A Hierarchical and Modular Radio Resource Management Architecture for 5G and Beyond

The evolution of mobile wireless systems into heterogeneous networks, along with the introduction of fifth generation systems, significantly increased the complexity of radio resource management. Current mobile networks consist of a multitude of spectrum bands, use cases, system features, licensing schemes, radio technologies, and network layers. Additionally, the traffic demand is uneven in terms of spatial and temporal domains, calling for a dynamic approach to radio resource allocation. To cope with these complexities, a generic and adaptive scheme is required for efficient operation of heterogeneous networks. This article proposes using a hierarchical and modular framework as an approach to cover the mentioned challenges and to generalize this scheme to different network layers. The proposed management solution is based on three main components: specialized solutions for individual requirements, exposed to the coordination layer, through abstraction middleware. In this approach, new items can be added as "plugins".