Small cEllS coordinAtion for Multi-tenancy and Edge services

Professor Haris Mouratidis led the University of Brighton’s involvement in project SESAME, a consortium of telecoms, IT suppliers and academic institutions led by the Greek telecommunications company OTE. It was awarded €8m by the European Commission (EC) to develop 5G networking infrastructure. The project was part of the larger 5G Public Private Partnership, which had €700m funding available as part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and development programme.

Cloud computing has been developing quickly over the last few years but now edge computing is growing in relevance. Edge computing pushes processing for certain data intensive, remotely isolated applications away from the core of the data centre to the outer edges of the network where all the interactions are happening. So computing and IP-based networking technologies are being embedded into all kinds of new systems that were previously unconnected - with automated Intelligence becoming standard features in cars, appliances and consumer electronics.

In addition small cell technology has enabled

The SESAME project targets innovations around three central elements in 5G:

The placement of network intelligence and applications in the network edge through Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) and Edge Cloud Computing.
This will allow for greater accessibility and speed of access for the substantial evolution of the Small Cell concept, already mainstream in 4G but expected to deliver its full potential in the challenging high dense 5G scenarios
The consolidation of multi-tenancy in communications infrastructures, allowing several operators/service providers to engage in new sharing models of both access capacity and edge computing capabilities.

SESAME proposes the Cloud-Enabled Small Cell (CESC) concept, a new multi-operator enabled Small Cell that integrates a virtualised execution platform (i.e., the Light DC) for deploying Virtual Network Functions (NVFs), supporting powerful self-x management and executing novel applications and services inside the access network infrastructure.

The Light DC will feature low-power processors and hardware accelerators for time critical operations and will build a high manageable clustered edge computing infrastructure.

This approach will allow new stakeholders to dynamically enter the value chain by acting as ‘host-neutral’ providers in high traffic areas where densification of multiple networks is not practical.

The optimal management of a CESC deployment is a key challenge of SESAME, for which new orchestration, NFV management, virtualisation of management views per tenant, self-x features and radio access management techniques will be developed.

After designing, specifying and developing the architecture and all the involved CESC modules, SESAME will culminate with a prototype with all functionalities for proving the concept in relevant use cases. Besides, CESC will be formulated consistently and synergistically with other 5G-PPP components through coordination with the corresponding projects.
This Project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 671596.