Key Technologies in the Context of Future Networks: Operational and Management Requirements
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- Radio capabilities leverage the spectrum optimization, enhance interference coordination mechanisms and support dynamic radio topologies through the exploitation of higher frequencies, enabling cost-effective dense deployments, intelligent and dynamic coordination of multi Radio Access Technology (RAT), as well as sharing resources, among others.
- Network functionalities will enable the creation of an open environment in order to support several use cases in a cost-effective manner by means of the enhancement of user devices, minimizing the number of deployed entities and splitting the control and user plane functions (open its interfaces).
- The operation and management capabilities are intended to simplify operations not only in network control tasks but also in the deployment of new services, without increasing the system complexity. This field also includes reactive and proactive mechanisms to enhance the decision-making in control and management operations. This characteristic will enable the deployment of virtualized components, wherever they might be needed.
2. Key-Enabled Technologies for Future Networks
2.1. Software Defined Networking
2.2. Network Function Virtualization
2.3. Cloud Computing
2.4. Self-Organized Networks
3. Research Overview
4. Future Trends and Challenges
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Project Name | Related Technologies | Main Objective | Scenarios/Use Cases |
---|---|---|---|
MCN [34] | • SDN • Cloud Computing | Enhanced traffic processing by means of the separation between radio hardware and packet forwarding hardware. | • Cloud Computing for Mobile Network Operations • End-To-End Mobile Cloud |
T-NOVA [36] | • SDN • NFV | Design and implementation of an integrated architecture for the automated provision and management of VNF infrastructures. | • High-Level Scenario • VNFs • Service chaining |
UNIFY [37] | • SDN • NFV | The development of an automated and dynamic service provision platform, based on a service chaining architecture | • Infrastructure Virtualization • Flexible Service Chaining • Network Service Chain Invocation for Providers |
CROWD [22] | • SDN • SON | The creation of technologies to support dynamic network functionality configuration and fine, on-demand, capacity tuning. | General scenario |
5G-NORMA [38] | • SDN • NFV | The development of an adaptive, customizable, secure and efficient mobile network architecture to deal with complex traffic demand fluctuations. | • Multi-service • Multi-tenancy |
CHARISMA [40] | • SDN • NFV | The creation of an intelligent and hierarchical routing and paravirtualized architecture to enhance end-to-end services. | General scenario |
SELFNET [44] | • SDN • NFV • SON • Cloud | The design and implementation of an autonomic network management framework to achieve self-organizing capabilities in managing 5G network infrastructures, leveraging an improvement in the overall user experience. | • Self-healing • Self-protection • Self-optimization |
COGNET [45] | • SDN • NFV • Machine Learning | Dynamic adaptation of the network resources (virtual network functions), while minimizing performance degradations and fulfill SLA requirements. | • Situational Context • Just-in-time Services • User-Centric Services • Optimized Services • SLA Enforcement • Collaborative Resource Manage |
Requirement | Challenge | Future Trends/Enabler Technologies |
---|---|---|
System Performance | • Provide efficient mechanisms regarding to radio resource provisioning. • Improving the capacity of radio resources. • Provide super wide bandwidth. • Better management of data traffic, interference and mobility levels. | • Evolution of radio-access technologies (RATs). • Decreasing the cell size. • Millimeter-wave communication • Intelligent resource allocation via SDN or SON. |
Composite Wireless Infrastructures | The 5G device can choose the most appropriate wireless or mobile technology according their needs (Change between systems). | • Enhancement of user devices (Muti-Band-Multi-Mode support). • Introduction of intelligent mechanisms and SDN control. |
Facilitating very dense deployments (Hetnets) | Operators must provide effective mechanisms to deploy cells of different sizes according to user needs. | • Improving the resource capacity through decreasing the cell size. • Introduction of intelligent and Software Defined Radio (SDR) concepts. |
Flexible spectrum management | Improve the spectrum utilization in order to operate in some spectrum bands or channels, while reducing interferences. | • Massive MIMO • Mechanisms to use unused bands. |
Native support D2D Communication | Deploy networks based on interconnected end user devices (machines, sensors, etc). The traffic will be properly assigned without cause congestions. | • Introduction of Cognitive Intelligent mechanisms to exchange traffic between users. • Smarter end-user devices. |
Reduce Capex and Opex | • Reduce the average service creation. • Dynamic scalability and deployment of services and NFs, while reducing the complexity in planning and configuration tasks. | • Resource sharing (Exploring Cloud-RAN, Cloud computing, NFV) • Smarter allocation of functional mobile components (SDN, NFV). |
Muti-tenancy and multi–service support | Service providers can control the resources deployed in a shared infrastructure (network, computing, mobile resources). | • Cloud computing • SDN • NFV • Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) |
Open Environment | New applications and NFs could be deployed in an open environment, regardless of the network hardware and technologies used by operators. | • Standardization of SDN and NFV concepts. • Introduction of SDR. |
Energy efficiency operation | Saving energy per service provided. Nowadays, most of the energy consumption comes from RAN elements. | Introduction of intelligent and SON capabilities taking into account the device status. |
Monitoring and Management | Provide self-management and self-optimization capabilities to 5G systems. | • Automated management and monitoring functions (SDN, NFV). • Takes decisions based on historical record of network status. |
Ensuring QoS/ QoE and SLA | A 5G user will be able to obtain enhanced services, regardless of the location or network technologies (compared with 4G systems), for several use cases such as emergency situations or network failures. | • Enhanced mechanism to monitor the network status (traffic optimization techniques) via SDN and intelligent mechanism. • Automated network configuration to ensure the required need (SDN, NFV). |
Charging and billing | Create different user profiles so that customers pay only the required service (pay-as-you-go), while operators bill the respective service. | Introduction of SDN and NFV concepts. |
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Barona López, L.I.; Valdivieso Caraguay, Á.L.; Sotelo Monge, M.A.; García Villalba, L.J. Key Technologies in the Context of Future Networks: Operational and Management Requirements. Future Internet 2017, 9, 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi9010001
Barona López LI, Valdivieso Caraguay ÁL, Sotelo Monge MA, García Villalba LJ. Key Technologies in the Context of Future Networks: Operational and Management Requirements. Future Internet. 2017; 9(1):1. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi9010001
Chicago/Turabian StyleBarona López, Lorena Isabel, Ángel Leonardo Valdivieso Caraguay, Marco Antonio Sotelo Monge, and Luis Javier García Villalba. 2017. "Key Technologies in the Context of Future Networks: Operational and Management Requirements" Future Internet 9, no. 1: 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi9010001