BlueSPACE's SDN/NFV Architecture for 5G SDM/WDM-Enabled Fronthaul with Edge Computing

The BlueSPACE project proposes Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) as the key technology to overcome the capacity crunch that the conventional optical single-mode fibers (SMFs) are facing to accommodate the increasing bandwidth demands forecasted for 5G mobile communications in the fronthaul network. The combination of SDM with flexi-grid DWDM enables to exploit both dimensions (spectral and spatial resources) in combination with analog and digital Radio over Fiber (RoF) techniques. Additionally, BlueSPACE also considers the deployment of edge computing for MEC applications and VNFs. This paper presents the challenges and architectural solutions proposed to enhance the ETSI NFV MANO framework in order to meet the functionalities considered in BlueSPACE.