NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and Department of Defense Launch 5G Challenge

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) announced the launch of the 5G Challenge in collaboration with the Department of Defense (DoD). ITS, the US’s Spectrum and Communications Lab, supports the Department of Defense 5G Initiative through a combination of its subject matter experts in 5G and its research, development, test, and evaluation laboratory infrastructure in Boulder (CO). This prize competition aims to accelerate the adoption of open interfaces, interoperable components, and multi-vendor solutions toward the development of an open 5G ecosystem. In the 5G Challenge Preliminary Event, ITS will award a total prize purse of up to $3 million to contestants who submit hardware and/or software solutions for one or more of these 5G network subsystems:  Distributed Unit (DU); Centralized Unit (CU); Radio Unit (RU). The rules, location, and details of the second-year event will be released in 2023. The 5G Challenge Preliminary Event: RAN Subsystem Interoperability is open for applications through May 5, 2022. Applicants must submit their application on Challenge.gov.