A CableFree SC-418 provides the relocatable 5G access network. Amarisoft runs on the small cell; Open5GS and campus services remain on the university network.
Physical platform
Inspect the setup. Explore the wagon.
Switch between the real setup, its antenna adapter and connector panel, then explore the proposed mobile platform.
Hardware · Connections · WagonInteractive 3D
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Today: a speaker tripod carries the antenna through a metal adapter. The SC-418 sits nearby. This view reconstructs the photographed setup; the bracket and tripod dimensions are approximate.
The existing adapter uses a top plate and perforated angle brackets. The antenna is 600 mm tall and 89 mm in diameter according to its mechanical drawing.
The lower-left SFP slot is used with an RJ45 transceiver for N2 signalling and N3 user traffic. The lower-right copper Ethernet port is for management. These roles follow the actual project cabling.
Proposed next step: a wheeled platform with a hand-cranked telescopic mast, upright mast-mounted small cell and managed cable slack. This is a spatial concept, not a completed build or a mechanical load assessment.
Model basis: photos of the current setup and the antenna mechanical drawing (600 × Ø89 mm). The small-cell enclosure uses the 325 × 210 × 156 mm reference from the CableFree product-family datasheet. Exact SC-418 enclosure, bracket and wagon geometry still require verification.
Inside the lab
The real setup
The CableFree SC-418 sits on the lab bench beside the omnidirectional antenna on a height-adjustable tripod. Two antenna cables connect the radio hardware to the antenna.
The photograph shows the current setup at Hochschule RheinMain. A shared wagon with an adjustable mast is the next development step.
Small cell and antenna in the current lab setup.
Equipment
What runs where?
The small cell and its antenna form the transportable radio site. The core, monitoring services, and application endpoints stay on campus. Moving the radio site requires a backhaul path to that stationary side.
N2 carries control signalling to the AMF. N3 carries encapsulated user traffic to the UPF. After decapsulation, the N6 side connects the UE data path to campus services. Management and monitoring are separate.
Scroll sideways to explore the diagram, or open the full-size version.
Simplified platform overview based on the thesis architecture and implemented network paths. End devices vary by use case. Dashed red lines show signalling and control; solid purple lines show user traffic. Open full-size diagram ↗
N2
The gNB exchanges control signalling with the AMF.
N3
The gNB sends encapsulated user traffic to the UPF.
N6
The UPF forwards decapsulated packets toward campus services.
Connection modes
Two backhaul options.
Both modes keep the radio site relocatable and the Open5GS core stationary. The local cabling and transport path change; the 5G roles stay the same.
01
Direct campus Ethernet
Two prepared campus LAN outlets connect SC-418 management and its tagged N2/N3 path.
02
Campus WLAN via OpenWrt
The SC-418 connects locally to an OpenWrt router. The router reaches the campus VM over campus WLAN and WireGuard.
Scroll sideways to explore the diagram, or open the full-size version.
Observability: connect the evidence across the network.
The observability environment combines core and VM metrics, subscriber and session states, service logs and traffic metadata. Grafana helps correlate events across the network and investigate faults.
Scroll sideways to explore the diagram, or open the full-size version.
Website adaptation of the thesis observability diagram. The highlighted InfoAPI exporter was developed in the project. Arrows indicate data flow; Prometheus scrapes metrics and Grafana queries Prometheus and Loki. Open full-size diagram ↗
Designed and integrated in the project
The thesis covers measurement-point selection, scrape and data-source configuration, versioned Grafana dashboards and a custom InfoAPI exporter. The exporter combines AMF and SMF states and exposes subscribers, gNB connectivity and PDU sessions as Prometheus metrics.
The live page shows selected aggregate values. Internal Grafana dashboards provide the detailed diagnostic view.
Prometheus collects native core metrics, host metrics and the project InfoAPI exporter. Grafana supports detailed internal inspection.
02
Logs and events
Alloy and Loki collect service logs so registration, session setup and operational changes can be traced.
03
The user-data path
Passive Zeek observation at ogstun complements endpoint tests. Detailed records stay in the researcher tools; the website shows allowlisted aggregates.
Running a session?
The researcher wiki covers the permitted location, cabling, radio service, commissioned SIM, UE setup and checks at the core.
