Private 5G Airfield Network

• Private 5G airfield networks are self-contained, slice-capable wireless infrastructures dedicated to safety-critical airside and landside communications.
• They integrate a 5G Standalone core with distributed UPF/MEC clusters, programmable O-RAN RAN, and dynamic network slicing to meet strict latency and reliability targets.
• The architecture ensures resilience, rapid failover, and seamless mobility through on-premises authentication, advanced resource orchestration, and rigorous performance validation.

A private 5G airfield network is a self-contained, slice-capable, and ultra-reliable wireless infrastructure deployed and operated by an airfield authority (rather than a public mobile network operator), dedicated exclusively to supporting airside and landside operational workflows, safety-critical communications, ground and aerial vehicle control, telemetry, positioning, and passenger services across the entire airfield estate. These networks are engineered for stringent latency, reliability, capacity, and security requirements, leveraging on-premises 5G Standalone (SA) core, distributed User Plane Functions (UPFs), Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), advanced RAN architectures, and network slicing. Several open-source and commercial frameworks—incorporating intelligent resource orchestration agents, programmability, and rapid life-cycle management—are now accessible for airfield deployment.

1. Architectural Principles and Functional Components

Private 5G airfield networks deploy a Standalone (SA) 5G Core to confine all user-plane (UP) and control-plane (CP) traffic to the premises, with the following main architectural building blocks (Choudhury et al., 2023, Ordonez-Lucena et al., 2019, Coelho et al., 10 Nov 2024, Kochems et al., 2018, Villa et al., 22 Jun 2024, Aijaz et al., 2021, Rodriguez et al., 2019):

• Control Plane Centralization: Core network functions (AMF, SMF, NEF, AUSF, UDM) are centrally hosted (typically in an airfield operations center) for device registration, session management, authentication, and policy enforcement.
• Distributed Data Plane: Containerized UPF/MEC clusters are collocated with critical zones (runways, apron, tower, drone staging); each UPF is a GTP-U anchor per 3GPP N3/N9, usually deployed per “airfield cell.”
• Mobile Edge Computing Integration: Each UPF is physically attached to a MEC server to provide ultra-low-latency hosting for critical applications (e.g., ground vehicle C2, drone control, analytics).
• Programmable O-RAN RAN Architecture: O-RAN functional disaggregation (CU/DU/RU split) is used for scaling, vendor diversity, and programmability. Key technologies include NVIDIA Aerial SDK for GPU-accelerated PHY, OpenAirInterface (OAI) protocol stack, and near-real-time RAN Intelligent Controllers (RIC), deployed on orchestration frameworks like OpenShift (Villa et al., 22 Jun 2024).
• Resiliency and Redundancy: Dual-homed fiber or high-capacity microwave backhaul, redundant VNFs, and containerized core orchestration enable hot failover and minimize single points of failure. The “Trust Zone”/“5G Island” concept ensures on-site network autonomy during WAN or MNO backhaul loss (Kochems et al., 2018).

Logical block diagrams and deployment blueprints consistently show gNB-RAN sectors covering all traffic areas, MEC/UPF at edge locations for each “zone,” and core data-center functions with direct fiber and high-speed internal links.

2. Resource Orchestration, Slicing, and Intelligent Control

Dynamic resource management optimizes the allocation of computational, radio, and core network resources to meet strict QoS, latency, and reliability targets (Choudhury et al., 2023, Villa et al., 22 Jun 2024, Rodriguez et al., 2019):

• MEC-Intelligent Agent (MEC-IA): A logically centralized agent in the MEC management plane collects real-time telemetry (UPF/MEC queues, slice allocations, UPF–MEC link status) via NEF (N33 interface). It selects the best UPF/MEC pair per PDU session using low-complexity, slice-aware best-fit algorithms, optimizing for minimum worst-case end-to-end (E2E) latency under realistic skews in URLLC or mMTC traffic.
• Key Algorithmic Steps:
  • For each candidate UPF $i$ and slice $q$:

  $$D_{UPF}[i][q] = \left(\frac{Q_{UPF}[i][q] + 1 - S_{UPF}^\Delta[i][q]}{C_{UPF}[i][q]} + 1 \right)\delta$$

  $$S_{UPF}^\Delta[i][q] = C_{UPF}[i][q] - S_{UPF}[i][q]$$ - For each MEC $j$:

  $$D_{MEC}[j] = \left(\frac{Q_{MEC}[j] + 1 - S_{MEC}^\Delta[j]}{C_{MEC}[j]} + 1\right) \delta$$ - Link/network delay:

  $$D_{Net}[i][j] = \frac{N_{share}[i][j] \cdot Bytes_{MEC}}{BW[i][j] \cdot \delta}$$ - End-to-end latency:

  $D_{E2E} = D_{UPF} + D_{Net} + D_{MEC}$

• Network Slicing: Dedicated resources—radio (PRBs), compute (vCPUs), backhaul BW—are apportioned per traffic class (uRLLC, eMBB, mMTC) using slice parameters $\alpha[i][*]$. Example: $\alpha[i][uRLLC] \approx 0.6$–$0.8$ (critical ops), $\alpha[i][eMBB] \approx 0.2$–$0.3$ (video or passenger), $\alpha[i][mMTC] \approx 0.1$–$0.2$ (IoT).

• Near-RT RICs and xApps enable run-time RAN control: per-UE metric subscriptions (e.g., RSRP, MCS), proportional-fair handover, interference mitigation, and closed-loop orchestration (Villa et al., 22 Jun 2024).

Slice instantiation, configuration, scaling, and closed-loop self-healing are automated via ONAP-compatible workflows, with YANG/CSAR descriptors used to onboard, inventory, and orchestrate all VNFs/PNFs and network services (Rodriguez et al., 2019).

3. Radio Access Network Engineering and Mobility

Radio network planning is governed by deterministic link-budget and propagation modeling aligned with airfield topologies (Aijaz et al., 2021, Coelho et al., 10 Nov 2024, Kochems et al., 2018):

• Frequency Bands: Sub-6 GHz (3.4–3.8 GHz n78/n77, CBRS 3550–3700 MHz in the US) is standard for runway and apron, while mmWave (26–28 GHz) is used for localized high-throughput/short-range (e.g., hangar uplinks, drone/video backhaul).

• Link Budget Formulation:

  • Free-space path loss:

  $$FSPL(dB) = 20 \log_{10}(d_{km}) + 20 \log_{10}(f_{MHz}) + 32.45$$ - Received power:

  $$P_{rx} = P_{tx} + G_{tx} + G_{rx} - L_{path} - L_{margin} - L_{penetration}$$ - SNR and Shannon capacity guide modulation, MCS, and numerology selection.

Deployment Mode	Band	Coverage Radius	Typical Capacity
Sub-6 GHz	3.5 GHz	500–1200 m	100–1000 Mbps/cell
mmWave	26–28 GHz	50–200 m	>1 Gbps/sector
Mobile Cell	3.5 GHz	200–500 m	0.5–1 Gbps MC per site

• Antenna Placement: Sector arrays (6–10 m height, ~3–4° downtilt) span runways, with mMIMO panels atop towers for apron control, and rooftop/femto RUs for hangars/terminals.

• Mobility and Handover: Xn/X2-based make-before-break handovers are managed by RICs/xApps using multi-metric thresholds (RSRP/RSRQ, $\Delta_{HO}$, TTT). For high-mobility UEs (UAVs, vehicles), multi-connectivity (EN-DC, sub-6 GHz + mmWave) and low-latency PDU session rebinding are implemented (handover delay $<$1 ms for critical traffic) (Kochems et al., 2018, Choudhury et al., 2023).

4. Edge Security and Privacy-Preserving Authentication

Security architectures are tailored for closed, high-assurance environments:

• On-Premises Authentication: All 5G-AKA authentication and subscriber credential management (AUSF, UDM) is localized—no reliance on remote PLMN HNs (Lutz et al., 1 Sep 2025).

• Resilience to Advanced Threats: Privacy-preserving 5G-AKA extensions address linkability, replay, and synchronization attacks. The most effective mechanism is a UE-generated nonce (N_UE) embedded in SUCI; replayed SUCIs trigger uniform rejection with no variance in observable error codes:

$SUCI = ECIES_{HN}(MSIN \| N_{UE})$

• Overhead Analysis: Nonce-in-SUCI adds just +16 bytes per auth, <0.1 ms computationally, 6–10 ms authentication latency overhead (total well below 200 ms E2E constraint).

• Mitigation Strategies: All error responses (success/failure) are encrypted/padded; resynchronization messages (AUTS) are replaced with nonce-based freshness, eliminating all known replay and correlation vectors.

• Physical Security: Onboard databases, traffic isolation via firewalls/NAT, and out-of-band monitoring for rogue device or session anomalies are standard. Logging of nonce duplicates supports insider threat detection.

5. Performance, Validation, and Fault Tolerance

Performance is characterized with empirical and modeled metrics (Choudhury et al., 2023, Aijaz et al., 2021, Coelho et al., 10 Nov 2024, Mykytyn et al., 3 Dec 2025, Villa et al., 22 Jun 2024):

• Latency and Throughput:

  • E2E delay (100th percentile URLLC): Baseline ≈42 ms; with MEC-IA (optimized UPF-MEC pairing): 18 ms (–57%); with path-extension: 22 ms.
  • URLLC queue draining reduces from 46 ms (baseline) to 10 ms (MEC-IA-optimized).
  • CapEx savings (URLLC): 40% fewer UPF–MEC pairs for fixed coverage; 2.4x higher uRLLC connectivity gain for same hardware.
  • Single-cell static peak throughput (DL): 1.65 Gbps (100 MHz carrier) with GPU-accelerated O-RAN PHY and COTS UE (Villa et al., 22 Jun 2024); multi-UE aggregate >500 Mbps.
• Mobility-related robustness: In presence of directional jamming, UAV speed is inversely correlated with outage duration (32% outage at 3 m/s vs. 0% at 12 m/s), due to reduced dwelling in high-interference zones (Mykytyn et al., 3 Dec 2025).
• Availability: With N+1 redundancy (gNB=0.9999, Core=0.99999, backhaul=0.9999), composite reliability $>$99.999% (5-nines); path and node failover events $<$10 ms; active standby for UPF pairs is recommended (Kochems et al., 2018, Choudhury et al., 2023).
• Handover and RLF: Tuning TTT and hysteresis lowers mobility-induced RLFs to $<$1%. Adaptive power control and (re)beam-tracking maintain SINR and throughput under drone/vehicle mobility and jamming.

6. Regulatory, Spectrum, and Integration Considerations

Airfield deployments must satisfy regulatory and aviation-specific requirements (Ordonez-Lucena et al., 2019, Coelho et al., 10 Nov 2024, Aijaz et al., 2021):

• Spectrum Bands: Primary allocation is 3.4–3.8 GHz (n78, C-band); secondary bands include CBRS (3550–3700 MHz), and, for localized high-capacity, 26 or 28 GHz mmWave (esp. indoor/hangar).
• Licensing: Coordination with national authority and civil aviation bodies is mandatory to prevent interference with aviation systems (ADS-B, ACARS, VOR/DME); local licensing and guard bands are enforced.
• Interference Mitigation: Directional/sectorized antennas, digital beam-forming, and dynamic spectrum selection are used to withstand industrial/aviation interference (surface radar etc.).
• Integration Models: The standard reference is a Shared-RAN with Dedicated Core (airfield owns/operates 5GC, shares or owns gNBs), with failover via N3IWF to MNO PLMN for off-site mobility (Ordonez-Lucena et al., 2019).

7. Deployment, Dimensioning, and Operational Best Practices

Deployment is guided by technology demonstration results and empirical models for site planning, resource sizing, and SLA assurance (Choudhury et al., 2023, Aijaz et al., 2021, Rodriguez et al., 2019):

• Resource Sizing:
  • UPF: 2–3 CPU cores for uRLLC, 1–2 (eMBB), 1 (mMTC).
  • MEC host: 4–8 CPU cores + 32 GB RAM per airfield zone.
  • Fronthaul: O-RAN 7.2/eCPRI over redundant 10–100 Gbps fiber or mmWave.
• Placement Strategy: Distribute UPF–MEC pairs per control tower, hangar; 10 Gbps links between UPF and MEC for high-burst feeds.
• Measurement and Monitoring: RTT, throughput, jitter, and E2E delay are continuously benchmarked (e.g., ICMP-ping, iPerf, video streaming). DCAE collectors and closed-loop policies (CLAMP) provide assurance, triggering scale-out and healing when thresholds (e.g., latency >8 ms, CPU >80%) are breached (Rodriguez et al., 2019).
• Coverage Validation: Digital twin and 3D ray-tracing are used for optimal RU placement and SINR coverage analysis; RSRP >–95 dBm at cell edge is target (Villa et al., 22 Jun 2024).
• Operational Tuning: $δ=1$ ms monitoring epoch for MEC-IA; reassignment intervals 50–100 ms following drone/vehicle movement or load shifts.

---

In sum, private 5G airfield networks utilize a combination of local 5GC, distributed and/or mobile edge resources, O-RAN-based programmable RAN, privacy-preserving authentication, and automated orchestration to address the sub-5 ms URLLC, six-nines reliability, and high-accuracy positioning essential for modern airside and landside digitalization (Choudhury et al., 2023, Coelho et al., 10 Nov 2024, Ordonez-Lucena et al., 2019, Lutz et al., 1 Sep 2025, Kochems et al., 2018, Aijaz et al., 2021, Villa et al., 22 Jun 2024, Mykytyn et al., 3 Dec 2025, Rodriguez et al., 2019). This architecture enables mission-critical airfield operations, unmanned-systems control, high-density IoT, and resilient safety workflows with precise quantitative guarantees.