SDN-based architecture and procedures for 5G networks

This article presents a plastic architecture for the advanced 5G infrastructure based on the latest advances of SDN, NFV and edge computing. The novel approach consists of three levels of control, i.e. Device, Edge and Orchestration Controllers, fully decupled from the user plane and backwards compatible to current and future 3GPP releases. The proposed control layers implement a unified security, connection, mobility and routing management for 5G networks. The new concept of SDN-based connectivity between virtualized network functions (applications) enables multidimensional carrier grade communication paths without the utilization of tunneling protocols. Our architectural solution dramatically reduces the end-to-end latency for mission critical type of traffic, yet guarantying a large degree of freedom, dependability and reliability, which are the most important and stringent requirements of 5G.