A 5G OpenAirInterface (OAI) Testbed with MEC: Deployment, Application testing and Slicing Support

Realizing the potential of multi-access edge computing (MEC) is essential to achieve low latency and high reliability targets. By supporting computation and storage close to the users, value services can be delivered to the subscribers. The MEC architecture proposed by ETSI caters key requirements for the next generation applications. The OAI kind of initiatives are increasingly becoming the vehicle for 5G deployments, allowing network customization and real-time monitoring. Seeking a flexible architecture for wireless networks, this paper puts forth a novel 5G MEC-OAI testbed, adhering to the existing standards. While leveraging the standards, the proposed setup is easy to deploy because of virtualized infrastructure. A video streaming application has been demonstrated on this architecture, addressing object detection scenarios. Additionally, the testbed can be easily adapted to support network slicing.