siticom provides the platform for the cellular campus network in the 5G Bavaria project

Open 5G radio access network and cloud-native 5G core system architecture for testing next-generation digital applications

Image material © Fraunhofer IIS

Weiterstadt, October 15, 2020

Transition from research to industrial application of 5G technologies

siticom GmbH is an independent system integrator and has been on the market since 2010. siticom is installing a self-sufficient 5G stand-alone campus solution at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Nuremberg and Erlangen. This technology platform for the '5G Bavaria' initiative funded by the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy and Technology offers companies and users from vertical markets numerous opportunities to simulate and emulate new functionalities in an overall 5G context in the laboratory and in a realistic mobile network environment to test and evaluate. '5G Bavaria' thus creates the transition from research and standardization to industrial applications.

Companies can already implement and test digital applications in 5G via the platform's open interfaces. For this, siticom has created an open solution based on a cloud-native 5G core system architecture. The siticom developers use the service-based architecture to enable standardized interfaces to all core functions. Siticom realizes the virtualization of the 5G core applications in a scalable and orchestrated multi-access edge computing infrastructure. The Radio Access Network (RAN) was designed according to the recommendations of the O-RAN Alliance and meets the high requirements of Fraunhofer IIS with regard to latency and data throughput for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications. The completely virtualized solution runs on standard servers and, in combination with the open architecture, serves as an edge computing platform with maximum flexibility.

“The companies are working flat out on the digitization of industrial processes and on new offers. 5G is a key technology here. In order to be able to develop and test applications with the latest mobile radio technology and to ensure rapid market readiness, the combination of the latest telecommunications technology and innovative IT solutions is essential. The testing and development of future-proof communication applications and localization solutions also requires high-performance and suitable test facilities. The '5G Bavaria' project offers companies in Bavaria and beyond a basis for developing their specific adaptations.

With the open 5G Stand Alone Campus solution with native cloud technologies, 5G-Bavaria provides companies with a comprehensive kit to test company-specific adaptations to production processes, digitize production processes and develop scalable digital applications. The open system and network architecture meets the requirements for a flexible provision of network elements, open service functions and 5G network slicing in order to provide users and applications with individual data rates, speeds and capacities and to be able to orchestrate service modules.

About the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, based in Germany, is the world's leading organization for application-oriented research. 74 institutes and research facilities at locations across Germany work under its roof. Around 28,000 employees achieve an annual research volume of 2.8 billion euros. The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, headquartered in Erlangen, conducts top international research for microelectronic and information technology system solutions and services.

Today it is the largest institute of the Fraunhofer Society. Research at Fraunhofer IIS is based on two main themes: In “Audio and Media Technologies”, the institute has been shaping the digitalization of media for more than 30 years. Pioneering standards were developed with mp3 and AAC, and Fraunhofer IIS was also instrumental in digitizing the cinema.

The current developments open up new worlds of sound and are used in virtual reality, automotive sound systems, mobile telephony as well as for radio and streaming. In connection with "cognitive sensor technology", the institute researches technologies for sensor technology, data transmission technology, data analysis methods and the utilization of data in the context of data-driven services and corresponding business models. This adds a cognitive component to the function of the classic "intelligent" sensor.

More than 1100 employees work in contract research for industry, service companies and public institutions.

The institute, founded in 1985, has 14 locations in 11 cities: Erlangen (headquarters), Nuremberg, Fürth and Dresden as well as in Bamberg, Waischenfeld, Coburg, Würzburg, Ilmenau, Deggendorf and Passau. The budget of 169.9 million euros per year is financed from contract research, with the exception of core funding of 26 percent.

More at: www.iis.fraunhofer.de