BASIC INFORMATION
- Project title: Improvement of 5G mobile network performances by applying the concept of long-term programmability
- Project location: Laboratory for Software-Defined Networks
- Funding body: Federal Ministry of Education and Science
- Project leader: Assistant Professor Enio Kaljic, PhD
- Project budget: BAM 8,918.31
- Project type: Local research project
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Research focus
Fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks represent the next step in the long-term evolution of mobile networks. One of their key characteristics is the ability to connect up to one million devices per square kilometre, which introduces new technical requirements and challenges. These requirements include high data transfer rates (above 500 Mbps per user) and extremely low latency, i.e. data transmission delays below 1 millisecond. Early development tests of 5G network equipment showed delays of around 30 ms, far above the expected 1 ms. This provides a clear motivation for research into 5G network performance. Since the core network of a 5G mobile network carries large volumes of network traffic from all users across the entire network, improving core network performance is particularly important. The 5G core network is based on software-defined networking (SDN), which provides opportunities to improve data transfer performance through long-term programmability. Developing a new architectural model for a long-term programmable packet switching node could reduce latency between the controller and the switch, thereby improving core network performance in 5G mobile networks. This research therefore focuses on mechanisms for improving data transfer performance in the 5G core network.
Research objective
The research aims to improve the performance of fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks by applying the concept of long-term programmability to the implementation of packet switching nodes in the core network.
Research tasks
The research objective is to be achieved through the following tasks:
- conducting a systematic review of research on the data plane in fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks to identify factors that influence 5G network performance;
- developing a new architectural model for a long-term programmable packet switching node;
- implementing a long-term programmable packet switching node on an Altera DE5-Net development kit;
- experimentally verifying and validating the proposed architecture and disseminating the results.
Expected research outcomes
The expected scientific and practical outcomes are:
- a new architectural model for a long-term programmable packet switching node intended for data transmission within the SDN-based core network of fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks;
- a new protocol for configuring a long-term programmable packet switching node;
- improved overall performance of fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks, including reduced latency and increased throughput, reliability and security, through the application of the new model for a long-term programmable packet switching node.
