Open RAN's AI era puts interoperability and testing in focus

At the Intelligent RAN Forum 2026, Viavi and Battelle discussed the evolution of open and intelligent RAN. Integration timelines for active antenna units have fallen from months to weeks, while AI applications require validation and standardized data.

• Integration of active antenna units fell from months to weeks
• Viavi and NTT Docomo demo: AI beamforming control boosts throughput by up to 20%
• Key Open RAN challenges: interoperability, integration, security and updates
• Viavi AI RAN Scenario Generator creates scenarios to train and validate AI models