Network Slicing for 5G with SDN/NFV: Concepts, Architectures, and Challenges
Open accessAbstract
The fifth generation of mobile communications is anticipated to open up innovation opportunities for new industries such as vertical markets. However, these verticals originate myriad use cases with diverging requirements that future 5G networks have to efficiently support. Network slicing may be a natural solution to simultaneously accommodate, over a common network infrastructure, the wide range of services that vertical- specific use cases will demand. In this article, we present the network slicing concept, with a particular focus on its application to 5G systems. We start by summarizing the key aspects that enable the realization of so-called network slices. Then we give a brief overview on the SDN architecture proposed by the ONF and show that it provides tools to support slicing. We argue that although such architecture paves the way for network slicing implementation, it lacks some essential capabilities that can be supplied by NFV. Hence, we analyze a proposal from ETSI to incorporate the capabilities of SDN into the NFV architecture. Additionally, we present an example scenario that combines SDN and NFV technologies to address the realization of network slices. Finally, we summarize the open research issues with the purpose of motivating new advances in this field.
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- Authors
- Ordonez-Lucena, J., Ameigeiras, P., Lopez, D., Ramos-Munoz, J. J., Lorca, J., & Folgueira, J.
- Affiliations
- Universidad de Granada (ES)
- Telefonica Research and Development (ES)
- Venue
- IEEE Communications Magazine
- Published
- 2017-05
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 80-87
- ISSN
- 0163-6804 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2597003067
- Cited by
- 836
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 52 · 2024: 60 · 2023: 73 · 2022: 118 · 2021: 149 · 2020: 151 · 2019: 120 · 2018: 72 · 2017: 12
- FWCI
- 64.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- IEEE Communications Magazine (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Institutional Repository of the University of Granada (University of Granada) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Software-Defined Networks and 5G
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Advanced Optical Network Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs)
- Keywords
- network slicing, 5G, software-defined networking, network function virtualization, SDN architecture, vertical markets, network virtualization
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