Fifth-generation technology represents a transformative shift in telecommunications, offering enhanced speed, reliability, and ultralow latency. This paper addresses the challenge of load balancing in 5G networks, especially within multi-access edge computing architectures, by evaluating strategies that ensure quality of service and meet the stringent ultra-reliable low-latency communication requirements.Using Free5GC to emulate 5G core and UERANSIM to simulate user equipment and radio access network behavior, the proposed EdgeLB framework integrates the LoxiLB load balancer to evaluate algorithms such as Round Robin, Weighted Round Robin, Hash-based, and Least Connections. Through Netperf-based experiments, we assessed performance under varying numbers of concurrent connections and UEs, as well as network delays that emulate geographic distance.The results demonstrate that intelligent traffic distribution significantly improves network performance and scalability. All algorithms maintained submillisecond latency in ultra-reliable low-latency scenarios, and some exhibited strong jitter and throughput control. Furthermore, polynomial regression models were derived to approximate the degradation of performance under scaling conditions. These findings validate the EdgeLB architecture as a viable solution for latency-sensitive multi-access edge computing and AI inference applications in 5G environments.

The provisioning of Quality of Service (QoS) in 5G networks plays a crucial role in ensuring efficient performance in scenarios characterized by high demand and dynamism. In the data era, where the generation and consumption of information are growing exponentially, effective traffic management becomes indispensable. This study investigates the application of queueing methodologies — FIFO, PQ, and WFQ — in the context of SDN (Software-Defined Networking) for 5G networks, utilizing ONOS as the SDN controller. The research highlights the importance of traffic management in meeting the stringent requirements of 5G networks, such as ultra-low latency, high reliability, and broad transmission capacity, which are essential for applications like eMBB, URLLC, and mMTC. In addition to a comprehensive theoretical review of 5G, SDN, QoS, and queueing techniques, the study included a practical implementation in a simulated environment using the ONOS software, validating theoretical concepts through a comparative analysis of the impact of queueing on critical metrics such as latency, throughput, packet loss, and jitter. The results demonstrate that optimized queueing techniques are essential for efficient traffic management, reducing latency and increasing throughput across different network scenarios. Thus, this study reaffirms the relevance of integrating SDN and queueing techniques as adaptive and effective solutions for managing modern mobile networks. Furthermore, it highlights promising avenues for future research, including the use of adaptive algorithms in next-generation networks.

Many technological areas have been affected by the appearance of the internet of Things (IoT). This phenomenon is happening because applications such as smart cities, smart grids, smart buildings, smart homes, industry, transportation, healthcare and surveillance are being adapted to a new paradigm for adaptability, modularity, heterogeneity, scalability, optimization and decentralization. In this sense, several IoT architectures are being proposed for the applications that are inserted in this new technological development, with the most recent approaches being based on the Software Defined Network (SDN). Therefore, to follow this technological development, there is a need to implement the applications of control systems in this new scenario, which imposes challenges to be overcome, such as nondeterministic networks, latency, jitter, bandwidth, packet loss and interoperability. The focus of this work is on how to combine Distributed Networked Control Systems (DNCS) and IoT to meet this new technological context. However, the first step to be taken is to define the topology of IoT-based Networked Control Systems (IoT-DNCS), then develop a suitable system architecture to make control systems via the Internet of Things possible. Therefore, this article aims to propose a problem formulation and a simple and general architecture for IoT-DNCS, specifying the function of each element of the system according to the topology of the problem, and the organization of them to implement the control loops between sensors, controllers and actuators. The architecture proposed in this paper serves as a starting point for studies on new strategies and structures for network and feedback control systems.