OpenEPC

Building Your Own Complete

Mobile Broadband Operator
Network Testbed

Open Core Network Testbeds

meet the R&D demands
Complex, standard-oriented testbeds, mirroring the real operator
environments are fundamental for
increasing trust into research, for
improving the R&D processes, and
for reducing the overall cost of building new mobile applications and
network features.
As a realistic testbed is composed
of a large number of components,
functions, and protocols, their customization requires a deep insight into
every feature. Mitigating complexity in standard oriented testbeds,
while at the same time providing
high flexibility and openness, becomes the key factor in the R&D of
next generation mobile communication products.

The Fraunhofer FOKUS OpenEPC

provides a realistic implementation,
inspired by the last version of the
3GPP Evolved Packet Core (EPC),
alleviating complexity and enabling
a fast gaining of know-how through
practical experimentation.
Through its openness, OpenEPC
provides a hands-on shortcut in the
understanding of the technology,
consideration of novel concepts, and
their development.
With the rollout of LTE and HSPA,
the operator is able to provide simultaneous connectivity to previously unimaginable number of devices.

Table of content
Open Core Network Testbeds meet
the R&D demands
The R&D Community Faces Intense
Complexity in Realizing Meaningful
Testbeds
Why Open Testbeds
A Realistic Testbed answers the
Challenges
The Fraunhofer FOKUS OpenEPC
(Rel. 4)
OpenEPC highly reduces R&D
duration

p 2

p 3

p 4

p 6


p 8


p 10

The R&D Community Faces

Intense Complexity in Realizing
Meaningful Testbeds
The massive broadband communication and the shift to all-IP networks
accelerate technology innovation. To
understand and to benefit from the
new technologies in a proper time
manner, realistic operator network
testbeds are required.
The new technologies have the
same basic 3GPP concepts, oriented
towards subscriber AAA, transparent mobility, QoS and charging.
However, they come with their own
IP oriented protocol stacks. The
functionality is highly complex, due

WLAN

2G RAN

The complexity is a high challenge

for the establishment of meaningful testbeds and for cost-efficient
testing of novel features and applications, prior to the product development.
In summary, complex testbeds are
required, covering the standard
functionality, for enabling a hands-

PDNGW

HSS

High complexity with a large

number of functions

OFCS

on understanding, demonstration,
and further customization. A testbed environment, which achieves
openness and simplicity of usage,
while containing a large amount of
standard features, will enable the
easy deployment in the laboratories
all around the world. It will accelerate the understanding and the
testing of new technologies.
It will also support the evaluation of
new applications or standard core
network components on realistic
environments.

3G RAN

SGSN

LTE RAN

IMS

PCRF

ANGW

to the large number of components,

interfaces, and protocols that have
to work together and influence each
others behavior.

MME

SGW

ePDG

Hard to customize for

specic architecture needs

AAA

ANDSF

MSC

Closed environments limit

the innovation potential

Three key issues that increase the costs of deploying a realistic operator network testbed:
high complexity, reduced customization and closed environments

Why Open Testbeds

A new way of building mobile

broadband core network testbeds
is needed for obtaining meaningful
experimentation results in proper
time manner.

Trust in Research has

to be gained
One of the central issues of current
R&D activities is related to equipment vendors and operators trust
in the feasibility of newly research
concepts for deployment in the
running operator environments, and
thus, to justify the investment in new
products.
This issue affects the applications
especially tailored for the wireless
environment like VoLTE, M2M, Smart
Grids, eHealth, etc.
Additionally it affects the extensions
of the core network features and
optimization algorithms related to
scalability, cognition and self-orchestration, software defined networks,
mobility, QoS, traffic steering, connectivity management, etc.
A realistic testbed, mirroring operator networks, enables to customize
general and specific limit network
conditions and includes the means to
reproduce the experiments in a deterministic manner, thus being a tool
supporting the proof-of concept.

Complexity Limits
Testbed
Deployments
Today, a realistic operator network
testbed is very complex. It should
support one of the 3GPP access technologies LTE, HSPA or EDGE along
with non 3GPP accesses, such as
WiFi, core network mobility support,
subscriber based authentication, and
authorization. Other features employed in the 3GPP EPC architecture
should be considered, such as policy
and charging control, accounting,
access network discovery and selection, and multiple APN realization,
together with off-the-shelf mobile
devices and common IP based service
platforms, such as IMS or M2M.
Developing or gathering such functionality from multiple sources and
orchestrating it in a single testbed
is highly time-consuming. A single
toolkit that manages core network
complexity in an integrated manner
will allow minimizing the time required for testbed establishment and
customization.

Proprietary Systems
make Innovation difficult
One of the main factors deterring
innovation in the area of operator
core networks is related to the prototype equipment, which is usually
delivered in closed boxes with prop-

rietary APIs. The consequence is that

customized usage and extensions are
possible only with large efforts and
redundant adaptation functionality.
There is a stringent need for an open
testbed, based on software components, running on cost-efficient offthe-shelf hardware, able to provide
configuration flexibility, to change
the behavior during runtime, and
to realize functional extensions. Additionally, software-based testbeds
can be virtualized and replicated for
multiple developers and students,
bringing the laboratory environment
on the individual computers.

No easy Replication
of Standard Components
Especially for equipment and application developers, a testbed should
implement the internal and external
interfaces in a standard manner. For
R&D laboratories, which already employ part of the components, a core
network testbed should be able to
provide the missing pieces and thus,
to realize fast a complete working
environment. Otherwise, the means
to evaluate equipment in early phases of prototyping are strenuous.
From this perspective, a testbed
toolkit should provide a reference
implementation of the latest version
of the standards, enabling the
inter-working with current available
and future components, as well as
flexible adaptation towards novel
features.

A Realistic Testbed answers the

Challenges
Standard-based, software testbed
toolkits, running on off-the-shelf
hardware, allow the R&D community to gain fast hands-on experience
with the next evolutionary stage of
the mobile broadband and to further
their activities in a time and cost
efficient manner.

Open Testbeds Build

The Know-How
Open core network testbeds make it
very easy to understand and to evaluate connectivity technologies.
A testbed which completely mirrors
the operator core network, starting
from mobile devices, radio access
networks, core network up to service
platforms, provides an ideal tool for
demonstrations and in-depth study
of the all-IP communication evolution.
Source code access enables the easy
access to a practical implementation
of standard components and interfaces. Through this first hand access
to 3GPP standard components, the
duration of bringing up-to-date the
developers interested in LTE and EPC
environments is drastically reduced.

Easy configurable
software toolkit
implementation
Standard inspired components bring
trust in the new functionality and

What R&D requires from operator core network testbeds:

Standard Aligned
Comprehensive set of features
Simple to configure
Adaptable
Education tool
Openness
Fast Demonstrations
Fast Prototyping
Interoperable
Easy to replicate experiments
Scalable
Integrating with real radio
Cost Efficient
Using real mobile devices
Resource Efficient
Clonable

features and reduce the prototyping

duration. However, they do not relieve the complexity issue.
Software based core network
toolkits can be easily customized to
mirror a specific operator network,
through configuration files and
runtime commands, enabling proofof concept and validation of novel
features.
Through a modular toolkit structure,
the development can be focused
on the specific required items and
not span through the complete
implementation. Existing features
can be initially tested as they are,
to give an idea on the pitfalls that
may be later encountered and to act
as inspiration and guidance for the
further extensions, highly reducing
the development time.

Provide the means

for wireless ready
applications
Considering the current evolution towards dense, seamless, and
ubiquitous all-IP networks, a high
opportunity for novel applications is
foreseen.
The opportunity is doubled by the
uncertainty on which specific services
will become revenue efficient.
Through the usage of complete small
operator network testbeds, applications and services can be developed
directly on top of controllable operator core networks, which can reproduce specific network conditions.

Fast and Cost

Effective
Prototyping
A software based operator core network testbed can be easily installed
and run when developed on top of
an open source operating system
and using only commonly available
external libraries for support.
Through the usage of the same system for configuring, installing, running, and managing all the operator
network testbed, the demonstration
and related processes are highly
accelerated.
An overall visualization and management GUI provides the testbed user
with the basic tools for influencing,
understanding and handling of the
experimentation results.
Software testbeds run on off-theshelf hardware, thus no investment

in specialized hardware is required.

The integration with cost efficient
radio components and with common
service platforms and devices drastically reduces the overall testbed
costs.

Single Box Operator

Network
Through the usage of a set of virtual
machines, realizing each individual
standard component, the testbed
can be run in a single box. An easyto-carry setup for demonstrations
can be obtained, by connecting this
box to radio components and by
using common mobile devices.
Small size virtualized environments,
such as the ones running in a single
box, provide the possibility to replicate the complete testbed for each
developer. However, when an extended capacity is required, the testbed
should still be distributed on more
powerful machines.

SIMPLE TO CONFIGURE AND USE, COMPLEX AS FUNCTIONALITY

Interoperability:
Providing the
Missing Pieces
A standard based, open testbed
allows the selection of specific
components to be integrated and to
interwork with vendor equipment.
An open testbed can be adapted
and employed with third party
equipment, enabling its gradual
transformation with adding real
components, while being able to run
and test at each introduction of new
equipment.
The development of a new functionality can be greatly reduced,
through prototyping against the
standard components offered by the
testbed.

The Fraunhofer FOKUS OpenEPC

(Rel. 4)

OpenEPC includes all the components and a major part of the functionality of the 3GPP Evolved Packet
Core standards, along with own
Fraunhofer FOKUS features, enabling
all-IP connectivity over LTE, HSPA,
EDGE and other non-3GPP accesses,
such as WiFi.

Control

For driving most of the benefits from

OpenEPC, the requirements and the
challenges discussed above have
been taken into consideration during
its development.

PCRF

l.
4
Re
PC

Mirroring the Future

Operator Core
Network

The components of OpenEPC represent R&D prototypes implemented in

the form of a testbed demonstrator
for trialing innovative features of
3GPP Release 8 to 11 and beyond.
They are suitable for laboratory
testing.

Data

Fraunhofer FOKUS OpenEPC toolkit

represents a software implementation, inspired by the 3GPP Evolved
Packet Core architecture. It enables
the realization of realistic operator
network testbeds by interconnecting
with standard radio technologies
and offering IP connectivity service
through a completely controllable
small operator environment. It supports rapid prototyping by employing common devices all the way
to IMS, RCS, VoLTE, M2M and OTT /
Cloud-based applications.

ANDSF

OFCS
HSS

AAA

pe

nE

PGW

SGW

SGSN

2G BTS/BSC

SGSN

3G NodeB/RNC

ePDG

DSL,
FTTx,
WiMAX

MME

LTE eNodeB

ANGw

WiFi

OPENEPC REL. 4 HIGH LEVEL ARCHITECTURE

OpenEPC provides a next evolutionary step in operator networks testbed

realization, by including a substantial
set of features, enabling the realization of small network operator
testbeds. The functionality includes:
Core Network Mobility Management - It contains the features
required for establishing the user
plane, including the implementation of GTP and PMIP mobility,
multiple APN support, and zero
packet-loss handovers.
Integration of 3GPP Access Networks OpenEPC integrates with
standard RAN components for
LTE, 3G and 2G access networks. It
enables the control of the wireless
connectivity enabling the usage
of off-the-shelf devices to connect
to the testbed and the experimentation in realistic radio conditions
including the complete PS and
part of the CS support.
Apart from integration with cost
efficient radio components, OpenEPC provides its own radio emulation nodes employed in complete virtualized environments or by
using free spectrum technologies.
Policy and Charging Control A
complete PCC set of functions is
included in the OpenEPC, enabling QoS support and data path
event notifications based on the
individual subscription profiles
and on the application requirements. For enabling these features, OpenEPC handles the complete data path handling enabling
packet classification, gating and
traffic shaping.
Harmonized AAA and subscriber
management Based on a central
HSS OpenEPC enables the standard AAA functionality for 3GPP
and non-3GPP access networks

as well as convergent subscription profile management for PCC,

access network selection and for
IMS services.
Accounting and Charging OpenEPC is orchestrating the charging
information from the data path
and the service platforms, such
IMS, through an Offline Charging
System.
Client Mobility Support For
selecting the appropriate access networks and for executing
zero-packet-loss access network
selections, OpenEPC features a
network ANDSF, along with a
mobility management module on
mobile devices, including radio
conditions and location based
handovers.
Distribution Features Specifically
targeting transparent flexibility
over a distributed architecture,
OpenEPC includes dynamic data
path selection mechanisms and
signaling routing mechanisms.
User Plane Realization OpenEPC
includes its own processing of
data packets, enabling user space
control of forwarding, tunnel encapsulations, along with own QoS
enforcement mechanisms.

Designed for
enabling complex
testbeds
The OpenEPC software is based on
its own flexible and powerful programming framework, designed for
developing software-based operator
core network functionality and components in a time efficient manner.
Featuring high modularity, OpenEPC
enables the easy deployment of

customized testbeds. Each communication protocol, interface, function and component has a separate
module, allowing the reshaping of
the core network, through multiplication, aggregation and split of the
specific functionality.
Each of the modules exports its own
API, enabling the toolkit to interact
with external components at different communication levels. These
APIs allow for cost efficient building
of non-standard interfaces.
For handling the large number of
modules, a simple set of configuration files are provided for each
component, enabling the definition
of parameters, device interfaces, and
behaviors, with no modification of
the OpenEPC modules.
Dynamic configuration during
runtime can be achieved by using a
special console, listening on each of
the components to external commands. These commands allow the
testbed operator to artificially reproduce experiments conditions, like an
extended number of subscribers.
OpenEPC components can be split
on a large number of computing
devices using Linux OS, according to
the specific scenario needs.
Additionally, OpenEPC can be completely virtualized in a single server.
Then, the testbed can be ported to
different demonstration sites and
as replicated for each interested
developer, highly reducing the cost
of equipment required for R&D.
Another option is to run all the OpenEPC components in a single machine as different parallel programs,
further optimizing the operations
for micro-operator scenarios.
Through its 3GPP inspired interfaces, OpenEPC can interwork with
standard equipment, as validated

ANDSF

S14

MSC

BTS BSC
GPRS

Sp

Gb

NodeB RNC
UMTS

Sp
SWx

HSS/SPR

S6d

SGSN

AF

S6a

S1-MME

eNodeB

S1-U

S4
S11 S12

Gxx
Gxx

S-GW

LTE

Charging
System

PCRF

Iu-PS

MME

Rx

Sp

Gxx

Gx

PDN GW

S5/S8

S2b

AAA
Server

STa

Trusted
Non-3GPP
Untrusted
Non-3GPP

OpenEPC Rel. 4 Component

Rel. 4 Interface

SGi
S6b

S2a

ANGw

UE

Gy/Gz

ePDG

SWm
SWa

Standard component or OpenEPC emulation

Mobile devices and applications

OpenEPC Rel. 4 Interfaces and Components

through multiple vendor integrations. Having LTE, HSPA, or EDGE

RAN plus a computer running the
OpenEPC components and some
common mobile devices, a small operator network can be demonstrated
in a matter of minutes.

Enabling the evolution of core networks

With the adoption of all-IP technologies, the operator environment is
evolving faster and provides a huge
number of business opportunities.
Recognizing this, Fraunhofer FOKUS
developed the OpenEPC toolkit for
providing a shortcut in the R&D.
Through the fast deployment, the
easy configuration, and the fast learning curve, OpenEPC is a timesaving
tool.
Using the OpenEPC based small operator network testbed, application
and service platforms developers can

test and understand the cornerstones of communication over the LTE,

HSPA and EDGE networks, without
leaving their laboratory. By early
acquiring the knowledge of what is
possible and how, applications can
be specifically tailored for mobile
environment.
Additionally, by its modular structure, OpenEPC provides the means
for fast development of novel core
network features, such as efficient
Machine Type Communication support and proximity services integration.
In order to have a more efficient
core network, the existing core
network functionality has to be
further adapted and optimized. This
is possible with OpenEPC for mobility management, QoS and charging
control, monitoring, distributed
core network management, security
mechanisms, subscriber oriented
connectivity, etc.

By distributing OpenEPC components on multiple machines and by

integrating with heterogonous radio
networks, complex trials with large
number of applications and services
can be established, giving a practical
overview on how the network supports a specific domain such as Cloud
Computing, eHealth, eGov, Automotive, Smart Grids, etc.
By using multiple devices and by
spanning the OpenEPC small operator to enterprise level, additional
playgrounds can be established for
studying localization, mobility patterns and migration, SON, QoS requirements and traffic steering, along
with the specific transport networks
integration.

OpenEPC highly reduces R&D

duration
With the adoption of LTE and of
other broadband wireless technologies, femto-cells and with the reduction in costs of devices, the mobile
communication market is opened
towards new domains, such as Smart
Cities, Machine Type Communication,
Cloud Computing, Proximity Services
etc.
As an aggregator of all-IP technologies, the 3GPP Evolved Packet Core
enables this evolution and prepares
the operator network environment
for the scalability requirements of
the future seamless communication.

Following this trend, Fraunhofer

FOKUS realized the OpenEPC toolkit,
a software implementation based
on the 3GPP EPC standards, enabling the research community to gain
know-how and to adopt in proper
time the new technologies.
Featuring a large number of functions and components, enabling the
connectivity through standard radio
technologies for commonly available
devices, OpenEPC enables the realization of complete realistic smallscale operator network testbeds.

Why investing in an open core network testbed?

Understanding fast the new technology

A time shortcut of your development
Testing using real radio in laboratory conditions
Realize your customized testbed
Be in the first line of research
Create trust in your R&D
Complete core network functionality
Easy to configure, install, run and manage

10

OpenEPC can mirror a diversified

number of deployment scenarios, starting from core network in a single
box, up to medium scale distributed
proof-of concepts testbeds. Using
its highly modular and configurable
architecture, OpenEPC provides a genuine basis required for any research
development in the area of services,
applications, and features addressing
future operator core networks.

Acronyms
3GPP

3rd Generation Partnership Project

PMIP

Proxy Mobile IP

AAA

Authentication, Authorization, and

Accounting

PS

Packet Switched

ANDSF

Access Network Discovery and Selection

Function

QoS

Quality of Service

R&D

Research and Development

ANGw

Access Network Gateway

RAN

Radio Access Network

API

Application Programming Interface

RCS

Rich Communication Suite

APN

Access Point Name

RNC

Radio Network Controller

BSC

Base Station Controller

SGSN

Serving GPRS Support Node

CS

Circuit Switched

SGW

Serving Gateway

EDGE

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution

SON

Self-Organizing Networks

EPC

Evolved Packet Core

VoLTE

Voice over LTE

ePDG

Evolved Packet Data Gateway

WLAN

Wireless Local Area Network

GPRS

General Packet Radio Service

GSM

Global System for Mobile Communications, originally Groupe Spcial Mobile

GTP

GPRS Tunneling Protocol

GUI

Graphical User Interface

HSPA

High Speed Packet Access

HSS

Home Subscriber Server

IMS

IP Multimedia Subsystem

IP

Internet Protocol

LTE

Long Term Evolution

M2M

Machine-to-Machine

MME

Mobility Management Entity

MSC

Mobile-services Switching Centre

MTC

Machine Type Communication

OFCS

Offline Charging System

OS

Operating System

OTT

Over The Top

PCC

Policy and Charging Control

PCRF

Policy and Charging Rules Function

PGW

Packet Data Network Gateway

OpenEPC Protocol Stacks

Diameter

RANAP

RADIUS

SCCP

GTP

M3UA

Mobile IP

SNDCP

Proxy Mobile IP

LLC

IPv4-in-IPv4

BSSGP

IPv4-in-IPv6

NS

IPv6-in-IPv4

SyncML

IPv6-in-IPv6

SNMP

GRE

OMA NGSI

GTPv2-C
GTP-U
NAS
GSM Layer 3 / DTAP
S1AP
X2AP

11

More information about

OpenEPC can be found at:
www.openepc.net
Contact the experts at:
[email protected]

Fraunhofer Institute for

Open Communication
Systems FOKUS
Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 31
10589 Berlin, Germany
www.fokus.fraunhofer.de