Open and Programmable 5G Network-in-a-Box: Technology Demonstration and Evaluation Results

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an open-source, programmable 5G network-in-a-box solution for private industrial deployments, showcasing its flexibility, regulatory compliance, and performance metrics like latency and data rates.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive open-source, hardware-agnostic 5G network-in-a-box for private use, enabling flexible deployment in various frequency bands and modes.

Findings

Operates in 5G NSA and LTE modes

Supports multiple sub-6 GHz bands

Achieves competitive latency and data rates

Abstract

The fifth-generation (5G) mobile/cellular technology is a game changer for industrial systems. Private 5G deployments are promising to address the challenges faced by industrial networks. Programmability and open-source are two key aspects which bring unprecedented flexibility and customizability to private 5G networks. Recent regulatory initiatives are removing barriers for industrial stakeholders to deploy their own local 5G networks with dedicated equipment. To this end, this demonstration showcases an open and programmable 5G network-in-a-box solution for private deployments. The network-in-a-box provides an integrated solution, based on open-source software stack and general-purpose hardware, for operation in 5G non-standalone (NSA) as well as 4G long-term evolution (LTE) modes. The demonstration also shows the capability of operation in different sub-6 GHz frequency bands, some of which are specifically available for private networks. Performance results, in terms of end-to-end latency and data rates, with a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) 5G device are shown as well.