Cloud-native 5G experimental platform with over-the-air transmissions and end-to-end monitoring

Abstract: 5G represents a revolutionary shift with respect to previous generations given its design centered on network softwarization. Within such a change of paradigm, cloud-native solutions are widely regarded as the future of vertical application development because of their enhanced flexibility and adaptability to complex and dynamic scenarios. In this context, we present an experimental framework with over-the-air transmissions that tackles two critical aspects for enhancing the lifecycle management of 5G and beyond networks: cloud-native deployments of 5G core network functions (NFs) and end-to-end monitoring. First, we deploy Open5GS and Prometheus-based monitoring as containerized network functions (CNFs) in a Kubernetes cluster spanning a multi-tier network with a multi-access edge computing (MEC) host. We then demonstrate the end-to-end monitoring system by showcasing via Grafana dashboards both infrastructure resources and radio metrics of two scenarios; one devoted to user plane function (UPF) re-selection and the other to user mobility.