A joint utility optimization based virtual AP and network slice selection scheme for SDWNs

Abstract

The proliferation of mobile demands and increasingly multifarious services pose challenges to both the radio access networks (RANs) and the core network (CN). Unfortunately, the traditional networks can hardly meet the increasing requirements. Software-defined network (SDN) and network virtualization (NV) are considered as innovative paradigms to stress these problems. By extending SDN to wireless networks, software-defined wireless network (SDWN) consisting of both RANs and CN can be obtained. In this paper, the RANs and CN of SDWN are virtualized to virtual access points (VAPs) and network slices respectively based on NV technology. Considering the system scenario that a SDWN consists of overlapping RANs, an optimal joint VAP and network slice selection scheme is proposed. To characterize the complicated transmission performance of VAPs and network slices, the concepts of utility function and network calculus are introduced, and the joint utility of VAPs and network slices is formulated based on which the optimal VAP and network slice combination corresponding to the maximal joint utility can be selected. The simulation results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed scheme.