Speakers
Description
This work targets the implementation of the 5G UPF in RARE, leveraging general-purpose hardware to avoid the need for a commercial all-in-one device. The main function of the UPF in 5G networks is to route user traffic between the RAN and other external networks. This approach provides two main benefits: a) increments the performance of the UPF packet processing function by offloading it to the data plane, and b) the user traffic is fully controlled by the customer. Our UPF implements PFCP for the communication with the SMF in the control plane, and performs GTP encapsulation/decapsulation to forward user data.
What will the TNC audience take away from your talk
This project may be of interest to any researcher keen on open-source development, but especially to network engineers who aim at decreasing the dependency on vendor-specific hardware as well as incorporating new communication capabilities to their networks. In fact, the development of the UPF is part of the GÉANT WP6-Task1 group, in which we are actively involved, so we can guarantee the support of this work.
More specifically, as the use case involves the 5G architecture and well-known enabler technologies, it is also appealing for researchers looking for an in-depth analysis of the innovation possibilities in state-of-the-art and future mobile networks. Not only that, but general audience that may not be directly related to networking could also benefit from some high-level information and functionalities of 5G, which are interesting due to the demonstrated benefits of the 5G in the digitalization of companies.
