IEEE Access (Jan 2022)

FlexDRAN: Flexible Centralization in Disaggregated Radio Access Networks

  • Chia-Yu Chang,
  • Navid Nikaein,
  • Thrasyvoulos Spyropoulos,
  • Koen De Schepper

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3145378
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10
pp. 11789 – 11808

Abstract

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Radio Access Network (RAN) disaggregation allows operators to mix-and-match multivendor components and bring RAN services from one end to the other. Despite this goal, issues of resource misuse or performance undershoot may arise because of inflexible RAN function deployment and uncoordinated decision-making across different network segments. To address these issues, this paper considers full flexibility in the synthesis of end-to-end RAN services from a set of disaggregated and uncoordinated components. In particular, five design factors are jointly considered to maximize the overall network spectral efficiency: (1) User association, (2) Remote radio unit clustering, (3) RAN functional split, (4) Fronthaul network routing, and (5) Baseband unit placement. To efficiently deal with the formulated problem, we propose a two-level turbo-based solution and compare its performance with several related works. The simulation results show that our proposed solution can not only achieve a 1.33-times spectral efficiency gain compared with state-of-the-art methods, but also provides 1.27 and 1.74 multiplexing benefits for computing and networking resources, respectively.

Keywords