Network Slicing Management for 5G Radio Access Networks

Abstract

To address this objective, this thesis first analyzes how NFV allows the MNO to manage the lifecycle of those RAN slice’s network functions which are virtualized. Among all the lifecycle operations, this dissertation focuses on the scaling operation. The reason is the scaling operation comprises the main NFVMANO management procedures, i.e., adding/removing the virtualized resources of a VNF instance, and deploying/terminating a VNF instance. In this thesis, we specifically analyze the different procedures the NFV-MANO may trigger to automatically scale VNFs. Furthermore, we also propose an ETSI-NFV compliant workflow that clarifies the interactions and information exchanges between the NFV-MANO entities for one representative scaling procedure. The second step to design a 3GPP/ETSI-NFV-based architectural framework for RAN slicing is to link the 3GPP and NFV templates to automate the lifecycle management of RAN slices. To that end, we propose a description model that harmonizes the 3GPP and ETSI-NFV viewpoints on RAN slicing. Specifically, our model aims to enable the customization and deployment of the virtualized RAN slice’s constituents over a multi-cellular environment. The proposed solution benefits from the reusability provided by the NFV descriptors to define the underlying resources of the RAN slice’s constituents. To customize the behavior of a RAN slice, the most representative radio parameters to configure its functionalities have been identified. Furthermore, to facilitate the comprehension of the proposal, we also provide an example of the description of three RAN slices for eMBB, mMTC and uRLLC services.