RheinMain University of Applied Sciences
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Winter Semester 2025/26Master Project

5G Campus Netz - Use Case Wetterstation

AuthorsLukas Kahl, Jens Hummel
SupervisionProf. Dr. Holger Hünemohr & Prof. Dr. Nikolay Tcholtchev

Original Paper

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Focus/Goal

The project focuses on the development of a holistic concept for a private 5G Standalone (SA) Campus Network at the "Unter den Eichen" location. A central objective was the migration of an energy-self-sufficient weather station from a conventional WLAN infrastructure to the modern 5G RedCap (Release 17) standard. The goal was to overcome the energy inefficiency of the existing WLAN setup, which led to winter outages, and to establish a research platform for Industry 4.0 applications.

Architecture

  • 5G Standalone (SA): The network uses a pure 5G SA architecture to enable native features like Network Slicing and URLLC, avoiding legacy LTE dependencies.
  • Core Network Strategy: The project evaluated Open5GS against free5GC. Open5GS (C/C++) was selected because it is more robust ("production-ready"), resource-efficient, and crucially, provided better support for 5G RedCap signaling requirements compared to the Go-based free5GC.
  • RAN Architecture: A Monolithic Small Cell (All-in-One) approach was chosen over a Split-RAN architecture to reduce hardware complexity and minimize debugging efforts for the student research team.

Hardware

  • RAN: The CableFree Emerald 5G Small Cell was selected for the outdoor base station. It offered an "All-Outdoor" form factor and open interoperability with Open5GS, proving more cost-effective and flexible than competitors like Airspan or Firecell.
  • User Equipment (UE):
    • Rejected: A custom solution using a Raspberry Pi 4 + Quectel RG255C M.2 module. This was deemed unsuitable due to high power consumption (>7W) and lack of hostless operation capabilities.
    • Selected: The Teltonika RUT976 Industrial 5G RedCap Router. It was chosen for its low idle power (<3W) and digital I/O interfaces that allow for "Sleep Modes" controlled by the weather station's energy management system.

Use Cases

  1. Weather Station Telemetry: The primary use case involves transmitting sensor data (Lambrecht Ser[LOG]) and energy status (Victron Cerbo GX) reliably throughout the winter.
  2. Drone Inspection (BVLOS): Using the network's high uplink capacity to enable automated drones to inspect solar panels and building roofs with 4K video and LiDAR in real-time.
  3. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD): A proposed scenario to integrate QKD for a "Quantum-Safe" backhaul, securing the network against future quantum computing threats.

Results

  • Energy Efficiency: The project demonstrated that 5G RedCap is significantly more energy-efficient than the legacy WLAN solution. By implementing an interval operation strategy with the Teltonika RUT976, the daily energy consumption was reduced to 12 Wh (~0.5 W average), compared to 320 Wh (~6 W) for the WLAN router. This massive reduction ensures the weather station remains operational even during low-solar winter days.
  • Feasibility: The successful implementation confirmed that a private 5G SA network using Open Source software (Open5GS) and commercial off-the-shelf hardware is a viable, cost-effective blueprint (~11k EUR investment) for university campus networks.