Wireless Dense Networks:Simple rescaling or change of paradigm?

Jun 6th, 2013 – Madrid, SpainPanelist: Claudio Cicconetti

First things first

I would put my money on:

Change of paradigm

Explanation

• Let’s have a look to the past

• OK, not so much in the past…

Good ol’ GSM

• Launched in 1991

• Skype 2003• Gtalk 2005• Twitter 2006• Whatsapp 2009

UMTS

• Launched on 2001

• iPhone 2007• Foursquare 2009• Google latitude 2009• Instagram 2010

So what?

• The bottom line is:• Telecom industry used to work this way:

1. See what you can do with state-of-the-art hardware / RF technology push (also requires standards)

2. Money invested will eventually come back when somebody finds how to use the technology

BUT what about now?

• Fact #1– The Internet (= core network) just works

• Fact #2– Radio access technology is (largely!)

overprovisioned• IEEE 802.11n: easily 100 Mb/s, can be 300 Mb/s• HSPA+: up to 84 Mb/s• LTE: up to 300 Mb/s• Let’s not even mention LTE-A!

SO where is the problem exactly?

• Theoretical capacity is already thereBUT

• Actual capacity is not always where the user wants it to be (i.e., close to him/her)

HENCE• NO NEED for a technology push– the network is already adapting to what the users

want NOW densification of wireless networks

Back to the original question

• We have demands from market/users TODAY• We have technology supporting those

demands TODAY• UNFORTUNATELY, we just can’t continue to

deploy new base stations since that would break the spell we have a problem TODAY

backhauling constraints, control protocols do not scale well, growth is not economically viable, etc.

Conclusion(same as opening slide if you have paid attention)

I would put my money on:

Change of paradigm

Any tips on what we could do?

• Goal: deploy lots of access points operating efficiently in a sustainable manner– Sustainable = cost-effective hardware must be simple operation must be energy-efficient

– Efficient operation = continuous optimisation control must be complex

• Solution:– Software Defined Networking!

www.ict-crowd.eu@FP7CROWD

SDN for DenseNets

• From:– static, vendor-specific, centralised control

• To:– dynamic, open, distributed control

Localcontroller

Regionalcontroller

Core network

Backhauling

Well, life is not THAT easy much research to be done

More realistic viewof the architecture

Contacts

My name: Claudio CicconettiMy affiliation: INTECS S.p.A.My email: claudio.cicconetti@intecs.itMy bio: about.me/ccicconettiMy twitter channel: @ccicconettiMy ongoing project: www.ict-crowd.eu

Scan this (if you can)