Abstract
This article provides a brief overview on the current
development of software-defined mobile networks (SDMNs).
Software defined networking is seen as a promising
technology to manage the complexity in communication
networks. The need for SDMN comes from the complexity of
network management in 5G mobile networks and beyond,
driven by increasing mobile traffic demand, heterogeneous
wireless environments, and diverse service requirements.
The need is strong to introduce new radio network
architecture by taking advantage of software oriented
design, the separation of the data and control planes,
and network virtualization to manage complexity and offer
flexibility in 5G networks. Clearly, software oriented
design in mobile networks will be fundamentally different
from SDN for the Internet, because mobile networks deal
with the wireless access problem in complex radio
environments, while the Internet mainly addresses the
packet forwarding problem. Specific requirements in
mobile networks shape the development of SDMN. In this
article we present the needs and requirements of SDMN,
with particular focus on the software-defined design for
radio access networks. We analyze the fundamental
problems in radio access networks that call for SDN
design and present an SDMN concept. We give a brief
overview on current solutions for SDMN and
standardization activities. We argue that although SDN
design is currently focusing on mobile core networks,
extending SDN to radio access networks would naturally be
the next step. We identify several research directions on
SDN for radio access networks and expect more fundamental
studies to release the full potential of software-defined
5G networks.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 126-133 |
Journal | IEEE Communications Magazine |
Volume | 53 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- software defined mobile networks
- 5G networks
- radio access networks
- RAN
- system architecture
- SDN
- standardization