Slice-Aware Resource Calendaring in Cloud-based Radio Access Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a slice-aware resource calendaring approach for C-RAN architectures in 5G/6G networks, utilizing ILP modeling and heuristics to improve resource sharing and request acceptance.

Contribution

It presents a novel resource calendaring model for wireless network slicing in C-RAN, with heuristic algorithms to handle complexity and enhance resource utilization.

Findings

Sharing resources increases accepted requests.

Heuristic algorithms effectively approximate optimal solutions.

Resource calendaring improves network slicing efficiency.

Abstract

Network slicing has been introduced in 5G/6G networks to address the challenge of providing new services with different and sometimes conflicting requirements. With SDN and NFV technologies being used in the design of 5G and 6G wireless network slicing, as well as the centralization of control over these technologies, new services such as resource calendaring can also be used in wireless networks. In bandwidth calendaring, traffic with a low latency sensitivity and a high volume is shifted to later time slots so that applications with a high latency sensitivity can be served instead. We discuss how to calendar radio resources in the C-RAN architecture, which also makes use of network slicing. This is referred to as Slice-Aware Radio Resource Calendaring. A model of the problem is developed as an ILP problem and two heuristic algorithms are proposed for solving it due to complexity of optimal solution. Observations have shown that when resources are shared between tenants, the number of accepted requests increases.