Abstract
In order to cope with the ever-increasing traffic demands and stringent latency constraints, next generation, i.e., sixth generation (6G) networks, are expected to leverage Network Function Virtualization (NFV) as an enabler for enhanced network flexibility. In such a setup, in addition to the traditional problems of user association and traffic routing, Virtual Network Function (VNF) placement needs to be jointly considered. To that end, in this paper, we focus on the joint network and computational resource allocation, targeting low network power consumption while satisfying the Service Function Chain (SFC), throughput, and delay requirements. Unlike the State-of-the-Art (SoA), we also take into account the Access Network (AN), while formulating the problem as a general Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). Due to the high complexity of the proposed optimal solution, we also propose a low-complexity energy-efficient resource allocation algorithm, which was shown to significantly outperform the SoA, by achieving up to 78% of the optimal energy efficiency with up to 742 times lower complexity. Finally, we describe an Orchestration Framework for the automated orchestration of vertical-driven services in Network Slices and describe how it encompasses the proposed algorithm towards optimized provisioning of heterogeneous computation and network resources across multiple network segments.
Highlights
Beyond 5G (B5G) and 6G networks are envisioned to meet a plethora of service requirements supporting high resource and technology heterogeneity, while adopted architectural paradigms, such as Centralized-Radio Access Network (C-RAN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV), offer the necessary high flexibility and configurability to the network
All algorithms had a 100% user acceptance ratio in all cases, except for BCSP which achieved 96% for N = 20, 93% for N = 40, and 91% for N = 40. This is due to the fact that in BCSP the Central Processing Unit (CPU) utilization of the computing nodes was not taken into account, resulting in less efficient Virtual Network Function (VNF) placement, which under higher traffic load could lead to a few User Equipment (UE) being blocked
We studied the joint VNF placement, user association, and traffic routing in B5G networks targeting energy efficiency maximization, while ensuring a high UE acceptance ratio
Summary
Beyond 5G (B5G) and 6G networks are envisioned to meet a plethora of service requirements supporting high resource and technology heterogeneity, while adopted architectural paradigms, such as Centralized-Radio Access Network (C-RAN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV), offer the necessary high flexibility and configurability to the network. Traditional cellular architectures were mainly equipped with cloud servers, located at distant locations offering high computational power at low cost, the need for supporting ultra-low latency B5G services has motivated Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) [4]. The above flexible deployment introduces a new exploitable “degree of freedom” regarding the potential location of the deployed VNFs (referred to as the “VNF placement problem” [5,6]) and introduces new challenges to traditional user association and traffic routing problems, since these problems are strongly coupled with the location of the nodes running the VNFs. the VNFs themselves typically operate in synergy with each other to form Service Function Chains (SFCs), i.e., ordered sequences of VNFs which process packets in an End-to-End (E2E) manner, within the operator’s network, and according to specific rules matching a given service request. Combining Network Slicing, Software Defined Networking (SDN), and NFV/MEC orchestration techniques with advanced strategies for resource planning, VNFs of different types, potentially belonging to different network segments (radio, core, and transport network), can be placed and configured in an optimal manner, while the SFC connectivity is guaranteed through the establishment of optimized jointly computed network paths
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