Implementation of OpenAirInterface Control
Software for 4G Network
Seawon Koh
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Kyunghee University
Yongin, Republic of Korea
dream365@khu.ac.kr
Abstract— Due to the development of mobile communication,
user demand and traffic increased, and various services were
produced. With existing 3G networks, it was hard to demand
these services and users' demand. Therefore, the 4G network has
been developed. As evolving into 4G networks, much
experimental and development software have been created. OAI
is a hardware and software platform for 4G networks that can be
used for various experiments and developments. In this paper, we
have implemented a system to solve the inefficiencies in the
configuration of 4G networks created by combining SDN
technology and OAI. This makes it possible to set up and monitor
eNodeBs and UEs. This paper consists of two parts. The system
structure part deals with the structure of the implemented system.
The next section deals with the actual operation of the
implemented system and how it is configured and monitored.
Keywords—SDN; SDN Controller; Open Air Interface; 4G
Network; Core Network; eNodeB
I. INTRODUCTION
Due to the development of mobile communication and
high penetration rate, subscribers of mobile communication
are increasing. As a result, the development and utilization of
new devices are also increasing, and the services created by
rising demand of users are also developing. Past services were
limited to SMS or voice calls. However, in recent years, a
variety of services have evolved from existing services to
multimedia services, thereby increasing the amount of traffic
and congestion of traffic. However, existing 3G networks
can’t deal with a large amount of traffic due to the use of
various services. To accommodate these problems, devices,
networks, and other technologies have evolved into 4G
networks. This technology change can accommodate a large
amount of traffic, provide various services, and many devices
can be developed [1-3].
Due to these developments, experimental equipment has
been developed for many 4G networks. OAI is an
experimental equipment for 4G network. It consists of a
hardware platform that provides firmware and drivers for
radio equipment such as Exmimo2, USRP, and BladeRF, and
a software platform that implements UE, eNodeB, and Core
Network. It can also be tested using COTS UEs used by
subscribers of real 4G networks as well as OAI UEs. OAI
*Corresponding author
978-1-5090-4749-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
Sungwon Lee*
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Kyunghee University
Yongin, Republic of Korea
drsungwon@khu.ac.kr
software needs to set up the configuration files for each part of
the UE, eNodeB, and Core Network [7].
Despite the advances of such networks, the problem of
hardware-centric networks consisting of switches and various
network devices has been raised, and a technology called SDN
has emerged. The hardware-centric network has economic
losses and inefficiencies when new equipment is developed
and replaced. It is also inefficient when commanding to
configure existing equipment. SDN is a technology that
resolves these defects by separating the physical plane and the
control plane that controls physical plane using virtualization.
This allows the administrator to control the network through
programmed modules and applications. So, you could control
all of the equipment in the physical plane from one centralized
controller by applying SDN technology. SDN technology with
these strengths can be applied to various network sectors and
are expected to have higher utilization rates and growth rates
[4-6].
Therefore, in this paper, we implemented a system that
solves the inefficiency of configuration by combining SDN
technology with 4G network system constructed through OAI.
The implemented module consists of a single centralized
controller, a module for setting up the subscription and setting
of the UE and eNodeB. This allows control over eNodeBs and
UEs in the physical plane via a remote controller. Also, the
controller can monitor the information of the periodically
updated eNodeB.
II. RELATED WORKS
A. OAI(Open Air Interface)
It is a platform for UE, eNodeB and Core Network
development of 3GPP cellular network made by OSA
established in France in 2014. OAI provides Core Network
consisting of MME, HSS, SPGW, eNodeB which acts as a
base station in 4G network and UE as open source software. It
also provides a hardware platform that supports drivers and
firmware for hardware such as ExMIMO board, USRP, and
BladeRF. Using OAI's software and hardware platform, you
can customize your 4G network and build it using a PC. OAI
aims to simulate, research and develop using open cellular
ecosystem.
747 ICUFN 2017

Fig. 1. SDN Architecture
OAI's software platform includes a full software
implementation of the 4th generation mobile cellular systems
compliant with 3GPP LTE standards under C real-time Linux
optimized. Also, FDD and TDD can be set to 5, 10, and 20
MHz bandwidth. Transmission mode supports 1 (SISO), 2, 4,
5 and 6 (MIMO 2x2). OAI reuses standards compliant stacks
of GTPv1u and GTPv2c application protocols from the open-
source software implementation of EPC called nwEPC.
OAI's hardware platform is designed to perform the
functions of the hardware RF platform. This allows the 3rd
party SDR RF platform to be ported for building 4G network
systems.
B. SDN(Software Defined Networking)
Previously, it was impossible to experiment with new
software or programs on legacy devices located at the core of
the network. SDN is a technology developed to solve various
problems such as the speed and stability of the network away
from the existing hardware-oriented network. SDN is
separated into a control plane that manages and monitors the
overall network using virtualization and a data plane that
performs packet movement to a specific destination.
As shown in Figure 1, SDN consists of three layers and
two interfaces. It is connected through a control layer and an
application layer northbound interface for various network
services. The northbound interface is provided at the
application layer for control of the other layer. The
infrastructure layer and the control layer are connected
through the southbound interface. The southbound interface is
used for forwarding control and information collection of the
infrastructure layer. A representative implementation of SDN
is the OpenFlow protocol.
III. SYSTEM STRUCTURE
This section discusses the structure of the implemented
system and each part of system’s elements.
748
Fig. 2. System Architecture with OAI Software
TABLE I. ENODEB TABLE
TABLE FIELD Type
ID VARCHAR
IP VARCHAR
NAME TEXT
MCC INT
MNC INT
INT
MME_ID
DESCRIPTION TEXT
The structure of the system implemented in this paper is
divided into three parts. The first part is a CLI-type controller
that commands the configuration of eNodeB and Core
Network implemented through OAI's software and monitors
information about it. The second part is the eNodeB Agent
which receives the command from the controller and updates
the eNodeB information to the Core Network Storage. The
final part is a Core Network Agent that receives commands
from the controller, then subscribes and releases the user
through the HSS user table. The Core Network Agent also
receives information from the eNodeB and updates the
eNodeB table.
As shown in Figure 2, several UEs are connected to the
eNodeB constructed through OAI, and the eNodeBs are
connected to the Core Network through tunneling. Through
the HSS and MME of the Core Network, profile management
and authentication of the UE are performed. Also, the
information of the eNodeBs is updated through the agent of
each part and the information is managed by using the
eNodeB table in the HSS.
TABLE I is the eNodeB table of HSS. The eNodeB table
contains the information about the host where the eNodeB is
installed, the cell where the eNodeB is located, and the
information of the MME managing the eNodeB. ID field is the
primary key of the table. This value is the MAC address of the
host where the eNodeB is installed. IP field is the IP address
of the host where the eNodeB is installed. Name field is the
name of the eNodeB specified by the administrator. Mobile
Country Code(MCC) field and Mobile Network Code(MNC)
field are information of a cell where the installed eNodeB is

Fig. 3. System Sequence Chart
located. The MME_ID is an identifier of the MME managing
the eNodeB.
Controllers at the remote site via the Internet outside the
core network each configure the eNodeB. It also performs the
subscription and releasing of the UE and the monitoring of the
information of the UE and the eNodeB. Each agent receives
and processes these commands to configure the UE and the
eNodeB. These functions are performed in the CLI-type
controller through the IP of the host where the eNodeB or
Core Network is installed and the specified command.
IV. IMPLEMENTATION
In this paper, we set up 4G network system by installing
and configuring OAI eNodeB and Core Network on two x86
hosts respectively. In addition, we implemented a system that
configures and monitors eNodeB and UE using remote
controller by loading implemented program.
The functions implemented as shown in Figure 3 are
largely composed of three parts. First, when an eNodeB not
registered in the HSS enters the system, the information of the
eNodeB is registered in the table. The information of the
existing eNodeB is updated in the eNodeB table of the HSS
according to a predetermined cycle. With this updated
information, the controller can monitor the information of the
eNodeBs.
Secondly, the remote controller can set the information of
the eNodeB. The controller commands to the eNodeB for
configuration of the eNodeB. The command contains the IP of
the eNodeB to be configured, the type to be set, and the value
to be entered for that type. After that, the eNodeB that receives
the command automatically changes the value of the eNodeB's
configuration file using the agent. When the configuration is
completed, the eNodeB sends a configuration response packet
back to the controller.
Finally, the UE can be subscribed and released using the
remote controller. For the subscription and releasing, send the
command including the IMSI value in the sim card and the IP
of the host where the Core Network is installed to the Core
Network Agent. Upon receiving the command, the Core
Network Agent registers or deletes a new UE in the HSS using
the corresponding IMSI. After registration or deletion, send a
response packet to the controller.
749
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we implemented a system that configures
and monitors UE and eNodeB by combining SDN technology
with 4G network system constructed using OAI software. The
eNodeB’s and the UE’s information is updated and configured
through communication among the implemented centralized
controller, the Core Network Agent and the eNodeB agent.
Monitoring is also based on this. As a result, it is anticipated
that this system will solve the inefficiency of the existing
configuration and solve the economic problem accordingly.
Further research into these proposed methods allows for
building larger scale test beds based on distance and location.
Also, various experiments and measurements can be
performed using the implemented system.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by Institute for Information &
communications Technology Promotion (IITP) grant funded
by the Korea government (MSIP) (B0190-16-2013,
Development of Access Technology Agnostic Next-
Generation Networking Technology for Wired-Wireless
Converged Networks)
The research leading to these results has received funding
from European Union H2020 5GPPP under grant n. 723247
and supported by the Institute for Information &
communications Technology Promotion (IITP) grant funded
by the Korea government (MSIP) (No.B0115-16-0001,
5GCHAMPION).
This work was supported by the ICT R&D program of
MSIP/IITP, Republic of Korea. [B0101-16-1366,
Development of Core Technology for Autonomous Network
Control and Management]
References
[1] Tanu Goyal and Sakshi Kaushal, “Optimized network selection during
handover using analytic hierarchy process in 4G network,” Advances in
Computing, Communication, & Automation (ICACCA) (Spring),
International Conference on, pp. 119-122, April 2016.
[2] Landry T. Yelome, Samuel Ouya, Samba Ndiaye and Sidi Mohamed
Farssi, “Contribution to SMS management over 4G network in distance
education context,” Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA),
2015 IEEE/ACS 12th International Conference of, pp. 365-370,
November 2015.
[3] William Diego, Isabelle Hamchaoui and Xavier Lagrange, “Cross-Layer
Design and Performance Evaluation for IP-centric QoS Model in LTE-
EPC Networks, IFIP Wireless and Mobile Networking Conference
(WMNC), 2015 8th, pp. 88-95, October 2015.
[4] Lin Han, Zhiyang Li, Weijiang Liu, Ke Dai and Wenyu Qu, “Minimum
Control Latency of SDN Controller Placement,” Trustcom/BigDataSE/I
SPA, 2016 IEEE, pp. 2175-2180, August 2016.
[5] Emmanouil Skondras, Angelos Michalas, Aggeliki Sgora and Dimitrios
D. Vergados, “QoS-aware scheduling in LTE-A networks with SDN
control,” Information, Intelligence, Systems & Applications (IISA),
2016 7th International Conference on, pp. 252-257, July 2016.
[6] Pengfei Zhang, Yusu Zhao, Yongkun Wang and Yaohui Jin, “SDN
enhanced tomography for performance profiling in cloud network,” IET
Communications, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 593-603, March 2017.
[7] OpenAirInterface official site [Online], http://www.openairinterface.org.