Integrating 5G enabling technologies in a holistic service to physical layer 5G system platform
[November 2020 – October 2023]
PCRL coordinated the Int5Gent Project. Int5Gent focused on integrating innovative data plane technology building blocks within a flexible 5G network resource, slice, and application orchestration framework, providing a comprehensive 5G system platform for validating advanced 5G services and IoT solutions.
The project built upon a suite of innovative 5G technological solutions spanning hardware, software, and networking systems. These solutions had been conceptualized and developed under the latest 5GPPP initiative projects and were further advanced to TRL-7 and beyond. It also combined novel and state-of-the-art solutions to further enhance the capabilities and maturity of cutting-edge 5G core technologies, fostering the creation of an innovative 5G ecosystem.
A selection of the developed and implemented technologies included flexible multi-RAT baseband signal processing, beam steering, mmWave technology solutions at 60GHz and 150GHz, hardware-based edge processors with TSN and GPU processing capabilities, innovative 5G terminals, and elastic SDN-based photonic data transport.
The integration of these technology blocks was carried out within a holistic 5G architecture that promoted edge processing. The architecture was orchestrated by an NFVO-compatible framework with edge node extensions at the network layer and an overlay vertical services application orchestrator at the user plane layer.
The complete platform was deployed across two extensive testbeds, which included actual field-deployed segments managed by the network operators of the consortium. The validation and demonstration testbeds hosted three use case scenarios, covering services for multiple vertical sectors as well as innovative applications for smart IoT networked devices. These use cases were designed to showcase the benefits of the adopted technologies, particularly in terms of increased bandwidth, low latency, and high reliability. Furthermore, they created new market opportunities, especially for the participating SMEs, by facilitating pilot validation of their offered solutions.
