{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T15:50:45Z","timestamp":1784303445895,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,20]],"date-time":"2021-12-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1639958400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Network"],"abstract":"<jats:p>With the wide adoption of edge compute infrastructures, an opportunity has arisen to deploy part of the functionality at the edge of the network to enable a localized connectivity service. This development is also supported by the adoption of \u201con-premises\u201d local 5G networks addressing the needs of different vertical industries and by new standardized infrastructure services such as Mobile Edge Computing (MEC). This article introduces a comprehensive set of deployment options for the 5G network and its network management, complementing MEC with the connectivity service and addressing different classes of use cases and applications. We have also practically implemented and tested the newly introduced options in the form of slices within a standard-based testbed. Our performed validation proved their feasibility and gave a realistic perspective on their impact. The qualitative assessment of the connectivity service gives a comprehensive overview on which solution would be viable to be deployed for each vertical market and for each large-scale operator situation, making a step forward towards automated distributed 5G deployments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/network1030020","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,21]],"date-time":"2021-12-21T04:35:57Z","timestamp":1640061357000},"page":"354-368","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["A Study of 5G Edge-Central Core Network Split Options"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"1","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7221-3791","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marius","family":"Corici","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Fraunhofer FOKUS Institute, 10589 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pousali","family":"Chakraborty","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fraunhofer FOKUS Institute, 10589 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas","family":"Magedanz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fraunhofer FOKUS Institute, 10589 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"55765","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2018.2872781","article-title":"5G Wireless Network Slicing for eMBB, URLLC, and mMTC: A Communication-Theoretic View","volume":"6","author":"Popovski","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, Z., Uusitalo, M.A., Shariatmadari, H., and Singh, B. (2018, January 28\u201331). 5G URLLC: Design challenges and system concepts. Proceedings of the 2018 15th International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems (ISWCS), Lisbon, Portugal.","DOI":"10.1109\/ISWCS.2018.8491078"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"3GPP TS 23.501 (2021, March 30). System Architecture for the 5G System (5GS), v17.0.0. Available online: www.3gpp.org."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"3GPP TS 23.502 (2021, March 31). Procedures for the 5G System (5GS), v17.0.0. Available online: www.3gpp.org."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"3GPP TS 28.533 (2021, September 23). Management and Orchestration; Architecture Framework, v17.0.0.0. Available online: www.3gpp.org."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Kekki, S., Featherstone, W., Fang, Y., Kuure, P., Li, A., Ranjan, A., Purkayastha, D., Jiangping, F., Frydman, D., and Verin, G. (2018). MEC in 5G Networks, ETSI. ETSI White Paper, 28."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Corici, M., Chakraborty, P., Magedanz, T., Gomes, A., Cordeiro, L., and Mahmood, K. (2021, January 6\u20138). 5G Non-Public-Networks (NPN) Roaming Architecture. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Network of the Future, Coimbra, Portugal.","DOI":"10.1109\/NoF52522.2021.9609936"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Corici, M., and Magedanz, T. (2021). One Layer to Rule Them All: Data Layer-oriented 6G Networks. Shaping Future 6G Networks: Needs, Impacts and Technologies, Wiley.","DOI":"10.1002\/9781119765554.ch13"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Liolis, K., Cahill, J., Higgins, E., Corici, M., Troudt, E., and Sutton, P. (October, January 30). Over-the-air demonstration of satellite integration with 5G core network and multi-access edge computing use case. Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE 2nd 5G World Forum (5GWF), Dresden, Germany.","DOI":"10.1109\/5GWF.2019.8911717"},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Corici, M., Liolis, K., Burkhardt, F., Gheorghe-Pop, I., Covaci, S., Politis, C., Geurtz, A., Koernicke, J., V\u00f6lk, F., and Kapovits, A. (2018, January 10\u201312). SATis5: A 5G Testbed Integrating Satellite and Terrestrial Infrastructures. Proceedings of the Advanced Satellite Multimedia Systems Conference (ASMS), Berlin, Germany."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Corici, M., Emmelmann, M., Hauswirth, M., and Magedanz, T. (2021, November 03). Paving the Way for Local and Industrial 5G Networks and testbeds. ERCIM News, 12 April 2019; p. 7. Available online: https:\/\/ercim-news.ercim.eu\/en117\/special\/paving-the-way-for-local-and-industrial-5g-networks-and-testbeds."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Krentz, K.F., and Corici, M.I. (2021, January 21\u201324). Poster: Multipath Extensions for WireGuard. Proceedings of the 2021 IFIP Networking Conference (IFIP Networking), Espoo and Helsinki, Finland.","DOI":"10.23919\/IFIPNetworking52078.2021.9472775"},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"(2021, November 03). OpenStack Software. Available online: https:\/\/www.openstack.org\/."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"ETSI (2021, November 03). GS NFV 002 Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV). Architectural Framework, V1.2.1., Available online: https:\/\/www.etsi.org\/deliver\/etsi_gs\/nfv\/001_099\/002\/01.02.01_60\/gs_nfv002v010201p.pdf."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"(2021, November 03). OpenBaton Toolkit. Available online: https:\/\/openbaton.github.io\/."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Corici, M., Gheorghe-Pop, I., Cau, E., Corici, A.A., and Magedanz, T. (November, January 31). A benchmarking methodology for virtualized packet core implementations. Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE Conference on Standards for Communications and Networking (CSCN), Berlin, Germany.","DOI":"10.1109\/CSCN.2016.7785156"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Corici, M., Troudt, E., and Chakraborty, P. (2021, January 13\u201315). An Ultra-Flexible Software Architecture Concept for 6G Core Networks. Proceedings of the 2021 IEEE 4th 5G World Forum (5GWF), Montreal, QC, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/5GWF52925.2021.00077"}],"container-title":["Network"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2673-8732\/1\/3\/20\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T07:49:56Z","timestamp":1760168996000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2673-8732\/1\/3\/20"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,20]]},"references-count":17,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12]]}},"alternative-id":["network1030020"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/network1030020","relation":{},"ISSN":["2673-8732"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2673-8732","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,20]]}}}