Openairinterface (Oai) For Experimentation in 5G: Unleashing The Potential of Open-Source in The 5G Arena

OpenAirInterface (OAI) for Experimentation in 5G
Bheemarjuna Reddy Tamma, Rohit Gupta and Kiran Kuchi

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016, 06/11/2016
Unleashing the potential of open-source in the 5G arena

Agenda
PART I:
 LTE Architecture
 About Open Air Interface (OAI)
 OAI 5G Software Alliance (OSA) & its strategic areas
 OAI Use cases
 OAI’s High-level Software Architecture
– OAI LTE RAN Implementation
– OAI LTE EPC Implementation
 Hardware Targets
 OAI Installation/Development environment/Usage
Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 2

Agenda
PART II:
 Performance Results of OAI LTE Prototype using
GPPs, USRP RF & COTS UE
 5G Vision
 Cloud-RAN
– Setting up of C-RAN testbed using OAI
 LTE and Wi-Fi Aggregation (LWA)

– Setting up of LWA testbed using OAI
– Performance Results
 Summary & Future Directions

LTE Architecture

What is OpenAirInterface (OAI)?

What is OpenAirInterface (OAI)?
 Open-source software-based implementation of LTE Rel 10

– Spanning the full protocol stack of 3GPP standards
E-UTRAN (eNB, partial UE)
EPC (MME, S+P-GW, HSS)
– Real-time RF and scalable emulation platforms
– Runs on x86/ARM platforms with many SDR front ends (ExpressMIMO2,
USRP, …)
 Objectives
– Bring academia closer to complex real-world systems
– Open-source tools to ensure a common R&D and prototyping framework for
rapid proof-of-concept designs
 Other use cases
– Interoperability with 3rd party components (UE, eNB, EPC)
– Matlab/Octave tools for non real-time experimentation
– Real-time channel sounding (EMOS)
– 802.11p Modem
– Unitary simulations

OpenAirInterface (OAI) Features
IP packets AT commands
MME Application S+P-GW Application
Linux IP
NAS eNB Application NAS S11 Abstraction S1-U
stack
RRC RRC S1-MME X2AP S1-U S1-MME S6a/Diameter GTP-U SGi
PDCP PDCP SCTP UDP SCTP UDP
RLC RLC IP IP
MAC MAC Ethernet Ethernet
PHY PHY
UEs eNBs MME + S+P-GW
3GPP layers Control Plane
 Implements 4G LTE Rel10 Access Stratum (eNB & UE) Linux stack Data Plane, IP packet
and EPC (MME, S+P-GW, HSS)

 All the stack (incl. PHY) runs entirely on a PC in real-time operating system (RTAI,
Xenomai, low-latency kernel)
 Works with ExpressMIMO (Eurecom), USRP (Ettus/National Instruments), Blade RF
(nuand), LMS-SDR (Lime Micro)

OAI SW Package Distribution
Openair5G (For realization of OAI RAN)

 openair1 : 3GPP LTE PHY layer + PHY RF simulation
 openair2 : 3GPP LTE RLC/MAC/PDCP/RRC/X2AP implementation
 openair3 : 3GPP LTE for S1AP, NAS GTPV1-U for both eNB and UE
 common : Some OAI utilities
 cmake_targets : OAI Build System (Cmake)
 targets : Wrapper for unitary PHY simulations & system level simulations
OpenairCN (For realization of OAI EPC)

 SCRIPT : LTE Core Network Procedures/scripts (HSS,MME,S/P-Gw)
 SRC : Tunnel, NAS, Interface implementation scripts
 BUILD : Storage Path for executables
 DOCS : Documentation/Concise user guides
 ETC : Supporting Files
 TEST : Testing and performance scripts
Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 8

OAI Execution Environment
 C Implementation under low latency kernel for x86

and ARM based linux systems
Rapid prototyping
and PoC
Performance
evaluation
Field trials and

testing

Workspace Stack for Executables

Collaborative Web Tools
 www.openairinterface.org
 OpenAirInterface gitlab server (includes Wiki)
– RAN (eNB + UE)
https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openairinterface5g
– EPC
https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openair-cn
 Mailing list
– openair5g-user: for the users of OpenairInterface.
– openair5g-devel: for the developers of OpenairInterface.
– openaircn-user: for the users of OpenairCN.
– openaircn-devel: for the developers of OpenairCN.

OAI 5G SOFTWARE ALLIANCE (OSA)

OSA Strategic Areas (Detailed)

USE CASES OF OAI

Use cases of OAI I
 Classical 3GPP setup:

– OAI EPC + OAI eNB <--> COTS UE
– Commercial/3rd party EPC + OAI eNB <-->COTS UE
– OAI EPC + Commercial/3rd party eNB <--> COTS UE

Use cases of OAI II
 Non-3GPP setup:
– OAI eNB <--> OAI UE

Use cases of OAI III
 Simulation/Emulation (oaisim)
– OAI eNB <--> OAI UE
– OAI EPC + OAI eNB <--> OAI UE
– Commercial/3rd party EPC + OAI eNB <--> OAI UE
 Unitary simulators
– DLSCH simulator dlsim
– ULSCH simulator ulsim
– PUCCH simulator pucchsim
– PRACH simulator prachsim
– PDCCH simulator pdcchsim
– PBCH simulator pbchsim
– eMBMS simulator mbmssim
 Other uses
– EMOS (real-time channel sounding)
– octave (simple experimentation)

OAI: HIGH LEVEL SOFTWARE
ARCHITECTURE

High Level SW Architecture ( /w PCIExpress)

High Level SW Architecture ( /w USB)

Overall OAI RAN Software

FH/RAU/RCC Threads, Instances and
Component Carriers

FH/RAU/RCC Threads, Instances and
Component Carriers

RAN Timing (Multi-thread mode)

RAN Timing

RAN TX Procedures

RAN TX Flowchart

RAN TX Flowchart

RAN TX Flowchart

RAN RX Procedures

RAN ULSCH Demodulation

OAI eNB features (PHY)
 The Physical layer implements 3GPP 36.211, 36.212, 36.213 and provides
the following features:
– LTE release 8.6 compliant, and implements a subset of release 10;

– FDD (stable) and TDD configurations 1 and 3 (experimental);
– Bandwidth: 5, 10 (stable), and 20 MHz (experimental);
– Transmission modes: 1, 2 (stable), 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (experimental);
– Max number of antennas: 2
– CQI/PMI reporting: aperiodic, feedback mode 3-0 and 3-1;
– PRACH preamble format 0
– All downlink (DL) channels are supported: PSS, SSS, PBCH, PCFICH, PHICH, PDCCH,
PDSCH, PMCH;
– All uplink (UL) channels are supported: PRACH, PUSCH, PUCCH (format 1/1a/1b), SRS
(experimental), DRS;
– HARQ support (UL and DL);
– Highly optimized base band processing (including turbo decoder).
– Expected throughputs DL
 5 MHz, 25 PRBS/ MCS 28 = 16-17 Mbit/s (measured with COTS UE Cat 3/4)
 10 MHz, 50 PRBS/MCS 28 = 34-35 Mbit/s (measured with COTS UE Cat 3/4)
 20 MHz, 100 PRB = 60 Mbps (experimental)
– Expected throughputs UL
 5 MHz, 20 PRBs / MCS 20 = 9 Mbit/s (measured with COTS UE Cat 3/4)
 10 MHz, 45 PRBs / MCS 20 = 17 Mbit/s (measured with COTS UE Cat 3/4)
 20 MHz, 100 PRBs = 24 Mbits/s (experimental)

OAI eNB features (MAC)
 The MAC layer implements a subset of the 3GPP 36-

321 release v8.6 in support of BCH, DLSCH, RACH,
and ULSCH channels.
 The eNB MAC implementation includes:
– RRC interface for CCCH, DCCH, and DTCH
– Proportional fair scheduler
– DCI generation
– HARQ Support
– RA procedures and RNTI management
– RLC interface (AM, UM)
– UL power control
– Link adaptation

OAI eNB MAC Scheduler
 Separation of MAC-RLC and
MAC-PHY interface from the
scheduler
 Preprocessor : Converts two-

dimensional buffer of users x
logical channels into a single
dimension as shown below
 Scheduler : Sorting of the

blocks
 Post-processor :Converts the

scheduling decision into the
PHY format (i.e. DCI for LTE)

OAI eNB features (PDCP)
 The current PDCP is header compliant with 3GPP 36-

323 Rel 10.1.0 and implement the following
functions:
– User and control data transfer
– Sequence number management
– RB association with PDCP entity
– PDCP entity association with one or two RLC entities
– Integrity check and encryption using the AES and Snow3G
algorithms

OAI eNB features (RLC)
 The RLC layer implements a full specification of the 3GPP 36-322

release v9.3
 RLC TM (mainly used for BCCH and CCCH)
– Neither segment nor concatenate RLC SDUs
– Do not include a RLC header in the RLC PDU
– Delivery of received RLC PDUs to upper layers
 RLC UM (mainly used for DTCH)
– Segment or concatenate RLC SDUs according to the TB size selected by MAC
– Include a RLC header in the RLC PDU
– Duplication detection
– PDU reordering and reassembly
 RLC AM, compatible with 9.3
– Segmentation, re-segmentation, concatenation, and reassembly
– Padding
– Data transfer to the user
– RLC PDU retransmission in support of error control and correction
– Generation of data/control PDUs

OpenAirInterface eNB features (RRC)
 Based on 3GPP 36.331 v9.2.0.

– System Information broadcast (SIB 1, 2, 3, and 13)
– RRC connection establishment
– RRC connection reconfiguration (addition and removal of radio
bearers, connection release)
– RRC connection release
– inter-frequency measurement collection and reporting
(experimental)
– eMBMS for multicast and broadcast (experimental)

OAI UE features (PHY)
 The Physical layer implements 3GPP 36.211, 36.212,

36.213 and provides the following features:
– LTE release 8.6 compliant, and implements a subset of release 10;
– FDD (stable) and TDD configurations 1 and 3 (experimental);
– Bandwidth: 5, 10 (stable), and 20 MHz (experimental);
– Transmission modes: 1, 2 (stable), 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (experimental);
– Max number of antennas: Rx: 2, Tx: 1
– CQI/PMI reporting: aperiodic, feedback mode 3-0 and 3-1;
– All downlink (DL) channels are supported: PSS, SSS, PBCH,
PCFICH, PHICH, PDCCH, PDSCH, PMCH;
– All uplink (UL) channels are supported: PRACH, PUSCH, PUCCH
(format 1/1a/1b), SRS (experimental), DRS;
– HARQ support (UL and DL);
– Highly optimized base band processing (including turbo decoder).
– Carrier frequency synchronization (around a given frequency)

OAI UE features (MAC)
 The MAC layer implements a subset of the 3GPP 36-

321 release v8.6 in support of BCH, DLSCH, RACH,
and ULSCH channels.
 UE MAC implementation includes:
– PDU formats: all control elements and logical channels
– RLC interface AM,UM, TM
– RRC transparent interface for CCCH and BCCH
– Buffer status reporting and scheduling request procedures
– Power headroom reporting

OAI UE features (PDCP)
 The current PDCP is header compliant with 3GPP 36-

323 Rel 10.1.0 and implement the following
functions:
– User and control data transfer
– Sequence number management
– RB association with PDCP entity
– PDCP entity association with one or two RLC entities
– Integrity check and encryption using the AES and Sonw3G
algorithms

OAI UE features (RLC)
 The RLC layer implements a full specification of the 3GPP 36-322

release v9.3
 RLC TM (mainly used for BCCH and CCCH)
– Neither segment nor concatenate RLC SDUs
– Do not include a RLC header in the RLC PDU
– Delivery of received RLC PDUs to upper layers
 RLC UM (mainly used for DTCH)
– Segment or concatenate RLC SDUs according to the TB size selected by MAC
– Include a RLC header in the RLC PDU
– Duplication detection
– PDU reordering and reassembly
 RLC AM, compatible with 9.3
– Segmentation, re-segmentation, concatenation, and reassembly
– Padding
– Data transfer to the user
– RLC PDU retransmission in support of error control and correction
– Generation of data/control PDUs

OAI UE features (RRC)
 Based on 3GPP 36.331 v9.2.0.

– System Information reception (SIB 1, 2, 3, and 13, all others just
displayed)
– RRC connection establishment
– RRC connection reconfiguration (addition and removal of radio
bearers, connection release)
– RRC connection release
– inter-frequency measurement collection and reporting
(experimental)
– eMBMS for multicast and broadcast (experimental)

OAI UE features (NAS)
Implemented
 EMM procedures:
– GUTI reallocation Partially implemented
–
–
authentication;
security mode control;
Not implemented
– identification;
– EMM information.
 EMM specific procedures:
– attach
– combined attach.
– detach and combined detach.
– normal tracking area updating and combined tracking area updating (S1 mode only);
– periodic tracking area updating (S1 mode only).
 EMM connection management procedures (S1 mode only):
– service request.
– paging procedure.
– transport of NAS messages (for SMS);
– generic transport of NAS messages.
 ESM Procedures related to EPS bearer contexts:
– default EPS bearer context activation;
– dedicated EPS bearer context activation;
– EPS bearer context modification;
– EPS bearer context deactivation.
 ESM Transaction related procedures:
– PDN connectivity procedure;
– PDN disconnect procedure;
– bearer resource allocation procedure;
– bearer resource modification procedure.
– ESM information request procedure.
– ESM status procedure;
– notification procedure.

OAI UE Interfaces

OAI eNB/UE Build Process

OAI EPC overview
EPC (mme_gw executable+GTP kernel module)
eNB S1-C MME S6a HSS
S11
S1-U SGW PGW SGi INTERNET
 eNB and EPC on different hosts (recommended)

Overall OAI EPC Software

OpenAirInterface EPC features
Implemented
 E-UTRAN Initial attach Partially implemented
– Attach with IMSI
– Attach with GUTI Not implemented
 Tracking Area Update procedures: Always reject
 Routing Area Update procedures
 Service Request procedures
– UE triggered Service Request: always reject
– Network triggered Service Request
 S1 Release procedure
 GUTI Reallocation procedure
 Detach procedure
– UE-Initiated Detach procedure for E-UTRAN
– MME-Initiated Detach procedure for E-UTRAN
– HSS-Initiated Detach procedure for E-UTRAN
 HSS User Profile management function procedure
 Bearer deactivation
– PDN GW initiated bearer deactivation
– MME initiated Dedicated Bearer Deactivation
 Intra E-UTRAN handover

OAI EPC Build Process

HARDWARE TARGETS

OAI System Architecture

Hardware Requirements
 SDR platform
– ExpressMIMO2
– USRP B2x0, X300
– Blade RF
– LMS-SDR
 A powerful x86 PC
– Intel Core i5, i7
– Intel Xeon
– Intel Atom (experimental)
– 4 cores, > 3GHz, SSE 4, AVX
 ARM (experimental)
– Odroid
 Antennas, Duplexers, etc

Express MIMO 2
RF RX
(4 way)
RF TX
(4 way)
PCI Express
(1 or 4 way)
Spartan 6 LX150T
4xLMS6002D RF ASICs 12V from ATX power supply
250 MHz – 3.8 GHz GPIO for external RF control

Express MIMO 2
 Integrated baseband/RF PCI Express board for x86-based

software defined radio
 Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA
 4 RF chains based on LIME LMS6002D Semiconductor zero-IF
RF chipsets
– Eurecom board, designed and maintained by EURECOM
– 1.5/5/10/20 MHz, FDD/TDD
– 4 channels (4x4 MIMO or 4 SISO Component Carriers)
– Total aggregate bandwidth: full duplex 64Msps
(Corresponds to 4x5MHz, 2x10MHz, or 1x 20MHz full duplex)
– Carrier frequencies: 300 MHz – 3.8 GHz
– ~10 dBm output power
– LTE RF compliance (UE, small-cell eNB)
 Status:
– more than 60 cards currently fabricated
– used by many research institutes (academic and industrial)

USRP B210 (mini)
 Designed by ETTUS (now part of NI)

 Analog Devices AD9361 RFIC Dual Channel
Transceiver (70 MHz - 6GHz)
 Full duplex, MIMO (2 Tx & 2 Rx) operation with up to
56 MHz of real-time bandwidth (61.44MS/s
quadrature)
– Slightly less in our experiments
 Data acquisition over USB3

USRP X310
 Designed by ETTUS (now part of NI)

 2 TX/RX chains, 120Msps
 Several RF daughterboards available covering DC to
6 GHz
 Xilinx Kintex 7 FPGA
 10Gbit Ethernet or 4x PCIexpress

Blade RF
 Designed by Nuand
 Based on LimeMicro LMS6002D (same as
ExpressMIMO2)
 Altera Cyclone IV FPGA
 USB3

LMS SDR
 Designed by Lime Microsystems

 Based on LMS7002M
– Same as LMS6002D but with 2TX/2RX
 Altera Cyclone IV FPGA

 USB3
 Crowdfunded:
– https://www.crowdsupply.com/
lime-micro/limesdr

Comparison
USRP B210 USRP X310 ExpressMIMO Blade RF LMS SDR
2
Data USB3 Gbit EtherNet, PCIexpress USB3 USB3
acquisition PCIexpress
MIMO and 2x1 MIMO 2x2 MIMO, 4x4 MIMO 5 1x1 SISO 2x2 MIMO
bandwidth 20MHz or 2x2 120MHz MHz, 2x2 20MHz 20MHz
capabilities MIMO 10MHz MIMO 10Mhz,
SISO 20MHz
RF chip AD9361 n/a LMS6002D LMS6002D LMS7002M
(x4)
Frequency 70MHz – DC-6GHz 300 MHz – 300 MHz – 300 MHz –
range 6GHz (depends on 3.8GHz 3.8GHz 3.8GHz
daughterbrd)
Price €1,130 ~€5,000 ~€3,000 $420 $299
Duplexing FDD FDD or FDD FDD or TDD FDD FDD or TDD
Output power 10dBm 10dBm 0dBm@ 6dBm 10dBm

2.6GHz
10dBm @
700MHz
Noise figure <8dB ? 10-15dB ? ?

Other experimental targets
 CPRI - PCIexpress
– IT Avero
– Based on Xilinx eval board
 CPRI gateway
– Bell Labs
– Based on Xilinx or Intel platform
 Syrtem platform
 NXP QorIQ9131 platform

INSTALLATION

Software Requirements
 Operating system
– Ubuntu 14.04.3 (Ubuntu 14.04.4 and higher under test)
– For real-time operation, a low-latency kernel is required
– See details on Wiki
 Get code from Eurecom’s Gitlab server
– RAN (eNB+UE): https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openairinterface5g
Branch master most stable
Branch develop latest features (rather stable)
Several feature branches for cutting-edge developments
– EPC: https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openair-cn
Branch master most stable
Branch develop latest features (rather stable)
Branch unstable for cutting-edge developments

OpenAirInterface5G directories
 cmake_targets
– New directory for building all the targets
– Contains “mother” build_oai script
 targets
– Hardware specific code (drivers, tools, etc)
– lte-softmodem, oaisim
 openair1
– Basic DSP routines for implementing subset of LTE specifications
under x86 (36.211, 36.212, 36.213 3GPP specifications)
– Channel simulation, sounding and PHY abstraction software,
 openair2
– MAC/RLC/PDCP/RRC
 openair3
– Contains interfaces S1-C, S1-U (GTP, SCTP, S1AP) and NAS UE
67
Compiling OpenAirInterface5G
 Top-level build script located in

– cd openairinterface5g/cmake_targets
 Compile lte-softmodem
– ./build_oai
– -I installs additional required software
– -w <hw_target> select HW target
– --eNB compiles the lte-softmodem (for UE and eNB)
– -x compiles with support for xforms softscope
– -V compiles with support for VCD debugging
– --UE compiles UE specific NAS parts
– -h help
 This creates executables in
– openairinterface5g/targets/bin

Compiling OAI EPC + HSS
 Top-level build script located in

– cd openairCN/SCRIPTS
 Compile EPC
– ./build_epc
-i installs additional software packages*
--local-hss compiles for use of HSS on same machine
--remote-hss <yourhssfqdn> compile for use of HSS on remote
machine (requires FQDN to be set in /etc/hosts)
– ./build_hss
-i installs additional software packages*
-I installs database
--local-mme compiles for use of MME on same machine
*when asked to set password for root, use “linux” (or change it later in config file).

HSS and SIM card configuration
 Configuration file: /usr/local/etc/oai/hss.conf

 Use PHPmyadmin: http://yourhsshost/phpmyadmin
– User: hssadmin, password: admin
 Add your MME

 Add your user
 Configure your SIM card
– Use a blank SIM card, card reader and programming tool,
– or a pre-programmed SIM card
 See Wiki for details

EPC and eNB configuration
 EPC configuration
– /usr/local/etc/oai/epc.conf
 Check MCC, MNC, TAC
 Check IP addresses for interfaces
 eNB configuration
– targets/PROJECTS/GENERIC-LTE-EPC/CONF/
– Select the config file that is most appropriate for your
configuration (Band and Hardware)
– Check
MCC, MNC, TAC
downlink_frequency
mme_ip_address
IP addresses of S1-MME and S1-U interfaces
Running OAI
 Running EPC
– ./run_epc
– ./run_hss
 Run eNB
– sudo ./lte-softmodem.Rel10 –O <file.conf> -d –V
 Start the UE!

 Have fun & debug if it fails!

OAI Debug Tools
 Spectrum Analyzer (UL and DL)

– Shows RF performance and signal integrity
 Logs
– Verbosity can be adjusted in config file
– Shows L2/L3 events
 PHY scope
– signals in time and frequency domain
– Constellation plots of PUSCH, PUCCH
 Stats window
– eNB measurements (noise, signal power, etc)
– UE feedback (CQI, etc.)
– UL and DL HARQ statistics
 VCD file
– Analyze real-time behavior by tracking function execution,
– gtkwave -a ~/openairinterface5g/targets/RT/USER/eNB_usrp.gtk
 Wireshark
– To analyze messages over S1 interface
– Can also analyze MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC if enables (see twiki for details)
 Iperf/speedtest
– Shows throughout for UDP and IP

Agenda
PART I:
 LTE Architecture
 About Open Air Interface (OAI)
 OAI 5G Software Alliance (OSA) & its strategic areas
 OAI Use cases
 OAI’s High-level Software Architecture
– OAI LTE RAN Implementation
– OAI LTE EPC Implementation
 Hardware Targets
 OAI Installation/Development environment/Usage

Agenda
PART II:
 Performance Results of OAI LTE Prototype using
GPPs, USRP RF & COTS UE
 5G Vision
 Cloud-RAN
– Setting up of C-RAN testbed using OAI
 LTE and Wi-Fi Aggregation (LWA)

– Setting up of LWA testbed using OAI
– Performance Results
 Summary & Future Directions

OAI LTE Testbed

OAI LTE Testbed Parameters
Parameter Value
LTE Mode FDD
No. of RBs 25 (5 MHz)
Operating Band Band 7 (2500 MHz)
Traffic TCP file download from

Remote Server
Tx Gain 90
Rx Gain 20

Performance Evaluation of Testbed
 Instantaneous Throughput observed at UE at varying distance from

the base station (i.e., 1, 5, 10 mts) for downloading a 64 MB file from
Remote Server

DATA Explosion!!!
 Introduction of iPhone, tablets and smart phones
 New applications on the Internet – On-demand video/music, online video
conferencing, e/m-commerce, Apps, IoT, etc
 Users want to always stay connected by some means!
 Telecom operators are seeing huge surge in data traffic in cellular networks
Credits: http://ciscovni.com/forecast-widget/index.html

How to cope with Data Explosion??
o Telecom operators are under pressure to find
solutions with reasonable cost 
o Two broad ways to tackle the issue
1) Optimization of cellular networks to improve spectral
efficiency, data rates, capacity
Carrier aggregation, CoMP, additional spectrum bands, densification of
cells
LTE-Advanced, Smallcells, Cloud-RAN, HetNets, ..., 5G
2) Inclusion of other radio access technologies which already
exist to offload some traffic
IEEE 802.11 WLAN (aka Wi-Fi) is widely deployed in indoors
Ericsson: about 70% of mobile traffic is from indoors
Mobile devices come with built-in Wi-Fi radios
Wi-Fi operates on unlicensed bands (no need of procuring spectrum at
hefty prices)
 2.4 GHZ and 5.2 GHz: 20 MHz to 160 MHz Bandwidth
 Gigabit rates with 802.11ac and upcoming 802.11ax

Way forward …
o LTE and Wi-Fi are not competing technologies but complementary
technologies 
o Cellular networks were at LTE/LTE-A. It’s all-IP based which makes
easy integration with other IP networks like Wi-Fi.
o Licensed spectrum remains cellular operators’ top priority to deliver
advanced services and user experience
o Opportunistic use of unlicensed spectrum is becoming an important
complement for operators to meet the growing traffic demand
o Operators will have two options to offload traffic to unlicensed
spectrum:
 Wi-Fi offload (LTE-Wi-Fi Aggregation)
 LTE over unlicensed band (LTE-U/LAA)
o It will then be up to each individual operator to choose which approach
to use, which will depend on a number of factors
o Hopefully these approaches would ease out the mobile data crunch 

5G VISION

5G - Targets

5G Network Big Picture (ITU IMT2020 FG)
Source: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/Workshops-and-Seminars/itu-ngmn/Documents/Abstracts_and_Presentations/Peter-Ashwood-Smithv2.pdf
Visions of 5G
5G CORE
Heterogeneous
PDCP
“RAN” Cloud
LTE-RLC 5G-RLC
LTE-MAC 5G-MAC
LTE-PHY 5G-PHY
Higher-Latency
Front-haul
Low-Latency split
Front-haul
split WIFI
5G-RLC LTE-RLC
MAC
5G-MAC LTE-MAC
WIFI
LTE-PHY 5G-PHY 5G-PHY LTE-PHY
PHY
Radio Radio
Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016

ITU-Vision for Open Source and 5G
Source: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/wtsa16/prepmeet/Documents/CIS-RCC/presentations/Presentation_1_Forum_ITU-Vision%202020.pdf

5G Evolution and Ecosystem

Challenges in running OAI in
Containers/VM (Docker, LXC, KVM)
 Real-time support in containers + KVM

 Access to HW Resources (USB, PCIe)
 Low latency transport over Ethernet
 Integration with High Performance SoC platforms for
heavy number-crunching (for ex. Turbo Decoder)
 Study different types of Base-band split between
BBU/RRH
 Orchestration framework that guarantees real-time HW
requirements

Running OAI in Containers + KVM
 Evaluate RT performance when running in Containers + KVM
 Orchestration solutions based on JuJu, OpenStack + other solutions

JuJu
● Juju is an open source, service orchestration tool.

● Juju allows you to configure, manage, maintain, deploy, and scale
cloud services quickly and efficiently
● Juju can be integrated with public clouds, as well as on physical
servers, OpenStack, and containers.
● You can use Juju from the command line or through its beautiful
GUI.
Search for solutions Model your service Deploy instantly Monitor and Maintain

JuJu Charms
 Charms
o Sets of scripts for deploying and managing services.
o Event handling is built in with charms
 Bundles
o Bundles are collections of charms that link services together, so
you can deploy whole chunks of app infrastructure in one go

OAI Charms
• It deploys OAI LTE eNodeB

• It supports many RF front ends
• It is to be deployed with oai-enb charm to

setup LTE RRH
• Provides an Ethernet-based RRH GW function
that can be connected to the OAI eNB
• It deploys OAI EPC

OPNFV Framework for 5G Virtualization
OAI as an upstream project

OAI Integration w/ ETSI NFV
 Integration w/ MOSAIC
MEC Framework
 Integration of OAI w/ XOS
 Integration w/ OPNFV
ONOS Project
 Joint PoCs in ETSI NFV,
MEC and so on
 Large scale deployment in
US within NSF/PAWR
program (TBD: Prof
Roy@UW, Seattle)
 Integration w/ WiFi devices
Open source blueprint of E2E 3GPP Reference platform

OPNFV vEPC using OAI EPC
 Realization of OPNFV vEPC using OAI EPC

 Two development environments: FUEL and Juju OPNFV
Infrastructure Deployer (JOID)
 Target Integration of vEPC for Release D of OPNFV

CLOUD-RAN USING OAI

Base Station Architecture Evolution
Legacy Macro BS Cloud-RAN with RRHs
 Co-located in one unit.  BBUs from many sites are co-

 High power consumption. located in the pool within 20-40 km
 Resources are underutilized.  Lower power consumption & efficient
resource utilization
Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN)
C-RAN
❖ Promising architecture for next generation cellular networks
❖ Centralized BBU pool
❖ RRHs reside at cell site with RF functions
❖ Optical fiber carries In-phase Quadrature samples (IQ) from RRHs
to BBUs
❖ Functional split between BBUs and RRHs defines different C-RAN
architectures
Advantages of C-RAN
❖ Cost-saving on CAPEX & OPEX
❖ Capacity Improvement
❖ Adaptability to Non-uniform Traffic
❖ Smart Internet Traffic Offload

OAI based Cloud RAN Testbed Framework
Source : http://www.openairinterface.org/?page_id=1695
C-RAN: RRH/BBU Split of eNodeB
Functional block diagram of eNodeB

C-RAN: NGFI Splits
Current OAI implementation supports either

• time-domain fronthaul (> 1 GbE required)
• NGFI IF4 split (FFTs) (< 500 Mbit/s fronthaul)
per carrier/sector

OAI remote radio head (RRH)
 Transport of radio signals over

Ethernet
 Enabler for cloud RAN
 Fronthaul protocol specified by
Eurecom
 Flexible header format in
support of RoE, and NGFI
 Allows for experimentation for
different functional splits
between RRH and eNB

Cloud RAN - IITH Testbed
 Single node RRH-BBU setup

 A COTS UE could successfully connect to this testbed and access
Internet

Cloud RAN Playground at Eurecom
 50 Low cost RRU, Band 38 (2.6 GHz) and 42-43 (3.5 GHz).
 Dense servers x86-64 Xeon (today) or potentially ARM (Cavium)
 Optical (40 GbE) and copper (1 Gbe) distribution
RRU
Example
Radio Cloud
Processing units

RRUs (Experimental)
 Band 7(FDD),38 (TDD),42/43 (TDD)

– Up to 25 dBm output
– 20 MHz BW
– 1 or 2 antennas per RRU
– <1000 euros / RRU
 Pico-ITX form factor (100mm x 72 mm)

– Intel Atom E3845 or X7-8300, <10W TDP
– PoE from aggregation switch
– 10 MHz reference from clock distribution at aggregation switch
– 1GbE front-haul per RRU
MIMO/MU-MIMO done via multiple RRU

Phase 1
24x10 MHz
FDU RRU
240 RRU
RRU
20 GbE 24-port
Switch 24x 1GbE
10 GbE PoE
openairCN Dell
Or S1/SGi T620 Ercom
Commercial 20 core Mobipass
EPC 3.6 GHz
10 GbE CPRI ALU

GW RRH
Fronthaul Network

PTPv2 100 24x10 MHz
Phase 2 grandmaster
GbE PTPv2
client
FDU RRU
240 RRU
RRU
24-port
Dense Switch 24x 1GbE
40 GbE Server
PoE
S1/SGi 24x10 MHz
PTPv2 FDU RRU
client
240 RRU
RRU
openairCN 24-port
or Dense
Server Switch 24x 1GbE
Commercial
EPC PoE
PTPv2
client
Ercom
Mobipass
PTPv2
Dense client
Server CPRI ALU
GW RRH
CRAN Fabric Fronthaul Network

LTE-WI-FI AGGREGATION
USING OAI

3GPP LTE-Wi-Fi Evolution
Credits: Intel Presentation (TSDSI)

3GPP LTE-Wi-Fi Evolution
Credits: Intel Presentation (TSDSI)

LTE-Wi-Fi Integration Architecture
 In rel. 13, 3GPP introduced two
solutions
– LWA: Integration at PDCP layer
 Wi-Fi only in Downlink
– LWIP: Integration at IP /w IPSec tunnel
 Wi-Fi in both Downlink and Uplink
 Minimal changes and quick to market
 Benefits of these solutions

• Additional radio resources
• Simplified network Arch
• Unified OAM and security
• Mobility anchored at LTE
• Reduced control signaling
• Tightly coupled radio bearer
• Improved traffic steering
• Better QoS

LWIP Architecture

Non-collocated LWIP Testbed using OAI

Realizing non-collocated LWIP using OAI
Implementation details:
➔ LTE-Wi-Fi link aggregation
module implemented on
OAI_eNB
➔ Patch for enabling both
interfaces of Android UE
(Nexus 5) using IPtables
➔ Link Aggregation between LTE
and Wi-Fi interfaces at Android
UE
➔ Android app developed for
enabling download through both
interfaces simultaneously

LWIP Experimental Configuration
Parameter Value
LTE Mode FDD
LTE Bandwidth 25 RBs (5 MHz)
LTE Operating Band Band 7 (2500 MHz)
LTE Delay 10 ms
Wi-Fi Std IEEE 802.11b
Wi-Fi Delay 40 ms
Wi-Fi Bandwidth 22 MHz

LWIP Experimental Configuration
Parameter Value
LTE Mode FDD
LTE Bandwidth 25 RBs (5 MHz)
LTE Operating Band Band 7 (2500 MHz)
LTE Delay 10 ms
Wi-Fi Std IEEE 802.11b
Wi-Fi Delay 40 ms
Wi-Fi Bandwidth 22 MHz

LWIP: Performance Results
Throughput in iPerf test using UDP (in Downlink)

Video Streaming over LWIP
Video streaming over LWIP network

Further works …
§ Intelligent decision making solution with rich traffic steering

algorithms to enhance the interworking benefit
§ Co-located vs non-collocated LWIP/LWA
§ Mobility management in context of LWIP/LWA
§ Studying performance of Application traffic in LWIP/LWA
§ HetNet-Cloud deployment for LWIP/LWA
§ Aggregation at RLC/MAC layer of eNodeB for even tighter level of

integration

Summary & Future Directions
 Contribute to OAI Alliance Projects + 3GPP/ITU/ETSI Standards

 Cloud-RAN
– All aspects of SDN/NFV/MEC + RRH/BBU Split
– Contribute towards OPNFV/M-CORD Collaboration
 NB-IoT
– Current proposal within community for impl. of NB-IoT (Rel 13)
 LTE-LAA
– LTE/WiFi Coexistence studies
 NS-3/OAI Integration
– Integration of NS-3 MAC + OAI PHY in NSF/PAWR program
 Telecom Infra Project (Facebook)
– Usage of OAI within TIP (still ongoing)
E2E 3GPP Ref. Platform for Prototyping + Research

Academic + Industrial Community

References I
 OAI: http://www.openairinterface.org/
 OPNFV: https://www.opnfv.org/
 M-CORD: opencord.org/
 FUEL: https://wiki.opnfv.org/display/fuel/Fuel+Opnfv
 JOID: https://wiki.opnfv.org/display/joid/JOID+Home
 Charm Store: https://jujucharms.com/store
 MAAS: http://maas.io/

References II
 https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openair-
cn/blob/master/DOCS/EPC_User_Guide.pdf
 https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai1B/openairinterface5g/wikis/home
 https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openairinterface5g/wikis/home
 https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openairinterface5g/wikis/OpenAirSoftw
areSupport
 https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openairinterface5g/wikis/OpenAirUsage
 https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openairinterface5g/wikis/AllianceProjec
tsProposal
 https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openairinterface5g/wikis/OAITestSetup

THANK YOU!!
Feedback ?
tbr@iith.ac.in,
rohit.gupta@eurecom.fr,
kkuchi@iith.ac.in

Openairinterface (Oai) For Experimentation in 5G: Unleashing The Potential of Open-Source in The 5G Arena

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Openairinterface (Oai) For Experimentation in 5G: Unleashing The Potential of Open-Source in The 5G Arena

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

OpenAirInterface (OAI) for Experimentation in 5G

Bheemarjuna Reddy Tamma, Rohit Gupta and Kiran Kuchi

Unleashing the potential of open-source in the 5G arena

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 2

 LTE and Wi-Fi Aggregation (LWA)

 Summary & Future Directions

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 3

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 4

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 5

 Open-source software-based implementation of LTE Rel 10

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 6

MME Application S+P-GW Application

RRC RRC S1-MME X2AP S1-U S1-MME S6a/Diameter GTP-U SGi

PDCP PDCP SCTP UDP SCTP UDP

MAC MAC Ethernet Ethernet

UEs eNBs MME + S+P-GW

3GPP layers Control Plane

and EPC (MME, S+P-GW, HSS)

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 7

Openair5G (For realization of OAI RAN)

OpenairCN (For realization of OAI EPC)

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 8

 C Implementation under low latency kernel for x86

Field trials and

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 9

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 10

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 11

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 12

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 14

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 15

 Classical 3GPP setup:

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 16

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 17

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 18

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 19

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 20

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 21

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 22

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 23

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 24

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 25

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 26

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 27

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 28

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 29

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 30

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 31

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 32

– LTE release 8.6 compliant, and implements a subset of release 10;

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 33

 The MAC layer implements a subset of the 3GPP 36-

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 35

 Preprocessor : Converts two-

 Scheduler : Sorting of the

 Post-processor :Converts the

Nov 6, 2016 Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 37

 The current PDCP is header compliant with 3GPP 36-

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 38

 The RLC layer implements a full specification of the 3GPP 36-322

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 39

 Based on 3GPP 36.331 v9.2.0.

Tutorial @ IEEE ANTS 2016 40

 The Physical layer implements 3GPP 36.211, 36.212,