5G RAN slicing for verticals: Enablers and challenges

Salah Eddine Elayoubi (1, 2) , Sana Benjemaa (3) , Zwi Altman (4) , Ana Maria Galindo Serrano (5)

1 L2S - Laboratoire des signaux et systèmes
2 LINCS - Laboratory of Information, Network and Communication Sciences
3 Orange Labs [Chatillon]
4 Orange Labs [Issy les Moulineaux]
5 Orange Labs

This article investigates the slicing concept in the 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) with the related challenges and research problems. The objective is to identify the plausible options for implementing the slicing concept at the RAN level by the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) to respond to the needs of verticals. We start by identifying the different slice granularity options, i.e., how to define slices by combining customer and service needs. We then present how the 5G New Radio (NR) features can be used for facilitating slice implementation and provide typical configurations for different slice types from technology and RAN architecture perspectives. The main challenges for RAN slicing are then discussed, with a special attention to the resource allocation problem between slices sharing the same spectrum band. We also investigate the multi-tenant slicing implementation in terms of the openness of the network to third parties which is regarded as a key issue that may encourage vertical players to use operators' networks rather than deploying their own infrastructure.

Mots clés: Mobile networks; 5G; Slicing; Network design

Domaines: Réseaux et télécommunications [cs.NI]

Salah Eddine Elayoubi, Sana Benjemaa, Zwi Altman, Ana Maria Galindo Serrano. 5G RAN slicing for verticals: Enablers and challenges. IEEE Communications Magazine, 2019, 57 (1), pp.28-34. ⟨10.1109/mcom.2018.1701319⟩. ⟨hal-02117076⟩