README.md

FlexRIC

This repository contains O-RAN Alliance compliant E2 node Agent emulators, a NearRT-RIC, xApps written in C/C++ and Python, as well as patches to 5G/4G OpenAirInterface and 4G srsRAN. It implements various service models (NG/GTP, PDCP, RLC, MAC, KPM v2, SC, TC) and a built-in emulation. Depending on the service model, different encoding schemes have been developed (ASN.1, flatbuffer, plain). The indication data received in the xApp uses as persistence mechanism an sqlite3 database for enabling offline processing applications (e.g., ML/AI).

If you want to know more about FlexRIC and its original architecture, you can find more details at: Robert Schmidt, Mikel Irazabal, and Navid Nikaein. 2021. FlexRIC: an SDK for next-generation SD-RANs. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies (CoNEXT '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 411–425. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3485983.3494870. A pdf copy is available at https://bit.ly/3uOXuCV

Below is the list of features available in this version divided per component and per service model:

	OAI-4g	OAI-5g	SRS-4g	E2 Agent emulator	Near RT-RIC	xApp c/c++ SDK	xApp python SDK	O-RAN standardized
MAC	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
RLC	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
PDCP	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
SLICE	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
TC	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N
GTP	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N
KPM	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y

1. Installation

1.1 Install prerequisites

• A recent CMake (at least v3.15).

  On Ubuntu, you might want to use this PPA to install an up-to-date version.

• SWIG (at least v.4.0).

  We use SWIG as an interface generator to enable the multi-language feature (i.e., C/C++ and Python) for the xApps. Please, check your SWIG version (i.e, swig -version) and install it from scratch if necessary as described here: https://swig.org/svn.html or via the code below:

  git clone https://github.com/swig/swig.git
  cd swig
  ./autogen.sh
  ./configure --prefix=/usr/
  make
  make install

• Flatbuffer encoding(optional).

  We also provide a flatbuffers encoding/decoding scheme as alternative to ASN.1. In case that you want to use it follow the instructions at https://github.com/dvidelabs/flatcc and provide the path for the lib and include when selecting it at ccmake .. from the build directory

1.2 Download the required dependencies.

Below an example of how to install it in ubuntu

sudo apt install libsctp-dev python3.8 cmake-curses-gui libpcre2-dev python-dev

1.3 Clone the FlexRIC project, build and install it.

• Download the code

  # i.e.: 
  $ git clone https://gitlab.eurecom.fr/mosaic5g/flexric.git 

• Build

  $ cd flexric && mkdir build && cd build && cmake .. && make 

• Install

  You can install the Service Models (SM) in your computer via:

  sudo make install

  By default the service model libraries will be installed in the path /usr/local/lib/flexric while the configuration file in /usr/local/etc/flexric.

1.4 Test (optional step)

There are some tests you can run. Precisely:

• Service Model unit test. See directory build/test/sm
• 3 nodes test. See directory build/examples/xApp/c/monitor. This test simulates an scenario with an E2 node's, a nearRT-RIC and an xApp. Data is randomly filled. Example running in 3 terminals.

  # terminal 1: start E2 Node agent
  ./build/examples/emulator/agent/agent_1
  # terminal 2: start nearRT-RIC
  ./build/examples/ric/nearRT-RIC
  # terminal 3
  build/examples/xApp/c/monitor/xapp_mac_rlc_pdcp_moni

• All-in-one test. See directory build/test/agent-ric-xapp

Most of the tests can be triggered using ctest. From the build directory launch ctest to start the tests.

2. Usage/deployment

Before starting the nearRT-RIC, check that the IP address where your nearRT-RIC will be listening is the desired one at /usr/local/lib/flexric/flexric.conf. The default configuration assumes that all the components are located in localhost.

Start the nearRT-RIC with:

$ ./build/examples/ric/nearRT-RIC

Start one or multiple E2 node Agent emulators using default configuration

$ ./build/examples/emulator/agent/emu_agent_gnb_cu
$ ./build/examples/emulator/agent/emu_agnet_gnb_du

or a customized one, i.e.:

$ ./build/examples/emulator/agent/emu_agent_gnb_cu -c ~/flexric1.conf &
$ ./build/examples/emulator/agent/emu_agnet_gnb_du -c ~/flexric2.conf &

where, for example, flexric1.conf is:

[NEAR-RIC]
NEAR_RIC_IP = 127.0.0.1

[XAPP]
DB_PATH = /tmp/
DB_NAME = xapp_db1

flexric2.conf is:

[NEAR-RIC]
NEAR_RIC_IP = 127.0.0.1

[XAPP]
DB_PATH = /tmp/
DB_NAME = xapp_db2

Next, you can fetch some statistics from the E2 Agents using python xApps via $ python3 build/examples/xApp/python3/xapp_gtp_moni.py, while in other window you can start a second xApp developed in c $ build/examples/xApp/c/monitor/xapp_monitor_all