Future integrated communication network architectures enabling heterogeneous service provision
Authors: Arnold Paul , von Hugo Dirk 
Published: September 2018

Abstract. This paper summarizes expectations and requirements towards future
converged communication systems denoted by 5th Generation (5G). Multiple
research and standardization activities globally contribute to the definition
and specification of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to
provide business customers and residential users with both, existing and
future upcoming services which demand for higher data rates and granted
performance figures in terms of QoS parameters, such as low latency and high
reliability. Representative use case families are threefold and represented
as enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), massive Internet of Things (mIoT), and
Critical Communication, i.e. Ultra-Low Latency (ULL)/Ultra-High Reliability
(UHR). To deploy and operate a dedicated network for each service or use case
separately would raise the expenses and service costs to an unduly high
amount. Instead provision of a commonly shared physical infrastructure
offering resources for transport, processing, and storage of data to several
separated logical networks (slices) individually managed and configured by
potentially multiple service providers is the main concept of this new
approach. Beside a multitude of other initiatives the EU-funded 5G NORMA project (5G
Novel Radio Multiservice adaptive network Architecture) has developed an
architecture which enables not only network programmability (configurability
in software), but also network slicing and Multi Tenancy (allowing
independent 3rd parties to offer an end-to-end service tailored according to
their needs) in a mobile network. Major aspects dealt with here are the
selectable support of mobility (on-demand) and service-aware QoE/QoS
(Quality of Experience/Service) control. Specifically we will report on the outcome of the analysis of design
criteria for Mobility Management schemes and the result of an exemplary
application of the modular mobility function to scenarios with variable
service requirements (e.g. high-terminal speed vs. on-demand mobility or
portability of devices). An efficient sharing of scarce frequency resources
in new radio systems demands for tight coordination of orchestration and
assignment (scheduling) of resources for the different network slices as per
capacity and priority (QoS) demand. Dynamicity aspects in changing
algorithms and schemes to manage, configure, and optimize the resources at
the radio base stations according to slice specific Service Level Agreements
(SLAs) are investigated. It has been shown that architectural issues in
terms of hierarchy (centralized vs. distributed) and layering, i.e.
separation of control (signaling) and (user) data plane will play an
essential role to increase the elasticity of network infrastructures which
is in focus of applying SDN (Software Defined Networking) and NFV (Network
Function Virtualization) to next generation communication systems. An outlook towards follow-on standardization and open research questions
within different SDOs (Standards Defining Organizations) and recently
started cooperative projects concludes the contribution.