RAN slicing runtime system for flexible and dynamic service execution environment

Network slicing is one the key enabler to provide the required flexibility and to realize the serviceoriented 5G vision. Unlike the core network slicing, RAN slicing is still at its infancy and several works just start to investigate the challenges and potentials to enable a mutli-tenant and multi-service RAN, toward a serviced-oriented RAN (SO-RAN) architecture. One of the major concerns in RAN slicing is to provide different levels of resource isolation and sharing as per slice requirements. Moreover, the control and user plane processing may be customized allowing a slice owner to flexibly control its service. Enabling dynamic RAN composition with flexible functional split for disaggregated RAN

deployments is yet another challenge. In this paper, we propose a RAN slicing runtime system through which the operation and behavior of the underlying RAN could be customized and controlled to meet slice requirements. We present a proof-of-concept prototype of the proposed runtime system for LTE system, assess its feasibility and potentials, and demonstrate the isolation, sharing, and customization capabilities with three use cases.