Multi-Operator Spectrum and MEC Resource Sharing in Next Generation Cellular Networks

Next-generation cellular networks offer enhanced-mobile broadband, ultra-reliable low latency, and massive machine-type communications. Conventional technology may not meet these demands due to complexity and dynamicity of the network and diverse traffic requirements. To overcome these limitations, resource sharing among network operators is widely studied. The service performance can be improved by leveraging multi-access edge computing (MEC) technology. A mobile user receiving service from virtual network function at the MEC, may experience performance degradation due to lack of resources. To meet the quality of service requirements of users, this paper proposes a multi-operator spectrum and MEC resource sharing scheme. We introduce a user plane function agent at main cloud of the mobile network operator (MNO) that enables inter-operator communications and manages resource sharing requests. Service continuity is enabled by relocating users’ associated VNFs considering current resources at the edge network. The proposed scheme has been evaluated using simulations and an experimental testbed. The results show that the proposed scheme reduces network delay, improves network throughput, increases spectrum utilization, increases successful VNF placement ratio, reduces the packet drop ratio, reduces load on edge nodes, and increases revenue for the operator, compared to that of the conventional scheme.