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CN2F: A Cloud-Native Cellular Network Framework

Sepehr Ganji, Shirin Behnaminia, Ali Ahangarpour, Erfan Mazaheri, Sara Baradaran, Zeinab Zali, Mohammad Reza Heidarpour, Ali Rakhshan, Mahsa Faraji Shoyari

TL;DR

CN2F addresses the need for flexible, end-to-end testbeds for evolving cellular networks by integrating OpenAirInterface VNFs with Kubernetes orchestration and Mininet/ONOS-based transport emulation. The framework bootstrap is automated via Ansible on a four-node cluster, and CN2F transitions from Docker containers to Kubernetes pods to realize a cloud-native cellular environment. It demonstrates two concrete use cases—VNF placement (edge vs cloud) and RAN slicing—to illustrate how transport network characteristics and resource allocation impact performance. By providing reproducible setup scripts and open-source components, CN2F offers a general, extensible platform for academia and industry to prototype and evaluate future cellular network architectures and service scenarios.

Abstract

Upcoming cellular networks aim to improve the efficiency and flexibility of mobile networks by incorporating various technologies, such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), and Network Slicing (NS). There exist open-source projects that implement components of different cellular generations. In this paper, we elaborate on how to use these open-source projects to realize a flexible and extendable testbed for conducting experiments on the future generation of cellular networks. In particular, a Cloud-Native Cellular Network Framework (CN2F) is presented, which uses OpenAirInterface's codebase to generate cellular Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) and deploys Kubernetes to disperse and manage them among multiple worker nodes. Moreover, CN2F leverages ONOS and Mininet to emulate the effect of the IP transport networks in the fronthaul and backhaul of real-world cellular networks. Using CN2F, we implement different network scenarios, including Edge Computing (EC), Cloud Computing (CC), and Radio Access Network (RAN) slicing, to showcase the effectiveness of the proposed testbed for academia and industrial Research and Development (R&D) activities.

CN2F: A Cloud-Native Cellular Network Framework

TL;DR

CN2F addresses the need for flexible, end-to-end testbeds for evolving cellular networks by integrating OpenAirInterface VNFs with Kubernetes orchestration and Mininet/ONOS-based transport emulation. The framework bootstrap is automated via Ansible on a four-node cluster, and CN2F transitions from Docker containers to Kubernetes pods to realize a cloud-native cellular environment. It demonstrates two concrete use cases—VNF placement (edge vs cloud) and RAN slicing—to illustrate how transport network characteristics and resource allocation impact performance. By providing reproducible setup scripts and open-source components, CN2F offers a general, extensible platform for academia and industry to prototype and evaluate future cellular network architectures and service scenarios.

Abstract

Upcoming cellular networks aim to improve the efficiency and flexibility of mobile networks by incorporating various technologies, such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), and Network Slicing (NS). There exist open-source projects that implement components of different cellular generations. In this paper, we elaborate on how to use these open-source projects to realize a flexible and extendable testbed for conducting experiments on the future generation of cellular networks. In particular, a Cloud-Native Cellular Network Framework (CN2F) is presented, which uses OpenAirInterface's codebase to generate cellular Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) and deploys Kubernetes to disperse and manage them among multiple worker nodes. Moreover, CN2F leverages ONOS and Mininet to emulate the effect of the IP transport networks in the fronthaul and backhaul of real-world cellular networks. Using CN2F, we implement different network scenarios, including Edge Computing (EC), Cloud Computing (CC), and Radio Access Network (RAN) slicing, to showcase the effectiveness of the proposed testbed for academia and industrial Research and Development (R&D) activities.
Paper Structure (40 sections, 15 figures, 4 tables)

This paper contains 40 sections, 15 figures, 4 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Cellular Network Concepts
  4. Cellular Generations and Open-Source Projects
  5. 1G and 2G Networks
  6. 3G Networks
  7. 4G Networks
  8. 5G Networks
  9. RAN Splitting
  10. Cloud-Native Applications and Infrastructure
  11. Container and Docker
  12. Kubernetes
  13. Pod
  14. Networking
  15. Volume and ConfigMap
  16. ...and 25 more sections

Figures (15)

  • Figure 1: CN2F architecture with a master node and three worker nodes
  • Figure 2: A simplified LTE architecture
  • Figure 3: The LTE's CUPS architecture
  • Figure 4: RAN splitting proposals
  • Figure 5: Image and container
  • ...and 10 more figures