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What Racora Is

Racora is the whole open-source RAN, end to end, made into a network that runs. The radio protocol stack, the intelligence that tunes it, the 5G core, and the deployment and management that hold them together come as one platform you install and operate, on k3s or on a Kubernetes cluster you run.

Racora is developed and maintained by Cognitive Network Solutions (CNS), which also develops the two parts of it that come from CNS: the gNB, CNS OCUDU, and the Intelligence Plane, CU-IP.

A Racora network is a control node that runs the centralized unit, radio nodes that each run a distributed unit next to their radio, and a 5G core that connects them to the network. Three things shape how you run it:

  • You declare, controllers reconcile. A cell is an NRCell resource and a SIM is a Subscriber. You write what you want in spec; Racora's controllers bring up the CU planes, generate a DU for each cell, provision each SIM into the core, and report what happened in status (The Racora API).
  • Nodes meet a contract. The control node carries the GPU the Intelligence Plane needs; a radio node carries a radio, a real-time kernel and isolated cores. What every node must provide is published as The Node Contract.
  • What sits underneath is pluggable. The cluster is k3s by default, installed unmodified, or a Kubernetes cluster you already run (Platforms). The 5G core is pluggable the same way (The 5G Core).

One command on a bare host brings up the cluster and the RAN:

curl -sfL https://get.racora.io | sh -

On a cluster you run, add INSTALL_RACORA_PLATFORM=kubernetes before sh - once the cluster meets Install onto an Existing Kubernetes Cluster. Both install the latest release; what happens on the host is in Install the Control Node.

The Problem It Solves​

Open-source RAN already has the hard radio parts: a complete protocol stack, and even an intelligence plane. It ships them as pieces, a stack here, a core there, an Intelligence Function somewhere else, and assembling, deploying and operating the whole thing end to end is left to the integrator. That gap is the real reason open-source RAN stays a lab project instead of a deployed network.

Racora brings every one of those pieces, and what connects them, into one installable, upgradable whole:

  • the gNB, CNS OCUDU: the 5G protocol stack (CU-CP, CU-UP, DU), CNS's downstream distribution of OCUDU,
  • the Intelligence Plane, CU-IP: the third CU functional split, where the network learns and decides (PCI, neighbor relations),
  • the 5G core, a pluggable provider (Open5GS as the reference, or your own AMF), and, most importantly,
  • the deployment and management layer: every component packaged, the deployment automation built in.

The same way a Linux distribution turns open-source OS parts into something you can install and run, Racora does for open-source RAN.

You Manage the Network, Not Network Functions​

Racora's interface is the network itself: cells and subscribers, not the functions underneath. Declare a cell and the platform brings it up; the protocol stack, the intelligence, the core and the real-time tuning are built in and operated for you. There are no network functions to deploy, wire or manage.

This is the inverse of "run your VNFs/CNFs on Kubernetes." The cluster is the RAN; you operate it at the network layer.

Three Layers, One Contract​

The network layer (the APIs, the controllers, the CU planes, the Intelligence Plane, the core provider) is identical everywhere; the node layer is a published contract and the cluster layer a pluggable platform. The picture, the namespaces and the limits are on Racora Architecture.

Who These Docs Are For​

Operators of a Racora network: the people who install it, declare cells and subscribers, bring radios and nodes, and keep it running. Builders who extend Racora with another platform, another core or an Intelligence Function start at Extending Racora.

Where to Go​