QoE-Oriented Mobile Edge Service Management Leveraging SDN and NFV

5G envisages a "hyperconnected society" where trillions of diverse entities could communicate with each other anywhere and at any time, some of which will demand extremely challenging performance requirements such as submillisecond low latency. Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) concept where application computing resources are deployed at the edge of the mobile network in proximity of an end user is a promising solution to improve quality of online experience. To make MEC more flexible and cost-effective Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies are widely adopted. It leads to significant CAPEX and OPEX reduction with the help of a joint radio-cloud management and orchestration logic. In this paper we discuss and develop a reference architecture for the orchestration and management of the MEC ecosystem. Along with the lifecycle management flows of MEC services, indicating the interactions among the functional modules inside the Orchestrator and with external elements, QoS management with a focus on the channel state information technique is presented.The research leading to these results has been supported by the EU funded H2020 5G-PPP project SESAME under the Grant Agreement no. 671596 and National Spanish Projects QoEverage (no. TEC2013-46766-R) and ONOFRE (no. TEC2014-53071-C3-1-P)

Fog-enabled Scalable C-V2X Architecture for Distributed 5G and Beyond Applications

The Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, as fostered by fifth generation (5G) applications, demands a highly available network infrastructure. In particular, the internet of vehicles use cases, as a subset of the overall IoT environment, require a combination of high availability and low latency in big volumes support. This can be enabled by a network function virtualization architecture that is able to provide resources wherever and whenever needed, from the core to the edge up to the end user proximity, in accordance with the fog computing paradigm. In this article, we propose a fog-enabled cellular vehicle-to-everything architecture that provides resources at the core, the edge and the vehicle layers. The proposed architecture enables the connection of virtual machines, containers and unikernels that form an application-as-a-service function chain that can be deployed across the three layers. Furthermore, we provide lifecycle management mechanisms that can efficiently manage and orchestrate the underlying physical resources by leveraging live migration and scaling functionalities. Additionally, we design and implement a 5G platform to evaluate the basic functionalities of our proposed mechanisms in real-life scenarios. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate that our proposed scheme maximizes the accepted requests, without violating the applications’ service level agreement.This work has been supported in part by the research projects SPOTLIGHT (722788), AGAUR (2017-SGR-891), 5G-DIVE (859881), SPOT5G (TEC2017-87456-P), MonB5G (871780) and 5G-Routes (951867)

Evolution of Orchestration Towards 5G

Service orchestration is an essential activity in 5G networks. It performs optimal resource allocation and provisions services in an effective sequence based on demands across a collection of physical or virtual network functions (P/VNF). This paper summarizes several orchestration environments and components along with their evolution towards 5G. A brief operational comparison of platforms such as Open Source Management and Orchestration (OSM MANO), Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV) and Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) have been presented, along with different deployment models and architectural alternatives

Multi-access edge computing: A survey

Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) is a key solution that enables operators to open their networks to new services and IT ecosystems to leverage edge-cloud benefits in their networks and systems. Located in close proximity from the end users and connected devices, MEC provides extremely low latency and high bandwidth while always enabling applications to leverage cloud capabilities as necessary. In this article, we illustrate the integration of MEC into a current mobile networks' architecture as well as the transition mechanisms to migrate into a standard 5G network architecture.We also discuss SDN, NFV, SFC and network slicing as MEC enablers. Then, we provide a state-of-the-art study on the different approaches that optimize the MEC resources and its QoS parameters. In this regard, we classify these approaches based on the optimized resources and QoS parameters (i.e., processing, storage, memory, bandwidth, energy and latency). Finally, we propose an architectural framework for a MEC-NFV environment based on the standard SDN architecture

5G Multi-access Edge Computing: Security, Dependability, and Performance

The main innovation of the Fifth Generation (5G) of mobile networks is the ability to provide novel services with new and stricter requirements. One of the technologies that enable the new 5G services is the Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC). MEC is a system composed of multiple devices with computing and storage capabilities that are deployed at the edge of the network, i.e., close to the end users. MEC reduces latency and enables contextual information and real-time awareness of the local environment. MEC also allows cloud offloading and the reduction of traffic congestion. Performance is not the only requirement that the new 5G services have. New mission-critical applications also require high security and dependability. These three aspects (security, dependability, and performance) are rarely addressed together. This survey fills this gap and presents 5G MEC by addressing all these three aspects. First, we overview the background knowledge on MEC by referring to the current standardization efforts. Second, we individually present each aspect by introducing the related taxonomy (important for the not expert on the aspect), the state of the art, and the challenges on 5G MEC. Finally, we discuss the challenges of jointly addressing the three aspects.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures, 15 tables. This paper is under review at IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials. Copyright IEEE 202

Energy-Efficient Softwarized Networks: A Survey

With the dynamic demands and stringent requirements of various applications, networks need to be high-performance, scalable, and adaptive to changes. Researchers and industries view network softwarization as the best enabler for the evolution of networking to tackle current and prospective challenges. Network softwarization must provide programmability and flexibility to network infrastructures and allow agile management, along with higher control for operators. While satisfying the demands and requirements of network services, energy cannot be overlooked, considering the effects on the sustainability of the environment and business. This paper discusses energy efficiency in modern and future networks with three network softwarization technologies: SDN, NFV, and NS, introduced in an energy-oriented context. With that framework in mind, we review the literature based on network scenarios, control/MANO layers, and energy-efficiency strategies. Following that, we compare the references regarding approach, evaluation method, criterion, and metric attributes to demonstrate the state-of-the-art. Last, we analyze the classified literature, summarize lessons learned, and present ten essential concerns to open discussions about future research opportunities on energy-efficient softwarized networks.Comment: Accepted draft for publication in TNSM with minor updates and editin