Design Considerations and Deployment Challenges for TurboRAN 5G and Beyond Testbed

Prior to standardization, new features, algorithms, and solutions have to be rigorously evaluated and verified using different methods. In this regard, testbeds are considered as one of the most important and effective experimental platforms for performing tests, thus paving the way towards the real-world implementation of many solutions, from the most basic to the most disruptive and innovative ones. Compared to computer simulators, testbeds provide near-realistic implementation and can obtain practical results while posing less risk to live networks. They are also cheaper compared to field trials. Given the crucial role of testbeds in the cellular network ecosystem, it is imperative to create awareness regarding the design challenges associated with constructing an effective and efficient testbed deployment. In this tutorial, we discuss the design considerations and challenges we experienced while deploying an outdoor testbed that we call TurboRAN—a 5G and beyond network testbed facility. It is designed to facilitate the evaluation of early real-world use case algorithm implementations and deployments. We present the process and methodology used to select components, including antennas, amplifiers, base stations, and cabinets, to name a few, and describe the integration of the components to construct a fully operational testbed. Finally, we discuss a use case that demonstrates the TurboRAN’s ability to conduct real-world experiments. The use case demonstrates the detrimental impact of sub-optimal handover parameter configuration on network performance—a big challenge in modern cellular communication. This work intends to inspire and guide the development of a cellular testbed by providing a generalized framework that describes step-by-step the efforts made for its construction.