Design, Integration and Slicing of non-3GPP DUs in 5G Networks: a Hybrid 5G-DU Approach

The countless needs of the modern world for connectivity have led to the rapid evolution of wireless networks and the creation of the latest and most current generations of 5G cellular networks and WiFi wireless networks that promise unprecedented levels of data speeds, low latency, and seamless connectivity. The integration of WiFi in the architecture of the 5th-generation cellular networks brings about an increase in the coverage, the exploitation of unlicensed spectrums, and the load-balancing of the network. Still, it also paves the way for creating a more robust and versatile next-generation wireless ecosystem. This paper presents and implements a 5G hybrid Distributed Unit (DU) architecture, integrating a WiFi DU into real-world 5G networks using the OpenAirInterface (OAI) RAN and 5GCN software. This work also tries to align the WiFi technology with the dynamic and flexible capabilities of 5G such as slicing. The WiFi functionality is extended, in order to support a User-Based Slicing scheme using Software-Defined Networking (SDN) combined with proper exploitation of the Type of Service (ToS) field of IP packets to prioritize traffic and manage network resources.