Open Source in the 5G Stack | Hacker News Reader

Open Source in the 5G Stack

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127 pointstodsacerdoti25 comments

We recently compiled a list of open (and often open source) 5G stacks: https://open5g.info

There are several projects focusing of different aspects of these complex networks (RAN, edge, core, orchestration, automation).

Strangely they went pass Free5gc (1)(2), perhaps it's too close to China ?.

It's the more complete 5G stack imo. All functions are containerized and it's in Golang, which is way less error-prone e̶r̶r̶o̶r̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶o̶f̶ than openair (in c/c++). I used it at work to build a new private function that interact with the various api to build fast path breakout in the user data plane.

[1] https://www.free5gc.org/ [2] https://github.com/free5gc/free5gc

I'm assuming you mean error-prone and not error proof? =D Took me a couple of reads to get it.

Huh, I’ve been interested in Go’s application in telecom/digital communications. I’ll have to take a look at this. Most of what I’ve been working on (non 5g) has been Erlang and the bit of C I’m stuck with.

Out of interest, what are you looking for in Go that Erlang doesn't give you?

Nothing particularly. I'm always interested in other languages. Offhand though, I imagine Go might make working with native code a bit easier.

Go is kinda weird to me because I always here people refer to it as a systems language in comparison to C or C++, but have really only seen it used for things like web services.

> perhaps it's too close to China ?

It's mainly built by the Taiwanese.

Another submission from the Osmocom folks (who have been creating open source for 2G/etc):

https://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/harald_welt...

The six proposed assessment metrics are compelling reading; I wonder whether there's data out there to support/reject the effectiveness of each measure in widely-used software?

Also of note: https://renew.rice.edu/. Discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24026416

See this effort: https://linuxfoundation.org/en/press-release/darpa-and-the-l...

What sort of hardware do you need to play around with 5G networks. I have a limesdr sitting around I originally bought for some docsis and 802.11 projects, that I think may support some range of 5g frequencies, but people I’ve talked to working on 5g projects tend to look at those expensive USRP radios I can’t afford.

5G is such an incredible and complex set of protocols, I don't think companies will let it go open source without a fight.

The fear for the incumbents is that they are simply replaced by Aws, Google and Azure

Then someone better start that fight as soon as possible.

Would anyone imagine any big political figure, let's say a bunch of US senators, happily talking on their super-secure phone while being spied upon by a bunch of innocent looking temperature/humidity sensors which just happen to have an indistinguishable MEMS microphone inside a chip, then send encrypted data, so that nobody can catch their firmware actually encoding ambient sounds using a low speed codec and sending them to an apparently safe server at every "update".

DARPA is pushing forward with an open-source stack for 5G, who cares what the companies want.

https://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/press-release/darpa-and-t...

Remember, 5g is the way that commercial iot devices will have unfettered network access.

It really is quite dystopian.

Is it really that dystopian?

Not per se, but gives a really powerful tool in the hands of those willing to use it for wrong purposes. Don't get me wrong. Technically speaking I love the idea of 5G pervasive connectivity in small devices; it's just fantastic, but this development really call for more openness both in hardware and software to ensure those devices aren't being used to mine common people personal data.

Especially considering that pretty much every network capable piece of closed hardware/software we already use phones home regularly, officially for improvements and security updates, although a lot of them have been already caught multiple times exfiltrating personal data (phones, "Smart" TVs, closed operating systems and software, assistants, etc). We don't even need to fall to any government conspiracy theory to imagine what is going to happen since selling bulks of personal data and profiling potential customers is already a huge business, and frankly I wouldn't believe any company promising to respect my privacy. I want either 100% open code and hardware, or simply stop talking about privacy and security because there would be none of either.

4G (or maybe even 2 and 3G ...) would probably be better at that than 5G will be. 5G will have high capacity and very short range. Great for video calls and streaming YouTube if you're close to a tower, not great for the toaster trying to phone home from the basement.

having done IoT over 2G, 3G now LTE.... have a look at https://www.iotforall.com/cellular-iot-explained-nb-iot-vs-l... for an "explanation" IoT on the newer networks :)

5G will have greater capacity at the same range, PLUS the high capacity, short range slice of frequencies (5G NR). It does not live aside from 4G, it enhances it within the same frequencies and adds some extra ones as well.

5G have as good if not better range than 4G. 5G MMwave have very small range but sub6 5G have great range depending on which frequencies its deployed on.

You're thinking about the radio. I'm talking about 5g iot devices handing off data to other 5g devices to relay.

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