STL announced the launch of ORAN-based macro radios – powered by AMD’s Xilinx — for dense, wide area 5G coverage.

STL said Firebird 4G/5G macro O-RAN compliant radio units (O-RUs) will be initially available in Band 1, 40, 41, and 78 among others. These software-defined radios are based on a platform architecture and fulfill varying 5G coverage and capacity requirements of global carriers.

STL’s Firebird radios will be powered by AMD’s Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC and MPSoC solutions to ensure delivery of cost efficiency required for the growing 5G market.

Earlier this year, STL announced its partnership with Meta Connectivity to design and develop dual RAT (Radio Access Technologies) 4G and 5G radio products, specifically in the Band 40 and 78. Through the Evenstar program, STL is working with Meta Connectivity to accelerate the adoption of Open RAN solutions.

Sales of O-RAN equipment are expected to reach $12 billion by 2026. STL, with its open access solution – Accellus, is leading the pivot towards vendor neutrality. A part of Accellus, STL’s ORAN-compliant Firebird radios are 5G-ready, open and programmable.

Chris Rice, CEO, Access Solutions, STL, said: “Firebird is a critical addition to our line of open networking programmable access solutions for 5G-ready networks.”

Jaydeep Ranade, Director of Wireless Engineering at Meta Connectivity said: “STL’s focus on pivoting the industry towards open, disaggregated and more vendor agnostic networks coincides well with the purpose of the Evenstar program.”

Gilles Garcia, Senior Director, Adaptable and Embedded Computing Group, AMD said: “STL’s All-in 5G solutions will play an instrumental role in the industry’s transition towards open and programmable networks.”