Aether OnRamp

Owned by Larry Peterson
Last updated: Aug 26, 2024
2 min read

Aether OnRamp is the recommended way to get started with Aether. It defines a step-by-step procedure for deploying and operating Aether on your own hardware, including support for 5G small cell radios. If you want to skip the documentation and jump directly into GitHub, start here.

Troubleshooting

General troubleshooting hints are included in the OnRamp Guide, but some of the issues people report are due to the specifics of their local environment or the hardware they are using. A summary of these issues and how they might be addressed are being tracked here.

Blueprints

OnRamp supports multiple configurations, known as blueprints. The current set includes the following:

  • QuickStart: Configures the RAN emulator (gNBsim) to run in the same server as the Core. Serves as the default blueprint. Details documented here.

  • Scalable gNBsim: Configures the RAN emulator (gNBsim) to run in one or more servers, independent of the Core. Details documented here.

  • Physical gNB: Configures the Core to work with an external 5G radio (gNB), with the Core optionally running under the control of AMP.  Details documented here.

  • Physical eNB: Configures the Core to work with an external 4G radio (eNB), with the Core optionally running under the control of AMP. Details documented here.

  • Multi-UPF: Configures the Core with two UPFs and programs AMP with two slices, each associated with a distinct UPF. Details documented here.

  • SD-RAN: Configures the Core and SD-RAN in tandem, with RANSIM (running in the same Kubernetes namespace as SD-RAN) emulating various RAN elements. Details documented here.

  • SRIOV: Configures the Core with SRIOV and DPDK enabled. Details documented here.

  • UERANSIM: Configures UERANSIM in place of gNBsim, providing a second way to direct workload at the Core. Details documented here.

  • OAI RAN: Configures the Core with an OAI-based 5G RAN, supporting another gNB option. Boolean variable simulation selects emulated or physical UE. Details documented here.

Users are encouraged to contribute new blueprints to OnRamp, making them available to the larger Aether community.

RoadMap

In addition to tracking the latest versions of SD-Core and SD-RAN, the tasks on the OnRamp Roadmap are documented here.

Resources