A Blockchain-based Method for Monitoring User-plane Congestion in Mobile Core Network

Nowadays, 5G NPN network is flourishing and the scale of PLMN is gradually expanding, that leading to the emergence of numerous demand and scenarios for cross-network communication among multiple operators. In this paper, we focus on the issues of delay feedback, and congestion monitoring for cross-network communication. Specifically, we investigate the forwarding unit UPF in 5G mobile communication core network and propose a monitoring method based on blockchain. We employ blockchain to save ledger data, ensuring the traceability of packet forwarding latency. By utilizing MPT, we can reduce the storage burden of the blockchain, we also analyze the storage cost of introducing this trust mechanism locally on UPF. A 5G core network prototype system is implemented to validate the feasibility of this method. It can detect congested nodes and paths in the system with the precise timing and synchronization.