Open-Source 5G Core Platforms: A Low-Cost Solution and Performance Evaluation

Abstract: An essential component for the Fifth Generation of Mobile Networks deployments is the 5G Core (5GC), which bridges the 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) to the rest of the Internet. Some open-source platforms for the 5GC have emerged and been deployed in Common Off-the-Shelf (COTS)-based setups. Despite these open-source 5GC initiatives following the 3GPP specifications, they differ in implementing some features and their stages in the timeline of 3GPP releases. Besides that, they may yield different performance to metrics related to the data and control planes. This article reviews the major open-source 5GC platforms and evaluates their performance in a 5G Standalone (SA) COTS-based testbed. The results indicate that Open5GS provides the best latencies for control plane procedures, OpenAirInterface offers the highest data rates, and Free5GC has the lowest resource consumption.