Scope

Abstract

The cellular networking ecosystem is being radically transformed by openness, softwarization, and virtualization principles, which will steer NextG networks toward solutions running on "white box" infrastructures. Telco operators will be able to truly bring intelligence to the network, dynamically deploying and adapting its elements at run time according to current conditions and traffic demands. Deploying intelligent solutions for softwarized NextG networks, however, requires extensive prototyping and testing procedures, currently largely unavailable. To this aim, this paper introduces SCOPE, an open and softwarized prototyping platform for NextG systems. SCOPE is made up of: (i) A ready-to-use, portable opensource container for instantiating softwarized and programmable cellular network elements (e.g., base stations and users); (ii) an emulation module for diverse real-world deployments, channels and traffic conditions for testing new solutions; (iii) a data collection module for artificial intelligence and machine learning-based applications, and (iv) a set of open APIs for users to control network element functionalities in real time. Researchers can use SCOPE to test and validate NextG solutions over a variety of large-scale scenarios before implementing them on commercial infrastructures. We demonstrate the capabilities of SCOPE and its platform independence by prototyping exemplary cellular solutions in the controlled environment of Colosseum, the world's largest wireless network emulator. We then port these solutions to indoor and outdoor testbeds, namely, to Arena and POWDER, a PAWR platform. CCS CONCEPTS• Networks → Mobile networks; Network experimentation.

NES: Towards Lifecycle Automation for Emulation-Based Experimentation

“…Network emulation use cases are plentiful, and include prototyping [28], [29], testing [30], and even teaching [31], [32]. However, as softwarization adoption increases across network infrastructures [2], network emulator architectures offer limited support for the automation required by operational workflows.…”

Delphi: Computing the Maximum Achievable Throughput in SD-RAN Environments

“…Due to the high traction received in the last years, wireless platform emulators have been developed to allow for large-scale deployment of RAN environments [6], [28]- [31]. Arena [28], POWDER [30], and Colosseum [31] equip the community with powerful wireless platform emulators, with the latter being considered as the largest up-to-date.…”

“…Arena [28], POWDER [30], and Colosseum [31] equip the community with powerful wireless platform emulators, with the latter being considered as the largest up-to-date. In turn, Scope [6], which is based on Colosseum [31], provides a framework for open and softwarized prototypes.…”

“…To cater for the aforementioned requirements, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has become crucial in the core network [2]- [4]. Similarly, for the Radio Access Network (RAN) counterpart, softwarization [5], [6] and virtualization [7]- [9] are envisioned as the main drivers to fulfill the anticipated 5G design principles.…”

“…For notational simplicity, we omit the reference to time from now on 5. When two or more entities have identical (and the best) channel conditions in the control period, the resources are split equally among them with the maxCQI resource allocation policy 6. We use R i,j to denote the per-PRB rate UE j receives from BS i.…”