A2VF: Adaptive Allocation for Virtual Network Functions in Wireless Access Networks

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is deemed as a mean to simplify deployment and management of network and telecommunication services. With wireless access networks, NFV has to take into account the radio resources at wireless nodes in order to provide an end-to-end optimal virtual network function (VNF) allocation. This topic has been well-studied in existing literature, however, the effects of variations of networks over time have not been addressed yet. In this paper, we provide a model of the adaptive and dynamic VNF allocation problem considering VNF migration. Then we formulate the optimisation problem as an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) and provide a heuristic algorithm for allocating multiple service function chains (SFCs). The proposed approach allows SFCs to be reallocated so as to obtain the optimal solution over time. The results confirm that the proposed algorithm is able to optimize the network utilization while limiting the reallocation of VNFs which could interrupt services.