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Open source 5G core network

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Re: Open source 5G core network

#11

Post by non-entity »

Jhsto wrote: post #3

For those interested, this project seems to be a rewrite of https://nextepc.org/ into Go. Alternative projects include https://github.com/facebookincubator/magma and https://github.com/openairinterface . You can start your own telenetwork with these projects (but of course doing such would be highly illegal without a spectrum license), but first, you need a gNB or eNodeB which is lingo for a base station. It is possi…

Any recommended resources for learning about mobile communications technologies that aren't overpriced engineering certificates or surface level marketing material for / from telcoms?

Re: Open source 5G core network

#12

Post by ColanR »

bluishscreen wrote: post #9
newhouseb wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an expert, but there are variants of LTE and 5G (LTE-U and 5G NR-U) that support operating in the unlicensed 5Ghz band. That said, I'm not sure a commercial handset would connect to anything in that range. You could probably get an SDR-based UE (UE is telecom-speak for "thing that connects to a cell network") to work.

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https... Apparently, there are overlaps between common LTE bands and both ham radio bands and unlicensed (... low-power) ones... the above page states that any device with the right bands will work (... and they even got them working presumably?)

I remember in the mid 2000s talking with a ham operator. The bands didn't overlap, but they were interleaved - the radios could access bands reserved for cell calls. If you snipped the right resistor off the right radio, then you could listen in on cellphone conversations.

Re: Open source 5G core network

#13

Post by g_p »

newhouseb wrote: post #4
Jhsto wrote: post #3

For those interested, this project seems to be a rewrite of https://nextepc.org/ into Go. Alternative projects include https://github.com/facebookincubator/magma and https://github.com/openairinterface . You can start your own telenetwork with these projects (but of course doing such would be highly illegal without a spectrum license), but first, you need a gNB or eNodeB which is lingo for a base station. It is possi…

I'm not an expert, but there are variants of LTE and 5G (LTE-U and 5G NR-U) that support operating in the unlicensed 5Ghz band. That said, I'm not sure a commercial handset would connect to anything in that range. You could probably get an SDR-based UE (UE is telecom-speak for "thing that connects to a cell network") to work.

SDR-based UEs work for 4G right now (see srsLTE with the srsUE), but I'm not aware of an open source one that supports 5G standards yet.

There are unlicensed variants of LTE/5G, but worth noting that these often are designed to use the unlicensed spectrum as supplemental downlink (i.e. License Assisted Access (LAA) in LTE), rather than actually allowing for uplink and downlink in the unlicensed spectrum.

The reason for that is simple politics - mobile operators are powerful lobbyists, and part of a powerful standards group (GSMA), and don't really fancy the idea you should be able to run what a customer will perceive as a mobile network without significant investment in spectrum (a finite resource).

LTE-U and LAA won't let you run a network by yourself just on unlicensed spectrum. Multefire should, but is quite rare for the obvious political reasons outlined above.

Re: Open source 5G core network

#14

Post by g_p »

Jhsto wrote: post #3

For those interested, this project seems to be a rewrite of https://nextepc.org/ into Go. Alternative projects include https://github.com/facebookincubator/magma and https://github.com/openairinterface . You can start your own telenetwork with these projects (but of course doing such would be highly illegal without a spectrum license), but first, you need a gNB or eNodeB which is lingo for a base station. It is possi…

Just to add to the above, some countries have very lightweight spectrum access and licensing regimes. Ofcom in the UK let you apply for a low power license (fine for around the home etc.) for a relatively nominal fee, and that will get you usable mobile spectrum - 3.3 MHz in the DECT guardband at the top end of the 1800 MHz band (FDD Band 3), or the 10 MHz slice at the top of the 2300 MHz band (2390 to 2400 MHz, which is TDD band 40).

From memory, a 1-year local spectrum license should cost about £50.

Re: Open source 5G core network

#16

Post by g_p »

Jhsto wrote: post #8
solarkraft wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think it's quite likely that sooner or later we will have 5G networks with intra-services running as edge-services, providing us low-latency. Noob question, sorry, but: Why not Wifi?

LTE (and 5G on 3.6Ghz, I guess) signal can cover many kilometers. The protocols are built to be more reliable (a phone keeps a tab of access points to which it can quickly hop if access to one base station is lost) and the licensing ensures that there cannot be spectrum suffocation at any time, which is quite common in bigger cities with WiFi.

Seamless handovers are definitely key to mobile networks, and much of the 3GPP technology is designed around this.

Spectrum licensing is more about ensuring exclusive use of spectrum - in a busy built up area (less common during current times hopefully), you'll still suffer from "spectrum suffocation" like with WiFi - if you ever experienced data stalling where your phone indicated a signal, but weren't getting any actual traffic through, you were on a cell that was hitting the limits of the air interface capacity.

The nice part of cellular networks is that you can add more base stations using other licensed spectrum the operator has, in order to get more capacity. So with 3.5 GHz 5G bands, and wider cell widths supported, these can take some of the load in busy places. Otherwise the alternative is to deploy more base stations with lower power on each, to better and more effectively reuse the spectrum.

Since the same operator runs all the equipment on their own spectrum, they can coordinate this much more effectively than ad-hoc multi operator WiFi in a congested area. The downside is the vastly increased complexity of a cellular solution (the sheer number of pages of standards), and the "entrenched player lock-in" available to legacy telecoms operators who already hold spectrum.

Re: Open source 5G core network

#17

Post by Jhsto »

non-entity wrote: post #11
Jhsto wrote: post #3

For those interested, this project seems to be a rewrite of https://nextepc.org/ into Go. Alternative projects include https://github.com/facebookincubator/magma and https://github.com/openairinterface . You can start your own telenetwork with these projects (but of course doing such would be highly illegal without a spectrum license), but first, you need a gNB or eNodeB which is lingo for a base station. It is possi…

Any recommended resources for learning about mobile communications technologies that aren't overpriced engineering certificates or surface level marketing material for / from telcoms?

Coming from a software background, I think NextEPC and its new variant called Open5GS have the most down-to-earth documentation and code to start from: https://open5gs.org/open5gs/docs/. The authors have many good papers that are easy to follow. Osmocom also has good resources https://osmocom.org/projects/cellular-infrastructure/wiki

Most of the learning curve comes from the lingo. Especially now that 5G introduces softwarization of many of the network functions, the terms used by the cellular and software industries clash and may be confusing at times. But you can definitely learn the high-level idea of how the cellular networks function in this way.

For physical level things, I imagine that a degree in signal processing is required. And for more advanced software interfaces, I am afraid that you can only read about them, as most devices on which the software is implemented is proprietary. The open-source software you can find is in no-way as fully implemented as the actual software which runs commercial networks.

Re: Open source 5G core network

#18

Post by g_p »

rob-olmos wrote: post #15

Somewhat related recent curiosity: Is there anything new about 5G tower/backhaul infrastructure for edge computing that wasn't already feasible for 4G?

Nothing hugely different to "late stage 4G" (Release 14). The main difference with 5G (that was available in Rel14 but not widely used by anyone) is control and user plane separation, which means some network traffic can leave the user plane at the base station, and go elsewhere, rather than be routed all the way back to the core network.

That enables edge computing by allowing traffic for the edge computing node to be routed to the local edge node directly, without it going down the backhaul.

This is very much a software change though in the implementation of the base station.

Re: Open source 5G core network

#19

Post by 14k12j41j211 »

non-entity wrote: post #11
Jhsto wrote: post #3

For those interested, this project seems to be a rewrite of https://nextepc.org/ into Go. Alternative projects include https://github.com/facebookincubator/magma and https://github.com/openairinterface . You can start your own telenetwork with these projects (but of course doing such would be highly illegal without a spectrum license), but first, you need a gNB or eNodeB which is lingo for a base station. It is possi…

Any recommended resources for learning about mobile communications technologies that aren't overpriced engineering certificates or surface level marketing material for / from telcoms?

https://www.sharetechnote.com/

Re: Open source 5G core network

#20

Post by numpad0 »

newhouseb wrote: post #4
Jhsto wrote: post #3

For those interested, this project seems to be a rewrite of https://nextepc.org/ into Go. Alternative projects include https://github.com/facebookincubator/magma and https://github.com/openairinterface . You can start your own telenetwork with these projects (but of course doing such would be highly illegal without a spectrum license), but first, you need a gNB or eNodeB which is lingo for a base station. It is possi…

I'm not an expert, but there are variants of LTE and 5G (LTE-U and 5G NR-U) that support operating in the unlicensed 5Ghz band. That said, I'm not sure a commercial handset would connect to anything in that range. You could probably get an SDR-based UE (UE is telecom-speak for "thing that connects to a cell network") to work.

You mean sXGP?
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