Comprehensive Analysis of Network Slicing for the Developing Commercial Needs and Networking Challenges.

Journal: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Published Date:

Abstract

Network slicing (NS) is one of the most prominent next-generation wireless cellular technology use cases, promising to unlock the core benefits of 5G network architecture by allowing communication service providers (CSPs) and operators to construct scalable and customized logical networks. This, in turn, enables telcos to reach the full potential of their infrastructure by offering customers tailored networking solutions that meet their specific needs, which is critical in an era where no two businesses have the same requirements. This article presents a commercial overview of NS, as well as the need for a slicing automation and orchestration framework. Furthermore, it will address the current NS project objectives along with the complex functional execution of NS code flow. A summary of activities in important standards development groups and industrial forums relevant to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is also provided. Finally, we identify various open research problems and potential answers to provide future guidance.

Authors

  • Sumbal Zahoor
    Department of Electrical Engineering, The University of Lahore, Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
  • Ishtiaq Ahmad
    Department of Electrical Engineering, The University of Lahore, Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
  • Mohamed Tahar Ben Othman
    Department of Computer Science, College of Computer, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia.
  • Ali Mamoon
    Department of Software Engineering, Calrom, Manchester M1 6EG, UK.
  • Ateeq Ur Rehman
    Department of Computer Science, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Pakistan.
  • Muhammad Shafiq
    Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Electronic address: mshafiq@squ.edu.om.
  • Habib Hamam
    School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.