A Flexible Infrastructure-Sharing 5G Network Architecture Based on Network Slicing and Roaming

TL;DR

This paper proposes a flexible 5G network architecture that utilizes network slicing and roaming to enable infrastructure sharing among diverse clients, validated through simulation with improved performance metrics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, implementable 5G infrastructure-sharing architecture leveraging network slicing and roaming, validated through open-source simulation tools.

Findings

Successful validation of authentication and traffic isolation features

Achieved 61.8% higher throughput in shared scenarios

Reduced packet loss ratio by 96.8% in tests

Abstract

The sharing of mobile network infrastructure has become a key topic with the introduction of 5G due to the high costs of deploying such infrastructures, with neutral host models coupled with features such as network function virtualization (NFV) and network slicing emerging as viable solutions for the challenges in this area. With this in mind, this work presents the design, implementation, and test of a flexible infrastructure-sharing 5G network architecture capable of providing services to any type of client, whether an operator or not. The proposed architecture leverages 5G's network slicing for traffic isolation and compliance with the policies of different clients, with roaming employed for the authentication of users of operator clients. The proposed architecture was implemented and tested in a simulation environment using the UERANSIM and Open5GS open-source tools. Qualitative tests successfully validated the authentication and the traffic isolation features provided by the slices for the two types of clients. Results also demonstrate that the proposed architecture has a positive impact on the performance of the neutral host network infrastructure, achieving 61.8% higher throughput and 96.8% lower packet loss ratio (PLR) in a scenario sharing the infrastructure among four clients and eight users when compared to a single client with all the network resources.