Design and Implementation of Data Plane Supporting Time-Sensitive Networking in 5G Networks.

We design and implement a 3GPP Rl6-compliant data plane for 5G networks to support Time Sensitive Networks (TSN) in bridge mode based on free5GC and UERANSIM, two open-source projects. We address the concerns of time synchronization in 5G systems, the interaction between the 5G TSN bridge and the TSN control plane, maintenance of TSN capabilities by the 5G TSN bridge, and clock drift of the 5G TSN bridge. Through experiments, the accuracy of a 5G TSN bridge with the proposed time synchronization capability is demonstrated to be 13 times better than that of one without this capability. Furthermore, we analyze the performance of the topology establishment functionality provided by the 5G TSN bridge and show that the impact of clock drift can be reduced by implementing clock drift reporting in the 5G TSN bridge. Finally, we present a solution to implement a 5G system data plane to support TSN and provide an open platform for further extensions and improvements based on the results of this work, which can be used to continue the development of relevant features for 3GPP R17 and RlS.