[Paper Review] Network Slicing in Fog Radio Access Networks: Issues and Challenges

Hongyu Xiang, Wenan Zhou+2 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Sep 14, 2017

Software-Defined Networks and 5G9 references3 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes access slicing in fog radio access networks (F-RANs) to enable cost-efficient, end-to-end network slicing that jointly optimizes core and radio access network resources. By introducing a hierarchical architecture with centralized orchestration and slice instance layers, it integrates radio and cache resource management with social-aware slicing, enabling adaptive, low-latency support for diverse 5G use cases including mMTC and uMTC.

ABSTRACT

Network slicing has been advocated by both academia and industry as a cost-efficient way to enable operators to provide networks on an as-a-service basis and meet the wide range of use cases that the fifth generation wireless network will serve. The existing works on network slicing are mainly targeted at the partition of the core network, and the prospect of network slicing in radio access networks should be jointly exploited. To solve this challenge, an enhanced network slicing in fog radio access networks (F-RANs), termed as access slicing, is proposed. This article comprehensively presents a novel architecture and related key techniques for access slicing in F-RANs. The proposed hierarchical architecture of access slicing consists of centralized orchestration layer and slice instance layer, which makes the access slicing adaptively implement in an convenient way. Meanwhile, key techniques and their corresponding solutions, including the radio and cache resource management, as well as the social-aware slicing, are presented. Open issues in terms of standardization developments and field trials are identified.

Motivation & Objective

• Address the limitation of core network (CN)-based network slicing, which overlooks radio access network (RAN) constraints and fails to exploit F-RAN edge capabilities.
• Enable effective network slicing in 5G by jointly considering RAN and CN resource states, especially for latency-sensitive and massive IoT services.
• Design a novel hierarchical architecture for access slicing in F-RANs that supports dynamic, adaptive, and coexistent slice instances.
• Integrate social-aware slicing and joint radio-cache resource management to enhance QoS and QoE for diverse 5G use cases.
• Identify open challenges in standardization and field trials to guide future deployment of access slicing in real-world F-RAN environments.

Proposed method

• Proposes a two-layer hierarchical architecture: a centralized orchestration layer for slice management and a slice instance layer for runtime execution.
• Introduces access slice orchestration as a new management entity to coordinate network functions and ensure coexistence of multiple slices.
• Employs joint radio and cache resource management to optimize spectrum and storage utilization across slices in F-RANs.
• Develops social-aware slicing techniques that leverage user social relationships to predict traffic demand and dynamically adjust slice configurations.
• Ensures backward compatibility with 3GPP’s CN-based network slicing framework while enhancing RAN-level adaptability and performance.
• Leverages the distributed, device-enabled computing model of F-RANs, where any cache- and compute-capable device can contribute to slicing operations.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How can network slicing be effectively extended from the core network to the radio access network in F-RANs to support diverse 5G use cases?
• RQ2 What architectural framework enables dynamic, adaptive, and coexistent access slicing while leveraging the edge capabilities of F-RANs?
• RQ3 How can joint radio and cache resource management improve QoS and energy efficiency in multi-slice F-RAN environments?
• RQ4 In what way can social-aware slicing enhance the predictability and adaptability of access slice provisioning in F-RANs?
• RQ5 What are the key open issues in standardization and field trials that could delay or hinder the commercial deployment of access slicing in F-RANs?

Key findings

• The proposed access slicing architecture enables end-to-end network slicing by integrating core network orchestration with radio access network intelligence, improving adaptability and performance.
• The hierarchical architecture with centralized orchestration and slice instance layers allows for dynamic, scalable, and coexistent deployment of multiple access slices.
• Joint radio and cache resource management significantly enhances spectral efficiency and reduces backhaul load in multi-slice F-RAN deployments.
• Social-aware slicing improves slice provisioning accuracy by leveraging user mobility and social interaction patterns, leading to better QoS provisioning for delay-sensitive services.
• Field trials and standardization efforts are critical next steps, with early demonstrations of CN-based slicing showing sub-minute slice creation times, suggesting potential for similar performance in access slicing.
• The proposed access slicing framework is compatible with 3GPP’s CN-based slicing standard, enabling smooth integration into existing 5G network evolution paths.