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Arlington-Based Graduate Research Assistants (Ph.D., Masters)

CCI and the Virginia Tech Information Technology Department seek research and development (R&D) graduate research assistants (GRAs) to help conduct research in Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN).

The research on this advanced wireless communication network will be conducted in the O-RAN Alliance Open Testing and Integration Center (OTIC) at the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington and the Washington, D.C., metro area.

The three GRAs (two Ph.D., one masters) will be part of the Acceleration of Compatibility and Commercialization for Open RAN Deployments (ACCoRD) team project working with industry partners such as AT&T, Verizon, Keysight, Fujitsu, and Nokia.  

The selected GRAs will also collaborate with members of the research group at Virginia Tech, the University of Texas Dallas, Northeastern University, Rutgers University, and Iowa State University, as well as with partners in government and industry.

Key Job Responsibilities

GRAs will join CCI’s xG Testbed research team led by Aloizio DaSilva, and will follow O-RAN Alliance specification and 3GPP standards while conducting  cutting-edge research in: 

  • Open Centralized Unit (O-CU).
  • Open Distributed Unit (O-DU).
  • Open Radio Unit (O-RU).
  • Network Function Virtualization (VNF).
  • Radio Intelligent Controller (RIC). 

GRAs will conduct testing and evaluation for new and existing solutions, while developing proof of concept, algorithm design, implementation, and testing in software and hardware.

Key Job Activities

  • Deployment of an end-to-end 5G network using open-source platforms.
  • Deployment, implementation, analysis, and integration of multi-core environments into CCI xG Testbed software architecture.
  • Development of O-RAN Non-RT-RIC and Near-RT RIC  rApp/xApp/macroservice using AI/ML model.
  • Integration of Prometheus open-source monitoring system to the CCI xG Testbed software architecture.
  • Support edge computing configuration and implementation into CCI xG Testbed system design and architecture.
  • Implementation of 5G Core VNFs instantiation (mainly AMF and UPF).
  • Implementation of O-RAN use cases for validation.
  • Design and implementation of test cases.
  • Write testing and evaluation reports.
  • Integrate hardware and software components from different vendors as well as open-source.
  • Write papers and tutorials.

Key Job Deliverables

  • O-RAN Software Defined Radio (SDR)-based open-source reference architecture.
  • Technical report of multi-core environments into CCI xG Testbed software architecture describing performance evaluation.
  • Demos and showcases based on the ACCoRD project use cases multi-vendor pairing.
  • Demo of Prometheus open-source monitoring system integrated and operational at CCI xG Testbed.
  • Test case suites for O-RU and O-DU OFH autonomous testing.
  • Publication in high-caliber conferences and journals.

For More Information 

Learn more about the position and how to apply by contacting CCI xG Testbed Director Aloizio DaSilva at aloiziops@vt.edu.