The goal of the OAI-5G Core Network (CN) project group is to provide a 3GPP-Compliant 5G Standalone (SA) CN implementation with a rich feature set. OAI 5G CN is designed and implemented in a flexible way which can be easily adapted to fulfill the needs of diversified 5G use-cases. All the features of the OAI 5G CN components are continuously tested with professional testers, commercial gNBs (with COTS UE) and open-source RAN simulators.
All the OAI 5G CN components are published under the OAI Public License V1.1.
5G CN Overview
In order to support a very diverse range of services envisioned for 5G with very different performance requirements, 5GC is designed with a service-oriented architecture through the adoption of the new 3GPP defined service-based architecture (SBA). In this architecture, a set of 5GC components, or in this case called Network Functions (NFs) provide services to others authorized NFs to access their services. For the interaction between network functions, one of these acts as a Service Consumer, and the other as a Service Producer. Additionally, the Control Plane (CP) functions are separated from the User Plane (UP) in order to make them scaling independently, allowing operators to use these components for dimensioning, deploying and adapting the network to their needs easily. Figure 1 depicts the non-roaming reference architecture for 5GC. For more details, please refer to 3GPP TS 23.501.
Figure 1. non-roaming reference architecture for 5GC (TS 23.501)
OAI 5G CN – Current status
The OAI 5G CN project plans to have a full standalone 3GPP-compliant 5G CN implementation (as described in Figure 1). In release v1.4.0, we implemented the following Network Functions (NF):
- Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF)
- Session Management Function (SMF)
- User Plane Function (UPF)
- Network Repository Function (NRF)
- Authentication Server Function (AUSF)
- Unified Data Management (UDM)
- Unified Data Repository (UDR)
- Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)
OAI 5G CN implementation has been extensively tested and validated with:
- Professional tester (Mobileum dsTest and ng4T)
- Commercial gNBs (including Amarisoft gNB, Baicell gNB with COST UE)
- OAI gNB with COTS UE (Quectel/SIMcom modules)
- Open-source RAN emulators (UERANSIM, Gnbsim, My-5GRANTester)
Features
Currently, OAI 5G CN supports basic procedures for connection, registration (UE registration, de-registration, and service request) and session management (PDU session establishment, modification and release). OAI 5G CN also supports some additional features e.g., N2 Handover, HTTP/2, FQDN support, Paging, Network slicing (partially supported). It is worth mentioning that OAI 5G CN can support multiple UEs and multiple PDU sessions at the same time (please refer to this tutorial for more information).
OAI 5G CN can be adapted to support different use-case scenarios with different deployment options and different flavors for the User Plane.
Three deployment modes:
1) Minimalist 5GC with AMF, SMF, NRF, and UPF
2) Basic 5GC with AMF, SMF, NRF, UPF, UDM, AUSF and UDR
3) Slicing 5GC with AMF, SMF, NRF, UPF, UDM, AUSF, UDR, and NSSF
Three UPF flavors:
1) SPGW-U-tiny (from 4G) with additional features for 5G
2) VPP-UPF (relying on VPP-Travelping, with DPDK support)
3) Production grade UPF (SD-Fabric, on-going)
Three deployment platforms:
1) Bare-metal installation or in virtual machines
2) Automated deployment of NFs in Docker containers using Docker-Compose
3) Cloud-native deployment using Helm Chart (on OpenShift/Kubernetes cluster)
OAI 5G CN PG Roadmap – Revisited September 2024
The OAI community is invited to refer to the following roadmap that gives the sequencing and the timeline for the availability of different functions of a 3GPP compliant 5G core. The roadmap roughly spans four quarters. We shall regularly keep revisiting the roadmap to give the OAI community constant visibility over a similar timeframe.
SPONSORING THE OAI DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
The OSA has launched a supplemental sponsorship vehicle called the OAI DEVELOPMENT PROJECT through which OSA’s partners are invited to donate financial resources to OAI feature developments.
The further funding thus obtained is allocated to the purpose of accelerating the delivery of a feature-rich and stable codebase.
For more details on the working of the OAI DEVELOPMENT PROJECT and sponsorship categories, please download the Charter
For further inquiries, please write to: contact@openairinterface.org
Project Code
Please visit the home of the project on Gitlab