We propose DBench, a framework for automated data collection and analysis to infer the processing latency of individual RAN components. DBench interposes on open RAN interfaces, periodically collecting user data traffic and correlating them to provide a detailed breakdown of user-perceived network latency. Developing DBench involves addressing challenges such as mapping low-level raw I/Q samples to individual data packets and handling of high volume of RAN traffic. We overcome these challenges by (1) exploiting the timing characteristics of the 5G New Radio (NR) frame structure at the fronthaul interface, and (2) implementing a pipeline data collection and parallel data processing flow. We demonstrate DBench's capabilities through several use cases on an academic open RAN testbed and discuss ongoing efforts to expand its functionalities and address current limitations.

In global networks, Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is widely used in exchanging routing information. While the original design of BGP did not focus on security protection against deliberate or accidental errors regarding to routing disruption, one of fundamental vulnerabilities in BGP is a lack of insurance in validating authority for announcing network layer reachability. Therefore, a distributed repository system known as Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) has been utilized to mitigate this issue. However, such a validation requires further deployment steps for Autonomous System (AS), and it might cause performance and compatibility problems in legacy network infrastructure. Nevertheless, with recent advancements in network innovation, some traditional networks are planning to be restructured with Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technology for gaining more benefits. By using SDN, Internet eXchange Point (IXP) is able to enhance its capability of management by applying softwarized control methods, acting as a Software-Defined eXchange (SDX) center to handle numerous advertisement adaptively. To use the SDN method to strengthen routing security of IXP, this paper proposed an alternative SDX development, SD-BROV, an SDX-based BGP Route Origin Validation mechanism that establishes a flexible route exchange scenario with RPKI validation. The validating application built in the SDN controller is capable of investigating received routing information. It aims to support hybrid SDN environments and help non-SDN BGP neighbors to get trusted routes and drop suspicious ones in transition. To verify proposed idea with emulated environment, the proof-of-concept development is deployed on an SDN testbed running over Research and Education Networks (RENs). During BGP hijacking experiment, the results show that developed SD-BROV is able to detect and stop legitimate traffic to be redirected by attacker, making approach to secure traffic forwarding on BGP routers.