Critical infrastructures such as hospitals, energy providers, railways, and airports depend on reliable, secure, and high-performance communication networks. Locally limited 5G campus networks with their own frequencies provide a robust basis for this.

Fraunhofer FOKUS has now set up a campus network for the Schönhagen research airfield that is specifically designed to meet the requirements of airports. It enables the further development of network functions and the testing of new applications – for example, for drone operations – before they are put into operation.

Technical implementation in just two weeks

After a planning phase, Fraunhofer FOKUS and its partners implemented the campus network technically within two weeks. The network is based on a multi-vendor core network (MOCN) architecture that enables six parallel, completely independent mobile networks on a common, multi-vendor radio infrastructure. Each network has its own core network. Open5GCore, Fraunhofer FOKUS' software-based and therefore flexible core network, is used for this purpose. The campus network also uses the airport's fiber-optic backbone, which extends across several locations on the airfield. Fraunhofer FOKUS' Open Mobile Network Toolkit enables monitoring the performance of the backbone and 5G campus network.

The advantage of this campus network is that tests can be carried out on independent networks, allowing different new network functions to be validated in parallel, for example.

Live demonstration: Avoiding drone collisions

At PMRExpo in Cologne, the research team will be demonstrating live connections to Schönhagen from November 25 to 27, 2025, in Hall 07.1, Booth A060 (5G Hub). Visit us at the booth and see first-hand how drone collisions are avoided and objects on the runway are detected using the 5G campus network. The demonstrations will be shown in cooperation with TH Wildau and the Otto Lilienthal research airfield. 

Marc Emmelmann, project manager in the Software-based Networks business unit at Fraunhofer FOKUS, sums it up: "Our many years of experience in the design and implementation of 5G research networks enable us to work with commercial partners to provide needs-based offerings for operators of critical infrastructures. Our goal is to continuously develop communication networks in line with our customers' requirements. To this end, we are optimizing the core network and other components to support miniaturization for portable 5G systems on land and on drones. At the same time, we are refining network performance monitoring and continuing to develop core network technologies towards 6G."