Radio access network slicing based on C/U plane separation

Network slicing achieves many interests from industry and academics due to its flexibility and scalability. In this paper, we present a novel slicing scheme for radio access networks (RANs) based on control/user (C/ U) plane separation. Firstly, we divide eNBs into two sub-eNBs called CeNB and UeNB, for transmitting control data and user data respectively, thereby facilitating C/U plane separation. Secondly, upon CeNBs and UeNBs being virtualized, we develop two RAN slices for control and user plane respectively. Experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed scheme.