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Introducing Mobile Edge Computing Capabilities through Distributed 5G Cloud Enabled Small Cells

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Abstract

Current trends in broadband mobile networks are addressed towards the placement of different capabilities at the edge of the mobile network in a centralised way. On one hand, the split of the eNB between baseband processing units and remote radio headers makes it possible to process some of the protocols in centralised premises, likely with virtualised resources. On the other hand, mobile edge computing makes use of processing and storage capabilities close to the air interface in order to deploy optimised services with minimum delay. The confluence of both trends is a hot topic in the definition of future 5G networks. The full centralisation of both technologies in cloud data centres imposes stringent requirements to the fronthaul connections in terms of throughput and latency. Therefore, all those cells with limited network access would not be able to offer these types of services. This paper proposes a solution for these cases, based on the placement of processing and storage capabilities close to the remote units, which is especially well suited for the deployment of clusters of small cells. The proposed cloud-enabled small cells include a highly efficient microserver with a limited set of virtualised resources offered to the cluster of small cells. As a result, a light data centre is created and commonly used for deploying centralised eNB and mobile edge computing functionalities. The paper covers the proposed architecture, with special focus on the integration of both aspects, and possible scenarios of application.

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Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results has been performed in the scope of the H2020 5G-PPP project SESAME. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 671596.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Almda Urquijo s/n, 48013, Bilbao, Spain

    Jose Oscar Fajardo & Fidel Liberal

  2. N. C.S.R. “Demokritos”, Patr. Gregoriou & Neapoleos, 15310, Agia Paraskevi, Greece

    Ioannis Giannoulakis

  3. ORION INNOVATIONS, Ioulianou, 56 10439, Athens, Greece

    Emmanouil Kafetzakis

  4. Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Obere Kirchgasse 2, 8400, Winterthur, Switzerland

    Vincenzo Pii, Irena Trajkovska & Thomas Michael Bohnert

  5. CREATE-NET, Via alla Cascata 56D, 38123, Trento, Italy

    Leonardo Goratti & Roberto Riggio

  6. ATOS, Albarracín, 25 28037, Madrid, Spain

    Javier Garcia Lloreda

  7. i2cat, Barcelona, Spain

    Pouria Sayyad Khodashenas

  8. Virtual Open Systems, Grenoble, France

    Michele Paolino & Pavel Bliznakov

  9. Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Campus Nord, C/Jordi Girona 1-3, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Perez-Romero

  10. ITALTEL, Via Reiss Romoli - Località Castelletto 20019, Settimo Milanese, (Mi), Italy

    Claudio Meani

  11. Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. (OTE), 1, Pelika & Spartis,, Maroussi, Athens, Greece

    Ioannis Chochliouros & Maria Belesioti

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  1. Jose Oscar Fajardo
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  2. Fidel Liberal
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  3. Ioannis Giannoulakis
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  7. Thomas Michael Bohnert
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  8. Leonardo Goratti
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  9. Roberto Riggio
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  11. Pouria Sayyad Khodashenas
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  12. Michele Paolino
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  14. Jordi Perez-Romero
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  15. Claudio Meani
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  17. Maria Belesioti
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jose Oscar Fajardo.

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Fajardo, J.O., Liberal, F., Giannoulakis, I. et al. Introducing Mobile Edge Computing Capabilities through Distributed 5G Cloud Enabled Small Cells. Mobile Netw Appl 21, 564–574 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-016-0752-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-016-0752-2

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