Performance Evaluation of 5G Core Network Control-Plane Using Open5GS and Kubernetes

The 5G network’s control-plane, a critical component of modern telecommunications infrastructure, manages the signaling and control functions that enable seamless connectivity and service delivery. This paper presents a comprehensive and in-depth performance evaluation of a 5G core network’s control-plane deployed using Open5GS and Kubernetes. The study systematically examines critical performance metrics, including latency, throughput, and resource utilization, across various load conditions, providing a nuanced understanding of the network’s behavior under stress. Using empirical data from a large-scale testbed simulating more than 50,000 User Equipment (UE), this paper offers detailed insights into the performance characteristics, scalability, and resource efficiency of the 5G core network.In addition to performance analysis, this work generates real-time packet traces from the large-scale experiment, which will be publicly available. These traces serve as a valuable resource for the broader research community, enabling further exploration and validation of the behaviors and performance of the 5G network. The findings of this study are particularly valuable for network operators, infrastructure providers, and researchers, as they offer critical guidance on optimizing 5G deployments. The results inform decisions about a sizing a Kubernetes cluster for 5G Core workload and which network functions (NFs) should be prioritized for scaling to meet the demands of next-generation mobile applications.