Sliced-RAN: Joint Slicing and Functional Split in Future 5G Radio Access Networks

The unprecedented surge in mobile data traffic, along with the wide range of services and the corresponding different performance requirements, has raised the need for a new mobile network architecture. In that sense, 5G has been conceived as a software defined network able to provide service-tailored connectivity. Network slicing is a key mechanism to serve efficiently the diversified service requirements. In this paper, we formulate the joint RAN slicing and functional split with optimization of centralization degree (CD) and throughput. Our results show that even though in terms of CD we have more costs, we can better meet the service requirements and also have more throughput in the network.