Navid Nikaein
EURECOM, Communication System Department
MEC Research Agenda
2016
MEC Design Principles
Design principles Tight coupling between MEC and SDN
– Exploit the interplay between control-place and user-plane
Realtime/low-latency SDN+MEC controller
RAN functional split implication and MEC
– PDCP in MEC
– Native IP service endpoint at eNB and GTP (de)encapsulation in MEC
Abstract communication interface
– Pubsub and Distributed shared memory
Agnostic to the underlying technology
– Agents acting as a local controller on behalf of RAN communicating with the ME
RAN API: realtime access to the radio network information S1-C and S1-U APIs
– local breakout at MEC server
X2-C and X2-U APIs
Native IP
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Additional Consideration
Shared API with SDN
North/south APIs
NFV compliance
Orchestrator mechanism OpenStack approach: Heat, and tacker
OSM approach : juju, openmano, raft.io
Edge packet service
Interplay with S-GW and proxy EPC
– Placement of packet switching
Lawful interception
Policy and charging
Traffic shaping
24/05/2016 - - p 3
Architectural Design
MEC application
MEC application framework MEC services
Infra service
Support service
Common service
Open Virtual Switch GTP support
Interface RAN
– RNIS, C-API, U-API
EPC
IP
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Current focus MEC
MEC API and controller developement following SDN spirit Network status and configuration
Edge Packet service
– OVS and NOX
Low latency IP endpoints service
IoT gateway Data analytics for IoT
Run network operator oriented-VNF at the edge LightEPC function to handle specific traffic (MTC)
Security functions to analyze and react locally to malicious traffic
Follow Me Edge Edge service following mobile users
MEC and CDN/ICN Fully compliant with ETSI NFV
Provide Northbound API (REST) to dimension the system
VM placement algorithm to build the SIG
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ETSI MEC POC
22/05/2016 - - p 6
ETSI MEC PoC - RAVEN
“Radio aware video optimization in a fully virtualized network”
This PoC (accepted by ETSI) is about Radio aware video optimisation
application implemented in a fully virtualized network, under the
collaboration between TIM, Intel, Eurecom and Politecnico di Torino.
see http://mecwiki.etsi.org/
OAI - Open-Source
Solutions for 5G 7
RAVEN PoC
Multiple demonstration has been planned including MWC 2017
Alternative architecture (e.g. more convenient location of the video
content server, …) can be evaluated, for example in order to compare
different deployment options (and related performances
Input to the standards
OAI - Open-Source
Solutions for 5G 8
EPC
eNB + MEC server
UE3
UE2
UE1
Video content server
Content optimization
application OAI LTE eNB Server and MEC
framework
MEC testbed
application
application
Agent-Controller Protocol
Implemented messages
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OPENAIRINTERFACE
22/05/2016 - - p 10
Commoditization of 3GPP Radio Systems and
Open-Source
Today it is feasible to put a fully-compliant 4G eNodeB and
EPC in a commodity x86 or ARM-based computer (or data
center for a pool of eNodeBs)
Emergence of “radio”-nerds in addition to commercial vendors
OAI Alliance : www.openairinterface.org
– launched in 2014
– 3GPP strategic members in 2015 (Bell Labs, Orange Labs, TCL-
Alcatel)
Coupling this with an open-source community makes for a
very disruptive technology for the onset of 5G
What we’re building
– Community of nerds, academics and major industrials embracing
open-source for 5G
– Common R&D development kit for rapid prototyping of 5G features
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Bringing open-source into the RAN
Challenges for 4.5G/5G FRAND License for open-source
– Allow 3GPP members to contribute to open-source and still perceive royalties
– Compatible with
academic/research/prototyping use
commercial use in devices, data centers and testing equipment
– Approval by Alcatel-Lucent, Orange, TCL and Ericsson (observer)
Community coexistence/synergy with standardization process
– Use of open-source in prototyping phase of 5G
– Open-source community following 3GPP process
– Community representation in 3GPP via OSA
22/05/2016
eNB eNB eNB
Mobile Edge
Cloud
EPC + ClearWater IMS,
FreePCRF (OpenStack + JuJu)
S1AP GTPu
Main CLOUD
S1AP GTPu S1AP GTPu
UE
- p 12
OSA Licensing Model
OAI - Open-Source Solutions for 5G
FRAND License allows committing software with patent rights into OSA and still keep licensing rights -> Inline with 3GPP fair use licensing policy
We aim to work closely with ETSI on implications of open-source for licensing/certification
Future 5G Core Network developed within eNB/UE repository will inherit FRAND license
22/05/2016 - - p 13
OSA Strategic Areas
OAI - Open-Source Solutions for 5G
Various use cases are considered, namely RAN sharing/Slicing
23/05/2016 - - p 14