On the use of prioritization and network slicing features for mission critical and commercial traffic multiplexing in 5G Radio Access Networks The Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) sector is undergoing an important transition with the deployment of Mission Critical (MC) mobile broadband technology based on 3GPP standards, with multiple initiatives ongoing worldwide for providing PPDR agencies with broadband communications capabilities. One common approach being adopted is the delivery of MC services together with commercial traffic over public mobile networks and the use of prioritization mechanisms to protect the MC connections in congestion situations. However, this approach leaves commercial traffic unprotected in front of a noncontrolled surge of MC traffic in specific cells since all resources would be allocated to serve this traffic. In this context, this paper proposes a solution to properly multiplex MC and commercial services with congestion protection for both types of services. The solution is based on the exploitation of the network slicing features brought into the new 5G standards. In particular, the paper describes how different slices can be parameterized in a 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) so that radio load guarantees can be established for each type of service. The proposed solution is evaluated in an illustrative scenario by means of simulations. Obtained results show the improvements in traffic isolation achievable by the slicing configuration when compared to the solution that only relies on prioritization mechanisms.

Enhanced Radio Access Procedure in Sliced 5G Networks In this paper, we introduce the concept of Random Access Channel (RACH) resource slicing and investigate the performance of a sliced Radio Access Network (RAN). We consider three generic service types that the fifthgeneration (5G) wireless technology is claimed to support, and refer to them as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machinetype communications (mMTC), and ultrareliable low latency communications (URLLC) slices. Each slice can be configured with dedicated and shared subsets of RAN and RACH resources, also known as RACH preambles. We propose an analytic framework that allows us to obtain the blocking probability of each slice in a closedform. We compare different resource allocation policies in sliced radio access system and investigate their impact on a slice performance.