Page 39 - 5G Basics - Core Network Aspects

Core network aspects 1

Figure 1 – Use cases of data aware networking

8 Problem spaces

8.1 Scalable and cost-efficient content distribution
Global data traffic has been increasing explosively, especially after various forms of multimedia traffic were
introduced to the current networks. To deal with the problem, multiple heterogeneous infrastructures have
been built on top of the conventional network architectures to provide data object distribution for users in
more scalable and efficient manner. However, the heterogeneity restricts the interoperability of different
infrastructures, which prevents scalable data object distribution in a cooperated manner. In addition, the
infrastructures for the distribution of the individual data objects are mostly operated as service overlays
where the transport network and the infrastructure of data object delivery are separated. For this reason,
network resources used in data object distribution are often managed in a suboptimal manner, which makes
data object distribution inefficient under the current networks [b-Ahlgren].

8.2 Mobility
The current networks require the communicating end terminals to maintain an end-to-end connection.
However, managing end-to-end connections of proliferating mobile terminals is not a trivial task with the
current IP networks. The problem originates from the use of IP address which is bound to the terminal's
location and thus the change in location of terminal or data object will lead to failure in the end-to-end
connection, thus interrupting the application sessions. Various solutions to overcome this problem have been
proposed, but they also introduced complexity and processing overhead to the network due to the need for
additional network entities such as gateways and network functionalities such as signalling and tunnelling [b-
Kutscher]. The complexity and processing overhead will be immense and will become an operational
problem, especially when the number of terminals grows and frequent mobility occurs in a vastly distributed
network environment.

8.3 Disruption tolerance

In the current networks, there are various applications which do not require seamless end-to-end
communication, but require continuous sub-optimal communication under disruptive network environment
where an end-to-end disconnection is common. There are several examples: sensor-based networks making
intermittent connectivity, wireless networks experiencing frequent handovers and vehicular networks having
moderate delays and frequent interruptions. However, the current IP-based network was initially designed
to support an end-to-end communication so that it cannot provide reliable and optimized performance under
disrupting network environments.

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