ROME, NY — ANDRO Computational Solutions, LLC of Rome was awarded a Direct-to-Phase II contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Washington, DC valued at about $2 million, to establish a federated fifth generation (5G) testbed ecosystem called 5GTE for advanced telecommunications experimentation. According to DARPA officials, the objective of the 5GTE is to develop a scalable, open-source Internet of Things (IoT) 5G test environment capability to support research and development of nascent 5G technologies and advanced telecommunications use cases, both fixed and mobile. The Direct-to-Phase-II award is highly competitive and is part of a multiphase Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracting vehicle that paves the way for multimillion dollars in additional funding.
The focus of 5GTE is to provide an open-source, realistic 5G radio access network (RAN) to enable rapid prototyping of wireless protocols and applications including, but not limited to cyber security, artificial intelligence (AI), and multi-access edge-computing.
The 5GTE project title, “Federated Open Source Beyond 5G (B5G) Test Environment,” will leverage ANDRO’s extensive research base in AI and wireless cyber security applications development for next-generation 5G innovations. A key requirement of 5GTE, per ANDRO president, Dr. Andrew Drozd, is the ability to rapidly and accurately scale as new technologies and devices are introduced or become available. “The 5GTE must also provide remote access and device update capabilities. To broaden the range of supported devices and to facilitate development, 5GTE will have the ability to support different wireless communication technologies, for example, 4G, wireless fidelity, and others,” per Drozd.
ANDRO’s Marconi-Rosenblatt AI Innovation Lab, led by co-directors Dr. Jithin Jagannath and Dr. Anu Jagannath, is spearheading the effort in cooperation with ANDRO’s academic partner, the Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT) Research Laboratory at Northeastern University. Drozd added, “Northeastern University has a wealth of wireless 5G assets and related test resources that can be brought to bear under the DARPA project.”
The award allows ANDRO to explore the boundaries of deploying AI models for enhancing security to infuse Zero-Trust principles with the Open RAN architecture standards. The 5G testbed will offer and include all components of 5G RAN allowing solutions to be seamlessly expanded and integrated with other 5G networks. Jithin Jagannath, who is also ANDRO’s Chief Scientist – Technology Sector, stated, “I have been a big proponent of open source and its ability to enhance security, and I believe it’s no different in the context of O-RAN. In this effort, we will investigate developing deployable solutions that infuse Zero-Trust features within the O-RAN.”
The 5GTE will serve as an open validation platform for government vendors, industries, and academia to validate their 5G solutions prior to commercial rollout. According to Anu Jagannath, there is a lack of open, large-scale, Federated testbeds that enable advanced AI-based 5G solutions development and testing. She stated,“The 5G test environment developed by ANDRO’s AI Innovation Lab will be a novel, highly unique framework enabling remote accessibility to the testbed and allowing users to access, pause, save, resume, and utilize the resources.” In addition to integrating Zero-Trust security with the 5G network, ANDRO will deliver several ready-to-deploy microservices that users can easily deploy as well as utilize the framework to develop their own customized solutions.
The team also includes ANDRO researchers Suhail Shaik and Mohammed Abu Zaid, residents and graduates of the University at Buffalo, who are working on 5G-related efforts for the company.
Potential future-phase funding will look to expand the 5GTE ecosystem participation bringing greater 5G, Beyond 5G (B5G), and Future-G presence for commercialization and military transition benefit.
ANDRO anticipates collaborative opportunities that will grow the ecosystem with U.S. Government agencies and labs such as: the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under CHIPS and Science Act Wireless Innovation Fund initiatives; the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Rome and other AFRL directorates under Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs); the National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) and their Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) facilities, which supports the operation of four large-scale wireless testbeds for 5G/6G research; and commercial 5G service providers that include Verizon, AT&T, Ericsson, and Nokia. With these collaborative opportunities comes job creation, technology advancement in the 5G/B5G/6G communications space that will outpace near-peer adversaries, and ANDRO’s corporate growth at Griffiss Business & Technology Park.
“ANDRO’s well-earned $2 million federal contract is a major win for its workers and Oneida County and will position the Mohawk Valley on the forefront of innovation in 5G and wireless technologies. With this funding, ANDRO will accelerate telecommunications innovation, add good-paying jobs and be better equipped to compete for millions of dollars from my CHIPS & Sciences Act,” said Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “To compete with China, we must invest in American tech companies, like ANDRO, and that is why I’m committed to delivering every dollar I can to bolster tech companies throughout the Mohawk Valley and Central NY to ensure the U.S. remains the global leader in critical next-generation technologies,” Schumer added.
Read the Full Senator Chuck Schumer Press Release here
Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) of the 22nd Congressional District provided the following statement: “Central New York is a critical hub for our national security, and I wholeheartedly commend the team at ANDRO for their efforts to save lives, resources, and money through cutting-edge research and development. This grant is proof of their work’s positive impact and potential, and I look forward to witnessing their successful collaboration with federal agencies and labs with aligned objectives.”
Read the Full Congressman Brandon Williams Press Release here
About ANDRO: ANDRO provides research, engineering, and technical services to defense and commercial industries in advanced spectrum exploitation, secure wireless communications, software-based waveform development, cognitive software-defined radio networking, multi-sensor data fusion, and sensor resource management. For more information on ANDRO, including job placements, visit www.androcs.com.
About DARPA: DARPA has made pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security for over 60 years. The agency explicitly reaches for transformational change instead of incremental advances and works within an innovation ecosystem that includes academic, corporate and governmental partners, with a constant focus on the Nation’s military Services, which work with DARPA to create new strategic opportunities; novel tactical options; and game-changing military capabilities such as precision weapons and stealth technology, the Internet, automated voice recognition and language translation, and Global Positioning System receivers small enough to embed in myriad consumer devices. DARPA comprises approximately 220 government employees in six technical offices, including nearly 100 program managers, who together oversee about 250 research and development programs. Visit https://www.darpa.mil for more information.
In the News:
ANDRO in Rome awarded $2 million DARPA contract for 5G development | News | romesentinel.com
ANDRO in Rome awarded $2 million by DARPA to advance next-gen internet (uticaod.com)
DARPA awards 5G Test Environment SBIR Phase II contract | G2X Defense (g2xchange.com)
Rome’s ANDRO awarded $2M DARPA award, will develop 5G and wireless tech (aol.com)