Experimental framework and evaluation of the 5G-Crosshaul Control Infrastructure

The goal of 5G-Crosshaul is to integrate fronthaul and backhaul operation under the same data and controlplanes. This paper focuses on the latter, by experimentally showing theflexibility of the 5G-Crosshaul ControlInfrastructure (XCI). In this sense, various network setups featuring heterogeneous network and computingresources and high-speed mobility were deployed over the 5G-Crosshaul testbed. More specifically, three dif-ferent use cases that exploit the capabilities embedded in the XCI have been experimentally evaluated. First,"hierarchical network orchestration" demonstrates how service setup times in complex multi-technology trans-port networks can be decreased from current manual configuration times in the order of days down to automatedsetups in the order of seconds by means of a resource management application that consumes the XCI services.Second, "energy management of IT and network resources" presents an energy management application thatexploits the XCI to deploy network configurations that achieve energy savings ranging from 15% to 40% bydynamically reacting to datacenter and network conditions. Finally, the XCI was also exploited by an energy management application in a high-speed train mobility scenario featuring a radio over fiber network in which savings close to 80% were achieved

An Integrated, Virtualized Joint Edge and Fog Computing System with Multi-RAT Convergence

Notably, developing an innovative architectural network paradigm is essential to address the technical challenging of 5G applications' requirements in a unified platform. Forthcoming applications will provide a wide range ofnetworking, computing and storage capabilities closer to the endusers.In this context, the 5G-PPP Phase two project named "5GCORAL:A 5G Convergent Virtualized Radio Access Network Living at the Edge" aims at identifying and experimentally validating which are the key technology innovations allowing for the development of a convergent 5G multi-RAT access based on a virtualized Edge and Fog architecture being scalable, flexible and interoperable with other domains including transport, core network and distant Clouds. In 5G-CORAL, an architecture is proposed based on ETSI MEC and ETSI NFV frameworks in a unified platform. Then, a set of exemplary use cases benefiting from Edge and Fog networks in near proximity of the end-user are proposed for demonstration on top of connected car, shopping mall and high-speed train platforms.This work has been partially funded by the H2020 collaborative Europe/Taiwan research project 5G-CORAL (grant num. 761586

Energy Monitoring and Management in 5G Integrated Fronthaul and Backhaul

Energy efficiency is likely to be the litmus test for the sustainability of upcoming 5G networks. Before the new generation of cellular networks are ready to roll out, their architecture designers are motivated to leverage the SDN technology for the sake of its offered flexibility, scalability, and programmability to achieve the 5G KPI of 10 times lower energy consumption. In this paper, we present Proofs-of-Concept of Energy Management and Monitoring Applications (EMMAs) in the context of three challenging, realistic case studies, along with a SDN/NFV-based MANO architecture to manage converged fronthaul/backhaul 5G transport networks