D3.10 5G Core Network Functions (Release B)

The scope of this deliverable (D3.10) is to report activities and technical advanvements about the 4G and 5G core network functions utilised in the support of the use cases of the 5GENESIS project. More precisely the deliverable describes the Release B of the core network technologies that were adopted or developed in 5GENESIS, and briefly touches the integration progress with the other components of the network chain, for instance the radio access components from Task T3.6.

The key activity carried out during the second part of the project has been the provisioning of the 5G core networks to all platforms in order to build the demonstrations of the final phase of the project, which leverage the 5G access. The 4G and 5G core network solutions are provided by 3 different project partners, Athonet, Fraunhofer FhG and University of Surrey, with the addition of FON for the support of non-3GPP access in the testbed of the University of Surrey.

This activity feeds WP4, WP5 and WP6, which are in charge of the deployment, integration, verification and experimentation of the solutions in all the involved platforms. In parallel, the core network providers have worked on enhancing the virtualization capabilities of the components, by providing compatibility to the ETSI Management and Orchestration (MANO) framework and the corresponding most popular open-source implementations, such as Open Source Mano (OSM), Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) and Open Baton.

This enhancement enables the testing platforms to automate the instantiation, configuration and termination of a network service built upon virtualized network elements. To summarize, the core network solution providers have been involved in the design and implementation of the core network functions to support from the very beginning of the project the 4G, then followed progressively by the Non-Standalone (NSA) and finally the Standalone (SA) 5G core technologies. Moreover, selected partners have also contributed to the deployment of enhanced MEC-based solutions in support of the 5G ecosystem, leveraging the separation of user and control planes as suggested by the 3GPP standards.