Paving the way for local and industrial 5G networks and testbeds

Local 5G networks are a major area of 5G innovation and offer vital insights into practical 5G deployment. Local 5G networks can give us important information because in these environments 5G technologies must be tightly integrated with different access network technologies and with the end-to-end software stacks of different vertical application domains, such as manufacturing and energy. To achieve this in an efficient and economical way, the Open5GCore.net software toolkit of Fraunhofer FOKUS provides the first 3GPP Release 15 5G core network implementation facilitating the rapid deployment of local 5G use-case-oriented testbeds. We have also developed the FOKUS ""5G Playground"", a reference live deployment, with multiple customised network slices based on the Open5GCore and use case applications. The ""5G Playground"" has served as a blueprint for many other 5G testbeds deployed across Europe and around the world in the context of 5GPPP.