Semiconductor company NVIDIA and telecom partners demonstrated new field tests showing how artificial intelligence radio access network (AI-RAN) can support future wireless systems.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, NVIDIA and telecommunications company Nokia announced collaborations with telecom operators in Europe, Asia, and North America to deploy AI-RAN using NVIDIA’s computing platforms.
Operators including T-Mobile, SoftBank, and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison reported progress in moving AI-RAN from laboratory testing to field trials.
“AI-RAN is emerging as a unifying architecture for future radio networks,” said Alex Choi, chair of the AI‑RAN Alliance. “By aligning operators, vendors and researchers around software-defined, GPU-accelerated architectures, we are boosting innovation, validating new concepts quickly and building the foundation for AI-native 6G, now.”
AI-RAN uses software and high-performance computing so mobile networks can handle regular network tasks and artificial intelligence (AI) applications on the same system. The goal is to make networks run more efficiently and support new AI-based services.
In one test, telecommunications company T-Mobile ran AI applications and radio network functions at the same time using the AI-RAN platform of NVIDIA and software from Nokia. The setup used Nokia’s AirScale radio operating in the 3.7 GHz band. Commercial devices connected to the network were able to run applications such as video streaming, generative AI tools, and AI-powered video captions over a live 5G connection.
SoftBank also conducted a field test using its AITRAS platform. The trial ran fully software-based 5G on NVIDIA’s AI-RAN platform and used a 16-layer massive MIMO radio configuration, which allows networks to send and receive data through multiple antennas at the same time.
Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison tested software-based 5G using Nokia’s virtual radio access network software. The demonstration included what the company said was Southeast Asia’s first AI-powered 5G call. During the test, a robotic dog was controlled remotely through a live 5G network.
SynaXG also tested an AI-RAN system using NVIDIA’s AI Aerial platform. The setup ran both 4G and 5G networks across different spectrum bands on a single NVIDIA GH200 server while also handling AI applications.
The test system activated 20 carriers and reached speeds of up to 36 gigabits per second with network delay of less than 10 milliseconds.