This repository contains the configuration files and integration documentation used for deploying a 5G New Radio (NR) standalone network using the srsRAN Project (now OCUDU) gNB stack with a Benetel RAN650 O-RU as the radio front-end, following the O-RAN fronthaul (Open Fronthaul) interface specification. The deployment was set up and evaluated at the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) xG Testbed at Virginia Tech, Arlington, Virginia, USA. This work was accepted for publication:
A. Tripathi, F. Bashar, M. Adeppady, A. Da Silva, S. F. Midkiff and V. Singh, "O-RAN 7.2x Deployment: Insights from Laboratory Integration to Field Trials"
IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) OpenRAN WS, Glasgow, Scotland, 2026
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├── 20MHz_Configs/ # 20MHz Bandwidth Configurations
│ ├── ran650_cu.yml # CU-CP/CU-UP configuration
│ ├── ran650_du.yml # DU configuration with O-RAN fronthaul
│ └── ru_config.cfg # Benetel RAN650 RU configuration
│
├── 40MHz_Configs/ # 40MHz Bandwidth Configurations
│ ├── ran650_cu.yml # CU-CP/CU-UP configuration
│ ├── ran650_du.yml # DU configuration with O-RAN fronthaul
│ └── ru_config.cfg # Benetel RAN650 RU configuration
│
├── integration.md # Step-by-step system preparation, O-RU integration, and RF Tuning.
├── srs-ptp-gm.cfg # PTP Configuration file
├── startup.md # Step-by-step bring-up procedure for 5G Operation.
└── README.md
Each bandwidth folder (20MHz_Configs and 40MHz_Configs) contains three configuration files:
ran650_cu.yml— Configures the srsRAN Open Central Unit (O-CU-CP and O-CU-UP).ran650_du.yml— Configures the srsRAN Open Distributed Unit (O-DU).ru_config.cfg— Configures the Benetel RAN650 Open Radio Unit (O-RU) directly.
integration.md— A detailed, step-by-step guide covering the system preparation to integrate and tune the Benetel RAN650 O-RU with the srsRAN O-DU over the O-RAN Open Fronthaul interface. This includes network configuration, DPDK setup, synchronization, and troubleshooting notes based on our hands-on experience.
startup.md— The full procedure for running the 5G Network using the Benetel RAN650 O-RU, srsRAN O-DU/O-CU, and Open5GS Core.
The provided configurations and documentation have been tested and validated with the below hardware/software setup. Any variation to this may require modifications to the configuration or deployment procedure.
System Specs
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System Block Diagram
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Before using these configuration files, ensure the following are in place:
- A server running Ubuntu 22.04 with a real-time kernel (recommended)
- srsRAN Project installed and built (see srsRAN documentation)
- DPDK installed and configured for your NIC
- Open5GS core network deployed and reachable
- Benetel RAN650 radio unit powered on, synchronized (PTP/SyncE), and accessible over the fronthaul network
Before deploying, update the following site-specific parameters in the config files:
In ran650_cu.yml:
amf.addrandamf.bind_addr— set to your AMF IP addressplmn,tac,sst— set to match your network's PLMN and tracking area
In ran650_du.yml:
ru_mac_addr— set to the MAC address of the port of your Benetel RAN650 connected to the Fronthauldu_mac_addr— set to the MAC address of your DU server's fronthaul NIC (or the VF associated with it if using SR-IOV)network_interface— set to the PCI address of your fronthaul NIC for DPDKhal.eal_args— update the PCI address and CPU core affinity to match your hardware for DPDK
In ru_config.cfg:
c_plane_du_mac/u_plane_du_mac— set to your DU's fronthaul NIC MAC address (or the VFs associated with them if using SR-IOV, since we used a single connection for C/U Plane, we had identical C/U MAC addresses)centre_frequency_hz— adjust if deploying on a different frequency
Note: MAC addresses and IP addresses in the published configuration files have been anonymized. Replace all placeholder values with your actual hardware addresses before deployment.
Refer to startup.md for the complete step-by-step bring-up procedure. At a high level, the startup order is:
- Start the Open5GS core network
- Power on and verify synchronization of the Benetel RAN650 O-RU
- Start the srsRAN CU (
srscubinary withran650_cu.yml) - Start the srsRAN DU (
srsdubinary withran650_du.yml) - Verify fronthaul connectivity and UE attachment via gNB console metrics
This repository builds on our earlier work benchmarking SDR-based 5G deployments with srsRAN and NI USRP hardware (X310, N310, B210):
A. Tripathi, F. Bashar, M. R. Chowdhury, A. Da Silva and S. F. Midkiff, "Benchmarking Software Defined Radio Based 5G Deployments With srsRAN: Lessons Learned," 2025 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), Milan, Italy, 2025, pp. 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/WCNC61545.2025.10978285
The dataset from that study is available at: https://github.com/CCI-NextG-Testbed/OTA_dataset_5G_srsRAN
A. Tripathi, F. Bashar, Madhura Adeppady, A. Da Silva and S. F. Midkiff, Varun Singh "O-RAN 7.2x Deployment: Insights from Laboratory Integration to Field Trials,"
IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Glasgow, Scotland, 2026
This repository accompanies a paper accepted to the IEEE ICC 2026 Workshop on Next-Generation Open and Programmable Radio Access Networks, to be presented on May 24, 2026 in Glasgow, Scotland. The paper has been accepted but is not yet published in IEEE Xplore. A full citation and DOI will be added here upon official publication following the conference. If you use these configurations or integration procedures in your research in the meantime, please reach out to the authors (contact below) for the appropriate reference.
For questions regarding this repository, the configurations, or the integration procedure, please contact:
- Asheesh Tripathi: asheesh@vt.edu
- Fahim Bashar: fahimbashar@vt.edu
We hope this repository helps researchers and practitioners deploy and benchmark O-RAN-compliant 5G networks using commercial O-RUs and open-source RAN stacks.