A Virtual Network PaaS for 3GPP 4G and Beyond Core Network Services

Cloud computing and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are emerging as key technologies to overcome the challenges facing 4G and beyond mobile systems. Over the last few years, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) has gained momentum and has become more widely adopted throughout IT enterprises. It simplifies the applications provisioning and accelerates time-to-market while lowering costs. Telco can leverage the same model to provision the 4G and beyond core network services using NFV technology. However, many challenges have to be addressed, mainly due to the specificities of network services. This paper proposes an architecture for a Virtual Network Platform-as-a-Service (VNPaaS) to provision 3GPP 4G and beyond core network services in a distributed environment. As an illustrative use case, the proposed architecture is employed to provision the 3GPP Home Subscriber Server (HSS) as-a-Service (HSSaaS). The HSSaaS is built from Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) resulting from a novel decomposition of HSS. A prototype is implemented and early measurements are made.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, 5th IEEE International Conference on Cloud Networking (IEEE CloudNet 2016

5G-PPP Software Network Working Group:Network Applications: Opening up 5G and beyond networks 5G-PPP projects analysis

As part of the 5G-PPP Initiative, the Software Network Working Group prepared this white paper to demystify the concept of the Network Applications. In fact, the Network Application ecosystem is more than the introduction of new vertical applications that have interaction capabilities. It refers to the need for a separate middleware layer to simplify the implementation and deployment of vertical systems on a large scale. Specifically, third parties or network operators can contribute to Network Applications, depending on the level of interaction and trust. Different implementations have been conducted by the different projects considering different API types and different level of trust between the verticals and the owner of 5G platforms. In this paper, the different approaches considered by the projects are summarized. By analysing them, it appears three options of interaction between the verticals and the 5G platform owner: - aaS Model: it is the model where the vertical application consumes the Network Applications as a service. The vertical application deployed in the vertical service provider domain. It connects with the 3GPP network systems (EPS, 5GS) in one or more PLMN operator domain. - Hybrid: it is the model where the vertical instantiates a part of its Vertical App in the operator domain like the EDGE. The other part remains in the vertical domain. A similar approach has been followed in TS 23.286 related to the deployment of V2X server. - Coupled/Delegated: it is the model where the vertical delegates its app to the operator. The Network Applications will be composed and managed by the operator. This approach is the one followed in the platforms like 5G-EVE. In addition, the paper brings an analysis of the different API type deployed. It appears that the abstraction from network APIs to service APIs is necessary to hide the telco complexity making APIs easy to consume for verticals with no telco expertise and to adress data privacy requirements

Cloudifying the 3GPP IP Multimedia Subsystem: Why and How?

The 3GPP IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) has been specified as the service delivery platform of 3G networks. It subsequently became the de facto service delivery platform of 4G networks. Cloud computing is an emerging paradigm with inherent benefits such as scalability, elasticity and easy deployment of new applications and services. Scalability and elasticity are currently among the major roadblocks to the wide scale deployment of IMS. Cloudifying IMS can help in removing these roadblocks. It will also certainly bring many other advantages. However, this cloudification is no easy task and is still in its infancy. This paper motivates the cloudification of IMS, critically review the architectures proposed so far, sketch a vision and discusses the related research challenges

Use of a virtualization in the transition of a telecommunication networks toward 5G

We are in the front of the next big step of a new generation of the telecommunications networks, called 5G. The 5G in still in the preparation, but the actual wide spread use is nearby. The move toward 5G is not possible without use of a cloud and a virtualization. In the paper we are dealing with the issues how to incorporate existing fixed networks to the mobile 5G network and how to use a virtualization technology when moving to 5G. From the example of a real telecommunication system we defined issues, dilemmas and suggestions when moving toward 5G networks using virtualization

5G-PPP Software Network Working Group:Network Applications: Opening up 5G and beyond networks 5G-PPP projects analysis, Version 2

It is expected that the communication fabric and the way network services are consumed will evolve towards 6G, building on and extending capabilities of 5G and Beyond networks. Service APIs, Operation APIs, Network APIs are different aspects of the network exposure, which provides the communication service providers a way to monetize the network capabilities. Allowing the developer community to use network capabilities via APIs is an emerging area for network monetization. Thus, it is important that network exposure caters for the needs of developers serving different markets, e.g., different vertical industry segments. The concept of “Network Applications” is introduced following this idea. It is defined as a set of services that provides certain functionalities to verticals and their associated use cases. The Network Applications is more than the introduction of new vertical applications that have interaction capabilities. It refers to the need for a separate middleware layer to simplify the implementation and deployment of vertical systems on a large scale. Specifically, third parties or network operators can contribute to Network Applications, depending on the level of interaction and trust. In practice, a Network Application uses the exposed APIs from the network and can either be integrated with (part of) a vertical application or expose its APIs (e.g., service APIs) for further consumption by vertical applications. This paper builds on the findings of the white paper released in 2022. It targets to go into details about the implementations of the two major Network Applications class: “aaS” and hybrid models. It introduces the Network Applications marketplace and put the light on technological solution like CAMARA project, as part of the standard landscape. <br/

Narrowband IoT: from the end device to the cloud. An experimental end-to-end study

This thesis is about a novel study and experimentation of a Cloud IoT application, communicating over a NB-IoT Italian network. So far there no been presented studies, which are about the interactions between the NB-IoT network and the cloud. This thesis not only fill this gap but also shows the use of Cognitive Services to interact, through the human voice, with the IoT application. Compared with other types of mobile networks, NB-IoT is the best choice

Impact of regulatory aspects on 5G mobile communication systems

The fifth generation of mobile communication networks generally known as 5G is a technology that, if we read anything about it we can arrive to the conclusion that it can be a revolution in many aspects. Starting with the great change that the telephone introduced, followed by the great improvements that the mobile phones carried along with them and finally internet and broadband access from any part of the world with a pocket device, we arrive to a time where 5G not only will it improve the existing technologies but it will allow the development of new inventions such as Internet of Things (IoT) that up to the date is reduced to various experiments and trials. The fifth generation of mobile communication systems will allow the development of applications, data models, data analysis at very high speeds, sensor measurements, and data transmissions instantly and a very long list of other things that will result in a revolution in one hand for the people’s lives and in the other to the markets and the way the companies carry out their business models and their internal and external general management. People’s quality of life will be affected substantially thanks to the establishment of 5G. This will be achieved thanks to the high speeds and the characteristics that 5G includes, and it will allow, for example, that a refrigerator can inform its owner about what products are needed or about what food is about to expire. This simple example is only one of many others that we can find when talking about 5G. Nonetheless, in order to be able to enjoy these advantages that 5G incorporates, it is necessary to conduct a development and deployment in an agreed upon way between all the different organisms and bearing in mind the regulatory aspects and the legislation valid and that needs to be developed in order to have a correct deployment. To do this, the regulatory organisms, and the commissions of the different countries have to agree between them and investigate what is the best way to provide the best standards, and to ease and speed up the deployments and start-ups of this new technology. After developing a detail study of the current requirements, objectives and the legislation and standardization, as well as the state of art of the technologies that provide us with the services that we enjoy nowadays, I have studied the barriers and drivers for the deployment of 5G. Finally, and after this previous study, I have analysed the possible deployments for this technology and how will it affect to the economic and social environment the use of these types of mobile communications. At the same time I have arrived to the final conclusions that 5G will be a complete revolution and anything that enables and eases the implementation has to be welcome.La quinta generación de redes de telecomunicaciones móviles comúnmente conocida como 5G es una tecnología de la que, si leemos cualquier información, llegaremos a la conclusión de que puede suponer una revolución en muchos aspectos. Comenzando por el gran cambio que supuso la invención del teléfono, seguida por la evidente y alta mejora que introdujo el teléfono móvil y finalmente la conexión a internet y el acceso de banda ancha desde cualquier parte del mundo con un dispositivo de bolsillo, llegamos a un momento en el que el 5G no solo mejorará las tecnologías ya existentes sino que permitirá desarrollar ideas tales como el internet de las cosas que, a día de hoy, se reducen a, varios experimentos y pruebas. El 5G permitirá el desarrollo de aplicaciones, modelos de datos, análisis de datos a altas velocidades, lecturas de sensores y transmisión de datos de forma instantánea y una larga lista de mejoras más que resultará en una revolución por una parte de la vida de las personas y por otra de los mercados y de la forma en la que las empresas llevarán a cabo sus modelos de negocio y en general su gestión externa e interna. La calidad de vida de las personas se verá afectada de forma sustancial gracias a la implantación del 5G. Esto se conseguirá debido a que las altas velocidades y las características que incorpora el 5G permitirán que, por ejemplo, una nevera avise a su dueño de aquello que falte en su interior, o que le informe de aquellos productos que están a punto de caducar. Este simple ejemplo solo es uno de todos los posibles que se pueden encontrar a la hora de hablar del 5G. Sin embargo, para poder llegar a disfrutar de todas las ventajas que el 5G aporta, es necesario llevar a cabo un desarrollo y un despliegue de forma conjunta entre los diferentes organismos, y teniendo en cuenta la normativa y legislación vigente y que se necesita desarrollar, para que este despliegue sea correcto. Para ello, los organismos regulatorios y las comisiones de diferentes países, deben ponerse de acuerdo e investigar cuál será la mejor forma de proporcionar los mejores estándares y facilitar y acelerar los despliegues y puestas en marcha de esta nueva tecnología. Después de llevar a cabo un estudio detallado sobre los requisitos, objetivos y la normativa y estandarización actual, así como el estado del arte de las tecnologías que hoy nos proporcionan los servicios de los que disfrutamos, se han estudiado las barreras y los aspectos favorecedores para la implantación del 5G. Finalmente, y tras este previo estudio, se han detallado los posibles despliegues para esta tecnología y se ha estudiado como afectará al entorno económico y social la utilización de este tipo de redes de comunicaciones móviles. A su vez, se han llegado a las conclusiones finales de que el 5G supondrá toda una revolución, y que todo aquello que favorezca su despliegue e implantación, debe ser bienvenido.Ingeniería Telemátic

Cloud Based IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Architecture to Integrate Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) and IMS

RÉSUMÉ Les réseaux Ad Hoc véhiculaires (VANET) représentent une technologie spéciale, dans la catégorie des réseaux ad hoc sans fils. Ils visent la sécurité routière, une plus grande efficacité et une meilleure organisation au sein des systèmes de transport. Ils favorisent l’avènement de nouvelles applications relatives à l’ingénierie, la gestion de trafic, la dissémination d’informations d’urgence pour éviter les situations critiques, le confort et le divertissement, ainsi que plusieurs autres «applications utilisateur». Le sous-système multimédia IP (IP Multimedia Subsystem, IMS), a été standardisé par le projet «Third Generation Partnership Project» (3GPP) pour les réseaux hétérogènes avec un support de la qualité de service. Cette plateforme a été proposée dans le but d’offrir aux utilisateurs finaux des services multimédia tels que la voix, les données et la vidéo, la facturation ainsi que l’intégration des services tout-IP. Avec l’avènement de IMS, il est désirable d’offrir aux utilisateurs des réseaux véhiculaires (VANET), un accès aux services de ce sous-système. Cependant, les caractéristiques de ces réseaux posent des difficultés majeures pour le contrôle des performances des services IMS. Par ailleurs, le «réseau cœur » de IMS présente aussi des limitations telles que le contrôle centralisé, la faible efficacité et une faible évolutivité au niveau des équipements du réseau cœur en comparaison aux infrastructures de réseau utilisant le Cloud Computing. Le Cloud Computing est un nouveau paradigme des technologies de l’information, offrant des ressources extensibles dynamiquement, souvent au moyen de machines virtuelles et accessibles en tant que services sur Internet. La migration de l’IMS au sein du Cloud peut permettre d’améliorer les performances de l’infrastructure IMS. Ce projet propose une architecture novatrice d’intégration des réseaux VANET, IMS et le Cloud Computing.----------ABSTRACT Vehicular Ad Hoc network (VANET) is a special technology in wireless ad hoc networks. It can be used to provide road safety, efficiency and traffic organization in transportation system. Thus, new applications arise in several fields such as traffic engineering, traffic management, dissemination of emergency information in order to avoid critical situations, comfort, entertainment and other user applications. IP multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is a subsystem, standardized with Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The IMS supports heterogeneous networking with Quality-of-Service (QoS) policy. The goal of this platform is to integrate All-IP services and to provide final user with multimedia services such as voice, data and video with appropriate billing mechanisms. With the advent of the IP Multimedia Subsystem, it is desirable to provide VANET end-users with IMS services. However, characteristics of VANET cause major challenges to control the performance of IMS services. On the other hand, the traditional IMS core network faces a set of problems such as centralized control, low efficiency and poor scalability of core equipment, compared with the IT environment using Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing is an emerging paradigm in the field of information technology. In this new paradigm, dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as services over the Internet. The migration of IMS to cloud can improve its performance. This project proposes an innovative architecture in order to integrate VANET, IMS and Cloud Computing