What is 5G Automation Testing?

The rollout of 5G technology has enabled ultra-fast data speeds, low latency, and massive device connectivity. As enterprises build and optimize mobile applications for this next-generation network, ensuring performance, reliability, and compatibility across varied 5G scenarios becomes critical.

5G automation testing allows development teams to validate application behavior under 5G conditions, ensuring apps deliver smooth user experiences across real-world networks.

This guide explains in detail about 5G Automation Testing, Best Practices and more.

What is 5G Automation Testing?

5G automation testing is the process of using automation frameworks and tools to test mobile applications on 5G networks. It simulates network parameters and user behavior to evaluate how apps perform under high-speed and low-latency conditions.

The primary objective is to detect performance bottlenecks, compatibility issues, and functional failures that may arise due to 5G’s unique architecture and capabilities.

Core Components of 5G Networks

The architecture of 5G networks is designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency, and highly reliable communication. This is achieved through a combination of advanced technologies and components that work together seamlessly. Given below are the core components of 5G networks:

1. Radio Access Network (RAN)

The RAN is responsible for connecting user devices to the core network. In 5G, the RAN utilizes the gNodeB (gNB), which supports both 5G New Radio (NR) and legacy LTE technologies. The gNB is further divided into:

• Centralized Unit (CU): Handles non-real-time functions such as mobility management and session management.
• Distributed Unit (DU): Manages real-time processing tasks like scheduling and beamforming.

This split architecture allows for flexible deployment and efficient resource utilization.

2. 5G Core Network (5GC)

The 5GC is a cloud-native, service-based architecture that provides the backbone for 5G services. The key components of 5GC are given below:

• User Plane Function (UPF): Routes user data packets and manages traffic flow.
• Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF): Handles user registration, connection, and mobility management.
• Session Management Function (SMF): Manages session establishment, modification, and release.
• Policy Control Function (PCF): Enforces policy rules for quality of service and charging.
• Authentication Server Function (AUSF): Performs user authentication.
• Unified Data Management (UDM): Stores and manages subscriber data.
• Network Exposure Function (NEF): Exposes network capabilities to external applications.
• Network Repository Function (NRF): Maintains a repository of available network functions and their profiles.

This modular design allows for scalability and flexibility in deploying network services.

3. Network Slicing

Network slicing enables the creation of multiple virtual networks on a shared physical infrastructure. Each slice can be tailored to meet specific requirements, such as low latency for autonomous vehicles or high throughput for video streaming. This ensures efficient utilization of network resources and supports diverse use cases.

4. Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC)

MEC brings computation and storage resources closer to the end-users by deploying them at the network edge. This proximity reduces latency and improves the performance of applications that require real-time processing, such as augmented reality and industrial automation.

5. Service-Based Architecture (SBA)

The SBA framework allows network functions to communicate through standardized interfaces, promoting interoperability and flexibility. This architecture supports dynamic scaling and efficient resource management, essential for the diverse demands of 5G services.

Benefits of 5G Automation Testing

The advent of 5G technology introduces unprecedented speed, ultra-low latency, and massive device connectivity. Automation testing becomes indispensable to harness these capabilities.

Key benefits include:

• Accelerated Testing Cycles: Automation facilitates rapid execution of test cases, ensuring timely validation of 5G applications.
• Enhanced Test Coverage: Automated tests can simulate a multitude of scenarios, including varying network conditions and device interactions, leading to comprehensive coverage.
• Improved Accuracy: Automation reduces human error, ensuring consistent and reliable test results.
• Scalability: Automated frameworks can easily scale to accommodate the vast number of devices and configurations inherent in 5G networks.
• Cost Efficiency: By reducing manual effort and identifying issues early in the development cycle, automation leads to significant cost savings.

Challenges in 5G Testing

Testing in 5G environments presents unique challenges due to the technology’s complexity and dynamic nature:

• Integration with Legacy Systems: Ensuring seamless interoperability between 5G and existing 4G/LTE infrastructures requires meticulous testing strategies.
• High Data Throughput: Validating applications under the high-speed data transfer rates of 5G necessitates robust performance testing tools.
• Diverse Use Cases: 5G supports a wide range of applications, from IoT devices to autonomous vehicles, each with distinct performance requirements.
• Network Slicing: Testing the isolation and performance of virtual network slices demands specialized testing approaches.
• Security Concerns: The expanded attack surface in 5G networks requires comprehensive security testing to safeguard against potential vulnerabilities.

Types of 5G Automation Testing

5G automation testing involves a comprehensive suite of tests designed to validate the functionality, performance, and robustness of both 5G devices and the underlying network. These tests can be broadly classified into the categories as given below:

1. Functional Testing

• Feature Verification: Confirms that every advertised 5G feature is implemented correctly and operates as intended.
• Core Functionality Checks: Assesses fundamental network operations such as data transfer, voice call setup/teardown, and control-plane signaling to ensure devices and the 5G network behave according to specifications.
• Negative Scenario Testing: Intentionally introduces abnormal or invalid inputs like corrupted packets or incorrect protocol sequences, to observe how the system handles error conditions and whether safeguards are in place.
• Regression Testing: Re-runs existing test cases after code changes or new feature additions to make sure previously validated functionality remains unaffected.

2. Performance Testing

• Throughput Measurement: Gauges how quickly and efficiently data can be transmitted across the 5G network, typically quantified in gigabits per second (Gbps).
• Latency Assessment: Measures the end-to-end delay from when a data packet is sent until it is received, a critical metric for real-time applications such as gaming, AR/VR, or industrial control.
• Handover Evaluation: Simulates user mobility to verify that device handoffs between cell towers or small cells occur seamlessly, with minimal packet loss or service interruption.
• mMTC (Massive Machine-Type Communications) Testing: Checks the network’s ability to register, authenticate, and maintain connections for a very large number of IoT devices simultaneously without degradation in performance.
• URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications) Testing: Validates that the network can provide extremely high reliability (e.g., “five-nines” uptime) and ultra-low latency (e.g., sub-1 ms) for mission-critical applications, such as remote surgery or autonomous driving.

3. Reliability Testing

• Environmental Stress Testing: Exposes the network and devices to a range of environmental conditions such as temperature extremes, humidity, or physical obstructions, to ensure consistent performance even under harsh circumstances.
• Resilience and Recovery Trials: Simulates component failures (e.g., base station outages, core network element crashes) to confirm that the network can quickly reroute traffic, restore services, and maintain overall availability.
• Network Slicing Validation: Verifies that multiple virtual networks (slices) can be provisioned on the same physical infrastructure, each slice honoring its own bandwidth, latency, and security guarantees according to predefined SLAs (Service Level Agreements).
• Service Assurance Checks: Measures whether the network consistently meets or exceeds the required QoS (Quality of Service) parameters such as jitter, packet delivery ratio, and throughput for different types of services (e.g., eMBB, URLLC, mMTC).

4. Other Essential Test Types

• Over-The-Air (OTA) Testing: Ensures that firmware or software updates delivered wirelessly to 5G devices install correctly, do not corrupt existing functionality, and are secure against tampering.
• Competitor Network Evaluation: Actively measures and analyzes the performance of rival operators’ 5G offerings in various geographic areas to guide strategic improvements.
• Roaming Experience Validation: Tests user experience when a device moves between different 5G network operators or geographic regions, ensuring seamless authentication, billing interoperability, and consistent service quality.
• Indoor Network Performance Testing: Assesses signal coverage, throughput, and latency inside buildings where 5G millimeter-wave signals may be attenuated, to verify that devices maintain reliable connectivity in enterprise or public venues.

Tools and Frameworks for 5G Automation Testing

Effective 5G automation testing leverages a combination of tools and frameworks, some of which are discussed below:

• Appium: An open-source tool for automating mobile applications, supporting both Android and iOS platforms.
• Selenium: Primarily used for web application testing, it can be integrated into mobile testing frameworks for comprehensive coverage.
• JMeter: A performance testing tool that can simulate heavy loads on servers, networks, or objects to test strength and analyze overall performance.
• TestNG: A testing framework inspired by JUnit, designed to simplify a broad range of testing needs, from unit testing to integration testing.
• BrowserStack App Automate: Provides cloud-based testing on real devices, enabling simulation of various network conditions, including 5G, for accurate performance assessments.

Challenges in 5G Automation Testing

While automation offers numerous advantages, it also introduces specific challenges in the context of 5 G. Below is an overview of these primary challenges:

• Rapidly Changing Network Conditions & Performance Demands:  5G networks are dynamic, with fluctuating latency and bandwidth due to congestion, mobility, and signal quality. Automation testing must replicate these changing conditions to ensure applications remain stable and responsive in real-world 5G environments.
• Device and Network Diversity: The 5G ecosystem includes a wide variety of devices smartphones, wearables, IoT sensors, and AR/VR gear, each with different hardware and OS specifications. Automation must validate performance across this range, along with testing network slicing and backward compatibility with legacy and open RAN components.
• Technical & Cost Challenges: Testing 5G involves new technologies like mmWave, massive MIMO, and beamforming, which increase complexity. Building test infrastructure is expensive and time-consuming, making automation critical for speeding up validation without compromising test depth.
• Data & Compliance Concerns: 5G networks generate massive telemetry data that must be analyzed efficiently to identify performance issues. Automated testing frameworks also need to securely handle sensitive information, ensuring privacy, regulatory compliance, and secure data handling practices.
• Evolving Testing Technologies: Technologies like Mobile Edge Computing and AI are reshaping how testing is done. MEC decentralizes infrastructure, requiring coordination across edge nodes. AI-driven testing enhances efficiency but demands transparency, reliable training data, and explainability in decision-making.

Best Practices for Effective 5G Automation Testing

To navigate the complexities of 5G testing, the following best practices are recommended:

• Utilize Real Devices: Testing on actual devices provides more accurate insights into application performance under real-world conditions.
• Simulate Diverse Network Conditions: Incorporate tools that can emulate various network scenarios, including different bandwidths and latencies, to assess application resilience.
• Integrate Continuous Testing: Embed testing processes into the development lifecycle to identify and address issues promptly.
• Focus on Security: Implement comprehensive security testing protocols to protect against potential vulnerabilities inherent in 5G networks.
• Leverage Cloud-Based Testing Platforms: Utilize platforms like BrowserStack App Automate to access a wide range of devices and network conditions without the need for extensive physical infrastructure.

Talk to an Expert

Why perform 5G on Real Devices?

Testing on real devices is essential to reflect actual user conditions. Real-world variables such as signal strength, carrier throttling, and hardware limitations can’t be fully replicated on emulators.

BrowserStack App Automate allows teams to test on real Android and iOS devices and simulate various network conditions like 3G, 4G, etc. This helps ensure apps behave as expected under live, production-like conditions.

How to Test 5G with BrowserStack App Automate?

1. Sign in to the BrowserStack dashboard.

2. Select App > App Automate Feature on the left sidebar.

3. Choose a testing framework and language to run the tests. This guide uses NodeJs + WebdriverIO for demo.

4. Integrate your test suite:

a. Set BrowserStack credentials:

Access your username and accessKey from your profile page

b. Install required dependencies

npm install @wdio/browserstack-service --save-dev

c. Add custom profile and devices to the configuration file

In order to simulate the network, create a custom profile and select devices that support 5G network as given below

exports.config = {

  user: process.env.BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME,

  key: process.env.BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY,

  hostname: 'hub.browserstack.com',

  services: [

    [

      'browserstack',

      {

        app: 'bs://sample.app',

        buildIdentifier: "${BUILD_NUMBER}",

        browserstackLocal: true

      },

    ]

  ],

  capabilities: [{

    'bstack:options': {

      deviceName: 'Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra',

      platformVersion: '12.0',

      platformName: 'android',

    }

  }],

  commonCapabilities: {

    'bstack:options': {

      projectName: "BrowserStack Samples",

      buildName: 'browserstack build',

      sessionName: 'BStack parallel webdriverio-appium',

      debug: true,

      networkLogs: true,

      customNetwork: '50000, 50000, 5, 0'

    }

  },

  maxInstances: 10,

  updateJob: false,

  specs: [

    './specs/single_test.js'

  ],

  exclude: [],

  logLevel: 'info',

  coloredLogs: true,

  screenshotPath: './errorShots/',

  baseUrl: '',

  waitforTimeout: 10000,

  connectionRetryTimeout: 90000,

  connectionRetryCount: 3,

  framework: 'mocha',

  mochaOpts: {

    ui: 'bdd',

    timeout: 40000

  }

};

// Code to support common capabilities

exports.config.capabilities.forEach(function(caps){

  for(let key in exports.config.commonCapabilities)

    caps[key] = { ...caps[key], ...exports.config.commonCapabilities[key]};

});

Learn more about the available configuration options here.

5. Write your tests.

const assert = require('assert');

describe('Search Wikipedia Functionality', () => {

  it('can find search results', async () => {

    // tap on the full search container to activate search

    const searchContainer = await $('android=new UiSelector().resourceId("org.wikipedia.alpha:id/search_container")');

    await searchContainer.waitForDisplayed({ timeout: 10000 });

    await searchContainer.click();

    // wait for and interact with the input field

    const searchInput = await $('android=new UiSelector().resourceId("org.wikipedia.alpha:id/search_src_text")');

    await searchInput.waitForDisplayed({ timeout: 10000 });

    await searchInput.setValue("BrowserStack");

    // pause to allow search results to populate

    await browser.pause(3000);

    // validate that at least one result appears

    const results = await $$('android.widget.TextView');

    assert(results.length > 0, 'Expected at least one search result');

  });

});

5. Run your test suite

npm run test

6. Check the results on the Browserstack dashboard

Conclusion

As 5G continues to reshape mobile experiences, thorough automation testing is essential to ensure that applications deliver high performance and stability. Automated 5G testing allows teams to validate performance, handle edge cases, and build user trust.

BrowserStack App Automate empowers QA teams to run automated tests on real devices and simulate network conditions, ensuring every user gets a flawless app experience, regardless of their network.

Try BrowserStack App Automate