Virtual RATs and a flexible and tailored radio access network evolving to 5G

Author

Shanzhi Chen ; Jian Zhao ; Ming Ai ; Liu, Dake ; Ying Peng

Author_Institution

Datang Telecom Technol. & Ind. Group, China Acad. of Telecommun. Technol. (CATT), China

Volume

53

Issue

6

fYear

2015

fDate

42156

Firstpage

52

Lastpage

58

Abstract

This article first analyzes the requirements and challenges in the future 5G mobile wireless network. Then the authors describe a new method for radio access technologies called virtual RATs. The proposed scheme can provide a flexible and tailored access network that can meet the requirements and overcome the challenges in mobile broadband networks. The authors also present a high level design of the overall architecture and protocol stack for virtual RATs. Two concepts, virtual RAT Types and interface sets, are introduced. Two essential features, flexible control/user (C/U) plane separation and coordination between virtual RATs, are also discussed. Examples are provided to show how to achieve a flexible and tailored access network for services by using virtual RATs. Finally, the capability of hardware to support implementation of virtual RATs is analyzed.

Keywords

5G mobile communication; broadband networks; protocols; radio access networks; 5G mobile wireless network; C/U plane separation; flexible control-user plane separation; interface sets; mobile broadband networks; protocol stack; tailored radio access network; virtual RATs; 5G mobile communication; Computer architecture; IEEE standards; Microprocessors; Mobile communication; Peer-to-peer computing; Protocols; Radio access networks; Wireless networks;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Communications Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0163-6804

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MCOM.2015.7120045

Filename

7120045