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NOVEMBER 2024 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 65 e typical architecture of a cloud-hosted private cellular network (Figure 2) comprises three main components: 1. Customer site deployed on-prem radio access network (RAN) comprising of indoor and outdoor radios, network- ing equipment such as firewalls, switches, and gateways, and a web-based portal for device management. 2. Cloud-hosted services that include 4G LTE/5G core functions of network con- trol, security, and access management, communication between the private net- work and outside networks, including the internet, spectrum coordination func- tions, and cloud-hosted applications. e LTE core is connected to each customer's RAN via a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection. 3. End user devices such as radios, smart- phones, tablets, computers, video cameras, routers, IoT sensors, production equip- ment, etc., at the customer's site that con- nect to the network. Digitalization of enterprise/manufacturing operations occurs via data capture through end user devices and data transport via the on- prem RAN to on-prem servers and compute devices where data analytics, machine learn- ing, artificial intelligence algorithms, etc., are performed securely behind the enterprise fire- wall. Proprietary customer data never leaves the customer premises unless the customer desires otherwise. Network management, sig- naling, and any cloud-hosted subscription ser- vices take place via the secure VPN connection between the on-prem RAN and the cloud. As a custom-designed yet standards-based cellular network, enterprises have a lot of flex- ibility in how the network is configured. Table 1 shows the three primary network configu- rations. Configuration 0 is typically used for uplink intensive data applications, Configura- tion 2 is typically used for downlink intensive data applications, and Configuration 1 is more typical for balanced downlink-uplink data applications. e radio configuration is so- ware selectable and can be tailored to provide higher downlink or uplink capacity depending Figure 2: Typical architecture of a cloud-hosted private cellular network.