Nvidia, the renowned graphics processing unit (GPU) giant, has now unveiled its groundbreaking "Grace Hopper" chip (Light Reading), signifying their continued commitment to advancing AI and OpenRAN technologies. This represents a significant leap forward in the realm of cloud economics and wireless connectivity.
Per Nvidia, Grace is used for L2+, Hopper (the GPU) is used for inline acceleration at Layer 1, and the BlueField DPU runs timing synchronization for open fronthaul 7.2 -- an interface between baseband and radios developed by the O-RAN Alliance. This results in an impressive 36 Gbit/s on the downlink and 2.5x more power efficiency. Softbank and Fujitsu are some early customers lining up behind the AI-plus-RAN approach of combining powerful AI analytics at the edge with a software-defined 5G RAN.
In a recent demonstration, Nvidia collaborated with Radisys and Aarna Networks to showcase RAN-in-the-Cloud, a 5G radio access network fully hosted as a service in multi-tenant cloud infrastructure running as a containerized solution alongside other applications. This Proof-of-Concept includes a single pane of glass orchestrator from Aarna and Radisys to dynamically manage the 5G RAN workloads and 5G Core applications and services end-to-end in real time on NVIDIA GPU accelerators and architecture.
Learn more about this demo by downloading the solution brief. This RAN-in-the-Cloud stack is ready for customer field trials in 2H 2023. Contact us to learn more.
