Agile resource management for 5G: A METIS-II perspective

An explosive growth in the demand for higher data rates and capacity along with diverse requirements set by massive and ultra-reliable machine-type communications are the main drivers behind the development on new access technologies as part of the fifth generation (5G) networks. Currently, different air interface (AIF) and/or AIF variants, optimized based on the frequency band of operation and use case, are envisioned for such a network. Developing an agile resource management framework for 5G networks is one of the main goals of the METIS-II project. The METIS-II project builds strongly upon the EU flagship project METIS, which has laid the foundation of 5G. This framework will take into account the multi-link and multi-layer constraints currently envisioned for 5G. In this paper, we provide our first insights into agile resource management and the associated synchronous control functions. We will discuss the essential building blocks in terms of technology enablers and their mapping to 5G services and deployments. The introduced agile resource management framework for 5G is expected to enable enhanced interference management, dynamic traffic steering, fast radio access network (RAN) moderation, efficient context management, and optimized integration with legacy networks.