To devise, assess and demonstrate a conceptually novel and forward-looking cloud-native, unified and secured service-based 5G architecture, solutions and systems for private networks. FUDGE-5G will allow for extreme interoperability and customization for industry verticals among wired and wireless access infrastructure (“all-Ethernet”5GLAN with 5G-Multicast and 5G-TSN support), eSBA platform, mobile 5GC, service orchestration and vertical applications.
A significant revenue opportunity for 5G has been identified in addressing Business-to-Business (B2B) industry vertical communication network needs. This requires understanding the very specific needs of the different industries. In addition to conventional MNO support using public mobile networks, new approaches for private networks and campus networks (combination of a public and a private network) have been appearing, enabled by the use of local 5G spectrum.
FUDGE-5G has already identified five use cases for private 5G networks that feature diverse range of network and radio requirements, and deployment options, and represent a very high innovation and business impact:
• A Media Showroom with massive audio and video streaming requirements.
• A Deployable 5G network for PPDR providing on-the-fly deployment 5GLAN for secure mission critical communications.
• A 5G Virtual Office with a 5GLAN with Virtual Private Network (VPN) combining fixed Ethernet, WiFi and 5G access.
• An Industry 4.0 Campus Network providing ultra-low time synchronisation requirements.
• 5G-Eduroam, providing distributed Software-Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN) across University campuses.
For the definition of the use cases, FUDGE-5G partners will (i) engage with vertical stakeholders interested in private 5G networks for the definition of the use cases; (ii) collaborate with relevant 5G-PPP projects, such as ICT-19 projects on advanced 5G validation trials across multiple vertical industries, 5G-HEART, 5G-SMART or 5G-SOLUTIONS and (iii) follow relevant standardisation and industrial groups, such as 5G ACIA, NGMN Alliance, and the GSM Association. FUDGE-5G brings five stakeholders in its Advisory Board (AB) as vertical end-users for each use case: NRK, the Norwegian Defense Material Agency (NDMA), Oslo University Hospital (Rikshospitalet), Yara Birkeland and the Artic University of Norway (University of Tromsø). 5G-HEART and 5G-SOLUTIONS use cases on the 5G-VINNI sites of Telenor are also candidates for additional vertical validation trials of the FUDGE-5G Platform.
This unified eSBA framework with decompose the 5G system into several components, namely (i) the unified eSBA platform, including vertical application orchestration, (ii) 5G network functions, specifically the mobile 5GC and the radio access network, and (iii) vertical service applications. This decomposition will allow for extreme interoperability, and deployment customisation options for private 5G networks.
The unified eSBA framework will be the basis for the FUDGE-5G Platform and the technology components of the project. FUDGE-5G consortium brings together several small and medium European vendors for mobile 5G network components that will be able to customize their technology solutions according to the vertical use case needs, e.g., from cloud-native based deployments in the public and/or private clouds, to on-premises deployment (either at the edge with MEC and local datacentres), and hybrid deployments. The unified eSBA framework poses new challenges such as resource allocation, slice scheduling and service routing, which will be addressed in the project.
The unified eSBA framework will be the basis for the FUDGE-5G Platform and the technology components of the project. FUDGE-5G consortium brings together several small and medium European vendors for mobile 5G network components that will be able to customize their technology solutions according to the vertical use case needs, e.g., from cloud-native based deployments in the public and/or private clouds, to on-premises deployment (either at the edge with MEC and local datacentres), and hybrid deployments. The unified eSBA framework poses new challenges such as resource allocation, slice scheduling and service routing, which will be addressed in the project.
The means of verification will be the design of the unified eSBA platform for both control and user plane, documented in D1.2 (initial release of components and interfaces) and D1.3 (final architecture release).
Private 5G networks should leverage all the benefits of 5G while maintaining the current capabilities of existing corporate LAN solutions. 5GLAN is therefore an essential technology that will be embraced for offering private communication using IP and/or non-IP, and to seamlessly integrate 5G with fixed and wireless (WiFi) LAN. Furthermore, 5GLAN can serve as basis for more innovative technologies. The existing 5GLAN functionality in Rel-16 is based on the emulation of LAN features in the 5G core network. FUDGE-5G will go one step further by extending 5GLAN support to unified access under one address “all-Ethernet” domain, opening up the capability to deliver content more efficiently to end users consolidating multiple existing networks into a single converged 5G network.
The NR access technology and the 5GC core in Rel-15 and Rel-16 only support point-to-point (PTP) unicast transmissions. 3GPP decided to prioritize the work in these areas despite the fact that broadcast was considered by many stakeholders as an integral part of the 5G system from the beginning [14] . Multicast/broadcast point-to-multipoint (PTM) transmissions are nowadays considered an essential feature to enable new applications in a number of vertical sectors, such as automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), Media & Entertainment (M&E) and Public Saftety. 3GPP has started its specification in Rel-17 [16]. FUDGE-5G will support multicast/broadcast transport in the 5GC (5G-Multicast) to provide a cost-effective and scalable network delivery solution when distributing the same data to multiple users and devices, and to ease the 5GC compatibility with an all-Ethernet domain. FUDGE-5G will also include cell broadcast support since it can have applications for several use cases (e.g., IoT 5G message service, or public warning service complying with the mandate in the Article 110 of the European Electronic Communications Code). Furthermore, FUDGET-5G will go beyond existing notions of multicast to support opportunistic relationships, as occurring in interactive virtual reality scenarios and very difficult to support with traditional IP multicast technologies.
Industrial automation and smart manufacturing has been identified as a major application for 5G private networks. Industry 4.0 connectivity requires guaranteed and real-time communication, with very stringent requirements in terms of latency, reliability and high-accuracy positioning. In order to accelerate deployment of Industry 4.0 5G private networks, FUDGE-5G will support the TSN IEEE industrial networking standard over 5G networks (5G-TSN). 5G-TSN requires dedicated resources and stable Quality of Service (QoS) to ensure end-to-end synchronization between 5G mobile and fixed TSN devices, which can be provided by dedicated 5GLAN network slices, with the required orchestration and management.
Private 5G networks require an end-to-end vertical orchestrator to guarantee the consistency and the respect of end-to-end service requirements over multiple domains (RAN, edge, core) that are eventually managed by different actors (as by the disintegrated network vision). Existing service orchestration solutions, such as ETSI’s Zero touch network & Service Management (ZSM), currently consider domain-specific service and infrastructure orchestrators. However, in the context of a unified 5GLAN, an end-to-end multi-domain orchestration will be required. Differentiated processing needs to be also enforced selectively, trading off performance with security and privacy requirements specific of each use cases. FUDGE-5G will pave the way towards multi-domain intelligent orchestration along with advanced features, such as data-analytics and advanced policy enforcement and cybersecurity mechanisms.
This project objective can then be structured in the following sub-objectives:
3.A) 5GLAN. This sub-objective will extend 5GLAN connecting several access networks (5G, WiFi and fixed Ethernet), and providing a unified all-Ethernet address domain where devices are able to interact seamlessly to other devices inside the private network.
3.B) 5G-Multicast. This sub-objective will ensure that dedicated multicast NFs and the required interface extensions are included as integral FUDGE-5G features, including cell broadcast.
3.C) 5G-TSN. The NFs needed to integrate TSN functionality into the FUDGE-5G Platform will be designed, in particular the Device-Side TSN Translator (DS-TT) and the Network TSN Translator (NW-TT).
3.D) Intelligent orchestration. This sub-objective will provide an end-to-end multi-domain application orchestrator supporting policy enforcement as well as cybersecurity and data analytics features.
A comprehensive set of 5G technology components will be prototyped and integrated into the FUDGE-5G Platform, including: a unified eSBA platform and resource controller, three 5GC solutions, a Cell Broadcast component, a secure network slicer, a vertical application orchestrator, and vertical application platforms. The eSBA framework will be used as a cornerstone to integrate the rest of the technology components. The Platform southbound boundary is formed by the Network Function Virtualisation Infrastructure (NFVI) of 5G-VINNI, that describes the HW and SW components on which a virtual network is built. The Platform northbound boundary is formed by a Vertical Application Orchestrator, interfaced with the vertical business and translating the customer and stakeholder needs into quantifiable 5G parameters. Detailed information on the portfolio of FUDGE-5G components can be found in Section 1.3.2.4. In order to realize this objective, an AGILE development will be adopted as part of the component development methodology in WP2. A Kanban board will be employed to manage and control the development of the components. The Platform will be initially validated in a sandbox environment to test interoperability service exposure, security, routing and subscription capabilities across all 5G components (WP2 T2.5). The second validation step will be the integration with the access network of 5G-VINNI, providing E2E 5G connectivity.
The main expected impact of FUDGE-5G is the validation of its 5G components and the integration platform. The project targets a TRL of 7 for all components with system prototype demonstrations in an operational environment that includes end-to-end 5G connectivity using the 5G-VINNI access network provided by Telenor. 5G-VINNI features a commercial and multivendor 5G deployment for end-to-end connectivity trials and application testing. The five identified use cases for private 5G networks will be trialled with prominent stakeholders as vertical end users in two phases. The first phase of trials scheduled between M13 and M19 will represent a first milestone for the testing of the first release of the FUDGE-5G Platform. A second set of trials, planned for M25 to M30, will validate the final release of the components. Trials will be also used to showcase the components.
The project will pursue some truly innovative 5G technologies that have not been standardized yet. The high innovation level of the project and the strong standardisation background anticipates an important number of contributions to standardization groups, notably 3GPP but also other relevant fora such as ETSI, IETF and ITU-T. Some innovations of the project are suited for Rel-18 timeframe, e.g., 3GPP it is not pursuing all-Ethernet 5GLAN support in Rel-17. However, 3GPP will work on unified eSBA, 5G-TSN and 5G-Multicast during Rel-17. This represents an opportunity to contribute to the Rel-17 standardisation, but also a challenge to keep the pace of 3GPP standardisation during the project. InterDigital, Huawei and Thales hold a very strong presence in 3GPP, FOKUS, One2many and Telenor are also active members, and UPV has a solid track record on standardisation in digital broadcast technologies.
As part of the Exploitation Plan, the project will aim to demonstrate the suitability of the FUDGE-5G network components for the deployment of highly customised vertical 5G private network solutions in both 5G technology events and vertical industry events.
