Edge eXchange: eNB with Wireless Backhaul Communication among Carriers

Abstract

Recently, Mobile/Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) has attracted significant attention as a key component for executing cooperative driving systems that exhibit low latency. However, achieving low latency communication among evolved Node Bs (eNBs) is a critical challenge while implementing cooperative driving systems using MEC. The Edge Server (ES) deployed at the eNB is required to collect various sensor data from physically close vehicles, although the vehicles may not be connected to the eNB attached to the ES. If the vehicle and the ES belong to different mobile carriers, the sensor data of the vehicle is required to pass through a network of multiple carriers and the Internet. In this paper, we propose the ''Edge eXchange (EX).'' The EX is a conceptual eNB, which is equipped with ''wireless backhaul communication'' between eNBs regardless of the carriers. Here, the wireless backhaul communication indicates a direct communication between eNBs using wireless communication. To evaluate the EX, we propose an ES deployment method and consider two types of distances as alternatives to communication latency. The first is the communication distance between adjacent eNBs. The second is the communication distance between the vehicle and the closest computational nodes. Using the Japanese network model, we analyze the above distances and evaluate the effect of the EX. From the result of the analysis, the EX can dramatically suppress communication latency between eNBs for small range wireless backhaul communication. Furthermore, the EX can suppress the number of ESs required for achieving low latency by using the wireless backhaul communication.