5G RAN resource slicing with flexible functional splits over multi-tenant environment

SG is set to be revolutionary and more flexible compared to the previous mobile network generations able to support services with diverse requirements. However, the wide range of use cases poses challenges to network resource allocation and management. Infrastructure providers to address the issues deriving from the requirements of a multi-service environment, adopt two key paradigms, network slicing and functional split options, in which the former controls the network resources and the latter relaxes the fronthaul constraints. Since the slices are deployed over a common and shared infrastructure functional split must dynamically adjust the demands of the service providers. As there is no one-split-fits-all option, we propose a mathematical framework for the optimal selection of functional split options per slice requests and the optimal slice size in terms of data-rate, that maximizes the infrastructure provider's total profits. Hence, a thorough analysis is performed and the optimal solutions are discussed with a comparison against hybrid network configurations.