5G Testbed - Enabler Platform for the Exploration of 5G in Military Scenarios
Victor T.M. Souza, F. P. S. SILVA, Matilde A. Costa, Laura T. Villalba, Sebastian D. González, Catarina Barroqueiro, Arnaldo S. R. Oliveira, Germano Capela · 2025
With its low latency, high data rates, improved reliability, and mobility support, the 5G technology offers a transformative solution for specialized scenarios such as military operations. This paper introduces a NATO 5G Testbed designed as a modular and adaptable platform to explore key enablers such as Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB), Sidelink communications, and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), aligned with military communication needs, enabling more sophisticated scenarios in the field. The proposed Testbed allows the implementation’ testing, and validation of these technologies in relevant military scenarios, addressing challenges like spectrum scarcity, infrastructure flexibility, and secure, high-mobility communications. It comprises a customizable architecture leveraging open-source frameworks, such as OpenAirInterface (OAI), for both software and hardware configurations, including portable deployments for field testing. The paper provides a technical overview of the Testbed setup and discusses the implementation and preliminary results of IAB, Sidelink, and DSS functionalities. These results highlight the potential of these technologies to improve operational efficiency in tactical communications. This paper was originally presented at the NATO Science and Technology Organization Symposium (ICMCIS) organized by the Information Systems Technology (IST) Scientific and Technical Committee, IST-209-RSY - the ICMCIS, held in Oeiras, Portugal, 13–14 May 2025.