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open5Gcube: A Modular and Usable Framework for Mobile Network Laboratories

Thorsten Horstmann, Dominik Brunke, Tobias Kremeyer, Matthias Wilmes, Gunnar Schneider, Julian Sturm, Hartmut König, Michael Rademacher

TL;DR

The paper tackles reproducibility and flexibility in mobile-network research by enabling unified orchestration of multiple open-source RAN/CN stacks with real UEs. open5Gcube is a modular framework that leverages containerization, a lightweight orchestration model, and a portable hardware rack to compose diverse OSS configurations. Its contributions include hardware design for portable lab deployments, a two-tier software management layer with central control and a simple web UI, and publicly released configurations enabling rapid switching among 2G/4G/5G stacks. Practically, the framework improves accessibility and reproducibility of lab experiments, facilitating security assessments and interoperability studies across generations in mobile networks.

Abstract

In mobile network research, the integration of real-world components such as User Equipment (UE) with open-source network infrastructure is essential yet challenging. To address these issues, we introduce open5Gcube, a modular framework designed to integrate popular open-source mobile network projects into a unified management environment. Our publicly available framework allows researchers to flexibly combine different open-source implementations, including different versions, and simplifies experimental setups through containerization and lightweight orchestration. We demonstrate the practical usability of open5Gcube by evaluating its compatibility with various commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) smartphones and modems across multiple mobile generations (2G, 4G, and 5G). The results underline the versatility and reproducibility of our approach, significantly advancing the accessibility of rigorous experimentation in mobile network laboratories.

open5Gcube: A Modular and Usable Framework for Mobile Network Laboratories

TL;DR

The paper tackles reproducibility and flexibility in mobile-network research by enabling unified orchestration of multiple open-source RAN/CN stacks with real UEs. open5Gcube is a modular framework that leverages containerization, a lightweight orchestration model, and a portable hardware rack to compose diverse OSS configurations. Its contributions include hardware design for portable lab deployments, a two-tier software management layer with central control and a simple web UI, and publicly released configurations enabling rapid switching among 2G/4G/5G stacks. Practically, the framework improves accessibility and reproducibility of lab experiments, facilitating security assessments and interoperability studies across generations in mobile networks.

Abstract

In mobile network research, the integration of real-world components such as User Equipment (UE) with open-source network infrastructure is essential yet challenging. To address these issues, we introduce open5Gcube, a modular framework designed to integrate popular open-source mobile network projects into a unified management environment. Our publicly available framework allows researchers to flexibly combine different open-source implementations, including different versions, and simplifies experimental setups through containerization and lightweight orchestration. We demonstrate the practical usability of open5Gcube by evaluating its compatibility with various commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) smartphones and modems across multiple mobile generations (2G, 4G, and 5G). The results underline the versatility and reproducibility of our approach, significantly advancing the accessibility of rigorous experimentation in mobile network laboratories.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 10 sections, 2 figures, 5 tables, 1 algorithm.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction and Motivation
  2. Previous Work
  3. Architecture
  4. Hardware Design
  5. Software and Management
  6. Evaluation
  7. 2G
  8. 4G + VoLTE
  9. 5G SA
  10. Summary

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Representation of our open5Gcube. On the left side, the components in the 19" rack. On the right side, the corresponding systems and their interconnections are depicted.
  • Figure 2: Logical software organization of the framework. Open-source projects (e.g., Open5GS, srsRAN) are deployed by our framework on different host and summarized into stacks.