5G Networks Based on Software Defined Network

Abstract

A software-defined network (SDN) based 5G architecture that utilizes three controllers to improve network performance is proposed in this paper. The controllers are responsible for managing functions related to access mechanism, core connectivity, and network transport. The proposed architecture aims to address solutions for the challenges of traditional 5G networks such as scalability, flexibility, and resource allocation. The paper investigates two networks: 5G without SDN and 5G with SDN. The performance of these networks is evaluated by simulation tests using OMNeT++. The results show a considerable improvement in performance measures such as throughput, packet error rate (PER), and energy consumption. Under favorite test conditions, improvements of 46%, 88% and 94%, in throughput, PER, and energy consumption are achieved. The main finding of the paper is that the proposed SDN-based 5G architecture with multi-controllers is a promising arrangement to overcome the challenges of 5G networks.

Keywords

• 5G, SDN, energy consumption, throughput, packet error rate, and QoS.