Optimal Cross Slice Orchestration for 5G Mobile Services

5G mobile networks encompass the capabilities of hosting a variety of services such as mobile social networks, multimedia delivery, healthcare, transportation, and public safety. Therefore, the major challenge in designing the 5G networks is how to support different types of users and applications with different quality-of-service requirements under a single physical network infrastructure. Recently, network slicing has been introduced as a promising solution to address this challenge. Network slicing allows programmable network instances which match the service requirements by using network virtualization technologies. However, how to efficiently allocate resources across network slices has not been well studied in the literature. Therefore, in this paper, we first introduce a model for orchestrating network slices based on the service requirements and available resources. Then, we propose a Markov decision process framework to formulate and determine the optimal policy that manages cross-slice admission control and resource allocation for the 5G networks. Through simulation results, we show that the proposed framework and solution are efficient not only in providing slice-as-a-service based on the service requirements, but also in maximizing the provider's revenue.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, WCNC 2018 conferenc

Optimal Cross Slice Orchestration for 5G Mobile Services

© 2018 IEEE. 5G mobile networks encompass the capabilities of hosting a variety of services such as mobile social networks, multimedia delivery, healthcare, transportation, and public safety. Therefore, the major challenge in designing the 5G networks is how to support different types of users and applications with different quality-of-service requirements under a single physical network infrastructure. Recently, network slicing has been introduced as a promising solution to address this challenge. Network slicing allows programmable network instances which match the service requirements by using network virtualization technologies. However, how to efficiently allocate resources across network slices has not been well studied in the literature. Therefore, in this paper, we first introduce a model for orchestrating network slices based on the service requirements and available resources. Then, we propose a Markov decision process framework to formulate and determine the optimal policy that manages cross-slice admission control and resource allocation for the 5G networks. Through simulation results, we show that the proposed solution is efficient not only in providing slice-as-a-service based on service requirements, but also in maximizing the provider's revenue

Expanded Combinatorial Designs as Tool to Model Network Slicing in 5G

The network slice management function (NSMF) in 5G has a task to configure the network slice instances and to combine network slice subnet instances from the new-generation radio access network and the core network into an end-to-end network slice instance. In this paper, we propose a mathematical model for network slicing based on combinatorial designs such as Latin squares and rectangles and their conjugate forms. We extend those designs with attributes that offer different levels of abstraction. For one set of attributes we prove a stability Lemma for the necessary conditions to reach a stationary ergodic stage. We also introduce a definition of utilization ratio function and offer an algorithm for its maximization. Moreover, we provide algorithms that simulate the work of NSMF with randomized or optimized strategies, and we report the results of our implementation, experiments and simulations for one set of attributes.Comment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Acces

The path towards resource elasticity for 5G network architecture

Proceeding of: IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference Workshops (WCNCW 2018)Vertical markets and industries are addressing a large diversity of heterogeneous services, use cases, and applications in 5G. It is currently common understanding that for networks to be able to satisfy those needs, a flexible, adaptable, and programmable architecture based on network slicing is required. Moreover, a softwarization and cloudification of the communications networks is already happening, where network functions (NFs) are transformed from monolithic pieces of equipment to programs running over a shared pool of computational and communication resources. However, this novel architecture paradigm requires new solutions to exploit its inherent flexibility. In this paper, we introduce the concept of resource elasticity as a key means to make an efficient use of the computational resources in 5G systems. Besides establishing a definition as well as a set of requirements and key performance indicators (KPIs), we propose mechanisms for the exploitation of elasticity in three different dimensions, namely computational elasticity in the design and scaling of NFs, orchestration-driven elasticity by flexible placement of NFs, and slice-aware elasticity via cross-slice resource provisioning mechanisms. Finally, we provide a succinct analysis of the architectural components that need to be enhanced to incorporate elasticity principles.Part of this work has been performed within the 5GMoNArch project, part of the Phase II of the 5th Generation Public Private Partnership (5G-PPP) program partially funded by the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 Framework Program

Network Slicing

Network slicing is emerging as a key enabling technology to support new service needs, business cases, and the evolution of programmable networking. As an end-to-end concept involving network functions in different domains and administrations, network slicing calls for new standardization efforts, design methodologies, and deployment strategies. This chapter aims at addressing the main aspects of network slicing with relevant challenges and practical solutions

Overall 5G-MoNArch architecture and implications for resource elasticity

Proceeding of: 2018 European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC), June 18-21, Ljubljana, SloveniaThe fifth generation (5G) of mobile and wireless communications networks aims at addressing a diverse set of use cases, services, and applications with a particular focus on enabling new business cases via network slicing. The development of 5G has thus advanced quickly with research projects and standardization efforts resulting in the 5G baseline architecture. Nevertheless, for the realization of native end-to-end (E2E) network slicing, further features and optimizations shall still be introduced. In this paper, essential building blocks and design principles of the 5G architecture will be discussed capitalizing on the innovations that are being developed in the 5G-MoNArch project. Furthermore, building on the concept of resource elasticity introduced by 5G-MoNArch and briefly resummarized in this paper, an elasticity functional architecture is presented where the architectural implications required for each of the three dimensions of elasticity are described, namely computational, orchestration-driven, and slice-aware elasticity.This work has been performed in the framework of the H2020 project 5G-MoNArch co-funded by the EU

View on 5G Architecture: Version 1.0

The current white paper focuses on the produced results after one year research mainly from 16 projects working on the abovementioned domains. During several months, representatives from these projects have worked together to identify the key findings of their projects and capture the commonalities and also the different approaches and trends. Also they have worked to determine the challenges that remain to be overcome so as to meet the 5G requirements. The goal of 5G Architecture Working Group is to use the results captured in this white paper to assist the participating projects achieve a common reference framework. The work of this working group will continue during the following year so as to capture the latest results to be produced by the projects and further elaborate this reference framework. The 5G networks will be built around people and things and will natively meet the requirements of three groups of use cases: • Massive broadband (xMBB) that delivers gigabytes of bandwidth on demand • Massive machine-type communication (mMTC) that connects billions of sensors and machines • Critical machine-type communication (uMTC) that allows immediate feedback with high reliability and enables for example remote control over robots and autonomous driving. The demand for mobile broadband will continue to increase in the next years, largely driven by the need to deliver ultra-high definition video. However, 5G networks will also be the platform enabling growth in many industries, ranging from the IT industry to the automotive, manufacturing industries entertainment, etc. 5G will enable new applications like for example autonomous driving, remote control of robots and tactile applications, but these also bring a lot of challenges to the network. Some of these are related to provide low latency in the order of few milliseconds and high reliability compared to fixed lines. But the biggest challenge for 5G networks will be that the services to cater for a diverse set of services and their requirements. To achieve this, the goal for 5G networks will be to improve the flexibility in the architecture. The white paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we discuss the key business and technical requirements that drive the evolution of 4G networks into the 5G. In section 3 we provide the key points of the overall 5G architecture where as in section 4 we elaborate on the functional architecture. Different issues related to the physical deployment in the access, metro and core networks of the 5G network are discussed in section 5 while in section 6 we present software network enablers that are expected to play a significant role in the future networks. Section 7 presents potential impacts on standardization and section 8 concludes the white paper