An SDN-based framework for elastic resource sharing in integrated FDD/TDD LTE-A HetNets

Abstract

Spectrum and infrastructure sharing among multiple mobile network operators have recently drawn significant attention from the industry and the academia sectors. Recent advances in the area of Software Defined Networking (SDN) launch the design of innovative SDN-based solutions for resource sharing in multi-tier networks of macrocell and small sized base stations, a.k.a. HetNet. In this paper, we present a novel SDN-based framework that enables efficient and elastic spectrum utilization among multiple operators in 3GPP L TE-A HetNet scenario. Assuming a multi-operator environment of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) macrocells complemented by multi-tenant Time Division Duplex (TDD) pico cells, we present a SDN-based architecture that allows efficient resource sharing among the TDD and FDD systems in a dynamic way. A TDD frame re-configuration mechanism is also employed, to optimize the ratio of uplink and downlink slots in the TDD frame of picocells. System-level simulation results demonstrate that the combination of these two functional enhancements in the L TE-A HetNet, significantly reduces the application layer delay for both the FDD macrocell and TDD picocell systems, leading to highly efficient and dynamic spectrum sharing among multiple network operators.

Mobility-aware QoS assurance in software-defined radio access networks: An analytical study

“…We also analytically calculate blocking probabilities as described in Section IV. The calculation of blocking probabilities is based on (15). These calculations, performed on commodity hardware, can be produced within a few seconds and also require very little memory, due to the recursive calculation of (13).…”

“…On the other hand, the baseband processing utilizes a pool of cloud computing resources. Shrivastava et al [15] propose an SDN-based framework for LTE-A HetNets. They study the problem of elastic radio resource sharing in a multi-operator environment of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) macro-BS and Time Division Duplex (TDD) sc-BS.…”

“…These can be broadly classified into works on LTE RAN [10], [11], [13] and on HetNet RAN [14], [15]. Gudipati et al [10] propose the SoftRAN, a software-defined control plane of LTE RAN.…”

Radio Resource Sharing as a service in 5G: A software-defined networking approach

“…In this framework the virtualization of the eNBs is dynamically handled in an SDN fashion, enabling one operator to offload traffic on-demand to the base stations owned by other operators. In another work [16] we propose an SDN-based framework for enabling elastic spectrum sharing in multi-operator environment of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) macro eNBs and Time Division Duplex (TDD) pico-eNBs. The aim of this framework is to enhance flexibility and the resource management efficiency by enabling an SDN-based coordination of network resource management process.…”

“…The aim of this framework is to enhance flexibility and the resource management efficiency by enabling an SDN-based coordination of network resource management process. Different from [15] [16], in this paper we focus more on the resource sharing aspects in multi-domain environment consisting of cellular base stations, femtocells and WiFi access points (APs).…”