News & Events

On 23 October 2024, 6G-PATH project partners OneSource,  Instituto de Telecomunicações, and Telefonica presented their groundbreaking paper titled Pushing the Boundaries of Scalable 5G Core Networks: Cloud-Native NEF and CAPIF at the prestigious 3rd Edition of the International Conference on 6G Networking (6GNet 2024).

This paper highlights significant advancements in the integration and testing of OneSource’s Network Exposure Function (NEF) with the Common API Framework (CAPIF) and Open5GS 5G Core.

The paper considers the critical role of NEF and CAPIF, as defined by 3GPP, in standardizing how network APIs are discovered, exposed, and consumed. It introduces a novel microservice and event-driven Network Exposure Function (MNEF), which supports CAPIF and incorporates various purpose-built microservices. The research evaluates MNEF’s interoperability with reference implementations of 5G Core (Open5GS) and CAPIF (OpenCAPIF), and assesses its performance and scalability under large-scale request scenarios.

The results demonstrate that MNEF provides substantial benefits and seamless interaction with compliant 5G Core implementations. While some communication overhead was expected, MNEF proves to be effective in fulfilling its role within the 5G architecture, serving as a crucial interface between external entities and 5G Core network functions. This innovative design pushes the limits of scalable 5G communications.

The work is a collaboration between OneSource, Instituto de Telecomunicações, and Telefonica, all key partners of the 6G-PATH project.

You can read the full paper here.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates on 5G and 6G innovations from the 6G-PATH project!