- Utilization of 5G network slicing technology -

UIWANG, South Korea – FEBRUARY 15 – The Korea Railroad Research Institute (President: Dr. Seok-Youn Han) has developed a network slicing-based mission critical service technology in collaboration with Cybertel Bridge Co., Ltd. and Netcube, Inc., successfully demonstrating the service in a 5G testbed environment for the first time.

Mission critical service is a standards technology of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the world’s largest telecommunications standard development organization designed to support multilateral voice, video and data communications in a stable manner, which consists of Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT), MCVideo and MCData.

Network slicing, a core technology for 5G telecommunications, is a virtual network architecture that creates multiple virtual networks on top of a single, physical network. This technology can simultaneously allow for different customized telecommunications by service, such as autonomous driving requiring ultra-low delay, high-speed video services.

This technology allows users to prioritize transmissions by providing resources and services on 5G networks on a differentiated basis, depending on quality requirements by service, such as MCPTT, MCVideo, MCData.

KRRI has developed a technology that allows a 5G device to access a slice designated for more than two mission-critical services, enhancing security of services using access authentication by slice. KRRI has now successfully demonstrated the technology.

MCPTT service has already been introduced to Public Safety-Long Term Evolution (PS-LTE) and LTE-Railway (LTE-R). But it has also become necessary to offer next-generation mission critical services for service advancement and intellectualization.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to introduce MCVideo and MCData, and to advance communications infrastructure for enhancing disaster response capabilities in accordance with the 1st Master Plan for Disaster Safety Communication Network (2022-2026).

The International Union of Railways (Union Internationale des Chemins de fer, UIC) and European Union (EU) are running a project that aims to upgrade the 2G GSM-R system to a 5G mission critical service based Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS).

As part of the 5G Testbed Demonstration for Integrated Services project led by the National Information Society Agency (NIA), KRRI has completed verifying the functions and performance of the technology in a 5G testbed environment (Pangyo) in cooperation with the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA), which was selected as a best practice for 5G integrated service testbed project.

※ Related research project (Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation, IITP)

- Title: Development and operation of a network slicing based 5G testbed for integrated services

- Research institute in charge: National Information Society Agency (NIA)

- Demonstration project title: Development of a safe and reliable network slicing based mission critical services technology and demonstration

- Participating research institutes: KRRI, Cybertel Bridge Co., Ltd. and Netcube, Inc.

- Research period & budget: Sept. 2023 – Dec. 2023 (3.5 months) / KRW 299 million (funded by the government)

- Person in charge: Seong-Soo Park, Senior Researcher at KRRI

“We plan to continue our research to apply this 5G network technology not only in the public sector, such as public safety and railroads, but also in different areas in the private sector, such as manufacturing and logistics,” said Seong-Soo Park, Senior Researcher at KRRI.

“KRRI has successfully developed and a world-class K-railroad technology based on the government’s 5G network testing/verification support system and verified the technology,” said KRRI President Dr. Han. “We will work harder to build world-class digital capabilities for realizing the country’s digital strategies.”

※ Attachment: Concept diagram of network slicing based mission critical service and demonstration of the service

Press Contacts

Yongmook KANG

Korea Railroad Research Institute

ymkang@krri.re.kr

+82 31 460 5184