Battelle RavenStar™ Active Antenna System Successfully Tested for Open RAN Performance at VALOR™ Lab

CHANDLER, Ariz., Feb. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- VIAVI Solutions Inc. (VIAVI) (NASDAQ: VIAV) today announced that the Battelle RavenStar™ Active Antenna System is the first product to be validated under O-RAN and 3GPP test specifications at VALOR™, the VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN. VALOR is funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, and officially opened on October 7, 2024 in Chandler, Arizona.

VALOR addresses the challenges to accelerate Open RAN adoption and encourages competition by providing access to test capabilities that, typically, have only been within the reach of large, established players. Now, with its highly automated, on-demand "pay-as-you-go" approach to standardized testing, VALOR simplifies the development and deployment of Open RAN technologies, offering new entrants and start-ups a pathway to U.S. certification without the need for significant investment in hardware and software.

RavenStar is an ultra-wideband, steerable radio unit with an integrated antenna. This technology innovation, designed and manufactured in the U.S., is compact and features multichannel capabilities, usually only achievable with costly and complex multi-element arrays. It significantly reduces total cost of ownership through lower power consumption and enhances network capacity with massive MIMO.

At VALOR, RavenStar underwent Open Radio Unit (O-RU) testing, including uplink and downlink throughput leveraging VIAVI's industry-first PHY performance test, and O-RAN Working Group 4 Open Fronthaul test cases. RavenStar passed all tests, achieving 99% of theoretical uplink and downlink throughput, demonstrating high performance.

"When Battelle secured NTIA funding, we recognized the importance of testing our pre-production radio unit at an industry-accepted third-party facility," said Battelle Senior Research Scientist Greg Zink. "VIAVI is the ideal partner to provide essential test results for our RavenStar technology. These results will guide our design and development decisions as we progress towards our production unit and beyond."

"Successful testing at the VALOR facility is a significant milestone for Battelle and the RavenStar team, reflecting our dedication to developing technologies that make a real difference," said Mark Reudink, Senior Director of Product Development at Battelle. "Partnering with VIAVI to validate our radio units is critical to success. We are excited about the future possibilities as we continue progressing our product offering."

"VIAVI is pleased to be trusted by NTIA and Battelle to validate Open RAN readiness for deployment," said Erik Probstfield, Senior Director, VALOR, VIAVI. "In addition to successfully validating performance of the RavenStar radio unit, we demonstrated the power of VALOR. The rapid progress from the launch of the lab to first test results has been driven by the unique efficiencies built into our architecture – for example, our ability to integrate with devices under test in just a few hours."

About VIAVI

VIAVI (NASDAQ: VIAV) is a global provider of network test, monitoring and assurance solutions for telecommunications, cloud, enterprises, first responders, military, aerospace and railway. VIAVI is also a leader in light management technologies for 3D sensing, anti-counterfeiting, consumer electronics, industrial, automotive, government and aerospace applications. Learn more about VIAVI at www.viavisolutions.com. Follow us on VIAVI Perspectives, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About Battelle

Every day, the people of Battelle apply science and technology to solving what matters most. At major technology centers and national laboratories around the world, Battelle conducts research and development, designs and manufactures products, and delivers critical services for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio since its founding in 1929, Battelle serves the national security, health and life sciences, and energy and environmental industries. For more information, visit www.battelle.org. 

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SOURCE VIAVI Solutions