Mechanisms and algorithms for testing next-generation 5G mobile networks and their services

Project title

Name of Beneficiary/Beneficiaries

Orange Polska

The National Institute of Telecommunications – the State Research Institute

Systemics PAB

Name of programme

International programmes

Competition

Eureka 1/2018

Project value

PLN 1 272 750.00

Funding value

PLN 994 500.00

Project delivery period

from 01/01/2019 until 30/06/2021

Get to know our team

Zbigniew Kopertowski, PhD, Eng. was awarded his doctoral degree by the Warsaw University of Technology, Institute of Telecommunications in 1997. In 1998 he joined the Centrum Badań i Rozwoju Technologii dla Przemysłu S.A., now Orange Innovation Polska. He participated in the IST research projects: COST 242, COST 257, Copernicus 1463, in Eureka CelticNext programme projects and in projects from FP5 to Horizon Europe such as AQUILA, EuQoS, NapaWine, GreenICN, NOTTS, Monalis, Flexnet and 5G Perfecta. He is currently involved in projects: Assist-IoT (H2020), Imminence (Eureka) and CHRISS (HE) thematically related to IoT services and 5G networks. He has in his portfolio publications at the national and international conferences and in the scientific journals in the field of telecommunication networks. He is a member of IEEE SA, ITU-T and the Alliance for IoT and Edge Computing Innovation IVZW.

Jordi Mongay Batalla, Ph.D., is a professor at the Warsaw University of Technology. He also works at the EU Cyber Security Agency (ENISA) as CEI expert (2020-) and at the Office of Electronic Communications as 5G expert (2021-). He is a cyber 5G expert for the NATO Science and Technology Group and a member of the Polish Standards Committee and the European Standards Committee CEN/CLC/JTC 13 for 5G standards. He has been a member of the IEEE and ACM since 2010.

Jordi Mongay Batalla was involved (coordination and/or participation) in more than 30 national and international ICT research projects (including EU ICT Programmes). He is an editor of four books and author of more than 150 articles published in books, international journals (IEEE ComMag, IEEE WCM, IEEE JSAC, ACM CSUR, etc.) and conference proceedings and two patents (Polish and European Patent Offices). He is/was a guest editor and a member of the Editorial Board in more than 10 international journals.

Jan Kondej, M.Sc., Eng. supported the 5G Perfecta project at Systemics PAB and has been involved in telecommunications and broadcasting since 1992, when he started his professional career at the State Radiocommunication Agency and the Polish Radio. In the area of mobile telephony since 1996, where he actively participated in the launch and network development and business development strategy for GSM, UMTS and LTE at Polkomtel, the Polish mobile network operator created by irTouch/Vodafone/TDC.

Areas of interest are mobile networks: 5G technology and the mobile market, including business modelling in telecommunications and, through interactions with mobile operators worldwide, also the Quality of Experience issues in mobile networks.

He represents Systemics-PAB in the ETSI working groups. He also participates in trade fair conferences at the national and international level. Participates in the Eureka CELTIC-NEXT projects.

He is a graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology (Faculty of Electronics) and a graduate of Business Studies at the Lublin Business School in collaboration with the University of Central Lancashire.

Have a look at the outcome of our work

Nokia was the main partner and technology coordinator of the international project, a video presentation of which can be found on the website at:

Video

5G Perfecta project - technology solutions for network and service monitoring

Video

General information about the project

The effects of the project were announced on the Internet on various sites. Examples include:

Other published information includes:

project brochure: https://bscw.celticnext.eu/pub/bscw.cgi/d23518/5G-PERFECTA-start_lq.pdf
website of the project: https://www.5gperfecta.eu/
social media: https://twitter.com/5Gperfecta

What problem does our project solve?

The 5G and 5G-Advanced networks represent new solutions, architectures, technologies and standards for the future ubiquitous communication infrastructure. The migration of networks

towards 5G means a qualitative leap both in terms of network parameters and the services available to new users. Their implementation requires appropriate measurement methods and network mechanisms to ensure the required level of quality.

The objective of the project was to develop methods and tools for effective monitoring of network parameters and services offered, as well as mechanisms to ensure quality of service in the 5G networks. For this purpose, it was proposed to develop a solution for testing the 5G and 5G-Advanced networks, using KPIs defined in the project that characterise the actual behaviour of the 5G networks and services, and methods for assessing users' perceived multimedia quality of experience (QoE) in the 5G scenarios. The proposed solution is based on multi-criteria data analysis and automation of measurement processes.

The proposed 5G PERFECTA monitoring platform will provide real-time measurements of the set of new services envisaged for next-generation networks, tested on the network infrastructure.

Who will benefit from the outcomes of the project?

Directly, the 5G Perfecta results are used by the project partners to develop existing products, introduce new technologies and services and monitor them, in particular based on the 5G networks.

Systemics PAB used the methodology and tests carried out during the project to evaluate the 5G network according to the quality of user experience. The methodology developed in the 5G Perfecta was further elaborated and used by the company in measuring the quality of service in mobile networks.

Orange Polska used the results of the project to analyse the quality of the newly built the 5G network (Warsaw area) during the project and to develop new business services using the 5G network for video broadcasting. The 5G Perfecta project demonstrated the capabilities of the 5G network to provide reliable communication for high quality video transmission even in situations where other networks would suffer from degradation of service and how to monitor the quality of these services.

Indirectly, the project results were used in several public projects. The knowledge of the 5G security standards and architecture gained under the auspices of the 5G Perfecta project served the project team, to develop several projects for public institutions:

The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), based in Athens, launched a project to set up a 5G certification scheme and a team was invited to participate as the 5G security experts. This project is currently being finalised;
The NATO Science and Technology Organisation has initiated a project (IST-187 COM) to analyse the application of the 5G technology in NATO operations. Individuals from the 5G Perfecta team were invited to work together on cyber security.

What was the most challenging aspect of the implementation of the project for us?

One of the major difficulties during the project was the use of the 5G infrastructure just emerging around the world, so the methodologies and tools developed in the project gradually evolved to the higher TRL levels due to the initial inability to test them in commercial environments.

A further problem found within the project was the COVID-19 situation, which made some of the project tasks difficult to complete. In particular, the integration of tools, tests and other interaction tasks had to be done under pandemic restrictions, so we had to manage the situation as well as possible without reducing the quality of the tasks performed.