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E2E Network Slicing - Key 5G technology

: What is it? Why do we need it? How do we implement it?

November 27, 2015 | By Dr. Harrison J. Son and Chris Yoo (tech@netmanias.com)

Before you read this post, we recommend you read the following articles first:
 Mobile Network Architecture for 5G Era - New C-RAN Architecture and Distributed 5G Core
 5G network as envisioned by KT - Analysis of KT's 5G network architecture

5G and Network Slicing

With 5G being actively discussed everywhere, Network Slicing certainly is one of the most discussed
technologies these days. Network operators like KT, SK Telecom, China Mobile, DT, KDDI and NTT, and
also vendors like Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei are all recognizing it as an ideal network architecture for the
coming 5G era.

This new technology lets operators slice one physical network into multiple, virtual, end-to-end (E2E)
networks, each logically isolated including device, access, transport and core network (like partitioning a
HDD into C and D drives) and dedicated for different types of services with different characteristics and
requirements.

For each network slice, dedicated resources (like resources within virtualized servers, network BW,
QoS, etc.) are guaranteed. As slices are isolated from each other, an error or fault occurred in one slice
does not cause any effect on communication in other slices.

Then, why 5G needs network slicing?

So far, mobile networks (of up 5G Devices
to 4G), mainly serving mobile 5G Network
phones, have been optimized
for phones only, at large.
However, in 5G era, they have
to serve a variety of devices Nokia, 2015

with different characteristics and needs. Some of the most mentioned use cases for 5G era are Mobile
Broadband, Massive IoT, and Mission-critical IoT, and they all require different types of features and
networks in terms of mobility, charging, security, policy control, latency, reliability, etc.

For instance, an massive IoT service that connects immobile sensors measuring temperature, humidity,
precipitation, etc. to mobile networks does not require features like handover or location update, which
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Netmanias Tech-Blog: E2E Network Slicing - Key 5G technology

have been critical in serving mobile phones. Or, a mission-critical IoT service (like autonomous driving or
remote controlled robots) requires, unlike mobile broadband service, a substantially low E2E latency -
less than a few ms.

Table 1. Most compelling use cases for 5G

5G Use Case Example Requirements
Mobile Broadband 4K/8K UHD, hologram, AR/VR High capacity, video cache
Massive IoT Sensor network (metering, agriculture, Massive connection (200,000/km2)
building, logistics, city, home, etc.) mostly immobile devices
Mission-critical IoT Motion control, autonomous driving, Low latency (ITS 5ms, motion
automated factory, smart-grid control 1 ms)
high reliability

Then, does this mean we have to make dedicated networks for each service? So, one for 5G phone, one
for 5G massive IoT, another for 5G mission-critical IoT, and so on? No, we do not have to because
network slicing can give you multiple logical networks over a single physical network. A much more cost-
effective way!

4G Network: communication service 5G network: all mobile services via all types of devices
via phones in the communication across all industries
industry
Service/Device Service/Industry
Communication service
(voice, text and Internet) Communi-
Mobile Broadband
cation, Internet
~ 20Gbps
Logistics,
4G network Massive IoT 5G network Agriculture,
200,000/Km2 Climate

Mission-critical IoT Automobile

1ms , Factory

how?

Multiple 5G networks ? X Network Slicing !

Communi-
Communi- Mobile Broadband cation, Internet
cation, Internet
Mobile Broadband Slice
Logistics, Logistics,
Massive IoT Slice Agriculture,
Agriculture, Massive IoT
Climate Mission-critical IoT Slice Climate

Automobile 5G network Automobile

, Factory Mission-critical IoT , Factory

Figure 1. Network slicing: Why do we need it?

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Netmanias Tech-Blog: E2E Network Slicing - Key 5G technology

Below is an illustration of 5G network slices by presented in its 5G White Paper.

Figure 2. 5G network slices illustrated by NGMN

How do we implement E2E network slices?

The concept of network slices presented in Figure 2 above may look too abstract. Let's take a closer look
at how network slices are actually implemented.

(1) 5G RAN and Core: NFV

❶ In the current mobile networks, main devices are phones, and RAN (DU and RU) and Core
functions are built with dedicated network equipment provided by RAN vendors. ❷ To implement
network slices, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is a prerequisite. Basically, the main idea of NFV is
to install Network Function S/W (i.e., MME, S/P-GW and PCRF in Packet Core, and DU in RAN) all onto
Virtual Machines (VMs) deployed on a virtualized commercial server (COTS; commercial off-the-shelf),
NOT onto their dedicated network equipment individually. This way, RAN works as edge cloud while Core
works as core cloud. Connectivity among VMs located in edge and core clouds are provisioned using
SDN. ❸ Then, slices are created for each service (i.e., phone slice, massive IoT slice, mission-critical IoT
slice, and so on).

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Netmanias Tech-Blog: E2E Network Slicing - Key 5G technology

❶ Current Network (with dedicated equipment)

RAN Core
RU DU Core

PCRF
MME
Fronthaul IP Backhaul
S/P-GW

Dedicated Dedicated Dedicated

equipment equipment equipment

❷ Creating virtualized network

NFV (Network functions like DU, Core, etc. are

virtualized and run on commercial servers) Edge Cloud Core Cloud
SDN (Securing network connection) (NFV) (NFV)

VM/VNF=DU VM/VNF = Core

DU Core

Hypervisor Hypervisor
SDN
(network connection
Dedicated Commercial between VMs) Commercial
equipment server server

❸ Network Slicing: Creating multiple virtual networks (by cutting network horizontally)

Edge Cloud Core Cloud

(NFV) (NFV)

UHD Slice DU Core

Phone Slice DU Core

Massive IoT Slice DU Core

Mission-critical IoT Slice DU Core

Hypervisor Hypervisor

SDN
Dedicated Commercial Commercial
equipment server server

In the figure, Core indicates user plane

Figure 3. How to slice network

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Netmanias Tech-Blog: E2E Network Slicing - Key 5G technology

Figure 4 shows how applications dedicated for each service can be virtualized and installed in each slice.
For example, slices can be configured as follows:
 UHD slice: All virtualized DU, 5G Core (UP), and Cache server in Edge cloud, and virtualized 5G
Core (CP) and MVO server in Core cloud
 Phone slice: 5G Core (UP and CP) with full mobility features, and IMS server, all virtualized in Core
cloud
 Massive IoT slice (e.g., sensor network): Simpler, light duty 5G Core WITHOUT mobility
management feature in Core cloud
 Mission-critical IoT slice: 5G Core (UP) and associated servers (e.g., V2X server) all down in Edge
cloud for minimized transmission delay

As seen so far, dedicated slices are created for services with different requirements. And virtualized
network functions are being placed in different locations in each slice (i.e., Edge or Core cloud) depending
on services. Also, some network functions, like charging, policy control, etc., can be essential in one slice,
but unnecessary in other slices. Operators can customize network slices the way they want, probably in
the most cost-effective way.

Edge Cloud Core Cloud

(NFV) (NFV)

UHD Slice MVO

DU Core Cache

TCP-Opt. IMS
Phone Slice Access Mgt
DU Core Session Mgt
Mobility Mgt
IoT Svr Charging
Massive IoT Slice DU
Core
Access Mgt
Mission-critical IoT Slice Session Mgt
DU Core V2X Svr V2X Svr

Hypervisor Hypervisor
SDN
Dedicated
equipment

Figure 4. How to slice network (cont.)

Up to this point, it was NFV's job. Then, what role does SDN play in network slicing?

(2) Network slicing between Edge and Core clouds: IP/MPLS-SDN

SDN, although once a pretty simple concept when first introduced, has now become more complicated
than ever as every vendor claims their SDN authentic. Let's take Overlay type, an SDN approach that
offers connectivity between VMs by leveraging the existing network infrastructure, as an example.

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Netmanias Tech-Blog: E2E Network Slicing - Key 5G technology

SDN Controller

 VM (VNF) Creation, Control

Edge Cloud  Connectivity among VMs Core Cloud
E2E Network Slices (NFV) (NFV)

DU PGW CDN UHD VPN CDN

(UHD) (UHD) cache 100Gbps, BE parent

DU Voice VPN PGW

IMS
(Voice) (Voice)

DU IoT VPN PGW IoT

(IoT) (IoT) 서버

vSwitch/vRouter
nel IP/MPLS-SDN DC SD vSwitch/
N Tun N Tun
DC SD (MPLS L3 VPN) nel vRouter

SDN SW SDN SW DC G/W DC G/W

5G Fronthaul (PE) (PE)

T-SDN T-SDN (POTN)

Figure 5. E2E network slicing

First let's see how network connectivity between VMs in Edge and Core clouds are secured. Inter-VM
networking must be made over both IP/MPLS SDN, and its sub SDN, Transport SDN. Here, however, we
will discuss router vendor-supplied IP/MPLS SDN only. Both Ericsson and Juniper have presented this type
of IP/MPLS SDN networking architecture, both operating slightly differently, but pretty similar in terms of
how VMs are connected through SDN.

In Core cloud lies a virtualized server. In the Hypervisor of the server, a built-in vRouter/vSwitch is run.
SDN Controller performs provisioning of the virtualized server and DC G/W routers (PE router of MPLS L3
VPN installed in cloud data center) to create SDN tunnels (i.e., MPLS GRE, VXLAN) between each VM in
the Core cloud (e.g., 5G IoT Core) and DC G/W router.

The SDN Controller then performs mapping between these tunnels and MPLS L3 VPN (e.g., IoT VPN). The
process is the same in Edge cloud as well, creating IoT slice connecting from Edge cloud, to IP/MPLS
backbone, and all the way to Core cloud. This process can be implemented using technologies and
standards that have become available so far.

(3) Network slicing between Edge cloud and RU at cell site

Now what's left is fronthaul. How do we slice this fronthaul between Edge cloud and 5G RU? To begin
with, 5G fronthaul would have to be defined first. There are some alternatives in discussion (e.g.,
introducing new packet-based fronthaul by redefining functions of DU and RU), but no standard
definition has been made yet. Figure 6 is an illustration presented in ITU Focus Group IMT 2020, and gives
an example of virtualized fronthaul.

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Netmanias Tech-Blog: E2E Network Slicing - Key 5G technology

Figure 6. Example of 5G C-RAN network slicing by ITU

[Source: Report on Standards Gap Analysis, ITU, Focus groups on IMT-2020, Oct. 2015]

Network slicing for 5G era is still shaping up, with concerns and issues remaining unsolved. So, we will
keep track of technological updates by operators, vendors and standardization organizations in Korea
and around the world, to keep you updated about the technology.

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NMC Consulting Group is an advanced and professional network consulting company, specializing in IP network areas (e.g., FTTH, Metro Ethernet and IP/MPLS), service
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