NR_SA_Tutorial_COTS_UE.md

OAI 5G NR SA tutorial with COTS UE

Table of Contents

• 1. Scenario
• 2. OAI CN5G
  • 2.1 OAI CN5G pre-requisites
  • 2.2 SIM Card
• 3. OAI gNB
  • 3.1 OAI gNB pre-requisites
    • Build UHD from source
  • 3.2 Build OAI gNB
• 4. Run OAI CN5G and OAI gNB
  • 4.1 Run OAI CN5G
  • 4.2 Run OAI gNB
    • USRP B210
    • USRP N300
    • USRP X300
• 5. Run UE
  • 5.1 Testing with Quectel RM500Q
    • 5.1.1 Setup Quectel
    • 5.1.2 Ping test
    • 5.1.3 Downlink iPerf test
• 6. Advanced configurations (optional)
  • 6.1 USRP N300 and X300 Ethernet Tuning
  • 6.2 Real-time performance workarounds
  • 6.3 Uplink issues related with noise on the DC carriers

1. Scenario

In this tutorial we describe how to configure and run a 5G end-to-end setup with OAI CN5G, OAI gNB and COTS UE.

Minimum hardware requirements:

• Laptop/Desktop/Server for OAI CN5G and OAI gNB
  • Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
  • CPU: 8 cores x86_64 @ 3.5 GHz
  • RAM: 32 GB
• Laptop for UE
  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 x64
  • CPU: 4 cores x86_64
  • RAM: 8 GB
  • Windows driver for Quectel MUST be equal or higher than version 2.4.6
• USRP B210, USRP N300 or USRP X300
  • Please identify the network interface(s) on which the USRP is connected and update the gNB configuration file
• Quectel RM500Q
  • Module, M.2 to USB adapter, antennas and SIM card
  • Firmware version of Quectel MUST be equal or higher than RM500QGLABR11A06M4G

2. OAI CN5G

2.1 OAI CN5G pre-requisites

Please install and configure OAI CN5G as described here: OAI CN5G

2.2 SIM Card

Program SIM Card with Open Cells Project application uicc-v3.2.

sudo ./program_uicc --adm 12345678 --imsi 001010000000001 --isdn 00000001 --acc 0001 --key fec86ba6eb707ed08905757b1bb44b8f --opc C42449363BBAD02B66D16BC975D77CC1 -spn "OpenAirInterface" --authenticate

3. OAI gNB

3.1 OAI gNB pre-requisites

Build UHD from source

sudo apt install -y libboost-all-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev doxygen python3-docutils python3-mako python3-numpy python3-requests python3-ruamel.yaml python3-setuptools cmake build-essential

git clone https://github.com/EttusResearch/uhd.git ~/uhd
cd ~/uhd
git checkout v4.4.0.0
cd host
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../
make -j $(nproc)
make test # This step is optional
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
sudo uhd_images_downloader

3.2 Build OAI gNB

# Get openairinterface5g source code
git clone https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/oai/openairinterface5g.git ~/openairinterface5g
cd ~/openairinterface5g
git checkout develop

# Install OAI dependencies
cd ~/openairinterface5g/cmake_targets
./build_oai -I

# Build OAI gNB
cd ~/openairinterface5g
source oaienv
cd cmake_targets
./build_oai -w USRP --ninja --gNB -C

4. Run OAI CN5G and OAI gNB

4.1 Run OAI CN5G

cd ~/oai-cn5g
docker compose up -d

4.2 Run OAI gNB

USRP B210

cd ~/openairinterface5g
source oaienv
cd cmake_targets/ran_build/build
sudo ./nr-softmodem -O ../../../targets/PROJECTS/GENERIC-NR-5GC/CONF/gnb.sa.band78.fr1.106PRB.usrpb210.conf --sa -E --continuous-tx

USRP N300

cd ~/openairinterface5g
source oaienv
cd cmake_targets/ran_build/build
sudo ./nr-softmodem -O ../../../targets/PROJECTS/GENERIC-NR-5GC/CONF/gnb.sa.band77.fr1.273PRB.2x2.usrpn300.conf --sa --usrp-tx-thread-config 1

USRP X300

cd ~/openairinterface5g
source oaienv
cd cmake_targets/ran_build/build
sudo ./nr-softmodem -O ../../../targets/PROJECTS/GENERIC-NR-5GC/CONF/gnb.sa.band77.fr1.273PRB.2x2.usrpn300.conf --sa --usrp-tx-thread-config 1 -E --continuous-tx

5. Run UE

5.1 Testing with Quectel RM500Q

5.1.1 Setup Quectel

With PuTTY, send the following AT commands to the module using a serial interface (ex: COM2) at 115200 bps:

# MUST be sent at least once everytime there is a firmware upgrade!
AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","oai"
AT+CGDCONT=2
AT+CGDCONT=3

# (Optional, debug only, AT commands) Activate PDP context, retrieve IP address and test with ping
AT+CGACT=1,1
AT+CGPADDR=1
AT+QPING=1,"openairinterface.org"

5.1.2 Ping test

• UE host

ping 192.168.70.135 -t -S 12.1.1.2

• CN5G host

docker exec -it oai-ext-dn ping 12.1.1.2

5.1.3 Downlink iPerf test

• UE host
  • Download iPerf for Microsoft Windows from here.
  • Extract to Desktop and run with Command Prompt:

cd C:\Users\User\Desktop\iPerf\iperf-2.0.9-win64\iperf-2.0.9-win64
iperf -s -u -i 1 -B 12.1.1.2

• CN5G host

docker exec -it oai-ext-dn iperf -u -t 86400 -i 1 -fk -B 192.168.70.135 -b 100M -c 12.1.1.2

6. Advanced configurations (optional)

6.1 USRP N300 and X300 Ethernet Tuning

Please also refer to the official USRP Host Performance Tuning Tips and Tricks tuning guide.

The following steps are recommended. Please change the network interface(s) as required. Also, you should have 10Gbps interface(s): if you use two cables, you should have the XG interface. Refer to the N300 Getting Started Guide for more information.

• Use an MTU of 9000: how to change this depends on the network management tool. In the case of Network Manager, this can be done from the GUI.
• Increase the kernel socket buffer (also done by the USRP driver in OAI)
• Increase Ethernet Ring Buffers: sudo ethtool -G <ifname> rx 4096 tx 4096
• Disable hyper-threading in the BIOS (This step is optional)
• Optional: Disable KPTI Protections for Spectre/Meltdown for more performance. This is a security risk. Add mitigations=off nosmt in your grub config and update grub. (This step is optional)

Example code to run:

for ((i=0;i<$(nproc);i++)); do sudo cpufreq-set -c $i -r -g performance; done
sudo sysctl -w net.core.wmem_max=62500000
sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=62500000
sudo sysctl -w net.core.wmem_default=62500000
sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_default=62500000
sudo ethtool -G enp1s0f0 tx 4096 rx 4096

6.2 Real-time performance workarounds

• Enable Performance Mode sudo cpupower idle-set -D 0
• If you get real-time problems on heavy UL traffic, reduce the maximum UL MCS using an additional command-line switch: --MACRLCs.[0].ul_max_mcs 14.

6.3 Uplink issues related with noise on the DC carriers

• There is noise on the DC carriers on N300 and especially the X300 in UL. To avoid their use or shift them away from the center to use more UL spectrum, use the --tune-offset <Hz> command line switch, where <Hz> is ideally half the bandwidth, or possibly less.