Tag Archives: SRSLTE

List of Open Source Evolved Packet Core (EPC) Implementations

EPC, LTE, Mobile Networks, Software, , , , , , ,

Open5Gs

Formerly NextEPC.

OpenAI Core Network

Related to / branched from OMEC.

Magma

Based on OMEC, with a focus on Fixed Wireless more than mobile.

Not fair to consider it just an EPC, Magma is highly scaleable and designed with a focus on Fixed Wireless offerings.

Supported by the Facebook Telecom Infra Project.

OMEC – Open Evolved Mobile Core

Supported by Open Networking Foundation, Sprint and several other large players.

OMEC has each Network Element in it’s own repo in GitHub and each is managed by a different team.

OpenMME – MME

In use by at least one commercial operator (in some capacity).

Next Generation Infrastructure Core (S-GW & P-GW)

Seems to only compile on 16.04 and not really

c3po – HSS / CDR / CTF

OpenCORD

srsEPC

(from the guys who produced srsLTE / srsENB / srsUE)

Viewing the SIB – The LTE System Information Block with SDRs

EUTRAN, LTE, Mobile Networks, , , , , ,

I’ve been experimenting with Inter-RAT & Inter-Frequency handovers recetly, and had an issue where what I thought was configured on the eNB I wasn’t seeing reflected on the UEs.

I understood the Neighbouring Cell reelection parameters are broadcast in the System Information Blocks, but how could I view them?

The answer – srsUE!

I can’t get over how cool the stuff coming out of Software Radio Systems is, but being able to simulate a UE and eNB on SDR hardware is pretty awesome, and also allows you to view low layer traces the vast majority of commercial UEs will never expose to a user.

After running srsUE with the PCAP option I let it scan for networks and find mine. I didn’t actually need to authenticate with the network, just lock to the cell.

Deocoding it using the steps I laid out here for decoding LTE MAC traces in Wireshark, there it all was!

I’ve attached a copy of the pcap here for your reference.

Dumb Lesson in RF Connectors

RF, , , ,

When the YateBTS project launched 6 or 7 years ago I went out and purchased what was to be my first “real” SDR – The BladeRF x40.

At the time I wanted to play with GSM stuff, and so I grabbed two rubber duck antenna off an Alarm GSM Dialer I had in a junk box, thinking they’d do a better job than the stock “everything-band” antenna that came with the SDR hardware.

The offending antennas

These two became my “probably roughly aligned with the common commercial RAN bands” antennas,

I’ve used these antennas on pretty much all my RAN related projects on the BladeRF, HackRF and the LimeSDR,

  • GSM with YateBTS
  • GSM with Osmocom
  • iPhone connecting to SRS LTE eNodeB SDR
    LTE with srsLTE

I had some issues a recently I attributed to “probably rubbish antennas” so decided to get a pair of paddle antenna tuned for the frequencies I was working with.

While working out what to get I had a look and noted the connectors on all my SDR hardware is SMA-Female connector. Easy, so I need an SMA-Male connector on the antennas, purchase made.

Cut forward to today when the antennas arrive at my door, they’re exactly as described, however I notice some resistance when connecting them, the male pin is stiff to go into the LimeSDR, whereas there’s no resistance at all from my “trusty” rubber duck antennas.

That’s when I realised.

The two antennas I’ve been using for about 7 years at this point, have the wrong connectors (SMA and RP-SMA) and have not made contact on the signal centre pin that entire time…

They’re RP-SMA male and I need SMA male.

Wasn’t just reverse polarity – it was no polarity.

I’m a walking encyclopedia of connectors, acronyms and layer 1 stuff, but apparently this I missed.

I’m an idiot – a lucky one who didn’t burn out his SDR hardware.

An idiot with greatly improved RSSI though…

iPhone connecting to SRS LTE eNodeB SDR

srsLTE Install for BladeRF & LimeSDR on Debian / Ubuntu

EUTRAN, LTE, Mobile Networks, , , , , , ,

Note: I’m running version 19.12.0 which I installed from the repos due to issues with 20.4.0 (latest when I wrote this) and stability on LimeSDR.

I wrote the other day about installing SRS LTE stack,

But installing it is one thing, meeting all the requirements to use it with your SDR hardware turns out to be another whole thing all together.

srsENB is a software defined eNodeB, allowing you to use a Software Defined Radio to serve as an eNodeB, UE and a few other utilities.

SRS’ implementation of the eNB is supposed to be 3GPP R10 compliant and supports eMBMS to boot.

Meeting Dependencies

Installing prerequisites

I’m using a LimeSDR, but these instructions also for for the BladeRF. I found the frequency stability of my BladeRF X40 wasn’t great, meaning when running SRS’s eNodeB the cell wasn’t visible to my UE. 

sudo apt install tree vim git g++ make cmake pkg-config python-numpy swig libi2c-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev libfftw3-dev libmbedtls-dev libboost-program-options-dev libconfig++-dev libsctp-dev gnuradio

Install SoapySDR from Source

git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR.git 
pushd SoapySDR
git checkout tags/soapy-sdr-0.7.2 -b soapy-sdr-0.7.2
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
popd

Install LimeSuite

You can skip this if you’re using a BladeRF

git clone https://github.com/myriadrf/LimeSuite.git 
pushd LimeSuite
#git checkout tags/v19.04.0 -b v19.04.0
mkdir builddir
cd builddir
cmake ..
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
cd ../udev-rules
sudo sh ./install.sh
popd

Install BladeRF

You can skip this if using a LimeSDR

git clone https://github.com/Nuand/bladeRF.git
pushd bladeRF/host/
mkdir build
cd build/
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local -DINSTALL_UDEV_RULES=ON -DBLADERF_GROUP=plugdev ..
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
sudo mkdir -p /etc/Nuand/bladeRF/
sudo wget https://www.nuand.com/fpga/hostedx40-latest.rbf --output-document /etc/Nuand/bladeRF/hostedx40.rbf
popd


git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapyBladeRF.git
pushd SoapyBladeRF
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install
popd

Install SRS GUI

(Optional but makes life easier and has to be done prior to installing SRSLTE) 

sudo apt-get install libboost-system-dev libboost-test-dev libboost-thread-dev libqwt-qt5-dev qtbase5-dev
git clone https://github.com/srsLTE/srsGUI.git
pushd srsGUI
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install
popd

Install SRSLTE (SRSenb & SRSue)

pushd srsLTE
mkdir build 
cd build 
cmake ../ 
make 
make test 
sudo make install 
sudo ldconfig 
sudo ./srslte_install_configs.sh service 
popd