On Minimizing Service Access Latency: Employing MEC on the Fronthaul of Heterogeneous 5G Architectures

Multiple-access Edge Computing (MEC) has been proposed as a means to minimize the user to service path latency, by deploying and operating datacenter resources close to the network edge. The introduction of 5G mobile network services, and their provisioning through disaggregated base stations complying with the Cloud-RAN paradigm, allows the redefinition of the traditional Edge Computing by offering deployment of services even closer to the network access edge. In this work, we leverage a disaggregated heterogeneous 5G infrastructure, compliant with the 5G New Radio (NR) specifications, and present a scheme for placing the services even closer to the Edge, close to the concept of fog computing. We develop a scheme for the OpenAirInterface platform that allows services to be executed close or over the machines hosting the radio services for the network access. By exploiting features for integrating heterogeneous radio resources in the cell, we are able to create a controller interface for selecting the optimal radio access technology used to serve each user of the network from the MEC service perspective. We evaluate our solution in a real testbed setup, and measure performance related indicators for our solution by using adaptive video streaming. Our results illustrate up to 80% better video qualities delivered to the end user when appropriately selecting the access technology.