Hybrid P4 Programmable Pipelines for 5G gNodeB and User Plane Functions

• This paper focuses on hybrid pipeline designs for User Plane Function and next-generation NodeB leveraging target-specific features and an insightful discussion of P4 and target challenges and limitations. The entire or disaggregated UPF runs on P4 targets and allocates packet processing data paths in P4 hardware or DPDK/x86 software based on flow characteristics (e.g., heavy hitters) and QoS requirements (e.g., low-latency slices). For the hybrid gNodeB, most packet processing is executed in commodity Tofino hardware, while unsupported functions such as Automatic Repeat Request and cryptography are performed in DPDK/x86. We show that our hybrid UPF improves the scalability by 18× and reduces latency up to 50%. The results also suggest that careful traffic allocation to pipeline targets is required to optimize each target's strength and avoid processing delays. Finally, we demonstrate a QoS-oriented application of the hybrid UPF and present gNodeB buffer service benchmarks. 

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Kommunikationssystem (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Communication Systems (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datavetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

5G mobile communication systems; Benchmarking; Data handling; Error correction; Field programmable gate arrays (FPGA); Pipeline processing systems; Quality of service; Reconfigurable hardware

5g; 5g mobile communication; Field programmable gate array; Field programmables; Hardware; Hybrid network; Mobile communications; Programmable gate array; Programmable network; User planes

Pipelines

Computer Science

Datavetenskap

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)