Announcing Spry Fox Networks' QoD Reference Implementation for CAMARA

At Spry Fox Networks, we are excited to announce the reference translation function implementation for the CAMARA Quality on Demand (QoD) API subproject. We are proud to be associated with the CAMARA community and are excited to further contribute by sharing this implementation to the open community. 


Background of Quality of Service in 5G

A distinguishing feature of mobile wireless networks is their ability to provide end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) on the connectivity between the mobile device and the data network. This has been a key enabler to providing enhanced broadband services and a variety of application use cases.

QoS is implemented by QoS Flows between the Access Network (AN) and the Core Network (UPF) and is defined by a QoS profile which includes various QoS parameters (e.g. resource type, priority level, Packet Delay Budget (PDB), Packet Error Rate (PER), averaging window, and Maximum Data Burst Volume (MDBV)) to define the quality characteristics of a service. QoS is also grouped into Non-GBR (Guaranteed Bit Rate) and GBR based on the type of service required by the applications.

Different applications require different QoS for the data connectivity between the application running on the mobile device and the application server running on the internet, edge, or WAN, and the QoS mechanism makes this possible. For example, the quality of service required by a conversational voice/video application is different from that required for live streaming of a sport event or for the control of a drone or remote-controlled car.

So far in wireless networks including 4G, the assignment of these QoS profiles to the application flow has been static and predetermined by the Policy Control Function (PCRF).

In 5G, the QoS can be applied dynamically and QoD use-case described below does just that. As an example, it could be very useful in the case of FWA, where various traffic flows are carried over the pipe with the same QoS characteristics. QoD allows different QoS for different types of traffic in a much more dynamic way. This is even more important as the networks start to become congested. 


Quality on Demand - Capability Exposure

With the introduction of Network Exposure Function in the 5G core, applications are now able to dynamically configure and control their Quality of Service (QoS) for their connection to mobile devices. This unlocks a variety of advanced use cases and transforms mobile networks from a passive data pipe into a 'programmable connectivity platform'.

Spry Fox Networks have developed the QP-NEF, a 5G Network Exposure Function, and the QP Cloud MONET, a cloud-based network monetization API Gateway application. QP Cloud MONET implements the Quality on Demand (QoD) service API from the CAMARA project for applications and developers.

Spry Fox Networks is now sharing a Quality on Demand translation function reference implementation, built in Go language. This implementation provides the CAMARA community-defined QoD service APIs to the Application function, and translates into Quality-of-Service Network APIs defined by 3GPP on the other side. Our implementation allows a more granular control of QoS upto individual flows.

Our implementation is located at:
https://github.com/camaraproject/QualityOnDemand_PI3

Quality on Demand - FWA use-case

 Quality on Demand service APIs can enable or enhance a range of next generation use cases, such as the Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) application illustrated in the diagram.