OSI-ORB-1 · Version 0.9 Draft
The operating standard for license-free, database-coordinated, multi-band site networks: a transportable, self-coordinating base station that assumes nothing about the site, upward or outward.
Section 2
A conforming unit implements the operating bands below plus the transport profile. Frequencies are US allocations; international profiles are future annexes. Per-band EIRP follows the applicable FCC rule part, or the value granted by the coordination service.
| Band | Frequency | Waveform | Coordination | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVWS | 470 to 608 MHz | LTE carrier | PAWS white space database | Long-reach tail, 10+ km |
| HaLow | 902 to 928 MHz | 802.11ah | Listen-before-talk, Part 15.247 | Mid tail, 2 to 3 km, IoT |
| DECT NR+ | 1880 to 1900 and 1920 to 1930 MHz | ETSI DECT-2020 NR | Band-native channel selection | Deterministic mesh, safety and control |
| CBRS (n48) | 3550 to 3700 MHz | 5G NR carrier | SAS, Part 96 GAA, PAL optional | Primary capacity, mobile and QoS traffic |
| Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz | 2400 to 2483.5 MHz | 802.11 | Listen-before-talk | Legacy device access, near field |
| Thread | 2400 to 2483.5 MHz | IEEE 802.15.4 | Listen-before-talk | Matter border router, IoT periphery |
| BLE and BLE Mesh | 2400 to 2483.5 MHz | Bluetooth LE, multiprotocol with Thread | Listen-before-talk | Worker tags, asset beacons, commissioning |
| Wi-Fi 5 GHz | 5150 to 5895 MHz | 802.11 Wi-Fi 7 | U-NII rules, DFS where applicable | High-capacity access |
| Wi-Fi 6 GHz | 5925 to 7125 MHz | 802.11 Wi-Fi 7 | AFC, standard power outdoor | Highest-capacity access |
| Transport | 5725 to 5850 MHz | 802.11 PtP profile | Part 15.247 PtP provisions | Inter-unit and POP backhaul |
TVWS and CBRS form the cellular complex on the programmable baseband. HaLow, NR+, Wi-Fi, and Thread run on merchant modules. TDD frame configuration on the CBRS carrier is operator-settable and supports uplink-heavy profiles.
Band n53, 2483.5 to 2495 MHz, is not in the normative plan. It is an optional licensed floor populated per deployment, and conformance never requires licensed spectrum.
Section 3
Baseband silicon is a sourcing decision, not an architectural one.
3.1 Mezzanine
The TVWS-LTE and CBRS-NR carriers run on a programmable baseband on a removable mezzanine. The interface is normative: PCIe and multi-gigabit Ethernet, fronthaul at a defined O-RAN functional split, timing input, and a published mechanical envelope.
3.1 RF chains
Each cellular carrier has a dedicated transceiver front end, power amplification with digital predistortion, and filtering to the ORB-A1 isolation masks. CBRS supports 4x4 MIMO, 100 MHz occupied bandwidth, and 256-QAM both directions. TVWS bonds non-contiguous 6 MHz channels as granted.
3.2 Modules
HaLow, NR+, Wi-Fi, and Thread come from certified merchant modules in M.2, mini-PCIe, or SDIO slots, each independently replaceable and driven natively by the host. Wi-Fi is Wi-Fi 7 class with 320 MHz channels at 6 GHz and multi-link operation.
3.2 Periphery
A concurrent-multiprotocol 802.15.4 module with an OpenThread Border Router is a standard populate on both SKUs, making every ORB Matter-capable, and providing BLE and BLE Mesh for worker tags, asset beacons, and commissioning from the same silicon.
Section 4
An ARM-class compute complex on an OpenWrt-based OS carries the lightweight 5G core, the flow steering and QoS engine, slicing and tenancy, Passpoint and OpenRoaming, the coordination layer, and a management plane over open APIs.
Section 4
Class A carries local compute and storage for capture workloads, photogrammetry, scan registration, and video analytics, so the WAN carries results rather than raw capture. Class B omits the tier with identical software interfaces, keeping paths, tenants, and policies portable.
Section 5
The defining subsystem. Three database regimes, one client architecture, one record store, so spectrum compliance becomes a queryable property of the network rather than a paper exercise.
Section 6
Multi-WAN by architecture. Any subset of the four path classes may be populated per site, and all may be active at once under a single steering policy.
| Path class | Medium | Typical capacity | Typical role |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEO satellite | Flat-panel terminal in the WAN bay | 100 to 400 Mbps down, less up | The anywhere path, default greenfield WAN |
| 5.8 GHz transport | Point-to-point dish per ORB-A1 | 0.5 to 1 Gbps per hop | Corridor chaining, shared WAN across units |
| Wired handoff | Fiber or Ethernet demarcation at the unit | As provisioned | Sites with existing service at the gate |
| Carrier cellular | One or two macro-network modems | Market dependent | Backhaul where macro coverage exists |
Steering
Traffic classes and tenant slices map to path classes, with health probing and sub-second failover. Deterministic control traffic prefers the lowest-latency healthy path; bulk synchronization can be scheduled off-peak.
Bonding
MPTCP or tunnel-level bonding serves single-flow workloads that exceed any one path. Per-flow steering is the default; per-packet striping is used only where the reordering cost is justified.
Topology
Multi-unit topologies over the transport profile are normative for linear deployments, including shared use of one or two LEO uplinks across a corridor of units. The WAN bay is vendor-neutral.
Sections 7, 8, 10
Three subsystems that make the unit usable by many organizations, and defensible on the record.
Section 7
On CBRS, a neutral-host profile under the OnGo shared-HNI framework with MOCN support in the core. On Wi-Fi, Passpoint and WBA OpenRoaming offload. Sessions are accounted per tenant and per carrier, and attachment records go to the ledger.
Section 8
Time and frequency distribute over PTP to the cellular complex and any subsystem needing synchronization. CBRS TDD sync meets Part 96 and SAS coexistence. The unit detects and alarms on loss or implausible movement of its position fix.
Section 10
Slices span the RAN, the access tier, and the WAN, each with its own authentication, QoS, WAN path policy, and accounting. SSID and VLAN mappings bind into the same framework, and per-slice records are written to the ledger.
Section 12
Both SKUs derive from one board architecture through populate and depopulate decisions. No SKU decision alters the software plane, the coordination layer, or the conformance interfaces.
| Attribute | Flagship | Compact |
|---|---|---|
| Sectors | Three 120-degree sectors | One sector, aimed along the site long axis |
| Conformance class | Class A, edge compute and storage | Class B, interfaces only |
| CBRS configuration | 4x4 MIMO per sector, uplink-heavy TDD available | 4x4 MIMO, uplink-heavy TDD available |
| Antenna system | Three integrated panels per ORB-A1 | One integrated panel per ORB-A1 |
| WAN population | Full path complement typical | Minimal population typical, all interfaces present |
| Target deployment | Autonomy sites, large jobs, corridor anchors | Small and mid-size jobs, corridor infill |
Section 13
Informative engineering objectives for a Flagship unit under representative conditions, stated per the three-zone model that reflects how capacity is actually delivered across a site.
| Zone | Range | Dominant tiers | Target capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near field | 0 to 300 m | Wi-Fi 5 and 6 GHz, CBRS | 2 to 4 Gbps aggregate |
| Site field | 0.3 to 2 km | CBRS, high-gain Wi-Fi arrays | 1 to 2.5 Gbps aggregate, 300 to 500 Mbps uplink on CBRS |
| Tail | 2 to 10+ km | TVWS, HaLow | 30 to 100 Mbps combined, degrading gracefully, never to zero |
| Deterministic tier | Site-wide | NR+ mesh, URLLC scheduling on CBRS | Sub-5 ms latency class |
Per-sector aggregate for a Flagship unit is targeted at 2.5 to 5 Gbps with current silicon, and 7 to 8 Gbps at full-specification silicon ceilings. Three-sector site aggregate is targeted at 6 to 10 Gbps, subject to shared-spectrum grants.
Sections 9 and 11
Reference form factors are trailer-mounted, palletized, and skid-mounted. The mast and guying system carries the antenna panel, roughly 2.6 to 3.0 m and 25 to 40 kg per sector, at full wind-load rating. Power profiles cover shore power, generator, and solar-hybrid.
ORB-1 v0.9 is available for partner and engineering review, with the conformance suite alongside it.