Abstract
5G mobile systems can be comprehended as highly flexible and programmable E2E networking infrastructures that provide increased performance in terms of capacity, latency, reliability, and energy efficiency while meeting a plethora of diverse requirements from multiple services. Network slicing is emerging as a prospective paradigm to meet these requirements with reduced operating cost and improved time and space functionality. A network slice is the way to provide better resource isolation and increased statistical multiplexing. With dynamic slicing, 5G will operate on flexible zone of the network, permitting varying, adaptable levels or bandwidth and reliability. In this chapter, a comprehensive survey of network slicing is presented from an E2E perspective, detailing its origination and current standardization efforts, principal concepts, enabling technologies, as well as applicable solutions. In particular, it provides specific slicing solutions for each part of the 5G systems, encompassing orchestration and management in the radio access and the core network domains.
TopService Requirements In 5G Systems
5G mobile systems can drastically change the architecture and nature of communications. Many use cases are emerging with diverse requirements in terms of data rate, latency, connection density, mobility, reliability, spectrum and energy efficiency. These use cases may be broadly categorized in the three generic services (ITU-R, 2015), i.e., enhanced mobile broadband communications (eMBBC), massive machine-type communications (mMTC), sometimes referred as massive Internet of Things (mIoT), and ultra-reliable low-latency communications (uRLLC), a.k.a. mission-critical services, based on corresponding key performance indicators (KPIs), as presented in Figure 1. In this case KPIs can be treated as technical requirements for 5G services. 5G is anticipated to make it possible to efficiently enable diverse services, connecting a pool of varied devices while accessing diverse networks.
Figure 1. Technical requirements for 5G services
Key Terms in this Chapter
Network Slice: A bundle of services functions, applications, resources and corresponding equipment.
Network Slicing: A solution for running multiple dedicated logical networks as mutually isolated according to the service requirements of different use cases.
Virtual Network Functions: Software components deployed in servers or cloud infrastructure instead of network hardware.
Software-Defined Networking: Technology which simplifies network management by decoupling control and data plane and by utilizing logically centralized intelligence in form of programmability and open access.
Cloud Computing: Technology that allows accessing a set of shared and configurable computing resources (e.g., servers, storage facilities, infrastructure, applications) offered as services.
Network Functions Virtualization: Software abstraction of network functions in next generation communications systems, which otherwise require dedicated hardware concerning traditional infrastructure.
Edge Computing: Highly distributed computing environment that can be used to deploy services and applications, as well as storage and processing resources in close proximity to the mobile users.