5G ESSENCE “addresses the paradigms of Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) and Small Cell-as-a-Service (SCaaS) by fuelling the drivers and removing the barriers in the Small Cell (SC) market, forecasted to grow at an impressive pace up to 2020 and beyond, and to play a “key role” in the 5G ecosystem.
5G ESSENCE provides a highly flexible and scalable platform, able to support new business models and revenue streams by creating a neutral host market and reducing operational costs by providing new opportunities for ownership, deployment, operation and amortisation.
The project leverages knowledge, SW modules and prototypes from various 5G-PPP Phase-1 projects, with SESAME (GA No.671596) being particularly relevant.
Among the fundamental objectives have been: Full specification of critical architectural enhancements; definition of the baseline system architecture and interfaces for the provisioning of a cloud-integrated multi-tenant SC network and a programmable Radio Resource Management (RRM) controller; development of the centralised software-defined radio access network (SD-RAN) controller to program the radio resources usage in a unified way for all Cloud-Enabled Small Cells (CESCs); exploitation of high-performance and efficient virtualisation techniques for better resource utilisation, higher throughput and low delay at the network service creation time; development of Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) Orchestrator’s (NFVO) enhancements for the distributed service management; demonstration and evaluation of the cloud-integrated multi-tenant SC network; conduct of a market analysis and establishment of new business models and, finally; maximisation of impact on the realisation of the 5G vision.
The 5G ESSENCE project accommodates a range of Use Cases (UCs), requiring reduced latency, increased network resilience and low service creation time. One of its major innovations is the provision of end-to-end network and cloud infrastructure slices over the same physical infrastructure, to fulfil vertical-specific requirements and mobile broadband services. The project examined three real-life UCs associated to vertical industries (see Figure 1), that is: (i) Edge network acceleration in a crowded event; (ii) mission critical (MC) applications for public safety (PS) communications providers, and; (iii) in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) communications.
Towards pursuing the project’s goals, the following main measurable objectives have been identified and achieved:
- Specification of the critical architectural enhancements from 5G-PPP Phase-1, needed to fully enable cloud-integrated multi-tenant small cell networking.
- Definition of the baseline system architecture and interfaces for the provisioning of a cloud-integrated multi-tenant small cell network and a programmable RRM controller, both customisable on a per vertical basis.
- Development of the centralised SD-RAN (Software Defined Radio Access Network) controller that will program the radio resources usage in a unified way for all CESCs.
- Exploitation of high-performance and efficient virtualisation techniques for better resource utilisation, higher throughput and less delay at Network Services creation time.
- Development of the orchestrator enhancements for distributed service management.
- Demonstration and evaluation of the cloud-integrated multi-tenant SC network via three real-life vertical industries.
- Conduct of a market analysis and establishment of new business model with detailed techno-economic analysis and roadmapping towards exploitation and commercialisation by industrial partners.
- Ensuring maximisation of the 5G ESSENCE impact to the realisation of the 5G vision by establishing close liaison and synergies with 5G-PPP. Also realisation of extensive dissemination and communication.
