open5Gcube: A Modular and Usable Framework for Mobile Network Laboratories

2025-05-20

AI Summary

Existing mobile network experimentation frameworks suffer from poor interoperability between user equipment (UE) and open-source protocol stacks, as well as low reproducibility. Method: This paper proposes a modular, containerized experimental framework supporting 2G/4G/5G networks. It introduces a novel composable architecture that unifies heterogeneous open-source protocol stacks—including OAI, srsRAN, and Free5GC—enabling cross-version integration and plug-and-play support for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) UEs. RF and signaling compatibility adaptation, lightweight Kubernetes orchestration, and standardized interfaces further enhance deployment flexibility and experimental reproducibility. Contribution/Results: Empirical evaluation demonstrates 100% attachment success across all generations with mainstream COTS smartphones and modems, and an 80% reduction in experiment configuration time. The framework has been deployed in multiple university laboratories, significantly improving accessibility and scalability of mobile network research.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Mixture of Experts (MoE)
• Application Domains: Mobility, Driving & Flight
• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Responsible Web: Consent frameworks and practices on the web
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: On-Device user modeling, personalization, and recommendation

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.

Problem

• Integrating real-world UE with open-source mobile networks
• Unifying open-source mobile projects for flexible management
• Enhancing compatibility testing across 2G, 4G, and 5G devices

Innovation

• Modular framework integrating open-source mobile networks
• Containerization and orchestration simplify experimental setups
• Compatible with various COTS smartphones and modems