Network slicing is one of the most important features in 5G which enables a large variety of services with diverse performance requirements by network virtualization. Traditionally, the network can be viewed as a one-size-fits-all slice and its services are bundled with proprietary hardware supported by telecom equipment providers. Now with the network virtualization technology in 5G, open networking software can be deployed flexibly on commodity hardware to offer a multi-slice network where each slice can offer a different set of network services. In this research, we propose a multi-slice 5G core architecture by provisioning its User Plane Functions (UPFs) with different QoS requirements. We compare the performance of such a multi-slice system with that of one-size-fits-all single slice architecture under the same resource assignment. Our research objective is to compare the performance of a network slicing architecture with that of a “one-size-fits-all” architecture and validate that the former can achieve better performance with the same underlying infrastructure. The results validate that our proposed system can achieve better performance by slicing one UPF into three with proper resource allocation.
References
[1]
3GPP (2018) Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects. System Architecture for the 5G System, TS 23.501 Version 15.3.0 Release 15.
[2]
Afolabi, I., Taleb, T., Samdanis, K., Ksentini, A. and Flinck, H. (2018) Network Slicing and Softwarization: A Survey on Principles, Enabling Technologies, and Solutions. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 20, 2429-2453. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2018.2815638
[3]
Ordonez-Lucena, J., Ameigeiras, P., Lopez, D., Ramos-Munoz, J.J., Lorca, J. and Folgueira, J. (2017) Network Slicing for 5G with SDN/NFV: Concepts, Architectures, and Challenges. IEEE Communications Magazine, 55, 80-87. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2017.1600935
[4]
Foukas, X., Patounas, G., Elmokashfi, A. and Marina, M.K. (2017) Network Slicing in 5G: Survey and Challenges. IEEE Communications Magazine, 55, 94-100. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2017.1600951
[5]
Kim, D. and Kim, S. (2019) Network slicing as enablers for 5G services: state of the art and challenges for mobile industry. Telecommunication Systems, 71, 517-527. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-018-0525-2
[6]
Kaloxylos, A. (2018) A Survey and an Analysis of Network Slicing in 5G Networks. IEEE Communications Standards Magazine, 2, 60-65. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOMSTD.2018.1700072
[7]
Li, X., et al. (2017) Network Slicing for 5G: Challenges and Opportunities. IEEE Internet Computing, 21, 20-27. https://doi.org/10.1109/MIC.2017.3481355
[8]
Kaloxylos, A. (2018) A Survey and an Analysis of Network Slicing in 5G Networks. IEEE Communications Standards Magazine, 2, 60-65. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOMSTD.2018.1700072
[9]
Kozłowski, K., Kukliński, S. and Tomaszewski, L. (2018) Open issues in Network Slicing. 2018 9th International Conference on the Network of the Future (NOF), Poznan, 19-21 November 2018. https://doi.org/10.1109/NOF.2018.8598130
[10]
Kukliński, S. and Tomaszewski, L. (2019) Key Performance Indicators for 5G network slicing. 2019 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), Paris, France, 24-28 June 2019, 464-471. https://doi.org/10.1109/NETSOFT.2019.8806692
[11]
Afolabi, I., Taleb, T., Samdanis, K., Ksentini, A. and Flinck, H. (2018) Network Slicing and Softwarization: A Survey on Principles, Enabling Technologies, and Solutions. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 20, 2429-2453. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2018.2815638
[12]
Zhou, X., Li, R., Chen, T. and Zhang, H. (2016) Network Slicing as a Service: Enabling Enterprises’ Own Software-Defined Cellular Networks. IEEE Communications Magazine, 54, 146-153. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2016.7509393
[13]
free5GC.org (2020) https://www.free5gc.org/
[14]
ETSI (2014) Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV). Management and Orchestration, NFV-MAN 001 V1.1.1.
ETSI (2017) Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) Release 3; Evolution and Ecosystem. Report on Network Slicing Support with ETSI NFV Architecture Framework, GR NFV-EVE 012 V3.1.1.
[18]
Ordonez-Lucena, J., Adamuz-Hinojosa, O., Ameigeiras, P., Muñoz, P., Ramos-Muñoz, J.J., Chavarria, J.F. and López, D. (2018) The Creation Phase in Network Slicing: From a Service Order to an Operative Network Slice. 2018 European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC), Ljubljana, Slovenia, 18-21 June 2018, 1-36. https://doi.org/10.1109/EuCNC.2018.8443255
