On the Feasibility of 5G Slice Resource Allocation With Spectral Efficiency: A Probabilistic Characterization

Abstract

An important concern that 5G networks face is supporting a wide range of services and use cases with heterogeneous requirements. Radio access network (RAN) slices, understood as isolated virtual networks that share a common infrastructure, are a possible answer to this very demanding scenario and enable virtual operators to provide differentiated services over independent logical entities. This article addresses the feasibility of forming 5G slices, answering the question of whether the available capacity (resources) is sufficient to satisfy slice requirements. As spectral efficiency is one of the key metrics in 5G networks, we introduce the minislot-based slicing allocation (MISA) model, a novel 5G slice resource allocation approach that combines the utilization of both complete slots (or physical resource blocks) and mini-slots with the adequate physical layer design and service requirement constraints. We advocate for a probabilistic characterization that allows to estimate feasibility and characterize the behavior of the constraints, while an exhaustive search is very computationally demanding and the methods to check feasibility provide no information on the constraints. In such a characterization, the concept of phase transition allows for the identification of a clear frontier between the feasible and infeasible regions. Our method relies on an adaptation of the Wang-Landau algorithm to determine the existence of, at least, one solution to the problem. The conducted simulations show a significant improvement in spectral efficiency and feasibility of the MISA approach compared to the slot-based formulation, the identification of the phase transition, and valuable results to characterize the satisfiability of the constraints.

Resource Allocation Schemes for 5G Network: A Systematic Review

“…The results showed that complete centralized process and management and efficient energy utilization of structure in a short amount of traffic time were accomplished by turning off data RRHS. The authors of [ 127 ] presented the probabilistic characterization of the feasibility of 5G slice resource allocation issues to determine whether or not they could be addressed. They presented a mini slot-based slicing allocation (MISA), which is a unique spectral-efficient scheme to assign PRBs for the URLLC and eMBB service-based utilization of mini-slots.…”

A Survey on Resource Allocation in Vehicular Networks

“…In addition to providing vertical slices (for vertical industries), NS may be used to generate horizontal slices which aim to improve the performance of User Equipment (UE) and enhance the user experience [92]. Although initially proposed for the partition of Core Networks (CN), using techniques such as Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) [93], the concept of NS has been extended to provide efficient end-to-end data services by slicing radio resources in Radio Access Networks (RANs) as well [94], [95]. The slicing of radio resources mainly involves dynamic allocation of time and frequency resources based on the characteristics of multiple data services.…”

Service-Based Network Dimensioning for 5G Networks Assisted by Real Data

“…For these three BWPs, the number of contiguous PRBs is N RB = {106, 24, 11}, respectively. In particular, a large number of PRBs is suitable for eMBB traffic flows with moderate requirements of reliability and latency [60]. Therefore, eMBB services are configured with small subcarrier spacings corresponding to numerologies µ = {0, 1} for x = 1 and x = 2, respectively.…”