NFV: State of the Art, Challenges and Implementation in Next Generation Mobile Networks (vEPC)

TL;DR

This paper reviews the current state, challenges, and implementation strategies of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) in next-generation mobile networks, emphasizing cost efficiency and traffic reduction.

Contribution

It introduces a new NFV framework for virtual environments and proposes a function grouping criterion to significantly reduce signaling traffic in virtualized mobile core networks.

Findings

NFV can reduce control traffic by 70%.

Proposed grouping improves network performance.

Framework addresses challenges in mobile NFV deployment.

Abstract

As mobile network users look forward to the connectivity speeds of 5G networks, service providers are facing challenges in complying with connectivity demands without substantial financial investments. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is introduced as a new methodology that offers a way out of this bottleneck. NFV is poised to change the core structure of telecommunications infrastructure to be more cost-efficient. In this paper, we introduce a Network Function Virtualization framework, and discuss the challenges and requirements of its use in mobile networks. In particular, an NFV framework in the virtual environment is proposed. Moreover, in order to reduce signaling traffic and achieve better performance, this paper proposes a criterion to bundle multiple functions of virtualized evolved packet-core in a single physical device or a group of adjacent devices. The analysis shows that the proposed grouping can reduce the network control traffic by 70 percent.