DEMO: SDN-based network slicing in C-RAN

Network slicing is considered a key technology for the upcoming 5G system, enabling operators to efficiently support multiple services with heterogeneous requirements, over a common shared infrastructure. In this demo, we present a prototype for managing network slices in the Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN), which is considered the reference network architecture for 5G. Our prototype deals with the spectrum slicing problematic and aims at efficiently sharing the bandwidth resources among different slices, while considering their requirements. The prototype makes use of the Open Air Interface (OAI) platform and a specific Software Defined Network (SDN) controller, known as FlexRAN. By using real smart-phones, we run experiments on stage to validate the feasibility of the prototype in configuring multiple slices on-demand, driven by the input of a northbound application.