International Conference on Electrical, Electronics, and Optimization Techniques (ICEEOT) - 2016

To Use Software Defined Networking Technology In

Telecommunication For 5-G Network

Shaikh AbdurRehman Mohammed Sadique Pragnesh N Shah

Dept. of Electronics, Pillai Institute of Information Technology, Dept. of Electronics, Pillai Institute of Information Technology,
Engineering, Media Studies & Research Engineering, Media Studies & Research
Mumbai, India Mumbai, India
arehman9111@gmail.com pragneshshah@mes.ac.in

Abstract— In this paper, we have provided an overview of some over-the-top providers (e.g., Google, Amazon, Skype, etc.)
emerging technologies which may make up future 5G wireless challenge the carriers' ability to grow their revenues and
networks Software-defined networking (SDN) has the budding to impact their margins. Traditional network architectures are ill-
transform the telecom industry by improving the ability of suited to meet the requirements of today’s enterprises, carriers,
carriers (both wired and wireless) to flexibly deliver bandwidth and end users. Thanks to a broad industry effort spearheaded
"on demand." SDN is likely to reshape the telecom industry in
by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), Software-
new and interesting ways. Incumbent carriers are looking to
increase the flexibility and manageability of their networks to Defined Networking (SDN) is transforming networking
deliver bandwidth where and when customers need it with a architecture. [2]
(more) self-serve model.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Keywords—Traffic engineering, Data Center, Telecom, Open Cloud computing data centers are becoming increasingly
Flow Switch popular for the provisioning of computing resources. In the
past, most of the research works focused on the effective use
I. INTRODUCTION of the computational and storage resources by employing the
Virtualization technology. Network automation and
In the last few years, there has been a continuous evolution virtualization of data center LAN and WAN were not the
of network services and applications. Unfortunately, the primary focus. Recently, a key emerging trend in Cloud
network infrastructure system has been maintained almost in computing is that the core systems infrastructure, including
the same shape for decades according to the phenomenon compute resources, storage and networking, is increasingly
known as “Internet ossification”. The Software-Defined becoming Software-Defined. In particular, instead of being
Networking (SDN) paradigm is one of the best and most limited by the physical infrastructure, applications and
attractive solutions for enhancing the Internet with more platforms will be able to specify their fine-grained needs, thus
flexibility and adaptability. [3] The concept of Software- precisely defining the virtual environment in which they wish
Defined Networking (SDN) has been successfully applied to to run. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) plays an
data centers and campus networks but it has had little impact important role in paving the way for effectively virtualizing
in the fixed wire line and mobile telecom domain. Although and managing the network resources in an on demand manner.
telecom networks demand fine-granular flow definition, which Still, many research challenges remain: how to achieve
is one of SDN's principal strengths, the scale of these network Quality of Service (QoS), optimal load balancing,
networks and their legacy infrastructure constraints scalability, and security. [4]
considerably limit the applicability of SDN principles. Instead, Nowadays, the explosive growth of real-time applications that
telecom networks resort to tunneling solutions using a plethora need stringent Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of
of specialized gateway nodes, which create high operation cost Experience (QoE) support, forces network programmers to
and single points of failure. [1] Large network equipment design network protocols that deliver specified performance
providers and startups are starting to invest heavily in new guarantees. One of the main important networking problem is
software centric network solutions. Open Flow and other the lack of efficient resource management schemes to provide
enterprise SDN technologies will emerge first in the cloud Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE)
data centers of the large carriers. Telecom-specific SDN support for real-time applications, especially in networks
technologies (in both the transport and management areas) are affected by packet loss and delay. For example, the Voice over
coming to market during 2013 and will help carriers to IP (VoIP) and the Interactive-Video services are not tolerant to
improve their network flexibility and reduce network packet loss that should be no more than 1%, especially if the
operations costs over the next three years. [2] It is critical that services use compressed codec. The latency is also very
carriers improve both their network flexibility (improved important and it should be no more than 150ms between two
customer value) and reduce their high operational costs as

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end-points, i.e., one-way latency [3] but by using the software Open standards-based and vendor-neutral: When
defined network we could enhance the quality for multimedia implemented through open standards, SDN simplifies network
application. design and operation because instructions are provided by
SDN controllers instead of multiple, vendor-specific devices
and protocols.
III. SDN ARCHITECTURE
Software-Defined Networking is an emerging architecture that IV. ARCHITECTURE DESIGN IN SOFTWARE DEFINED
is dynamic, manageable, cost-effective, and adaptable, making WIRELESS NETWORKS
it ideal for the high-bandwidth, dynamic nature of today's Overall, 5G is a technology for mobile communication and
applications. This architecture of SDN has been defined by takes precedence over service mobile consumers as well as
open networking foundation (ONF) as shown in Fig.1
any mobile device, which is a revolutionary change. It is
expected to save wiring coast to achieve higher convenience
and efficiency. As described above, the 5G technology
spectrum and bandwidth will face inevitable challenges in the
future. ‘‘Integration’’ between the frequency spectrum, and
bandwidth has become an inevitable topic.

Fig.1
There are three layers in a SDN system, and a series of
communication mechanism between them. Infrastructure layer
consists of many network devices like routers, switch etc.
Only a control agent is needed by every device to receive
instruction from upper layer. No signal activity among each
device when network is running. Control layer is the essential
part in the system. Many intelligent algorithms are deployed in
a network controller to enable networking functions like
routing, bandwidth allocation, traffic engineering (TE) etc.
Application layer is the visual interface to response users’ Fig.2 SDN-based 5G oriented network architecture
requirement and display network real-time status. Open Flow
(OF) is an open standard, vendor and technology agnostic ‘‘Integration’’ not only exists in a variety of different network
protocol that allows separation of data and control plane and protocols, but between suppliers and consumers, including
therefore it is a suitable candidate for the realization of SDN. QoS, frequency spectrum re-utilization rate, and security.
[5] Software defined radio and Software defined networks will be
the best choice for integration. [7]
Directly programmable: Network control is directly With the vision of ubiquitous cloud radio access for the next
programmable because it is decoupled from forwarding generation mobile communication, we assume that eNodeBs
functions. or STAs can be reconfigurable on the baseband and the radio
in a large range of frequency spectrum with software defined
Agile: Abstracting control from forwarding lets administrators radio techniques. We attempt to analyse the requirements with
dynamically adjust network-wide traffic flow to meet our vision. The proposed control plane is expected to manage
changing needs. the radio resource in a cubic space in the coexistence
environment of heterogeneous wireless networks. The
Centrally managed: Network intelligence is centralized in interference appraisal mechanism and the event detection
software-based SDN controllers that maintain a global view of mechanism are provided with the network state monitoring.
the network, which appears to applications and policy engines Once the controller detects the event happened, controller will
as a single, logical switch. decide to send clients the specific command. This kind of
decision method should be apparent to clients, and the QoE
Programmatically configured: SDN lets network managers should be considered within it. [6] In order to reduce the
configure manage secure and optimize network resources very response latency and balance the network load for a cloud of
quickly via dynamic, automated SDN programs, which they controllers, we propose a layered cloud net architecture for
can write themselves because the programs do not depend on multiple controller deployment with two entities: Edge
proprietary software. Controller (EC) and Global Controller (GC). The EC

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processes the event within single a RAN domain, and the GC As is shown in Fig.3, there are SDN routers in the egress part
deals with the inter-domain events across various RANs. For of every data center, and an SDN controller can get the
example, the EC-A manages the RAN1 in the Fig. 2, e.g. Wi- router’s condition and control the router’s throughput level.
Fi network. The EC-B controls RAN2 in the Fig. 2, e.g.
This controller will report each router’s and link’s information
5G/LTE programmable eNodeBs, The GC will deal with the
events generated across at least two heterogeneous networks, periodically to the central controller, which has the global
e.g. Handover between LTE and Wi-Fi. The GC is also an information of the network. The central controller will
entrance of access backbone Internet. For example, the EC-A, integrate and analysis these status of every link, and then give
which is a Wi-Fi network controller, scans the spectrum on the order in a certain format to the TE server, which will
2.4GHz, 5.8GHz or UHF TV white spaces and then makes a calculate the input parameters and give the optimal choice to
decision for a STA to handover from the 2.4GHz band, a very the routing path. This kind of order will pass to the SDN
crowded band, to the UHF TV white space based on the
gateway at first, and then deliver to each router. After a period
network load monitoring. If no more “right” APs found, the
EC-B will send this request to the GC, GC knows a LTE of time, the central controller will collect this information
HeNB available to connect to this STA. Thus, it allows the again, and may change the routing policy according to the
STA access any spectrum bands on any radio infrastructures network conditions. [5] As illustrated in Fig.3, if the directly
around it ubiquitously and roams among any type of RANs link between site 1 and site 4 is jammed, the SDN controller
around it without any prior knowledge. will get this information and TE server will calculate other
two paths 1-2-4 and 1-3-4 to balance the traffic load and
V. SDN APPLICATIONS FOR TELECOM NETWORKS reduce the latency.

Since the SDN gives a decoupling architecture for network B. Inside data center application
design, aiming to reduce the CAPX and OPEX of networks, it As for the quick development of virtual machine technology,
can help the network vendors to focus on key technologies of
today IDC can provide cloud services with a very limited set
different network layer. There are several applications have
been discussed to introduce SDN to telecom operators’ up time. As a result, the migration of virtual machine will
networks. happen very often inside a data center. The IT devices will be
in charge of virtual machine’s migration. Correspondingly, the
A. Data Center Interconnecting (DCI) network deployment or policies (like IP address, bandwidth
Since the data synchronization, backup, and traffic pushing location, and firewall) that accompany with the virtual
among different data centers can be predicted, this kind of machine’s migration need to be finished in a very short time.
flow is able to be planned and arranged by traffic engineering The SDN application inside the data center is mainly used for
(TE), which will increase the throughput of the backbone link helping the migration of network policies, which is illustrate
and give the optimization for traffic’s generating. Because in Fig.5
SDN is based on central control, it can integrate with TE
algorithms and bring the network traffic grooming function
after the controller get acquired of link’s condition of
congestion. The whole model of control can be illustrated as
fig.3

Fig.4 SDN application inside a data center

In Fig.4, there are two service areas in the data center, and
SDN switches are located to connect them. If a request for
setting up new cloud services has been arrived, the IT devices
will first find a suitable storage and calculation resource, and
then handle with the virtual machine’s migration. [5] Once the
Fig.3 DCI implementation based on SDN model migration of virtual machine has been finished, the open flow
switch will begin the migration of network policies, like

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bandwidth, routing table and service id etc. The flow visor [3] Francesco Ongaro, Eduardo Cerqueira∗, Luca Foschini,
also can be used here to check the status of virtual machines, Antonio Corradi, and Mario Gerla Department of Computer
and their network deployment can be demonstrated from the Science and Engineering, University of Bologna, Bologna,
flow visor as well. Italy Enhancing the Quality Level Support for Real-time
Multimedia Applications in Software-Defined Networks 2015
VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE International Conference on Computing, Networking and
Communications
In this paper, we have provided an overview of some [4] Govindarajan, K. Adv. Comput. Lab., MIMOS BERHAD, Kuala
emerging technologies which may make up future 5G wireless Lumpur, Malaysia Kong Chee Meng ; Hong Ong 18 Dec 2013 a
networks trends such as user mobility, server virtualization, literature review on Software-Defined Networking (SDN) research
IT-as-a-Service, and the need rapidly to respond to changing topics, challenges and solutions
business conditions place significant demands on the network- [5] Jian-Quan Wang China Unicom Research Institute, Chang
-demands that today’s conventional network architectures Cao China United Network Communications Co.Ltd.
can’t handle. Software-Defined Networking provides a new, Haijing Fu International School of Beijing University of Posts
dynamic network architecture that transforms traditional and Telecommunications, Software Defined Networking for
network backbones into rich service-delivery platforms. Telecom Operators: Architecture and Applications 2013 8th
By decoupling the network control and data planes, Open International Conference on Communications and Networking
Flow-based SDN architecture abstracts the underlying in China
infrastructure from the applications that use it, allowing the [6] Guolin Sun1, Feng Liu1, Junyu Lai2, and Guisong Liu1
network to become as programmable and manageable at scale Software Defined Wireless Network Architecture for the
as the computer infrastructure that it increasingly resembles. Next Generation Mobile Communication: Proposal and Initial
An SDN approach fosters network virtualization, enabling IT Prototype Journal of Communications Vol. 9, No. 12, December 2014
staff to manage their servers, applications, storage, and [7] HSIN-HUNG CHO1 CHIN-FENG LAI2 TIMOTHY K. SHIH1
networks with a common approach and tool set. Whether in a AND HAN-CHIEH CHAO1,3 Integration of SDR and SDN for
carrier environment or enterprise data center and campus, 5G Received July 14, 2014, accepted August 21, 2014, date of
SDN adoption can improve network manageability, publication September 11, 2014, date of current version
scalability, and agility. October 21, 2014.

The Open Networking Foundation has fostered a vibrant

ecosystem around SDN that spans infrastructure vendors large
and small, including application developers, software
companies, systems and semiconductor manufacturers, and
computer companies, plus various kinds of end users. Open
Flow switching is already being incorporated into a number of
infrastructure designs, both physical and virtual, as well as
SDN controller software. Network services and business
applications already interface with SDN controllers, providing
better integration and coordination between them.
The future of networking will rely more and more on software,
which will accelerate the pace of innovation for networks as it
has in the computing and storage domains. SDN promises to
transform today’s static networks into flexible, programmable
platforms with the intelligence to allocate resources
dynamically, the scale to support enormous data centers and
the virtualization needed to support dynamic, highly
automated, and secure cloud environments. With its many
advantages and astonishing industry momentum, SDN is on
the way to becoming the new norm for networks.

VII. REFERENCE

[1] Hampel,G.BellLabs.Alcatel-Lucent,MurrayHill,NJ,USA
Steiner, M. ; Tian Bu Applying Software-Defined Networking
to the telecom domain
[2] By Lee Doyle, principal analyst at Doyle Research
Network World | Dec 11, 2012

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