IEEE NetSoft 2016

Chih-Lin I

Dr Chih-Lin I

Speaker: Chih-Lin I – Chief Scientist, China Mobile, China

Title: SDX: E2E Architecture of 5G

Abstract:

5G network is anticipated to meet the extremely challenging and diverse requirements of mobile traffic in the 2020’s in various deployment scenarios, which are characterized by super high data rate, low latency, high mobility, high energy efficiency, and high traffic density. For a sustainable development of CT industry, much shorter time to market, much faster turnaround of new network capabilities, and more flexible and more efficient network operation are required in both the core network and radio access network. Soft is a paramount E2E theme.

Towards a “Soft, Green and Super-Fast” 5G, CMCC’s 5G R&D activities since 2011 followed several innovative R&D themes:1) Rethinking Shannon to start a green journey on wireless systems; 2) Rethinking Ring & Young for no more “cells”; 3) Rethinking signaling & control to make network applications- and load-aware; 4) Rethinking antennas to make Base Stations “invisible” via SmarTiles; 5) Rethinking spectrum & air interface to enable wireless signals to “dress for the occasion”; 6) Rethinking fronthaul to enable Soft RAN via next generation fronthaul interface (NGFI); and 7) Rethinking the protocol stack for flexible configurations of diversified access points and user-centric resource allocation.

Based on the innovative R&D themes, an E2E 5G network architecture of CMCC is proposed, featured by software defined core network with network function virtualization, user-centric soft RAN with flexible multi-connectivity, protocol stack and fronthaul interface function split, and software defined air interface to meet the diverse demands by reconfiguring combinations of the physical layer building blocks. This talk will give a comprehensive overview of CMCC’s 5G E2E network architecture and key technical enablers.