B5G-OPEN

B5G-OPEN targets the design, prototyping and demonstration of a novel end-to-end integrated packet-optical transport architecture based on multi-band (MB) optical transmission and switching networks. MB expands the available capacity of optical fibres, by enabling transmission within S, E, and O bands, in addition to commercial C and/or C+L bands, which translates into a potential 10x capacity increase and low-latency for services beyond 5G. To realize multiband networks, technology advances are required, both in data, control and management planes. Concerning devices, these include new amplifiers, filterless subsystems, add/drop multiplexers, etc. Such technology advances complement novel packet-optical white boxes using flexible sliceable Bandwidth Variable Transceivers and novel pluggable optics. The availability of MB transmission will also lead to a complete redesign of the end-to-end architecture, removing boundaries between network domains and reducing electronic intermediate terminations. The control plane will be extended to support multiband elements and a ‘domain-less’ network architecture. It will rely on physical layer abstraction, new impairment modelling, and pervasive telemetry data collection to feed AI/ML algorithms that will lead to a Zero-Touch networking paradigm including a full featured node operating system for packet-optical whiteboxes. The results will be shown in two final demonstrations exposing the project benefits from operator and user perspectives. B5G-OPEN will have a clear impact on the society showing the evolution towards a world with increased needs of connectivity and higher capacity in support of new B5G services and new traffic patterns. The consortium includes partners from 8 countries: three major telecom operators, three vendors, four SMEs and four research centres and academia, combining several years of experience and a successful record in past European projects on related technologies.

The Fraunhofer HHI will contribute to the definition of use cases, KPIs and the overall architecture. Furthermore, it will develop advanced performance monitoring techniques and investigate (semi-) filterless MB add-drop nodes. Fraunhofer HHI will lead a task on experimental setup and data-set generation for AI/ML solution development and will host joint demonstrations with other partners offering its extensive testbeds.