Launching an Experiment

Launching an Experiment

This section explains how to create and launch an experiment in Plaza6G, from configuration to deployment and initial monitoring.

1 Overview

Plaza6G enables users to launch experiments combining virtual, containerized, and real infrastructure components. Through the Setup Experiment page, users define resources, select templates, and initiate deployments.

Each experiment includes:

• Infrastructure configuration: VMs, Containers, Kubernetes clusters, or Bare Metal.
• Network & software setup: templates and automation scripts.
• Monitoring tools: integrated Grafana dashboards.

Typical deployment times:

• ~2 minutes — single VM
• ~5 minutes — Kubernetes cluster
• ~5–10 minutes — full 5G network setup

2 Creating a New Experiment

1. Log in to your Plaza6G account.
2. Click Setup Experiment from the top menu.
3. Select Initialize New Experiment.
4. Enter a unique experiment name.

The configuration interface contains these tabs:

• Infrastructure
• Network
• Software
• Hardware
• Experimental Script
• Templates

3 Infrastructure Configuration

The Infrastructure tab defines your computing resources. Available options:

Each node includes monitoring for CPU, memory, disk, and traffic metrics.

4 Template Selection

Templates define preset configurations for common experiment types:

For first-time users, Simulated 5G is recommended.

5 Example: Launching a Simulated 5G Experiment

This example demonstrates deployment using Open5GS, UERANSIM, and a DNN traffic node.

Step 1 — Select Template

1. Open Setup Experiment → Templates.
2. Choose Simulated 5G.
3. Select Open5GS as the core.
4. Enable the DNN VM option.
5. Click Next.

Step 2 — Configure Resources

Plaza6G provisions the following VMs on br-sim:

Step 3 — Review and Launch

1. Review configuration summary.
2. Click Start Experiment.
3. Monitor deployment progress in the Status screen.

Step 4 — Testing Connectivity

From ueransim-ue run:

iperf3 -c <DNN_IP> -B <UE_5G_INTERFACE_IP>

Ensure the server is running on open5gs-dnn:

iperf3 -s

Example result:

[  5] 0.00-10.00 sec 950 MBytes  798 Mbits/sec  sender
[  5] 0.00-10.00 sec 945 MBytes  794 Mbits/sec  receiver

Step 5 — Monitoring and Logs

Use My Experiments and Grafana dashboards to monitor VM status, CPU, memory, traffic, and logs.

6 Experiment Lifecycle

1. Initialization
2. Deployment
3. Execution
4. Monitoring
5. Completion

7 Roadmap Features

• Physical network integration
• Advanced 6G templates
• Custom monitoring metrics
• REST API automation

Summary for Users

• Use Setup Experiment to create new deployments.
• Select a template (Simulated 5G, In-Lab 5G, Outdoor 5G).
• Typical deployment takes 2–10 minutes.
• Grafana dashboards provide real-time insights.
• Connectivity tests run using iperf3.

Example Q&A