Data-Driven RAN Slicing Mechanisms for 5G and Beyond

Abstract

One of the main challenges when it comes to deploying Network Slices is slicing the Radio Access Network (RAN). Indeed, managing RAN resources and sharing them among network slices is an increasingly difficult task, which needs to be properly designed. The goal is to improve network performance and introduce flexibility and greater utilization of network resources by accurately and dynamically provisioning the activated network slices with the appropriate amounts of resources to meet their diverse requirements. In this paper, we propose a data-driven RAN slicing mechanism based on a resource sharing algorithm running at the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Slice Orchestrator</i> (SO) level. This algorithm computes the necessary radio resources to be used by each deployed network slice. These resources are adjusted periodically based on current estimates of achievable throughput performance derived from channel quality information, and in particular from the Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) values of the users of each network slice retrieved from the RAN. CQI information is reported to base stations by the User Equipment (UE) following standard procedures, but extracting and frequently reporting it from base stations to the SO may result in significant communication overhead. To mitigate this overhead while maintaining at the SO level an accurate view of UE channel qualities, we propose a machine learning approach to infer the stability of UE channel conditions, as well as predictive schemes to reduce the CQI reporting intensity based on the inferred channel status. Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate the efficiency of our data-driven RAN slicing framework, which allows to meet the stringent requirements of two main classes of network slices in 5G, i.e., enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication (URLLC).