free5GRAN  V1.0
free5GRAN

free5GRAN is an open-source 5G RAN stack. The current version includes a receiver which decodes MIB & SIB1 data. It also acts as a cell scanner. free5GRAN works in SA mode.

free5GRAN includes a library which can be reused for further developments. Documentation is available HERE.

Installation & Running

Requirements

Before compiling, make sure that the following libraries are installed:

  • cmake
  • libfftw3
  • libconfig++
  • boost

On ubuntu, those libraries can be installed via:

sudo apt-get install cmake libfftw3-dev libconfig++-dev libboost-program-options-dev libboost-log-dev

Radio frontend

We currently support USRP B210. libuhd and libuhd-dev are required. They can be installed on Ubuntu via:

sudo apt-get install libuhd libuhd-dev

Compiling

free5GRAN executable can be compiled from sources with the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/free5G/free5GRAN.git
cd free5GRAN
mkdir files
mkdir build
cd build
mkdir output_files
cmake ..
make

Configuration and running

Two functions are supported by free5GRAN.

Cell search

Searching a cell with pre-defined parameters. Example config file is provided (free5GRAN/config/search_cell.cfg).

Band scanning

Scanning one or more 5G NR bands. Example config file is provided (free5GRAN/config/scan_band.cfg).

USRP configuration

Before running free5GRAN, USRP B210 device has to be configured:

  • Run uhd_find_devices
  • Find the device you want to use
  • Copy the serial field of the device and paste it in the config file.

To run free5GRAN: sudo ./free5GRAN ../config/CONFIG_FILE

Debugging

free5GRAN writes logs in build/free5GRAN.log. It can be used for debugging. Foremost, free5RGAN writes some data files in free5gran/build/output_files directory. For plotting those files, run python analyse.py in project free5gran/ directory. This python script generates files that are stored in free5gran/files directory.

Testing note

free5GRAN has been successfully tested on Ubuntu 18.04 with USRP B210. It is currently under active development, which means that it might not be fully stable.