5G Standalone (SA) Core & Service-Based Architecture (SBA)
Engineered & Authored by Dilshad Abdulla β Senior Software Engineer & Lead System Architect.
β‘ Executive System Overview
The 5G Standalone (SA) Core System (DilshadGit/5g_system) is a cloud-native, microservices-driven 3GPP Release 16/17 compliant mobile core platform. Built with Python 3.13, Django 5.2 Enterprise, gRPC, and Docker/Kubernetes container orchestrations, the platform implements a Service-Based Architecture (SBA) decoupling control plane functions from edge user plane routing (CUPS).
ποΈ Core Technical Architecture Stack
π Master 5G SA Core Operational Flowchart
flowchart TD
subgraph RAN ["1. Radio Access Network (5G NR)"]
UE[5G User Equipment / SIM] -->|NR Uu Air Interface| RU[Radio Unit - RU]
RU -->|eCPRI Fronthaul| DU[Distributed Unit - DU]
DU -->|F1 Interface| CU[Centralized Unit - CU]
end
subgraph ControlPlane ["2. 5G SA Core - Service Based Architecture (SBA)"]
CU -->|N1 / N2 NAS| AMF[Access & Mobility Mgmt Function - AMF]
AMF <-->|Nausf| AUSF[Authentication Server Function - AUSF]
AUSF <-->|Nudm| UDM[Unified Data Management - UDM]
AMF <-->|Nnssf| NSSF[Network Slice Selection Function - NSSF]
AMF <-->|Nsmf| SMF[Session Management Function - SMF]
SMF <-->|Npcf| PCF[Policy Control Function - PCF]
AMF & SMF <-->|Nnrf| NRF[Network Repository Function - NRF]
end
subgraph UserPlane ["3. CUPS User Plane Routing"]
SMF -->|N4 PFCP Control| UPF[User Plane Function - UPF]
CU -->|N3 GTP-U Tunnel| UPF
UPF -->|N6 Interface| DN[Data Network / Internet / MEC Edge]
end
subgraph Security ["4. Security & Privacy Engine"]
SUCI[SUCI ECIES Encryption] --> AMF
AKA[5G-AKA Key Exchange] --> AUSF
end