[Mentioned in Forbes Ultimate SXSW Guide: https://www.forbes.com/sites/martineparis/2024/02/26/the-ultimate-sxsw-2024-guide-hottest-panels-parties-and-popups/] Can you build your own 5G node (tower) with all open-source software and non-proprietary hardware? The answer is a resounding yes! In the workshop, we will walk you through each component of a working open-source 5G node and show you how to connect it to a phone. Bring your laptops so that you can follow along. We will have a faraday cage and the rest of the radio equipment so that you can safely see what it's like to set up a 5G node that connects to a commercial off-the-shelf phone. We will also give a review of what 5G is, why it is important in the internet of things, and more!

1. W. Watson
Principal
Vulk Coop
Build Your Own Open
Source 5g Tower
SXSW 2024
Austin, Tx
Taylor C.
Principal
Vulk Coop
https://hackmd.io/@vulk/sxsw2024

2. https://hackmd.io/@vulk/sxsw2024

3. 5g Workshop Overview
● Who are we
● What you will learn
● What you will need to
participate
○ To use a cloud session
■ Any laptop with ssh
○ To run the node
■ Linux laptop

4. What you will learn (15 minutes)
● What is 5g
● What is Cloud native 5g
● What are the components
of a 5g node and RAN
● How to safely run a 5g node
● 5g Simulator Workshop
● 5g tower Workshop
● 5g Use Cases

5. What is 5g?
● A standard by the 3GPP
● Has provisions for supporting
more connected devices than 4g
● New, broader spectrum
assignments
● Better security
● More interoperability
● Ultra Reliable Low Latency
guarantees

6. What is a Cloud Native 5g node?
● Cloud native 5g architecture uses
immutable infrastructure,
declarative configuration, and
microservices when creating a 5g
node.
● This is exemplified by putting the
5g core and RAN into containers
and hosting them in Kubernetes.

7. What is a RAN?
● A radio (hardware)
○ We will be using a Universal Software
Radio Peripheral (USRP), a software
defined radio (SDR)
● Radio software
○ We will be using SRSRan
● For this installation to be cloud native, we
will need to install SRSRan into Kubernetes
● There is a movement, called ORAN, to make
RANs more interoperable

8. What are the components of a RAN?

9. What are the components of a 5g node
core?

10. What do you need to safely run a 5g node?
● A Faraday cage
○ Regulations require to have a license to transmit on the
5g bands. A faraday cage is used for safely testing radio
equipment. Electromagnetic signals can not get in or
out.
● You need a 5g core.
○ We will be using open5gs for this
● You need a radio.
○ We will be using an NI Ettus B200 for this
● You need software to configure the radio for 5g spectrums.
○ We will be be using SRSRan for this.
● You need a phone with a 5g modem/chipset in it.
○ We will be using a Oneplus 10t with a Snapdragon 8+
modem for this
● You need a programmable sim card.
○ We will be using a sysmocom simcard for this
● You need a card reader/writer
○ We used a HID Omnikey writer for this
● You need a computer to act as the GNB
○ We used a Dell XPS 13 9320 for this

11. 5g Phone Set up
● COTS UE (commercial off
the shelf user equipment)
requires special set up
● Programmable Sim Card
Setup
○ Sysmocom card
○ HID Omnikey writer
○ pysim

12. Protip: Some 5g Phones Still Don’t Work
● 5g technology is still new. The phones
are still evolving to support it
● Lots of phones are tough to configure or
are not fully 5g (they support 5g non-
standalone mode only) or they don’t
support bands that work with some
solutions
● It's best to get phones that have already
been tested with the RAN that you have
selected
○ https://docs.srsran.com/projects/proj
ect/en/latest/knowledge_base/sourc
e/cots_ues/source/index.html

13. Workshop Time! (45 minutes)
1. Log in to simulator cloud
instance using ssh
2. Install the 5g core and
UERANSIM locally
3. Shell into the RAN and
ping the core
4. Shell into the RAN and
ping the UEsimulator (A
simulated phone)
5. Shell into the
UESimulator and ping
the internet

15. Workshop Time! (45 -
60 minutes)
1. Students will connect their
machine to the 5g node in the
faraday cage using the exposed
network
2. Students will start and stop the
5g core, ran, and 5g phone share
3. Students will send whatsapp
messages/calls to the phone in
the faraday cage from their
phones.
4. Students will see a screen share
of phone to prove messages/calls
were received.

16. Send a text to +1 (512) 761-8107 from WhatsApp

17. What is Private 5g?
● Private 5g is used in places where
there are many connected devices
○ Smart manufacturing plant
○ Hospitals
● Private 5g is also used where ultra
low latency and reliability is
required
○ Hospital equipment
○ Robots
○ Drones
● Private 5g is when someone, usually
a business, licenses part of the 5g
spectrum for use within a restricted
area, such as a warehouse

18. What is CBRS?
● Citizens Broadband
Radio Service
● Innovation band
○ Previously for military
○ Mid band spectrum
● Spectrum
○ band 48
○ 3.5 - 3.7 ghz
○ 150 mhz portion

19. Why CBRS?
● Low interference
○ Compared to wifi 802.11 family
● Implementations
○ 4g lte
○ 5g cbrs
■ Interoperability
● High reliability
● Mobility
○ fast handover between access
points
● Low latency
○ 20 ms
● Security
○ Pre authenticated sim cards
● Capacity
● Coverage
○ 10x

20. How Does CBRS Work?
● Tiers
○ Incumbent
■ PAL
● by county
■ GAA
● Unlicensed
● CBSD
○ citizen broadband radio service
device
● cbrs spectrum grant
○ maximum power
○ Geolocation
● fcc database
● ESC
○ radar use
○ DOD
○ SAS
○ spectrum allocation system

21. When should we use CBRS?
● use cases
○ industrial iot
○ Hotels
○ Event venues
○ Campus
○ Airports
○ Sports stadiums
○ Hospitals
○ Mines
○ Warehouses
○ Skyscrapers
○ Decentralized physical infrastructure
■ Dpin
■ Helium
● Cbrs
● 5g
○ nsa

22. https://hackmd.io/@vulk/sxsw2024

23. Austin Software Cooperatives Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/Austin-Software-Co-operatives/
CNTI Test Catalog GitHub
https://github.com/cnti-testcatalog
Twitter
@vulkcoop
Email
howl@vulk.coop
CNCF Telco Initiatives
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