Muhammad Shahid Iqbal, Muthuraman Elangovan, Chien Chen, Jyh-Cheng Chen
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The demands of today's 5G mobile network, especially low latency and high bandwidth, are a big challenge for the 5G Core (5GC) provider. The most critical user data packet handler in the 5GC network function (NF) is the user plane function (UPF), which is responsible for moving data from the user equipment to the destination data network, and vice versa. Existing work mainly focuses on implementing UPF using the key technologies of high-speed data processing. In this paper, with a mobile core provider called free5GC for a stand-alone (SA) 5G network, we share our experience with the implementation of UPF by using a programmable hardware appliance, which can offer more Tbps compared with the implementation of software UPF that can offer only a few hundred Gbps. For that, we demonstrate how to build up a more flexible architecture of UPF by using the software-defined networking (SDN) concept due to the opacity of protocol specification. We split the UPF control signal implementation into a software application and user data packet processing into a programmable hardware appliance. We also show how to integrate a number of current UPF data plane free5GC implementations, such as Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK), Linux kernel module, and SmartNIC. Furthermore, we analyze and make use of microservices to support the specific features of the UPF data plane that cannot be implemented in a programmable hardware appliance. We tested our free5GC mobile network and the new UPF design architecture that can run on a real programmable hardware appliance from Accton CSP-7551. The evaluation results show that our programmable user plane can reach the line rate.
期刊介绍：
Modern computer networks and communication systems are increasing in size, scope, and heterogeneity. The promise of a single end-to-end technology has not been realized and likely never will occur. The decreasing cost of bandwidth is increasing the possible applications of computer networks and communication systems to entirely new domains. Problems in integrating heterogeneous wired and wireless technologies, ensuring security and quality of service, and reliably operating large-scale systems including the inclusion of cloud computing have all emerged as important topics. The one constant is the need for network management. Challenges in network management have never been greater than they are today. The International Journal of Network Management is the forum for researchers, developers, and practitioners in network management to present their work to an international audience. The journal is dedicated to the dissemination of information, which will enable improved management, operation, and maintenance of computer networks and communication systems. The journal is peer reviewed and publishes original papers (both theoretical and experimental) by leading researchers, practitioners, and consultants from universities, research laboratories, and companies around the world. Issues with thematic or guest-edited special topics typically occur several times per year. Topic areas for the journal are largely defined by the taxonomy for network and service management developed by IFIP WG6.6, together with IEEE-CNOM, the IRTF-NMRG and the Emanics Network of Excellence.
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