Key Questions and Answers from the Discussion

(Note this summary is generated by AI - Google Gemini)

This chat log captures a Q&A session. Participants asked questions and project representatives provided answers.

Open Air Interface (OAI)

• Relationship between OAI Software Alliance (OSA) and OAI Foundation: The OAI Foundation is a separate entity, and the OAI Software Alliance has board seats on the Foundation.

• Testbeds and Trials: OAI develops and uses its own testbeds, and also interfaces with others.

• Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) Support: Yes, OAI includes NTN. There will be a slide covering this in the RAN (Radio Access Network) part of the OAI presentation. NTN GEO is also a topic of interest for testing.

• Hands-on Training for Building a Lab: The easiest way is to follow the tutorials (links will be provided in the RAN and CN parts of the presentation). You can also participate in their bi-annual workshops.

• Commercial Smartphone Support: OAI aims to support commercial smartphones, and both iPhone and Samsung phones work. General interoperability is regularly tested in their Continuous Integration (CI) process. Several companies offer OAI commercially and test it with phones.

  • Specific Samsung Models: OAI can work with Samsung S24 and S25, for example. The list of tested devices will be updated with this information.

• Documentation for "Three UPF Flavors": This question was asked, implying interest in different User Plane Function (UPF) implementations within OAI.

• Absence of SEPP in Roadmap: A user asked for the reason behind SEPP (Security Edge Protection Proxy) not being on OAI's roadmap.

• OAM Project and O-RAN: OAI's OAM (Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) project is O-RAN compliant, which references 3GPP standards. The interfaces (E2/M-plane/O1) are defined by O-RAN working groups.

• FlexRIC Software Dependency Issues: For FlexRIC (a component of OAI), gcc-11 is not supported. You don't need to be a community member to use FlexRIC, but you can subscribe to their mailing lists for support.

• Radio Resource Scheduling Algorithms: OAI does not use AI/ML for scheduling. It currently uses traditional proportional fair-based scheduling.

srsRAN

• Roadmap Definition (Open-Source Track): The srsRAN representative planned to elaborate on this in a later part of their presentation, but did confirm they do not use AI/ML in their scheduling.

• NTN GEO Information: A tutorial outlining how to use the GEO features of srsRAN Project is available at https://docs.srsran.com/projects/project/en/latest/tutorials/source/ntn/source/index.html. For specific questions, you can contact Brendan at brendan@srs.io.

• Radio Resource Scheduling Algorithms: srsRAN does not use AI/ML in their scheduling.

Open5GS

• 5GC Component Development and Interoperability: Open5GS primarily (or exclusively) develops 5GC (5G Core Network) components. They are interoperable with other RAN projects and even commercial RANs. A user was directed to https://open5gs.org/open5gs/docs/hardware/01-genodebs/ for more information.

  • Main Branch Compatibility: The documentation was primarily community-written, and the Open5GS main branch (develop) should now work out of the box with OAI. Users are encouraged to report any non-working parts via GitHub issues.

• 5G Roaming Testing: A user inquired about manuals for setting up two Open5GS instances to emulate operators for 5G roaming, and which other cores have been used for testing this. One user heard an Oracle core was used for testing, but had no detailed information. This question was also raised in the context of NTN.

• Map of Network Functions (NFs) and Release Status: Open5GS does not currently have a single overview map of their covered NFs and their release status, or detailed information about supporting service operations over PCF (Policy Control Function).

Free5GC

• Roadmap for Releases >19 towards Release 21 (6G): Free5GC has just started a project for NTN in June and does not yet have a roadmap for future releases towards 6G.

• NWDAF on Roadmap: A user asked if NWDAF (Network Data Analytics Function) is on Free5GC's roadmap.

5G-MAG

• Translating specifications into reference tools potentially onboarded into products and used for validation/verification of specifications, demos, trials.

• Information on projects is available in developer.5g-mag.com

• Projects are open to contributions from the community: 5g-mag.github.io/Getting-Started.

• Bridge between media applications, service aspects, connectivity enablers and features.

General Questions

• Open to Academia and Training: A general question was posed to all projects about their openness to academia worldwide and how to involve/train them. 

The session was extended by 10 minutes, and participants were encouraged to continue posting questions for later organization and sharing.