Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system and a method for automated deployment of 5G private network based on open source with enhanced communication characteristics. More specifically, the invention relates to a system and a method for end-to-end 5G private network by integrating various open-source components within a specific area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A private fifth generation (5G) network is a dedicated 5G network with enhanced communication characteristics, unified connectivity, optimized services, and integrated applications within a specific area. Private 5G networks have found their applications across industry, business, utilities, and the public sector. As a promising accelerator for Industry 4.0, the concept of a private 5G network has attracted significant research attention from industry and academia.

There are various challenges in automated private 5G network deployment in the industry. While ETSI standards have evolved to have more open standards with exposed interfaces for interoperability, still challenges come into reality to integrate and make it a scalable private 5G network both for research and SMB market segments.

Most commercial product vendors and platforms are costly and not affordable for both research purpose and challenging for small & medium business/enterprises (SMB markets) - hospitals, NGOs, rural & urban government sectors – railways, bus stations and educational institutions.

There are various patents and non-patent literature in this field of technology.

Reference is made to patent application no. US202017061484A titled as “5G/4G/3G/2G Cloud-Native OpenRAN Architecture“. The prior art describes a systems, method and computer readable medium focus on cloud-native architectures for 5G networks. They share a common goal of using open and standardized interfaces to connect different parts of the network, like the RAN, edge, and core. Both also include virtualization stacks to make network components more flexible and orchestration capabilities to manage resources and communication effectively.

Another reference is made to patent application no. US202017117107A titled as “5G OpenRAN controller”. The prior art described virtualizing network resources, such as core, radio resources, and using network slicing to dynamically allocate these resources. They are designed to support multi-technology RANs (Radio Access Networks) and provide standardized interfaces for network components.

Another reference is made to patent application no. US202017978435A titled as “OpenRAN solution suite”. The prior art discloses an OpenRAN solution suite, which involves an all-G COTS BBU communicating with different G user devices. A software platform, which includes virtualized software providing open RAN controller, network orchestrator, and SON edge core functionality, communicates with both the all-G COTS BBU and a plurality of different G core networks.

Another reference is made to non-patented document by Sadiq Iqbal,
Jehadm, Hamamreh, titled as “A Comprehensive Tutorial on How to Practically Build and Deploy 5G Networks Using Open-Source Software and General-Purpose, Off-the-Shelf Hardware”. The article discusses the history and background of 5G companies and equipment manufacturers. The Companies providing RAN solutions and equipment, which having different ways and approaches to build a 5G network including RAN, CORE, and EDGE frameworks, open-source software, and generic hardware. This art illustrates and shows how to build and setup a 5G network using srsRAN with LimeSDR, and Raspberry Pi4. The best possible PCs and software-defined radio (SDR) combinations that can be extremely helpful in building 5G networks

Another reference is made to non-patented document by Enrique Chirivella-Perez,Jose M. Alcaraz Calero, Qi Wang ,Juan Gutiérrez-Aguado titled as “Orchestration Architecture for Automatic Deployment of 5G Services from Bare Metal in Mobile Edge Computing Infrastructure”. The article proposes a novel 5G service deployment orchestration architecture to address the challenge of reducing service deployment time in 5G networks. The architecture aims to automate and coordinate a series of operations across physical infrastructure, virtual infrastructure, and service layers in a distributed mobile edge computing paradigm. The paper claims that empirical results demonstrate the superior performance achieved, meeting the 5G-PPP KPI even in the most challenging scenario of installing 5G services from bare metal.

The open source 5G CORE and RAN software components are analyzed and found various gaps as listed below in the automated private 5G network.
• Regulatory Challenges: The expansion of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum is crucial for the advancement of 5G networks and hence demands a high amount of RF spectrum.
• Technical Challenges: The adoption of higher frequency ranges such as 5GHz and above aims to enhance data transmission rates, but the noise and hardware design becomes complex.
• Integration, Scalability & High availability challenges: These challenges between 5G technological components, requirements, use cases and applications.
• Shortage of proficient network Professionals: Mobile network operators (MNOs) are strategically planning the swift deployment of private 5G networks yet face a challenge due to a scarcity of skilled network professionals.

In view of the various drawbacks associated with the existing state of art, the present invention provides a system and a method for a single pane of glass by which automation of the following components are achieved leveraging open source Rancher:
• Automated Deployment of Far Edge components based on open source OpenAirInterface 5G-DU-RAN
• Automated Deployment of Near Edge components based on open source OpenAirInterface 5G-CU-RAN
• Automated Deployment of Core/Regional Edge components based on open source OpenAirInterface 5G-CORE and Open5Gs CORE
• Automated Deployment of Industrial/Edge Device applications at the Industrial edge

The present platform provides an end-to-end observability stack across industrial edge, far edge, near edge and core based on open-source service mesh (Istio) providing Monitoring, Alerting, Distributed Tracing & Visibility, AI-Ops (Artificial Intelligence) based auto-scaling of platform based on observability metrics

While numerous attempts have been made to integrate open-source components into comprehensive system-level solutions, a systematic approach to creating multiple system-level configurations from various open-source combinations remain unprecedented. This invention uniquely empowers the open-source community to accelerate advancements in private 5G networks. Furthermore, it provides research institutions and SMBs with a low-cost, open-source, integrated platform, fostering rapid development and deployment of private 5G solutions.

Also, one of the one of the above challenges on “Integration, Scalability & High availability” is highly addressed as part of this invention through open-source components leveraging modern cloud native architectural styles and open source components.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
In order to obviate the drawbacks of the existing state of the art, the present invention provides a system and a method for a fifth generation (5G) private network having a dedicated and enhanced communication characteristic.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method which enables seamless integration to implement various 5G uses cases.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method which allows a single pane of glass by which automation of the various components are achieved leveraging open source Rancher.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a low cost affordable end-to-end 5G private network for organizations/firms/working space.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a system which provides an end-to-end observability stack across industrial edge, far edge, near edge and core based on open-source service mesh (Istio) providing Monitoring, Alerting, Distributed Tracing & Visibility, AI-Ops (Artificial Intelligence) based auto-scaling of platform based on observability metrics.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and a system that can be employed in research institutions and SMBs with a low-cost, fostering rapid development and deployment of private 5G solutions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a system and a method for a fifth generation (5G) private network having a dedicated and enhanced communication characteristic. The present invention discloses deployment of fifth generation (5G) private network based on open source.

More specifically, this invention discloses end-to-end open source based private 5G network by integrating various open-source components within a specific area.

The present invention relates to end-to-end platform, wherein said end to end platform is Open source driven & integrated stack across apps and infra. (Apps – Private 5G including CORE & RAN, infra platform - Kubeadm, orchestration – Rancher, AIOps & Observability – Istio).
• OAI – Open Air Interface for 5G RAN & CORE
• Open5gs – CORE for interoperability integration
• Open Kubeadm for Kubernetes Engine
• Rancher Community Edition – for Automated Platform Orchestrator
• Istio – Prometheus, Grafana, Jaegar, Kiali – for AIOps & Observability
• USRP B210 – SDR Verilog/VHDL open codebase for Radio Head

Accordingly, the present invention provides an innovative, end-to-end, open-source-based private 5G network. By seamlessly integrating diverse open-source components, the invention unlocks a wealth of research possibilities and empowers small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and organizations to harness the full potential of 5G technology.

The invention provides a single integrated open-source stack across OAI, Open5Gs, kubeadm Kubernetes, Rancher platform orchestrator, observability and Radio Head. By providing a centralized, open-source foundation, this invention addresses the challenges often associated with integrating disparate open-source RAN and UE components, streamlining deployment and management."

While numerous attempts have been made to integrate open-source components into comprehensive system-level solutions, a systematic approach to creating multiple system-level configurations from various open-source combinations remain unprecedented. This innovation uniquely empowers the open-source community to accelerate advancements in private 5G networks. Furthermore, it provides research institutions and SMBs with a low-cost, open-source, integrated platform, fostering rapid development and deployment of private 5G solutions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING
Figure 1 depicts automated platform for various 5G deployment scenarios based on open source.
Figure 2 depicts private 5G Network-Automated deployment life cycle.
Figure 3 depicts private 5G Network component deployed in open source Kubernetes.
Figure 4 depicts consolidated services view of OAI RAN & open 5Gs-core.
Figure 5 depicts experimental data 1, cluster level metrics through observability platform.
Figure 6 depicts experimental data 2, cluster level metrics through observability platform.
Figure 7 depicts experimental data 3, cluster level metrics through observability platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION
Some embodiments of the present disclosure, illustrating all its features, will now be discussed in detail. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Various modifications to the embodiment will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the generic principles herein may be applied to other embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the present disclosure including the definitions listed here below are not intended to be limited to the embodiments illustrated but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.

A person of ordinary skill in the art will readily ascertain that the illustrated steps detailed in the figures and here below are set out to explain the exemplary embodiments shown, and it should be anticipated that ongoing technological development will change the way functions are performed. These examples are presented herein for purposes of illustration, and not limitation. Further, the boundaries of the functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternative boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed. Alternatives (including equivalents, extensions, variations, deviations, etc., of those described herein) will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the teachings contained herein. Such alternatives fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosed embodiments.

Before discussing example, embodiments in more detail, it is to be noted that the drawings are to be regarded as being schematic representations and elements that are not necessarily shown to scale. Rather, the various elements are represented such that their function and general purpose becomes apparent to a person skilled in the art.

Any connection or coupling between functional blocks, devices, components, or other physical or functional units shown in the drawings or described herein may also be implemented by an indirect connection or coupling. A coupling between components may also be established over a wireless connection. Functional blocks may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof.

Further, the flowcharts provided herein, describe the operations as sequential processes. Many of the operations may be performed in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. In addition, the order of operations re-arranged. The processes may be terminated when their operations are completed but may also have additional steps not included in the figured. It should be noted, that in some alternative implementations, the functions/acts/ steps noted may occur out of the order noted in the figured. For example, two figures shown in succession may, in fact, be executed concurrently, or may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.

Further, the terms first, second etc… may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers, and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer, or a section. Thus, a first element, component, region layer, or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer, or section without departing form the scope of the example embodiments.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, e.g., those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the,” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, the terms “and/or” and “at least one of” include all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Accordingly, the present invention relates to a system, method and apparatus for private fifth generation (5G) networks having a dedicated 5G network with enhanced communication characteristics., the invention also relates to a system, method and apparatus for end-to-end open source based private 5G network by integrating various open-source components within a specific area.

This invention setup provides automation, flexibility, scalability, observability and management capabilities that are critical for modern private 5G networks. Below are the details of each component that operationalizes private 5G Network which forms an integral part of this invention:
• 5G Core Components
• RAN Components
• Kubernetes
• Kubernetes Components

The various components are disclosed/described below in detailed
• 5G Core Components: 5G core networks are the foundation of modern communication systems, providing the essential infrastructure for data transmission and service delivery. They are comprised of various Network Functions (NFs), each responsible for specific tasks. These NFs interact with each other to deliver a seamless user experience.
For the interaction between network functions, one of these acts as a Service Consumer, and the other as a Service Producer. This describes the roles that NFs play in these interactions.
o Service Consumer: This NF is the one that requests a service from another NF. For example, a NF that wants to authenticate a user might request the authentication service from another NF.
o Service Producer: This NF is the one that provides the service to the Service Consumer. In the example above, the NF that provides the authentication service would be the Service Producer.
This interaction system allows for a flexible and scalable 5G core network, as NFs can be added or removed as needed to meet changing requirements.

• AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function): is a crucial component of the 5G core network responsible for managing access and mobility for 5G devices. It plays a pivotal role in ensuring seamless connectivity and efficient resource allocation for devices as they move between different cells and networks. it is responsible for managing access and mobility for the 5G devices and interacts with other network functions.
• SMF (Session Management Function): It is the control function that manages the user sessions including establishment, modification and release of sessions, and it allocates IP addresses for IP PDU sessions.
• UPF (User Plane Function): It is data plane in the 5G core and after the Access Gateway Function (AGF) authenticates the subscriber and establishes a protocol data unit (PDU) session like Forwards user data to and from external networks.
• AUSF (Authentication Server Function): It is crucial for secured network access and responsible for the security procedure for %g devices authentication.
• UDM (Unified Data Management): It is paired with the user data repository which stores the user data such as customer profile information, customer authentication information, and encryption keys for the information.
• NRF (Network Repository Function): It maintains an updated repository of all the 5G elements available in the operator's network along with the services provided by each of the elements in the 5G core that are expected to be instantiated, scaled and terminated without or minimal manual intervention.

• Radio Access Network (RAN): A Radio Access Network (RAN) is a key component of a mobile telecommunication system that connects devices like smartphones to a network via a radio link. It converts voice and data into digital signals and transmitting them as radio waves to RAN transceivers which transmit said data to core network and sent to internet.
o gNodeB (gNB): Its is a node in a cellular network that provides connectivity between user equipment (UE) and the evolved packet core (EPC). It is responsible for radio communication with UEs in its coverage area, known as a cell. It functions as a base station in a cellular network and split in to centralized units (CU) and distributed unit (DU).
 CU (Centralized Unit): It is a logical node that includes the functions like Transfer of user data, Mobility control, Radio access network sharing, Positioning, Session Management etc. It handles higher-layer functions like Radio Resource Control (RRC).
 DU (Distributed Unit): This logical node includes a subset of the gNB functions, depending on the functional split option. Its operation is controlled by the CU. It handles lower-layer functions like MAC (medium access control. a layer plays a crucial role in managing communication between user equipment (UE) and the network.) and PHY ( Physical layer, it transforms wireless signals to data bits and neural networks improve user data rates while reducing base station power consumption). .

• Kubernetes
Kubernetes is a portable, extensible, open-source platform for managing containerized workloads and services, that facilitates both declarative configuration and automation. it is a powerful container orchestration platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. In the context of Private 5G Network, Kubernetes manages the lifecycle of the 5G Core and RAN components, which are deployed as containers within pods.

• Kubernetes Components:
• Pods are basic deployable units generally referred to as container, which should be controlled as a single application. It encapsulates application containers, storage resources, a unique network ID and other configuration on how to run the containers. Each Private 5G network function (e.g., AMF, SMF, UPF) runs inside its dedicated pod.
• Services represents a logical set of pods and acts as a gateway, allowing (client) pods to send requests to the service without needing to keep track of which physical pods make up the service.
• ConfigMaps is an API object used to store non-confidential data in key-value pairs. It allows to decouple environment-specific configuration from container image, so that our application can easily port. Secret is an object that contains a small amount of sensitive data such as a password, a token, or a key. Such information might otherwise be put in a Pod specification or in a container image. By using a Secret, we don't have to include confidential data in application code.It can be created independently of the Pods that use them, there is less risk of the Secret (and its data) being exposed during the workflow of creating, viewing, and editing Pods
• An Ingress controller is a specialized load balancer for Kubernetes (and other containerized) environments. It reduces complexity of Kubernetes application traffic routing and provides a bridge between Kubernetes services and external ones. It allows external traffic to reach the Private 5G network functions.

• Horizontal Pod Autoscaler changes the shape of workload by automatically increasing or decreasing the number of Pods in response to the workload's CPU or memory consumption, or in response to custom metrics reported from within Kubernetes or external metrics from sources outside the cluster.

Said invention involves integration of said 5G core, RAN and Kubernetes components and operationalize an automated private 5G Network. Operational flow of invention are as follows:
• Deployment
• Services
• Communication
• Data Flow
• Scaling and Resilience:
• Monitoring and Logging:

Deployment:
- Each 5G Core and RAN component is deployed as a pod within the Kubernetes cluster. Kubernetes handles the scheduling of these pods across the nodes in the cluster.
- Configuration files are managed using Config Maps and Secrets, ensuring that each pod is correctly configured when it starts.

Services:
- Enables 5G network components to discover each other. For example, the AMF can find the SMF using the Kubernetes DNS system, which resolves service names to pod IP addresses.
- The NRF plays a crucial role in the 5G network, maintaining a registry of all the network functions. In Kubernetes, this registry is dynamic, reflecting the current state of the cluster.

Communication:
- The gNodeB (CU and DU) communicates with the Private 5G Core components over the Kubernetes network. Kubernetes services route traffic between these components.
- For instance, when a UE registers with the network, the gNB communicates with the AMF, which then interacts with the AUSF for authentication.

Data Flow:
- User data is handled by the UPF, which is responsible for routing traffic between the UE and external networks. In Kubernetes, the UPF pod is connected to the external network through a service, and data flow is managed by Kubernetes networking.

Scaling and Resilience:
- Kubernetes’ HPA ensures that the system can scale up or down based on the load. For example, if there is a surge in data traffic, Kubernetes can automatically deploy additional UPF pods to handle the increased load.
- Kubernetes deployments ensure that updates to OAI components are rolled out gradually, minimizing downtime.

Monitoring and Logging:
- Kubernetes integrates with monitoring tools like Prometheus and Grafana to monitor the performance of OAI components. Metrics like CPU usage, memory usage, and network traffic are tracked to ensure the system is functioning optimally.
- Logging services aggregate logs from different pods, providing a centralized view of network operations. This helps in troubleshooting and performance analysis.

ADVANTAGES
Scalability: Kubernetes enables 5G networks to scale dynamically, efficiently utilizing resources by automating the deployment, management, and scaling of network functions.
Flexibility: Containerization offers flexibility in deploying, updating, and managing network functions.
Resilience: Kubernetes' built in features such as auto-healing and rolling updates improve/enhance 5G network resilience.
Ease of Management: Kubernetes provides a unified platform to manage the entire 5G network stack, from the RAN to the core, simplifying operations. Accordingly, Kubernetes acts as a unifying force, bringing together the diverse components of the 5G network into a cohesive and manageable whole. This simplification of operations can lead to significant cost savings, improved performance, and a more agile network.
, Claims:We Claim: -
1. A system for automated deployment of fifth generation (5G) private networks, wherein said system comprising of
- a Kubernetes cluster;
- a plurality of network functions or 5G Core components deployed as containers within the Kubernetes cluster;
- a plurality of RAN components;
- a service mesh for enabling communication between the network functions; and
- a controller for managing the deployment, scaling, and configuration of the network functions within the Kubernetes cluster,
wherein said system provides a single pane of glass by which automation of the various components are achieved.

2. The system for automated deployment of fifth generation (5G) private networks as claimed in claim 1, wherein the network functions include at least one of:
- Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF);
- Session Management Function (SMF);
- User Plane Function (UPF);
- Authentication Server Function (AUSF);
- Unified Data Management (UDM);
- Network Repository Function (NRF);

3. The system for automated deployment of fifth generation (5G) private networks as claimed in claim 1, wherein said radio access network consist of gNodeB (gNB) responsible for radio communication in its coverage area, further divided into centralized units (CU) and distributed units (DU) to enhance efficiency and scalability.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said a Kubernetes cluster comprises of:
- Pod Encapsulation: containerized application environments for each 5G network function (e.g., AMF, SMF, UPF);
- Service Discovery: a service abstraction layer for routing requests between 5G network function pods;
- Configuration Management: ConfigMaps for decoupling non-confidential configuration data;
- Secret Management: Secrets for storing sensitive data securely;
- Ingress Controller: a specialized load balancer for managing external traffic to the private 5G network functions; and
- Horizontal Pod Autoscaler: an automated mechanism for scaling the number of pods based on workload demands.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said controller is configured to automatically scale the network functions based on network traffic.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said controller is configured to manage the configuration of the network functions using ConfigMaps and Secrets.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the service mesh is configured to use a service discovery mechanism to enable network functions to discover each other.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system is configured to monitor the performance of the network functions and provide alerts if there are any performance issues.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system is configured to log events and provide a centralized view of network operations.

10. A method for automated deployment of fifth generation (5G) private networks, wherein said method comprising the steps of:
i. deploying a plurality of 5G core network components, each component as a pod within a Kubernetes cluster, wherein said 5G core network components comprise:
 an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF);
 a Session Management Function (SMF);
 a User Plane Function (UPF);
 an Authentication Server Function (AUSF);
 a Unified Data Management (UDM); and
 a Network Repository Function (NRF);
ii. deploying a Radio Access Network (RAN) comprising:
 gNodeB, including a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU);
iii. configuring the Kubernetes cluster to manage the deployment, scaling, and communication of the 5G core network components and the RAN;
iv. utilizing ConfigMaps to store non-confidential configuration data;
v. utilizing Secrets to store sensitive data;
vi. utilizing an Ingress controller to route external traffic to the private 5G network functions; and
vii. monitoring and logging the performance of the deployed network;
wherein said method provides a low cost affordable end-to-end private 5G network for organizations/firms/working space.

11. The method for automated deployment of fifth generation (5G) private networks as claimed in claim 10, wherein said method can be employed in research institutions and empowers small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and organizations to harness the full potential of 5G technology.