| dc.description.abstract | In light of the exciting developments in open-source solutions for future communication networks, many industry players are interested in exploring how these solutions can be practically adapted in commercial settings, integrated with their existing system, the potential business opportunities in vertical sectors, or even used to expand their knowledge in Radio Access Network (RAN) and Core Network (CN). In line with this trend, Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) has emerged as a game-changer in the industry, attracting significant attention from various stakeholders. Its unique selling points include vendor diversity and flexibility, which are uncommon for proprietary systems. This shift opens doors for third-party actors beyond the leading players, thereby reducing the impact of vendor lock-in. Open RAN which can be built based on open-source software, has not only revolutionized the industry by enabling cost-effective and 3\textsuperscript{rd} Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) compliant solutions but has also influenced research on 5\textsuperscript{th} Generation (5G) and beyond networks, enabling in-depth exploration of various facets of the RAN and Core Network (CN).
Among various open-source CN solutions, Magma, which follows the design principles from Software-Defined Networking (SDN), emerges as a standout as it features a Network Management System (NMS) powered by cloud-native technology, offering several benefits, such as scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. Magma facilitates a converged core that supports 3GPP connections (4th Generation (4\textsuperscript{th} Generation)/5G) and enables the possibility of supporting non-3GPP connections, e.g., from Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi). This thesis adopts Magma as the main CN for our network implementation and investigates how Magma can be used in a commercial setting, addressing various practical interests expressed by the industry. More specifically, we design and implement an experimental virtual platform that showcases a prototype of a roaming application and an experimental setup for functional and performance testing of private networks.
As an effort to support our research on 5G and Beyond 5G (B5G) technologies, the University of Agder (UiA) has established a prototype 5G private network based on open-source solutions, supporting User Equipment (UE), RAN, and CN in physical and virtual formats. The implemented experimental virtual platform is hosted on-premises at the UiA server. This platform consists of open-source based UE, RAN, and CN solutions. Two scenarios have been implemented in this platform, namely, the 4G roaming network and the 5G Standalone (SA) network. Both of these scenarios support emulated UE and RAN, as well as CN functions. The 4G roaming supports two visitor and home networks, and the 5G network supports hundreds of UEs. Based on these implementations, extensive experiments have been performed, including functional tests to ensure the platform meets the required system specifications, connectivity tests to ensure End-to-End (E2E) access to the global Internet, and performance tests to validate the CN when under heavy computational load. | |