Network Slicing for Critical Communications in Shared 5G Infrastructures - An Empirical Evaluation

Increasing automation in systems such as Smart Grids (SGs), Intelligent Transportation, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0, involves the need for robust, highly capable Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Traditionally, to meet diverging use case requirements regarding network data rate, delay, security, reliability and flexibility, dedicated communication infrastructures are employed. Yet, this is associated with high costs and lengthy roll-out times. Therefore it is desirable for multiple tenants to share one Physical Network (PN). However, this may compromise service guarantees, potentially violating Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Network slicing aims to address this challenge by transparently dividing one common infrastructure into multiple, logically independent networks. Thereby tenants are isolated from one another, ensuring the fulfillment of hard performance guarantees. As slicing is central to realizing the potential of 5G networks, this work presents a novel approach based on Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) driven queueing strategies. The developed solution is comprehensively evaluated with realistic traffic in a physical testing environment. Highly demanding critical infrastructure use cases, with multiple service levels per slice, are used to validate performance and demonstrate functionalities such as dynamic data rate allocation.