5G network architecture brought to life

The 5G MoNArch (5G Mobile Network Architecture) research project has been launched by Nokia.

This project is designed to put fifth-generation mobile network architecture into practice, supported at Phase II of the 5G Infrastructure Private Partnership (5G-PPP).

5G MoNArch's specific goal is to use network slicing, which capitalises on the capabilities of software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualisation (NFV), orchestration and analytics to support a variety of use cases in vertical industries such as automotive, healthcare and media.

As 5G networks need to simultaneously support various services with different requirements, network slicing will be a crucial aspect of the network architecture, providing flexible and adaptive networks which fulfil the 5G requirements.

The project involves 14 key mobile network players from six European countries, bringing together the complementary background and technical know-how required to turn the project's vision into reality. It will run for two years with a total budget of €7.7 million.

"5G PPP brings together a range of stakeholders from the communications technology sector and other industries,” said Peter Merz, head of End-to-End Mobile Networks Solutions at Nokia Bell Labs.

"We follow a shared architecture of what the next-generation communications infrastructure needs to look like to enable and meet the network demands of the next decade. 5G communication needs both private and public entities to invest in the infrastructure and ensure Europe remains competitive."

The main objectives of 5G MoNArch are:

• Detailed specification and extension of 5G architecture.
• Enhancement of architectural designs with key enabling innovations such as inter-slice control and cross-domain management, experiment-driven modelling and optimisation, and native cloud-enabled protocol stack.
• Functional innovations around the key technologies required for dedicated 5G use cases: resilience, security and resource elasticity.
• Deployment and experimental implementation of the architecture for two use cases in real-world testbeds — heavy communications usage in a tourist-heavy city, and secure and reliable communication in a seaport environment.
• Evaluation, validation and verification of the architecture performance.

Image credit: ©thampapon1/Dollar Photo Club

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