A Feasible 5G Cloud-RAN Architecture with Network Slicing Functionality

The development of the fifth generation (5G) communication technology is in progress to satisfy the increasing demands of higher capacity, lower latency, and ubiquitous mobile access in the next generation mobile cellular networks. Furthermore, 5G networks shall be able to provide diverse and challenging requirements. As we know, Cloud-Radio Access Network (Cloud-RAN or C-RAN) architecture has been identified as a promising approach to 5G, and network slicing offers a serviceable way to meet diverse requirements for 5G. However, providing reliable, cost-effective, and quality of service guaranteed network slices under C-RAN architecture is one of the major challenges in 5G. In this paper, we present a feasible solution for managing network slices in the C-RAN architecture in order to facilitate the deployment of the 5G prototype. We make use of OpenStack, Docker and OpenAirInterface (OAI) to implement the C-RAN architecture with properties of flexibility, scalability and rapid deployment. We then validate the feasibility of the prototype by means of signal and data transmissions of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).