Enabling wireless prosuming in 5G networks

In this article, we present a novel architecture which enables wireless prosuming in the forthcoming fifth-generation (5G) networks. More specifically, we introduce the concept of wireless prosumers i.e. network elements which consume wireless resources while at the same time facilitate the network's resource management. In addition, we propose a prosumers-based network architecture which is divided into two subsystems. The first subsystem provides timely spectrum data gathering through prosumers and dedicated infrastructure. The second subsystem takes as input the output of the data gathering subsystem and triggers optimization decisions on spectral resources. As open-source modular cloud networking and computing characteristics are adopted for both subsystems, on one-hand, data processing and decision-making is performed in distributed cloud controllers and additionally, software-defined networking can change the core network's layout for increased efficiency. To outline the broad perspective of our approach, we discuss various use-cases where prosumers can be employed.