Page 132 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2024
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2024 ITU Kaleidoscope Academic Conference




           (e) Integrated  control  &  orchestration  function:  It  4.1 INCA Functions and Interfaces
           formulates  network  control  decisions  by  creating  a  list  or  The  INCA  functions  implement  the  integrated  network
           configuration  file  containing  the  appropriate  resource  control  architecture  functions,  interfaces  and  control
           control  parameters  for  each  network  segment  involved  in  message  flows  as  explained  in  the  previous  section.  The
           the  E2E  network  service.  These  parameter  lists  are  then  INCA  functions  and  integrated  network  control  interfaces
           sent  to  the  control  systems  of  the  individual  network  are  implemented  in  Python  programming  language.  The
           segments through the integrated network control interfaces.  integrated  network  control  interfaces  use  RESTful
           3.3 Individual Network Segment Control Systems     Application  Program  Interfaces  (APIs)  to  communicate
                                                              with  the  controllers  of  individual  network  segments.  The
           The  TN-NTN  integrated  network  control  system   control parameters are exchanged in the JSON format.
           architecture  assumes  that  the  individual  network  control
           systems have functional components similar to those in the   4.2 TN-NTN Integrated Network Environment
           integrated network control architecture. The key difference   The TN-NTN integrated network environment includes the
           is  that  the  scope  of  each  function  is  limited  to  a  specific   5G   RAN   functions,   5GC   functions,   NTN
           network segment rather than an E2E network service.   simulator/emulator,  and  DN.  The  5G  RAN  is  based  on
           Individual network control system has two sets of interfaces:   UERANSIM   (https://github.com/aligungr/UERANSIM),
           internal and external. Internal interfaces collect monitoring   and  the  5GC  network  functions  are  based  on  free5GC
           data  from  physical  or  functional  network  elements  at   (https://free5gc.org).  The  5GC  network  functions  include
           varying  levels  of  granularity  and  time  scales.  External   several functions such as Access and Mobility Management
           interfaces  connect  to  the  integrated  network  control   Function  (AMF),  Session  Management  Function  (SMF),
           interfaces to provide monitoring data and receiving control   Policy  Control  Function  (PCF),  Network  Exposure
           parameters.                                        Function (NEF), and Network Repository Function (NRF)
           3.4 Control Signaling Message Flow                 in the control plane and the User Plane Function (UPF) in
                                                              the  data  plane.  The  5GC  functions  are  deployed  in
           ITU-T  Y.3207  [6]  describes  the  sequence  of  control   standalone  mode.  More  details  about  the  5GC  network
           signaling  message  flows  to  realize  the  INCA’s  two  key   functions can be found in [12].
           capabilities:                                      The  NTN  is  composed  of  a  satellite  network’s  detail
           (a) Creating network services that span both TN and NTN  simulator  in  the  control  plane  and  an  emulator  of  NTN
           segments based on given QoS requirements.          bandwidth, latency, jitter, and loss rates in the data plane,
           (b) Monitoring  performance  and  controlling  resources  to  both developed in our lab. In this experimental system, the
           maintain QoS, even with fluctuations in network conditions  5GC  network  functions  are  split  into  two  groups:  5GC
           such as changes in user numbers or traffic demands.  (central) and 5GC (edge), and the NTN is inserted between
           We  have  incorporated  these  message  sequences  into  our  them. The AMF and SMF are in the 5GC (edge) while the
           experimental  system.  However,  due  to  space  constraints,  remaining control plane network functions are in the 5GC
           we  will  not  provide  the  details  here  and  instead  refer  (central). The UPFs  are in both the 5GC (edge) and 5GC
           readers to [5] for further information.            (central).
                                                              The  DN  is  configured  in  the  OpenStack  platform,  whose
               4. EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT             components are managed by Open-Source MANO (OSM --
                                                              https://osm.etsi.org/).  The  DN  contains  video  application
           Figure 2 shows the layout of the experimental system that   server  configured  with  MPEG-DASH  module  installed  in
           we have developed in our lab. It consists of three blocks: 1)   virtual  machines  (VMs)  for  streaming  three  different
           INCA functions and integrated network control interfaces,   quality  video  files.  The  video  client  program  or  player  is
           2) TN-NTN  integrated  network  environment,  and  3)  installed in the user equipment (UE). Laptop computers are
           Control operation visualization tools.
                                                              used  to  operate  as  UEs  by  installing  the  UE  module  of

                                                         1) INCA functions
                                                         Integrated network control interfaces
                         3) Control operation  Control
                           visualization  parameters  Monitoring
                                                    data

                          2) TN-NTN integrated  Interface  Interface   Interface      Interface
                          network environment
                                            5GC controller  NTN controller  5GC controller  DN controller
                                                         Simulator                      DN
                                             5G mobile                5G mobile
                                    RAN      core (edge)  Emulator   core (central)    App server

                                                     5G control signaling  Data plane connectivity
                                  UE
                                             Figure 2 -   Experimental system layout.




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