Devices and interoperability
Connect phones, modems and IoT routers. Investigate registration, SIM configuration and whether the applications you need work across different devices.
Research
Your next experiment starts here.
A real private 5G network for student projects, practical labs and new research. Bring a device, an application or a question and explore how the system behaves.
Research opportunities
What can you investigate?
The thesis brought radio hardware, the campus core and monitoring together. Follow-on work can use this foundation for focused experiments.
Backhaul and deployment
Compare campus Ethernet with the OpenWrt/WireGuard path. Explore how the connection back to the core affects setting up and operating a relocatable radio site.
Sensing and applications
Develop the weather-station integration or bring another campus application. Follow data from the device to the service and investigate recovery after interruptions.
Observability and diagnosis
Use the existing dashboards, InfoAPI exporter and Zeek traffic metadata to investigate new diagnostic questions. Correlate application events with subscriber states, sessions and logs.
Future research · Concept
QKD for a protected backhaul.
How could Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) support encryption between the SC-418 gNodeB and the Open5GS core? A possible experiment would protect N2 signalling to the AMF and N3 user traffic to the UPF with a tunnel between security gateways.
This is a proposed extension. It would require QKD devices, a suitable optical quantum channel, authenticated classical communication and integration with key management. It is not an existing QKD capability of the SC-418 or Open5GS.
Possible transport path
gNodeB → radio-site gateway ⇄ encrypted backhaul ⇄ campus gateway → Open5GS (AMF / UPF)
QKD supplies shared keys; a compatible encryption system, for example an IPsec tunnel using AES, protects the traffic. Gateway placement determines where that protection starts and ends.
Research questions: How can keys be integrated and refreshed? What happens when QKD keys are unavailable? How do these choices affect availability and the transport path?
User equipment
Phones, modems and IoT routers.
Android and iOS smartphones, a Linux modem and the weather station router use the platform for device experiments, measurements and IoT applications.
Quectel RM520N-GL
Linux with a USB-to-M.2 carrier. Used for repeated throughput, latency, reconnect and stability tests.
Controlled measurements
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7
Registration, PDU session and proxy-assisted campus/external applications. Also used in a separate OpenWrt/WireGuard backhaul test.
Functional interoperability
Apple iPhone 14
Registration, PDU session and application checks. A separate test also established protected SUCI with protection scheme 2.
Functional interoperability
Teltonika RUT976
5G gateway for the campus weather station. The RUT976 connects the station network to the weather data service through the private campus network.
Integrated IoT use case
Open work
Ideas for the next project.
Three starting points for a practical project or a follow-on thesis.
Backhaul under comparable load
Repeat the same endpoint test sequence on direct Ethernet and OpenWrt/WireGuard, with campus WLAN conditions recorded.
Telemetry through interruptions
Introduce controlled interruptions into the existing RUT976 weather data path and compare data freshness, automatic recovery and recovery times at the application endpoint.
A deployable wagon
Develop the adjustable mast, mounting, power and cable routing; verify stability and repeatability of setup before field use.
Extend the experiment.
The platform supports follow-on theses, practical labs and focused network studies.