Infrastructure sharing of 5G mobile core networks on an SDN/NFV platform

When looking towards the deployment of 5G network architectures, mobile network operators will continue to face many challenges. The number of customers is approaching maximum market penetration, the number of devices per customer is increasing, and the number of non-human operated devices estimated to approach towards the tens of billions, network operators have a formidable task ahead of them. The proliferation of cloud computing techniques has created a multitude of applications for network services deployments, and at the forefront is the adoption of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV). Mobile network operators (MNO) have the opportunity to leverage these technologies so that they can enable the delivery of traditional networking functionality in cloud environments. The benefit of this is reductions seen in the capital and operational expenditures of network infrastructure. When going for NFV, how a Virtualised Network Function (VNF) is designed, implemented, and placed over physical infrastructure can play a vital role on the performance metrics achieved by the network function. Not paying careful attention to this aspect could lead to the drastically reduced performance of network functions thus defeating the purpose of going for virtualisation solutions. The success of mobile network operators in the 5G arena will depend heavily on their ability to shift from their old operational models and embrace new technologies, design principles and innovation in both the business and technical aspects of the environment. The primary goal of this thesis is to design, implement and evaluate the viability of data centre and cloud network infrastructure sharing use case. More specifically, the core question addressed by this thesis is how virtualisation of network functions in a shared infrastructure environment can be achieved without adverse performance degradation. 5G should be operational with high penetration beyond the year 2020 with data traffic rates increasing exponentially and the number of connected devices expected to surpass tens of billions. Requirements for 5G mobile networks include higher flexibility, scalability, cost effectiveness and energy efficiency. Towards these goals, Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualisation have been adopted in recent proposals for future mobile networks architectures because they are considered critical technologies for 5G. A Shared Infrastructure Management Framework was designed and implemented for this purpose. This framework was further enhanced for performance optimisation of network functions and underlying physical infrastructure. The objective achieved was the identification of requirements for the design and development of an experimental testbed for future 5G mobile networks. This testbed deploys high performance virtualised network functions (VNFs) while catering for the infrastructure sharing use case of multiple network operators. The management and orchestration of the VNFs allow for automation, scalability, fault recovery, and security to be evaluated. The testbed developed is readily re-creatable and based on open-source software

OpenEPC Integration within 5GTN as an NFV proof of concept

Abstract. Gone are the days, when a hardware is changed on every malfunctioning and the whole operation either stays down or load on the replacing hardware becomes too much which ultimately compromises the QoS. The IT industry is mature enough to tackle problems regarding scalability, space utilization, energy consumption, cost, agility and low availability. The expected throughput and network latency with 5G in the cellular Telecommunication Networks seems to be unachievable with the existing architecture and resources. Network Function Virtualization promises to merge IT and Telecommunications in such an efficient way that the expected results could be achieved no longer but sooner. The thesis work examines the compatibility and flexibility of a 3GPP virtual core network in a virtualization platform. The testbed is established on an LTE (Long Term Evolution) based network being already deployed and OpenEPC is added as virtual core network on it. The integration of OpenEPC in 5GTN (5TH Generation Test Network) is discussed in details in the thesis which will give an account of the possibility of implementing such a simulated vEPC (Virtual Evolved Packet Core) in a real network platform. The deployed setup is tested to check its feasibility and flexibility for a platform which could be used for NFV deployment in future. The monitoring of OpenEPC’s individual components while utilizing the major resources within them, forms the primary performance test. The CPU Load and Memory Utilization is tested on different CPU stress levels having a constant data traffic from actual UEs. At the completion of the thesis work, a consensus is built up based on the test results that the test setup can hold number of subscribers to a certain amount without any performance degradation. Moreover, the virtual core network throughput and network latency is also compared to the commercial LTE networks and theoretical maximum values on similar resources to check performance consistency OpenEPC must offer

Toward a fully cloudified mobile network infrastructure

Cloud computing enables the on-demand delivery of resources for a multitude of services and gives the opportunity for small agile companies to compete with large industries. In the telco world, cloud computing is currently mostly used by mobile network operators (MNO) for hosting non-critical support services and selling cloud services such as applications and data storage. MNOs are investigating the use of cloud computing to deliver key telecommunication services in the access and core networks. Without this, MNOs lose the opportunities of both combining this with over-the-top (OTT) and value-added services to their fundamental service offerings and leveraging cost-effective commodity hardware. Being able to leverage cloud computing technology effectively for the telco world is the focus of mobile cloud networking (MCN). This paper presents the key results of MCN integrated project that includes its architecture advancements, prototype implementation, and evaluation. Results show the efficiency and the simplicity that a MNO can deploy and manage the complete service lifecycle of fully cloudified, composed services that combine OTT/IT- and mobile-network-based services running on commodity hardware. The extensive performance evaluation of MCN using two key proof-of-concept scenarios that compose together many services to deliver novel converged elastic, on-demand mobile-based but innovative OTT services proves the feasibility of such fully virtualized deployments. Results show that it is beneficial to extend cloud computing to telco usage and run fully cloudified mobile-network-based systems with clear advantages and new service opportunities for MNOs and end-users

Study, Analysis and Modeling of IP Multimedia systems on next generation networks providing mobile and fixed multimedia services

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Data-Driven resource orchestration in sliced 5G Networks

En los últimos años la quinta generación de comunicaciones móviles ha comenzado a desarrollarse. El 5G supone un gran cambio si se compara con las anteriores generaciones de comunicaciones móviles, puesto que no se centra meramente en aumentar el ancho de banda, reducir la latencia o mejorar la eficiencia espectral, sino en ofrecer un amplio rango de servicios y aplicaciones, con requisitos muy dispares entre sí, a una gran variedad de tipos de usuario. Estos objetivos pretenden ser alcanzados empleando nuevas tecnologías: Network Function Virtualization, Software Defined Networks, Network Slicing, Mobile Edge Computing, etc. El objetivo de este Trabajo de Fin de Máster es analizar el soporte actual de end-to-end Network Slicing en un entorno 5G Open Source y desarrollar una maqueta 5G con software que admita Network-slicing.In the past few years the fifth generation in mobile communications started to arise. 5G supposes a great change compared with the past mobile communication generations, it doesn’t aim merely at improving bandwidth, reducing delay or upgrading spectral efficiency but at offering a wide range of services and applications, with huge differentrequirements, to a vast variety of users. These objectives are to be accomplished using new technologies such as: Network Function Virtualization, Software Defined Networks, Network Slicing, Mobile Edge Computing, etc. The objective of this Master Thesisis to analyze the current support for end-to-end Network Slicing in a 5G Open Source environment and to developan open source5GTestbedwith recent Software contributions in Network Slicing.Máster Universitario en Ingeniería de Telecomunicación (M125

Test bench to test protocols and algorithms for multimedia delivery

Nowadays, the study of Quality of Service (QoS) in multimedia streaming is generally carried out by simulators. However, the results of these tests are not quite real. This forces researchers to work with approximations. In this paper, we implement a test bench to test the performance and assess the protocols and algorithms for multimedia delivery. This test bench let us evaluate the network parameters performance, by manipulating the devices under controlled conditions, and allow us to identify different application cases. We can confirm that the designed test bench gives us more real measures than a simulators, which allows us to do many types of tests with low cost.Jimenez, JM.; Lloret, J.; Díaz Santos, JR.; Lacuesta Gilaberte, R. (2017). Test bench to test protocols and algorithms for multimedia delivery. En Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering. Springer Verlag. 124-134. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-49580-4_12S124134Lloret, J., Garcia, M., Atenas, M., Canovas, A.: A QoE management system to improve the IPTV network. Int. J. Commun Syst 24(1), 118–138 (2011)Garcia, M., Canovas, A., Edo, M., Lloret, J.: A QoE management system for ubiquitous IPTV devices. In: The Third International Conference on Mobile Ubiquitous Computing, Systems, Services and Technologies, UBICOMM 2009, Sliema, Malta, 11–16 October 2009Álvarez, A., Pozueco, L., Cabrero, S., García Pañeda, X., García, R., Melendi, D., Díaz Orueta, G.: Adaptive streaming: a subjective catalog to assess the performance of objective QoE metrics. Netw. Protoc. Algorithms 6(2), 123–136 (2014)Jimenez, J.M., Romero, O., Rego, A., Dilendra, A., Lloret, J.: Study of multimedia delivery over software defined networks. Netw. Protoc. Algorithms 7(4), 37–62 (2015)Recomendation UIT/T G.1010: End-user multimedia QoS categories (2001). https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-G.1010-200111-I/enRecomendation UIT‑R M.1079-2: Performance and quality of service requirements for International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) access networks. https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/m/R-REC-M.1079-2-200306-I!!PDF-E.pdfGarcia, M., Lloret, J., Edo, M., Lacuesta, R.: IPTV distribution network access system using WiMAX and WLAN technologies. In: Proceedings of the 4th Edition of the UPGRADE-CN Workshop on Use of P2P GRID and Agents for the Development of Content Networks, Munich, Germany, 11–13 June 2009Atenas, M., Sendra, S., Garcia, M., Lloret, J.: IPTV performance in IEEE 802.11 n WLANs. In: IEEE GLOBECOM Workshops 2010, Miami, USA, pp. 929–933, December 2010Cisco Systems Inc. Cisco’s Visual Networking Index Forecast Projects Nearly Half the World’s Population Will Be Connected to the Internet by 2017. http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?articleId=1197391Lu, X., Tao, S., El Zarki, M., Guérin, R.: Quality based Adaptive Video Over the Internet. Department of ESE, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (2003)Lee, T.K., Chai, T.Y., Ngoh, L.H., Shao, X., Teo, J.C.M., Zhou, L.: An IMS-based testbed for real-time services integration and orchestration. In: IEEE Asia-Pacific Services Computing Conference (APSCC 2009), Singapore, 7–11 December 2009Mu, M., Mauthe, A., Casson, J., Tyson, G., Garcia, F.: LA1 TestBed: evaluation testbed to assess the impact of network impairments on video quality. In: 5th International Conference on Testbeds and Research Infrastructures for the Development of Networks & Communities and Workshops (TridentCom 2009), Washington, DC, 6–8 April 2009Kuwadekar, A., Al-Begain, K.: User centric quality of experience testing for video on demand over IMS. In: First International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Communication Systems and Networks (CICSYN 2009), Indore, India, 23–25 July 2009Downline Guide, Big Buck Bunny, Sunflower version. http://bbb3d.renderfarming.net/download.htmlFFmpeg. http://www.ffmpeg.org/about.htmlSullivan, G.J., Wiegand, T.: Video compression - from concepts to the H.264/AVC standard. Proc. IEEE 93(1), 18–31 (2005)Estepa, A.J., Estepa, R., Vozmediano, J., Carrillo, P.: Dynamic VoIP codec selection on smartphones. Netw. Protoc. Algorithms 6(2), 22–37 (2014

An Experimental Platform for large-scale research facing FI-IoT scenarios

Providing experimental facilities for the Internet of Things (IoT) world is of paramount importance to materialise the Future Internet (FI) vision. The level of maturity achieved at the networking level in Sensor and Actuator networks (SAN) justifies the increasing demand on the research community to shift IoT testbed facilities from the network to the service and information management areas. In this paper we present an Experimental Platform fulfilling these needs by: integrating heterogeneous SAN infrastructures in a homogeneous way; providing mechanisms to handle information, and facilitating the development of experimental services. It has already been used to deploy applications in three different field trials: smart metering, smart places and environmental monitoring and it will be one of the components over which the SmartSantander project, that targets a large-scale IoT experimental facility, will rely o