5G network slicing: A multi-tenancy scenario

Abstract

The 5G mobile network is expected to meet increasing user demands. The increase in number of users is accompanied by varying user requirements in different network scenarios. Hence the 5G mobile network should be as flexible as possible. Network slicing offers a promising solution to the flexibility need of the 5G mobile network. Network slicing is the logical partitioning of a physical network into independent virtual mobile networks which enables the multi-tenancy paradigm. However, realising independent virtual mobile networks via network slicing in multi-tenancy requires efficient resource allocation. This is important to ensure that multi-tenancy enhances network capacity. In this paper, we investigate the resource allocation problem of achieving maximum capacity with the transmit power, allocated bandwidth as part of the constraints in a sliced multi-tenant network. Through our simulations, we demonstrate (i) how the number of users in a slice affects the capacity of an MVNO, (ii) how the transmit power improves the capacity of the MVNO and also how the number of slices affects the capacity.