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Orchestrated 5G Service Provisioning

Overview

This lab shows how to create a simple 5G service by combining radio and core resources in an automated workflow.

In 5G, a service depends on two main building blocks, which are the fundamental logical resources involved in this lab:

  • 5G cell: the radio coverage point that delivers connectivity to user equipment
  • 5G core: the central network element that manages sessions, mobility, subscriber access, etc.

The associated physical resources that make it possible to create logical resources and ultimately the 5G service are:

  • 5G core device: the actual core network node that handles session and subscriber control.
  • gNodeB: the radio access node that serves 5G cells and connects them to the core.
  • Radio Unit: a physical radio unit attached to the gNodeB that transmits and receives radio signals.

Those resources in Maat, which is used as the Network Source of Truth for available 5G elements and services.

The workflow is implemented as Apache Airflow DAGs. The main workflows are:

  • Creation of a 5G cell logical resource, which registers a radio cell and configures the associated gNodeB and Radio Unit(s)
  • Creation of a 5G core logical resource, which defines the core network configuration and binds it to a core device
  • Creation a Basic 5G service, which associates an available cell and core into a provisioned 5G service instance

The DAGs validate input parameters, check that the selected resources are available in Maat, generate vendor-specific configuration, and then create/update the resulting state in Maat. Currently, the implementation supports Amarisoft as the target 5G platform that includes both the radio and core parts. For Amarisoft, the workflow generates device configuration files, injects them via SSH, and updates symlinks so the Amarisoft process reloads the new configuration.

The key tools in this lab are:

  • Airflow for defining and running the orchestration workflows
  • Maat as the Network Source of Truth of resources and services

Because the workflows separate inventory management from vendor-specific configuration, the same pattern can be extended to other 5G solutions. New hardware or software platforms can be added by implementing the device-specific configuration and provisioning steps while keeping the Airflow/Maat orchestration logic.