WiseHAUL: An SDN-empowered Wireless Small Cell Backhaul testbed

The deployment of dense networks of Small Cells (SC) is one of the key components of 5G mobile networks and will pose several challenges to the backhaul network. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a key technique to cope with the increased management complexity of such heterogeneous deployments, helping in the task of achieving a system-wide network management, which includes the 5G mobile wireless backhaul. Therefore, it is fundamental to devise the tools for the evaluation of 5G backhauling SDN architectures. This paper presents WiseHAUL: an SDN-empowered Wireless Small Cell Backhaul testbed. We present the design considerations of WiseHAUL, deployed in the form of an hypercube mesh that combines heterogeneous wireless technologies with the final goal of conducting SDN research and experimentation. Preliminary experimental results serve to identify the main research challenges faced by canonical SDN management techniques in an all-wireless backhaul deployment, hence acting as key drivers for further redesign and testbed development towards hybrid SDN models.