Julia-based Discrete Event Simulator for evaluating scalability of 5G Networks and beyond

This is the documentation for the Julia-based Discrete Event Simulator designed to evaluate the scalability of 5G networks and beyond.

Julia? Why?

Julia is designed for high-performance numerical and scientific computing, combining the ease of use of languages like Python with the speed of C/C++. It has a strong ecosystem for discrete event simulation, including packages like ConcurrentSim, which provides a robust framework for building and running simulations. This makes Julia a very attractive choice for developing a discrete event simulator tailored to evaluating the scalability of 5G networks and beyond.

The simulator allows researchers and network engineers to model, simulate, and analyze various network scenarios, focusing on the deployment and performance of User Plane Functions (UPFs) across different geographic regions.

The simulator is built around three main elements:

Agents: Representing users or devices distributed across municipalities within a country.
Base Stations: Using OpenCellID data to simulate real-world cellular network coverage.
UPFs: UPFs get automatically distributed based on K-Means clustering, depending on gNB density. In other words, UPFs are placed in optimal locations to minimize latency and maximize performance for the distributed base stations.

Then, these elements are connected based on proximity.

graph LR
    UE([UE]) -- NR interface --> gNB[gNB]
    gNB -- N3 interface --> UPF[UPF]

It supports multiple countries and operators, enabling comprehensive testing of network configurations and strategies. So far it has support for Spain and the USA, but more countries can be easily added by following the Agents documentation.

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