Mobile Edge Service for Charging Control

5G systems will provide a flexible charging capabilities including policy control based on spending limits for a subscription. Edge computing possesses the potential for exposing policy control and charging capabilities to third party applications close to the end users. In this paper, we propose a new mobile edge service that provides open access to functions related to monitoring the usage limits regardless the way of measurement i.e. monetary, volume, duration, etc. Currently, this function is a part of the core network functionality. Using the proposed service interfaces, an intended application may track the usage of network resource by a subscriber and to request applying of enforcement action to user traffic such as quality of service downgrade, traffic redirection or blocking close to the end user. The description of the proposed mobile edge service is provided in form of typical use cases, data model, interface definition, and formally verified state models

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