5G Network Slicing using SDN and NFV: A Survey of Taxonomy, Architectures and Future Challenges

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review and updated solutions related to 5G network slicing using SDN and NFV. Firstly, we present 5G service quality and business requirements followed by a description of 5G network softwarization and slicing paradigms including essential concepts, history and different use cases. Secondly, we provide a tutorial of 5G network slicing technology enablers including SDN, NFV, MEC, cloud/Fog computing, network hypervisors, virtual machines & containers. Thidly, we comprehensively survey different industrial initiatives and projects that are pushing forward the adoption of SDN and NFV in accelerating 5G network slicing. A comparison of various 5G architectural approaches in terms of practical implementations, technology adoptions and deployment strategies is presented. Moreover, we provide a discussion on various open source orchestrators and proof of concepts representing industrial contribution. The work also investigates the standardization efforts in 5G networks regarding network slicing and softwarization. Additionally, the article presents the management and orchestration of network slices in a single domain followed by a comprehensive survey of management and orchestration approaches in 5G network slicing across multiple domains while supporting multiple tenants. Furthermore, we highlight the future challenges and research directions regarding network softwarization and slicing using SDN and NFV in 5G networks.Comment: 40 Pages, 22 figures, published in computer networks (Open Access

NeutRAN: An Open RAN Neutral Host Architecture for Zero-Touch RAN and Spectrum Sharing

Obtaining access to exclusive spectrum, cell sites, Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment, and edge infrastructure imposes major capital expenses to mobile network operators. A neutral host infrastructure, by which a third-party company provides RAN services to mobile operators through network virtualization and slicing techniques, is seen as a promising solution to decrease these costs. Currently, however, neutral host providers lack automated and virtualized pipelines for onboarding new tenants and to provide elastic and on-demand allocation of resources matching operators' requirements. To address this gap, this paper presents NeutRAN, a zero-touch framework based on the O-RAN architecture to support applications on neutral hosts and automatic operator onboarding. NeutRAN builds upon two key components: (i) an optimization engine to guarantee coverage and to meet quality of service requirements while accounting for the limited amount of shared spectrum and RAN nodes, and (ii) a fully virtualized and automated infrastructure that converts the output of the optimization engine into deployable micro-services to be executed at RAN nodes and cell sites. NeutRAN was prototyped on an OpenShift cluster and on a programmable testbed with 4 base stations and 10 users from 3 different tenants. We evaluate its benefits, comparing it to a traditional license-based RAN where each tenant has dedicated physical and spectrum resources. We show that NeutRAN can deploy a fully operational neutral host-based cellular network in around 10 seconds. Experimental results show that it increases the cumulative network throughput by 2.18x and the per-user average throughput by 1.73x in networks with shared spectrum blocks of 30 MHz. NeutRAN provides a 1.77x cumulative throughput gain even when it can only operate on a shared spectrum block of 10 MHz (one third of the spectrum used in license-based RANs).Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 1 table. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, August 202

QoE management of multimedia streaming services in future networks : a tutorial and survey

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Mecanismos dinâmicos de segurança para redes softwarizadas e virtualizadas

The relationship between attackers and defenders has traditionally been asymmetric, with attackers having time as an upper hand to devise an exploit that compromises the defender. The push towards the Cloudification of the world makes matters more challenging, as it lowers the cost of an attack, with a de facto standardization on a set of protocols. The discovery of a vulnerability now has a broader impact on various verticals (business use cases), while previously, some were in a segregated protocol stack requiring independent vulnerability research. Furthermore, defining a perimeter within a cloudified system is non-trivial, whereas before, the dedicated equipment already created a perimeter. This proposal takes the newer technologies of network softwarization and virtualization, both Cloud-enablers, to create new dynamic security mechanisms that address this asymmetric relationship using novel Moving Target Defense (MTD) approaches. The effective use of the exploration space, combined with the reconfiguration capabilities of frameworks like Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Management and Orchestration (MANO), should allow for adjusting defense levels dynamically to achieve the required security as defined by the currently acceptable risk. The optimization tasks and integration tasks of this thesis explore these concepts. Furthermore, the proposed novel mechanisms were evaluated in real-world use cases, such as 5G networks or other Network Slicing enabled infrastructures.A relação entre atacantes e defensores tem sido tradicionalmente assimétrica, com os atacantes a terem o tempo como vantagem para conceberem uma exploração que comprometa o defensor. O impulso para a Cloudificação do mundo torna a situação mais desafiante, pois reduz o custo de um ataque, com uma padronização de facto sobre um conjunto de protocolos. A descoberta de uma vulnerabilidade tem agora um impacto mais amplo em várias verticais (casos de uso empresarial), enquanto anteriormente, alguns estavam numa pilha de protocolos segregados que exigiam uma investigação independente das suas vulnerabilidades. Além disso, a definição de um perímetro dentro de um sistema Cloud não é trivial, enquanto antes, o equipamento dedicado já criava um perímetro. Esta proposta toma as mais recentes tecnologias de softwarização e virtualização da rede, ambas facilitadoras da Cloud, para criar novos mecanismos dinâmicos de segurança que incidem sobre esta relação assimétrica utilizando novas abordagens de Moving Target Defense (MTD). A utilização eficaz do espaço de exploração, combinada com as capacidades de reconfiguração de frameworks como Network Function Virtualization (NFV) e Management and Orchestration (MANO), deverá permitir ajustar dinamicamente os níveis de defesa para alcançar a segurança necessária, tal como definida pelo risco actualmente aceitável. As tarefas de optimização e de integração desta tese exploram estes conceitos. Além disso, os novos mecanismos propostos foram avaliados em casos de utilização no mundo real, tais como redes 5G ou outras infraestruturas de Network Slicing.Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Informátic

A Survey on Security and Privacy of 5G Technologies: Potential Solutions, Recent Advancements, and Future Directions

Security has become the primary concern in many telecommunications industries today as risks can have high consequences. Especially, as the core and enable technologies will be associated with 5G network, the confidential information will move at all layers in future wireless systems. Several incidents revealed that the hazard encountered by an infected wireless network, not only affects the security and privacy concerns, but also impedes the complex dynamics of the communications ecosystem. Consequently, the complexity and strength of security attacks have increased in the recent past making the detection or prevention of sabotage a global challenge. From the security and privacy perspectives, this paper presents a comprehensive detail on the core and enabling technologies, which are used to build the 5G security model; network softwarization security, PHY (Physical) layer security and 5G privacy concerns, among others. Additionally, the paper includes discussion on security monitoring and management of 5G networks. This paper also evaluates the related security measures and standards of core 5G technologies by resorting to different standardization bodies and provide a brief overview of 5G standardization security forces. Furthermore, the key projects of international significance, in line with the security concerns of 5G and beyond are also presented. Finally, a future directions and open challenges section has included to encourage future research.European CommissionNational Research Tomsk Polytechnic UniversityUpdate citation details during checkdate report - A

Will SDN be part of 5G?

For many, this is no longer a valid question and the case is considered settled with SDN/NFV (Software Defined Networking/Network Function Virtualization) providing the inevitable innovation enablers solving many outstanding management issues regarding 5G. However, given the monumental task of softwarization of radio access network (RAN) while 5G is just around the corner and some companies have started unveiling their 5G equipment already, the concern is very realistic that we may only see some point solutions involving SDN technology instead of a fully SDN-enabled RAN. This survey paper identifies all important obstacles in the way and looks at the state of the art of the relevant solutions. This survey is different from the previous surveys on SDN-based RAN as it focuses on the salient problems and discusses solutions proposed within and outside SDN literature. Our main focus is on fronthaul, backward compatibility, supposedly disruptive nature of SDN deployment, business cases and monetization of SDN related upgrades, latency of general purpose processors (GPP), and additional security vulnerabilities, softwarization brings along to the RAN. We have also provided a summary of the architectural developments in SDN-based RAN landscape as not all work can be covered under the focused issues. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on the state of the art of SDN-based RAN and clearly points out the gaps in the technology.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figure

Resource Orchestration in Softwarized Networks

Network softwarization is an emerging research area that is envisioned to revolutionize the way network infrastructure is designed, operated, and managed today. Contemporary telecommunication networks are going through a major transformation, and softwarization is recognized as a crucial enabler of this transformation by both academia and industry. Softwarization promises to overcome the current ossified state of Internet network architecture and evolve towards a more open, agile, flexible, and programmable networking paradigm that will reduce both capital and operational expenditures, cut-down time-to-market of new services, and create new revenue streams. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are two complementary networking technologies that have established themselves as the cornerstones of network softwarization. SDN decouples the control and data planes to provide enhanced programmability and faster innovation of networking technologies. It facilitates simplified network control, scalability, availability, flexibility, security, cost-reduction, autonomic management, and fine-grained control of network traffic. NFV utilizes virtualization technology to reduce dependency on underlying hardware by moving packet processing activities from proprietary hardware middleboxes to virtualized entities that can run on commodity hardware. Together SDN and NFV simplify network infrastructure by utilizing standardized and commodity hardware for both compute and networking; bringing the benefits of agility, economies of scale, and flexibility of data centers to networks. Network softwarization provides the tools required to re-architect the current network infrastructure of the Internet. However, the effective application of these tools requires efficient utilization of networking resources in the softwarized environment. Innovative techniques and mechanisms are required for all aspects of network management and control. The overarching goal of this thesis is to address several key resource orchestration challenges in softwarized networks. The resource allocation and orchestration techniques presented in this thesis utilize the functionality provided by softwarization to reduce operational cost, improve resource utilization, ensure scalability, dynamically scale resource pools according to demand, and optimize energy utilization

Progressive introduction of network softwarization in operational telecom networks: advances at architectural, service and transport levels

Technological paradigms such as Software Defined Networking, Network Function Virtualization and Network Slicing are altogether offering new ways of providing services. This process is widely known as Network Softwarization, where traditional operational networks adopt capabilities and mechanisms inherit form the computing world, such as programmability, virtualization and multi-tenancy. This adoption brings a number of challenges, both from the technological and operational perspectives. On the other hand, they provide an unprecedented flexibility opening opportunities to developing new services and new ways of exploiting and consuming telecom networks. This Thesis first overviews the implications of the progressive introduction of network softwarization in operational networks for later on detail some advances at different levels, namely architectural, service and transport levels. It is done through specific exemplary use cases and evolution scenarios, with the goal of illustrating both new possibilities and existing gaps for the ongoing transition towards an advanced future mode of operation. This is performed from the perspective of a telecom operator, paying special attention on how to integrate all these paradigms into operational networks for assisting on their evolution targeting new, more sophisticated service demands.Programa de Doctorado en Ingeniería Telemática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: Eduardo Juan Jacob Taquet.- Secretario: Francisco Valera Pintor.- Vocal: Jorge López Vizcaín