{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]],"date-time":"2026-04-21T03:52:56Z","timestamp":1776743576336,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,3]],"date-time":"2024-06-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1717372800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS","award":["2020\/05127-2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2020\/05127-2"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Telecom"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) represents the central concept that enables the creation of new applications and services that bring the benefits of edge computing to networks and users. By implementing applications and services at the edge, close to users and their devices, it becomes possible to take advantage of extremely low latency, substantial bandwidth, and optimized resource usage. However, enabling this approach requires careful integration between the MEC framework and the open 5G core. This work is dedicated to designing a new service that extends the functionality of the Multi-Access Traffic Steering (MTS) API, acting as a strategic bridge between the realms of MEC and the 5G core. To accomplish this objective, we utilize free5GC (open-source project for 5G core) as our 5G core, deployed on the Kubernetes cluster. The proposed service is validated using this framework, involving scenarios of high user density. To conclude whether the discussed solution is valid, KPIs of 5G MEC applications described in the scientific community were sought to use as a comparison parameter. The results indicate that the service effectively addresses the described issues while demonstrating its feasibility in various use cases such as e-Health, Paramedic Support, Smart Home, and Smart Farms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/telecom5020022","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,3]],"date-time":"2024-06-03T12:29:47Z","timestamp":1717417787000},"page":"433-450","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Integrating Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) into Open 5G Core"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4932-3700","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ruben","family":"Xavier","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Informatics (INF), Federal University of Goi\u00e1s (UFG), Goi\u00e2nia 74690-900, Brazil"},{"name":"Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es (CPQD), Campinas 13086-902, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5189-1179","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rog\u00e9rio S.","family":"Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Informatics (INF), Federal University of Goi\u00e1s (UFG), Goi\u00e2nia 74690-900, Brazil"},{"name":"Campus Inhumas, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Goi\u00e1s (IFG), Inhumas 75402-556, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4337-1920","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria","family":"Ribeiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC-TEC), 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4310-2379","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Waldir","family":"Moreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9801-2867","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Leandro","family":"Freitas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Campus Inhumas, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Goi\u00e1s (IFG), Inhumas 75402-556, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3595-3525","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Antonio","family":"Oliveira-Jr","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Informatics (INF), Federal University of Goi\u00e1s (UFG), Goi\u00e2nia 74690-900, Brazil"},{"name":"Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"150","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2021.02.020","article-title":"Comparative study of efficiency enhancement technologies in 5G networks-A survey","volume":"182","author":"Salah","year":"2021","journal-title":"Procedia Comput. 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