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Base station 5G en open source

Fifth-generation mobile networks (5G) are currently being deployed and operated at a rapidly increasing pace all over the world. In a stark contrast to the standards that came before such as 3G, 4G or LTE, 5G is designed from the ground up to serve a wide variety of use cases, which each have different requirements regarding latency, data throughput, user mobility and device density. To satisfy such varied requirements, 5G networks need to exhibit unprecedented levels of flexibility. Such flexibility is most easily attained through softwarization, virtualization and disaggregation of network management functionalities. Recognizing that softwarization and programmability is key to deploying performant mobile networks, many organizations have begun releasing software-based 5G network implementations. Established, proprietary 5G solutions have a very prohibitive cost, particularly in developing nations where cheap, reliable, and efficient wireless communications can be a non-negligible factor of economic growth. There is, at the moment, no comprehensive and ready-to-use package for full-stack, end-to-end and open source 5G networking. This project focuses on developing a ready-made solution for the 5G base station, or gNodeB, and eventually the deployment of a private 5G network based on the same solution.

In this project, I compiled a variety of resources aimed at understanding the architecture and interfaces that comprise a 5G network. I then took an inventory of existing open source 5G networking solutions and selected one to try and deploy a private 5G network at the REDS institute here at HEIG-VD. Using the hardware available to me at the moment, I managed to connect an OpenAirInterface (OAI) gNodeB to an OAI 5G Core Network. I was then able to register a Telit FN980m User Equipment (UE) with the OAI 5G Core Network. Due to yet unresolved radio link issues, I was unable to open a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session from the UE to the Internet.