# End-to-End Performance Evaluation of MEC Deployments in 5G Scenarios
## 2 Multi-Access Edge Computing in 4G/5G
### MEC Deployment in Cellular Networks  
The progressive introduction in the market of MEC technology and its use cases are subject to many (technical and business) decision factors [16]. In particular, from a mobile network operator (MNO) perspective, coupling MEC with their plans for progressive introduction of 5G system is a consolidated assumption, especially for those who have a migration path to an NFV-based network (in fact MEC is basically based on virtualized infrastructure, and possibly deployed also in NFV environments [17]). For this reason, it is of the utmost importance to consider MEC deployment options jointly with MNOs orientations, and coherently with their plans regarding 5G deployment phases.  
A recent survey from GSMA [18] asked operators planning to launch 5G in the next two years which of the 5G Architecture Options (defined in ref. [19]) they were considering for their deployment plans. The survey revealed that it is widely expected that mobile operators will initially deploy 5G using Option 3 (named as 5G NSA, non-standalone) allowing the reuse of existing evolved packet Core (EPC) functionality (Rel. 15 early drop), and would require from infra-vendors that the subsequently planned introduction of Option 2 (5G SA, standalone) be not delayed too much (possibly with some intermediate steps, which can be found in the study). Overall, the main phases of the gradual 5G introduction (after the legacy LTE network, i.e., Option 1) are considered in the sequence of Figure 2, i.e., starting from Option 3 (5G NSA) and then moving toward Option 2 (5G SA). This paper considers this sequence as a reference for performance comparison when evaluating MEC deployments in 5G systems.  
Another aspect to be taken into account in the evaluations is of course the use case. In fact, KPIs (key performance indicators) and thus the related end-to-end (E2E) performance depend on the specific use case considered. In this paper we analyze the infotainment use case for automotive scenarios (also referred to as in-vehicle entertainment), where MEC can support immersive high-definition entertainment for all vehicle occupants, including video streaming, gaming, virtual reality, office work,  
Figure 2: Main phases of 5G architecture options [7], as defined by ref. [19].  
online education, advertisement, etc. There are several motivations for this choice, from an industrial perspective. First, automotive is a key sector for both MEC and 5G. These technologies will open the door to multiple use cases and services that can be monetized by 5G Automotive Association stakeholders. Second, in addition to traditional use-cases on connected/automated cars, infotainment is also a promising market. According to recent forecasts [20], \"Intel predicts a new $7 trillion passenger economy will emerge when passengers be-come riders\"; moreover, the study showed that \"drivers spend 300 h a year behind the wheel and 5G offers entertainment opportunities to optimize that time as we transition from drivers to riders\". Third, infotainment interests not only automotive stakeholders, but also operators and other content providers, who may be willing to conveniently offer their \"legacy\" multimedia services for a comfortable in-vehicle user experience. This could be easy to offer, from a shorter time-to-market perspective. From a modeling point of view, infotainment services (as described above) can be represented by many different traffic streams. In this paper, we concentrate the evaluation on a CDN-based video-streaming traffic model.