends and the ITU-R Vision for the next IMT on the O-RAN architecture and establish research items based on defined research priorities and the outputs include white papers and research reports.

•Mid term (2025-2027): Based on the research findings, provide inputs to O-RAN WGs/FGs to prepare for O-RAN 6G standards studies and coordinate O-RAN 6G collaborations with other SDOs.

•Long term (beyond 2027): Align with other 6G research organizations, SDOs, and programs through liaisons via O-RAN SDFG and collaborate with O-RAN TIFG/IEEE/NSF etc. on potential 6G testbeds.

Workgroup Co-chairs

China Telecom (CTC): Qingtian Wang
Reliance Jio (JIO): Ravi Sinha
nVidia (NVD): Lopamudra Kundu
Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT): Tao Chen