OPE2 – Operational & Experimental Insights
Wednesday, 3 June 2026, 17:00-18:30, room Sala 12 (1st floor)
Session Chair: Spyros Denazis (Univ. Patras, GR)
B5G Platform Ecosystem Viability Check
Hanne Kristine Hallingby (Telenor, Norway)
This article presents an in-depth assessment of the Beyond 5G (B5G) platform ecosystem, based on seven years of experimental research and trials conducted by Telenor Research & Innovation (R&I). It explores the theoretical framework of platform ecosystems, evaluates empirical findings from experimental B5G platforms, and discusses the status, viability, and next steps for commercializing B5G platform ecosystems. It suggests that end-users and app developers find value in B5G. Network operators are legitimate orchestrators, but still, there are hurdles for market growth. The article suggests that the main challenges ahead are to create well-functioning user interfaces (usability) and true operability across platform and app developers.
6GStarLab: An Open, Containerized in-Orbit Laboratory for Reconfigurable 6G Experiments
Jaume Cortes-Grimalt and Adrian Perez-Portero (i2CAT Foundation, Spain); Victor Montilla Gispert (I2CAT Foundation, Spain); Francesc Betorz and Joan Francesc Muñoz-Martin (i2CAT Foundation, Spain); Joan Adria Ruiz-de-Azua (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Spain & Space Communications Research Group, i2CAT Foundation, Spain)
As the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) sector experiences unprecedented growth, the democratization of space access has created a demand for flexible hardware infrastructures capable of hosting diverse, multi-user research. This work presents 6GStarLab, an in-orbit laboratory designed to commoditize satellite experimentation through a modular, three-tier architecture. The proposed framework delivers hardware-software flexibility across three distinct layers: L1 (Hardware Reconfiguration via FPGA), L2 (Operating System Virtualization via Docker), and L3 (Standardized Service-based Deployment). By utilizing custom Linux kernel modules and Direct Memory Access (DMA) engines, the system provides containerized applications with high-speed, isolated access to FPGA logic and RF front-ends. This approach ensures the separation of client operations while enabling near-instant deployment of complex communication experiments, effectively transforming the satellite into a scalable, cloud-native node for 6G research.
6G Nanosatellites to Orbit the Edge: Performance Characterization of a COTS-Based 5G NR UE
Jacob Gummesson Atroshi, Turker Yilmaz, Srikanth Goli, Jorge Querol and Symeon Chatzinotas (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg)
The integration of non-terrestrial networks into the 3GPP ecosystem is a cornerstone of 6G, yet deploying standard 5G New Radio waveforms on resource-constrained satellites remains a formidable challenge. Traditional space hardware is often cost-prohibitive and lacks the flexibility required for rapid protocol evolution. This paper investigates the feasibility of the “New Space” paradigm by presenting a comprehensive performance characterization of a software-defined 5G user equipment stack running on strictly Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware — specifically the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 and USRP B205mini-i. We empirically profile the 5G transceiver processing chains using the OpenAirInterface software, identifying the Low Density Parity Check decoder as the primary computational bottleneck on ARM Cortex-A76 architectures. Through extensive link-level simulations and end-to-end testbed measurements, we quantify the critical trade-offs between decoding iterations, block error rate, and throughput. Our results demonstrate that while maximum throughput at high modulation and coding schemes is compute-bound, dynamic CPU frequency scaling can reduce energy-per-bit consumption by up to 54% without compromising connectivity in specific SNR regimes. These findings validate the architectural viability of COTS-based 5G nanosatellites and provide a reference baseline for future energy-efficient, orbital edge computing nodes.
Multi-Connectivity for UAVs: A Measurement Study of Integrating Cellular, Aerial Mesh, and LEO Satellite Links
Irshad A. Meer (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden); Aygün Baltaci (Airbus Central Research and Technology, Germany); Mustafa Ozger (Aalborg University, Denmark & KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden); Dominic A. Schupke (Airbus Defence and Space GmbH & Airbus Central Research and Technology, Germany); Cicek Cavdar (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
Future uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) systems increasingly combine heterogeneous communication technologies, such as low-latency aerial mesh, terrestrial cellular, and satellite links-to improve robustness and coverage. Multipath transport is a natural mechanism for aggregating these links, yet its ability to support real-time UAV services in highly heterogeneous environments remains insufficiently characterized. We present a measurement-driven study based on UAV flight experiments in an integrated network comprising UAV-to-UAV aerial mesh, private cellular, and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity. Using a lossless, in-order multipath transport framework, we find that aggregation can preserve end-to-end connectivity under severe link outages. However, large round-trip time (RTT) heterogeneity amplifies packet reordering, leading to substantial receiver-side buffering and bursty delivery. In addition, when the available links do not provide sufficient capacity for the offered load, pronounced sender-side buffering emerges. These effects cause real-time streaming to violate delay constraints, including cases where aggregate capacity is sufficient. To interpret these results, we formalize the distinction between connectivity continuity and service continuity and show empirically that maintaining connectivity is necessary but not sufficient for timely real-time delivery in multi-technology UAV networks. The findings motivate multipath designs that explicitly account for delay constraints, rather than optimizing for connectivity alone.
ENVELOPE Dutch Trial Site: Advanced Testbed for Network API Experimentation
Gergely Attila Kovács (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary & Commsignia Ltd., Hungary); Ramon S. Schwartz, Belma Turkovic, Rintse Van de Vlasakker, Srinath Potnuru, Guus Botman and Peter-Paul Schackmann (TNO, The Netherlands); Geerd Kakes (KPN, The Netherlands)
The integration of vertical applications with advanced 5G and beyond network capabilities remains challenging due to the complexity of exposure frameworks and the lack of accessible test environments. CAMARA addresses this by defining standardized APIs that simplify interaction with network functions, yet few facilities exist for third-party validation under realistic conditions. This paper introduces the ENVELOPE Dutch trial site, an open experimentation platform designed to bridge this gap. Located at the Automotive Campus in Helmond, the trial site provides a controlled environment for testing CAMARA APIs, including Quality-on-Demand (QoD), Device Location, and Edge Cloud. We present the trial site architecture, API evaluation methodology, and performance results of the first set of network APIs deployed in the trial site. Our results show that these APIs deliver reliable QoS, location, and performance updates even under challenging network conditions. The trial site’s experimentation testbed is now fully operational and available to third-party vertical companies, paving the way for collaborative innovation and accelerated adoption of network exposure capabilities.
