A Novel 5G-NR Resources Partitioning Framework Through Real-Time User-Provider Traffic Demand Analysis

Abstract

Network slicing (NS) is a key enabler of the 5G and beyond network architectures, allowing multiple dedicated logical networks with selected functionality to be executed on top of a common infrastructure. At the radio access network, novel flexibility paradigms and dynamic response to wireless channel variations are necessary for any NS solution. In this framework, this article proposes a novel real-time NS management framework for the 5G New-Radio, where the slice resource management is achieved through a joint dynamic evaluation of served users’ quality of service and tenants’ service level agreement. The design of the proposed framework within the standardized 5G architecture is discussed, together with the integration of the dynamic resource assignation procedure within the slice life cycle workflow. A novel mathematical model is proposed for the dynamic resource assignation within the slice life cycle workflow. The solution’s accuracy is tested by means of computer simulations, and found to be satisfactory according to the proposed evaluation metrics. Finally, the practicality of the optimal radio slicing configuration extracted from the proposed model is applied to our experimental platform, and the performance of a real case scenario is comprehensively evaluated.