The SELFNET Approach for Autonomic Management in an NFV/SDN Networking Paradigm

Pedro Neves,Hans Dieter Schotten,Wei Jiang,Enrique Chirivella-Perez,Konstantinos Koutsopoulos,Qi Wang,Jose Alcaraz-Calero,Anastasius Gavras,Mário Rui Costa,Maria João Barros,James Nightingale,Bruno Parreira,Carlos Parada,Rui Calé

doi:10.1155/2016/2897479

Abstract

To meet the challenging key performance indicators of the fifth generation (5G) system, the network infrastructure becomes more heterogeneous and complex. This will bring a high pressure on the reduction of OPEX and the improvement of the user experience. Hence, shifting today's manual and semi-automatic network management into an autonomic and intelligent framework will play a vital role in the upcoming 5G system. Based on the cutting-edge technologies, such as Software-Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization, a novel management framework upon the software-defined and Virtualized Network is proposed by EU H2020 SELFNET project. In the paper, the reference architecture of SELFNET, which is divided into Infrastructure Layer, Virtualized Network Layer, SON Control Layer, SON Autonomic Layer, NFV Orchestration and Management Layer, and Access Layer, will be presented.

Highlights

As of today, the proliferation of smart phones and tablet computers impose an exponential growth of mobile traffic, which is estimated to increase 1000 times in comparison with that of 2010 [1, 2]
This paper presented the SELFNET reference architecture for Self-Organized Network Management in Virtualized and Software-Defined Networks, contextualizing it with related work and elaborating on the used technologies
SELFNET is a scalable, extensible, and smart network management architecture which explored the integration of cutting-edge technologies widely recognized as key enabling technologies for 5G systems, such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Self-Organizing Network (SON), Cloud Computing, and Artificial Intelligence to implement an autonomic network management system addressing a number of essential management tasks, such as automated network monitoring, autonomic network maintenance, automated deployment of network tools, and automated network service provisioning

Summary

Introduction

The proliferation of smart phones and tablet computers impose an exponential growth of mobile traffic, which is estimated to increase 1000 times in comparison with that of 2010 [1, 2]. The emergence of new devices and services, such as wearable electronics, self-driving automobiles, virtual and augmented reality, 3D video, and Machineto-Machine communications, will bring more challenging and far stricter key performance indicators (KPIs) on huge capacity, massive-connection provision, ultra-low latency, and ultra-reliability Such KPIs are impossible to be satisfied by the current 4G cellular systems, which are designed for mobile voice and ordinary Internet access. The manual and semi-automatic management approaches are hard to make full use of the resources within 5G infrastructures to provide the required quality-of-experience (QoE) in terms of service availability, continuity, security, and reliability In this context, the EU H2020 SELFNET project [4] will design and implement a highly autonomic management framework to provide network intelligence and selforganizing capability for 5G mobile network infrastructures.

Related Work

SELFNET Architectural Standard Foundations

SELFNET Reference Architecture

Findings

Conclusions