Cellular Network Control-Plane Traffic Generator

Overview

This software is an artifact of the research titled Modeling and Generating Control-Plane Traffic for Cellular Networks, published in the 2023 ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC). It implements a traffic generator that synthesizes realistic control-plane traffic in modern cellular networks, accommodating a large population of UEs and diverse device types. This cellular network traffic generator has multiple applications, such as developing telemetry for cellular networks, benchmarking mobile core network implementations (for performance and scalability), and optimizing mobile core network designs.

Key Features

• Accuracy: The generator can output realistic control-plane traffic for a given UE population, i.e., it can capture the inter-arrival duration of each type of events, including Attach, Detach, Service Request, S1 Connection Release, Handover, and Tracking Area update for LTE.
• Different Types of Devices: The generator models three major types of devices, including phones, connected cars, and tablets, in cellular networks.
• Event-Owner Labeling: Every event in the generated control traffic is labeled with its originating UE.
• Scalability: The generator can output realistic control traffic for an arbitrary UE population, e.g., for evaluating the scalability of a design of mobile core networks under increasing workload.
• NextG Network Support: The generator can support next-generation cellular networks, e.g., generating realistic control events from 5G UEs.

Access to Code and Data

Access to the software, including the codebase and the dataset, requires prior authorization. Interested users must:

1. Contact the Authors: Send an email to the development team (Dr. Jiayi Meng and Dr. Y. Charlie Hu) with details about your affiliation and intended use of the model.
2. Sign the License Agreement: Review and sign the license agreement provided by the team, which specifies the permitted usage and data-sharing policies.
3. Receive Access Credentials: Once the license agreement is signed and approved, the development team will provide instructions on how to clone the repository and access the software.

Citation

If you use this model or dataset in your research, please cite the work:

@inproceedings{meng2023modeling,
  title={Modeling and Generating Control-Plane Traffic for Cellular Networks},
  author={Meng, Jiayi and Huang, Jingqi and Hu, Y Charlie and Koral, Yaron and Lin, Xiaojun and Shahbaz, Muhammad and Sharma, Abhigyan},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the 2023 ACM on Internet Measurement Conference},
  pages={660--677},
  year={2023}
}

Support

For questions or issues, open a GitLab issue or contact the authors directly.