Access and metro network convergence for flexible end-to-end network design

This paper reports on the architectural, protocol, physical layer, and integrated testbed demonstrations carried out by the DISCUS FP7 consortium in the area of access - metro network convergence. Our architecture modeling results show the vast potential for cost and power savings that node consolidation can bring. The architecture, however, also recognizes the limits of long-reach transmission for low-latency 5G services and proposes ways to address such shortcomings in future projects. The testbed results, which have been conducted end-to-end, across access - metro and core, and have targeted all the layers of the network from the application down to the physical layer, show the practical feasibility of the concepts proposed in the project

NFV Orchestration over Disaggregated Metro Optical Networks with End-to-End Multi-Layer Slicing enabling Crowdsourced Live Video Streaming

Network infrastructure must support emerging applications, fulfill 5G requirements, and respond to the sudden increase of societal need for remote communications. Remarkably, crowdsourced live video streaming (CLVS) challenges operators' infrastructure with tides of users attending major sport or public events that demand high bandwidth and low latency jointly with computing capabilities at the networks' edge. The Metro-Haul project entered the scene proposing a cost-effective, agile, and disaggregated infrastructure for the metro segment encompassing optical and packet resources jointly with computing capabilities. Recently, a major Metro-Haul outcome took the form of a field trial of network function virtualization (NFV) orchestration over the multi-layer packet and disaggregated optical network testbed that demonstrated a CLVS use case. We showcased the average service creation time below 5 min, which met the key performance indicator as defined by the 5G infrastructure public private partnership. In this paper, we expand our field trial demonstration with a detailed view of the Metro-Haul testbed for the CLVS use case, the employed components, and their performance. The throughput of the service is increased from approximately 9.6 Gbps up to 35 Gbps per virtual local area network with high-performance VNFs based on single-root input/output virtualization technology

IT and Multi-layer Online Resource Allocation and Offline Planning in Metropolitan Networks

Metropolitan networks are undergoing a major technological breakthrough leveraging the capabilities of software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). NFV permits the deployment of virtualized network functions (VNFs) on commodity hardware appliances which can be combined with SDN flexibility and programmability of the network infrastructure. SDN/NFV-enabled networks require decision-making in two time scales: short-term online resource allocation and mid-to-long term offline planning. In this paper, we first tackle the dimensioning of SDN/NFV-enabled metropolitan networks paying special attention to the role that latency plays in the capacity planning. We focus on a specific use-case: the metropolitan network that covers the Murcia - Alicante Spanish regions. Then, we propose a latency-aware multilayer service-chain allocation (LA-ML-SCA) algorithm to explore a range of maximum latency requirements and their impact on the resources for dimensioning the metropolitan network. We observe that design costs increase for low latency requirements as more data center facilities need to be spread to get closer to the network edge, reducing the economies of scale on the IT infrastructure. Subsequently, we review our recent joint computation of multi-site VNF placement and multilayer resource allocation in the deployment of a network service in a metro network. Specifically, a set of subroutines contained in LA-ML-SCA are experimentally validated in a network optimization-as-a-service architecture that assists an Open-Source MANO instance, virtual infrastructure managers and WAN controllers in a metro network test-bed.Grant numbers : Go2Edge - Engineering Future Edge Computing Networks, Systems and Services.@ 2020 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works

Fronthaul evolution: From CPRI to Ethernet

It is proposed that using Ethernet in the fronthaul, between base station baseband unit (BBU) pools and remote radio heads (RRHs), can bring a number of advantages, from use of lower-cost equipment, shared use of infrastructure with fixed access networks, to obtaining statistical multiplexing and optimised performance through probe-based monitoring and software-defined networking. However, a number of challenges exist: ultra-high-bit-rate requirements from the transport of increased bandwidth radio streams for multiple antennas in future mobile networks, and low latency and jitter to meet delay requirements and the demands of joint processing. A new fronthaul functional division is proposed which can alleviate the most demanding bit-rate requirements by transport of baseband signals instead of sampled radio waveforms, and enable statistical multiplexing gains. Delay and synchronisation issues remain to be solved

Demonstration of latency-aware 5G network slicing on optical metro networks

The H2020 METRO-HAUL European project has architected a latency-aware, cost-effective, agile, and programmable optical metro network. This includes the design of semi-disaggregated metro nodes with compute and storage capabilities, which interface effectively with both 5G access and multi-Tbit/s elastic optical networks in the core. In this paper, we report the automated deployment of 5G services, in particular, a public safety video surveillance use case employing low-latency object detection and tracking using on-camera and on-the-edge analytics. The demonstration features flexible deployment of network slice instances, implemented in terms of ETSI NFV Network Services. We summarize the key findings in a detailed analysis of end-to-end quality of service, service setup time, and soft-failure detection time. The results show that the round-trip-time over an 80 km link is under 800 µs and the service deployment time under 180 seconds.Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (761727); Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (16KIS0979K).Peer ReviewedArticle signat per 25 autors/es: B. Shariati, Fraunhofer HHI, Berlin, Germany / L. Velasco, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain / J.-J. Pedreno-Manresa, ADVA, Munich, Germany / A. Dochhan, ADVA, Munich, Germany / R. Casellas, Centre Tecnològic Telecomunicacions Catalunya, Castelldefels, Spain / A. Muqaddas, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK / O. Gonzalez de Dios, Telefónica, Madrid, Spain / L. Luque Canto, Telefónica, Madrid, Spain / B. Lent, Qognify GmbH, Bruchsal, Germany / J. E. Lopez de Vergara, Naudit HPCN, Madrid, Spain / S. Lopez-Buedo, Naudit HPCN, Madrid, Spain / F. Moreno, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain / P. Pavon, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain / M. Ruiz, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain / S. K. Patri, ADVA, Munich, Germany / A. Giorgetti, CNIT, Pisa, Italy / F. Cugini, CNIT, Pisa, Italy / A. Sgambelluri, CNIT, Pisa, Italy / R. Nejabati, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK / D. Simeonidou, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK / R.-P. Braun, Deutsche Telekom, Germany / A. Autenrieth, ADVA, Munich, Germany / J.-P. Elbers, ADVA, Munich, Germany / J. K. Fischer, Fraunhofer HHI, Berlin, Germany / R. Freund, Fraunhofer HHI, Berlin, GermanyPostprint (author's final draft

Predictive autonomic transmission for low-cost low-margin metro optical networks

Low-cost low-margin implementation plays an essential role in upgrading optical metro networks required for future 5G ecosystem. In this regard, low-resolution analog-to-digital converters can be used in coherent optical transponders to reduce cost and power consumption. However, the resulting transmission systems become more sensitive to physical layer fluctuations like the events caused by fiber stressing. Such fluctuations might have a strong impact on the quality of transmission (QoT) of the signals. To guarantee robust operation, soft decision forward error correction (FEC) techniques are required to guarantee zero post-FEC bit error rate (BER) transmission, which could increase the power consumption of the receiver and thus operational expenses. In this paper, we aim at minimizing power consumption while keeping zero post-FEC errors by means of a predictive autonomic transmission agent (ATA) based on machine learning. We present a sophisticated ATA model that, taking advantage of real-time monitoring of state of polarization traces and the corresponding pre-FEC BER, predicts the right FEC configuration for short-term operation, thus requiring minimum power consumption. In addition, we propose a complementary long-term prediction of excessive pre-FEC BER to enable remote reconfiguration at the transmitter side through the network controller. A set of experimental measurements is used to train and validate the proposed ATA system. Exhaustive numerical analysis allows concluding that ATA based on artificial neural network predictors achieves the maximum QoT robustness with 80% power consumption reductions compared to static FEC configuration.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission for the H2020-ICT-2016-2 METRO-HAUL project (G.A. 761727), from the AEI/FEDER TWINS project (TEC2017-90097-R), and from the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A control and management architecture supporting autonomic NFV services

The proposed control, orchestration and management (COM) architecture is presented from a high-level point of view; it enables the dynamic provisioning of services such as network data connectivity or generic network slicing instances based on virtual network functions (VNF). The COM is based on Software Defined Networking (SDN) principles and is hierarchical, with a dedicated controller per technology domain. Along with the SDN control plane for the provisioning of connectivity, an ETSI NFV management and orchestration system is responsible for the instantiation of Network Services, understood in this context as interconnected VNFs. A key, novel component of the COM architecture is the monitoring and data analytics (MDA) system, able to collect monitoring data from the network, datacenters and applications which outputs can be used to proactively reconfigure resources thus adapting to future conditions, like load or degradations. To illustrate the COM architecture, a use case of a Content Delivery Network service taking advantage of the MDA ability to collect and deliver monitoring data is experimentally demonstrated.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Autonomic content delivery network service

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.We focus on a use case where a virtualized Content Delivery Network (CDN) service autonomously adapts to the load by requesting the instantiation of new VMs in selected leaf cache nodes, as well as by incrementing the capacity of the network connecting users with the caches. Autonomous decisions are supported by the use of data analytics techniques on monitoring data. Experimental validation supports the feasibility of the proposed autonomic CDN service.This work was partially supported by the EC through the METRO-HAUL project (G.A. nº 761727), from the AEI/FEDER TWINS project (TEC2017-90097-R), and from the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Beyond 5G Domainless Network Operation enabled by Multiband: Toward Optical Continuum Architectures

Both public and private innovation projects are targeting the design, prototyping and demonstration of a novel end-to-end integrated packet-optical transport architecture based on Multi-Band (MB) optical transmission and switching networks. Essentially, MB is expected to be the next technological evolution to deal with the traffic demand and service requirements of 5G mobile networks, and beyond, in the most cost-effective manner. Thanks to MB transmission, classical telco architectures segmented into hierarchical levels and domains can move forward toward an optical network continuum, where edge access nodes are all-optically interconnected with top-hierarchical nodes, interfacing Content Delivery Networks (CDN) and Internet Exchange Points (IXP). This article overviews the technological challenges and innovation requirements to enable such an architectural shift of telco networks both from a data and control and management planes