Software Defined Network and Network Function Visualization Support Mobility - Research Proposal Example

Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Date Course Research proposal title: Impact of software-defined networking/network function virtualization support of mobility (LTE, 5G, WLAN) in communication technology. Introduction. A) Background information. The communication technology sector has experienced tremendous development focusing towards full mobility. The number of devices like smartphones and tablets has increased, and this has led to large volumes of traffic which has caused a lot of strain on existing networks (Radwan and Jonathan, 12-17). The 5g (fifth generation) network is a wireless network that is set to solve this issue by providing the fundamental infrastructure for billions of new devices with predictable amounts of traffic. (ONF, 2014) The LTE(long term evolution) and WLAN(wireless local area network) networks together with 5g will all be accessed by a single user terminal in the communication devices and problems of power consumption and cost of mobile terminals will be overcome.(NGMN, 2014) Software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) are network technologies that are vital in order to implement the 5G wireless network capable of providing a seamless connection to WLAN and LTE cellular networks (Boucadair, and Christian. 43-45). SDN is a network architecture that a network to be programmable and is dynamic, cost-effective and manageable and is suitable for high-bandwidth and the dynamic nature of today’s market demands. (Gihodsi, pp 3:1-6) SDN separates the system that makes decisions about where traffic is sent (control panel) from the system that directs traffic to the chosen destination (data plane) and logically centralizing network intelligence and state. (Shenker, oct 2011) NFV, on the other hand, is a concept that uses existing virtualized technologies to virtualize classes of network node functions into blocks that may be connected to create communication services. This research seeks to establish what will be the impact of using SDN/NFV network infrastructure technologies to implement 5G network in the communications industry (Mishra, 52-59). b) Statement of the problem. There is a need to identify and interpret the results of SDN/NFV support of the 5G network. The communications industry will be affected as well as the Information Technology (IT) as a whole. The extent to which transformation will take place needs to be accessed. c) Significance of the study. The communications industry has been characterized by innovations and transformations in the way communication takes place between peers and how services are delivered to end-users and trying to improve cost-efficiency and reliability. The emergence of SDN and NFV network architectures has brought new capabilities to network design, service platforms, and data centers (Rémy and Charlotte, 13-24). They have paved way for agile, flexible, scalable and mobile networks. This research aims at establishing how the outcome will be. Findings from this research will provide relevant information to stakeholders in the communications industry who wish to implement these technologies. Literature review 5G network is the latest innovation in the mobile communication method which has grown from 1G to 2G and 3G via 4G which is also known as Long-Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) achieving service improvements and cost efficiency across each generation (Tootocan, 2010). 5G network is put to resolve the difficulties and commercial context of coming years. It will allow a fully mobile and linked people (Misra, 36-42). The need for a fully linked and mobile society are described by the incredible growth in connectivity and size of traffic, the necessary multi-layer densification in permitting this and the extensive variety of use cases and commercial models anticipated (Ganjali, 2010). Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is another innovation that intends to interconnect cellular systems to wireless access networks in order to improve service delivery. It is a network that connects mobile users to link to a local area network (LAN) via a wireless connection. Its aim is to advance service provision and request provisioning end-to-end. It is collected of diverse types of set-ups creating heterogeneous networks (hetnets). These hetnets have offered an opportunity to satisfy users and applications since they are capable of supporting new services (Smith and Daniel, 11-15). LTE (Long Term Evolution) encompasses a wireless communication technology for mobile phones and data terminals whose goal line is to increase the size as well as the speediness of wireless data networks and to redesign and network infrastructure to an IP-based system and to reduce transfer latency. It has the capability to handle fast-moving cells and supports broadcast torrents. Its simple architecture results in lower operation costs (Tudzarov, 21-35). 5G network will not be based on routers and switches and will be an open and supple network capable to support hetnets and can be easily evolved. It will provide convergent communication system to cooperate with satellite systems, cellular networks and numerous other exposed nets and devices. 5G, WLAN, and LTE are technologies with the ability to handle current and future market demands. Mobile terminals need to be designed with the ability to pool manifold streams incoming from diverse technologies, namely 5G, WLAN, and LTE (Liyanage, Andrei and Mika, 53-67). The network infrastructure should, therefore, be redesigned to be able to implement these technologies. SDN is a networking architecture that will overcome the limitations of current network infrastructures by unravelling network’s mechanism logic from basic devices that forward traffic. (Davie,p 13) Network aptitude and state are reasonably centralized, and the fundamental system infrastructure is distracted from the applications. The significance of SDN in the 5G system lies in its capacity to provide new capabilities like system virtualization, systematizing and creating new facilities beyond the virtualized resources in safe and confidential networks (Lte-a, Wimax 2.2 and Wlan, 17-23) NFV, on the other hand, aims to virtualize a set of system utilities by organizing them into software packages that collected and connected to build the same services on the provided network. (Narten, p 24) It creates end-to-end set-up and allow merging of numerous heterogeneous network devices by moving utilities from devoted hardware to overall purpose computing/storage boards like servers. SDN and NFV technologies complement each other and are key implementing the three mobile networks; 5G, WLAN and LTE since they allow users to enhance their system resources, increase network suppleness and accelerate the service time-to-time marketplace. SDN and NFV brings a version of networks that will continually be able to keep pace with the innovation in other sectors like information technology (IT). Research questions This research will be conducted towards answering the following questions: 1. What are the detailed influences of developing a 5G system on an SDN/NFV network infrastructure? The impact will be measured in terms of changes in bandwidth, reliability, quality of services provided and ability to meet user need. Issues such as cost efficiency and ability to handle traffic and new devices will also be looked at. 2. How does SDN/NFV improve the mobile communication networks? Existing mobile communication networks are implemented on traditional network architectures that are device-based. SDN/NFV being a more software-based architecture will change the way network are designed, and this question aims to determine how the mobile networks will improve. 3. What procedures and standards most effectively enable the development of a 5G network on SDN/NFV infrastructure? The networking industry is controlled by protocols and procedures that dictate the standards which products being created should meet. 4. How effective is SDN/NFV in handling traffic and managing the increasing number of devices such as smartphones? Existing network infrastructures have been overwhelmed by the increasing number of mobile devices causing strain and inability to handle traffic and may not be capable to implement the 5Gnetwork.However, SDN/NFV is expected to solve this issue. This research will establish whether SDN/NFV actually solve the problem and the number of devices which can be supported (Plunkett, 18-26). 5. What is the impact on the internal structure of service providers and their staff? The transition from old networking technologies to SDN/NFV will cause changes in almost the system of service providers and may replace or add new jobs. This research will identify how the workforce will be affected as well as the operations of service providers. Aims and objectives of the research. This research is aimed at identifying the consequences of implementing the 5G, WLAN and LTE networks on SDN/NFV network infrastructures. The main objectives of the research are: 1. To estimate the cost incurred in implementing 5g network on SDN/NFV networks on existing old network infrastructure and creating a completely new one. 2. To calculate how network capabilities will improve in terms of reliability, cost efficiency and manageability. 3. To identify how SDN/NFV handles the traffic. Research methodology. This chapter describes the research and the methodology that will be applied to carry out the study. It discusses the research design, data collection, data analysis, study period and mechanisms to assure the quality of the study. . It also describes the nature and source of data sample size. The methods adopted for data collection are also illustrated, together with reliability and validity of the research instruments methods of data analysis and ethical consideration (Sally, 23-40). 1. Study design. This research will be a mixed-method research and will adopt a descriptive survey design in collecting information by administering questionnaires to a sample of the target population. The study will be aimed at collecting information from the respondents, regarding the impact of these technologies on communication. The investigator will use both the primary and the secondary data. Primary data will be obtained using questionnaires while secondary data will be found from books, journals, and The Internet 2. Study population. The target population will form the basis of the respondents who will contribute to answering the survey questions. The study targets individuals who work in institutions such as service providers who have implemented the technologies being studied. The areas of the study were derived from the whole population, either developing the system, participating in its installation in a communications environment or using these technologies (Sally, 27-30). 3. Data collection and instruments. The main data collection instruments to be used include the following: 1. Survey questionnaires. 2. Interviews 3. A compendium of textual data Survey Questionnaires have an advantage of achieving rapid contact with many people. It will be very valuable for this study project to get replies to the diverse pointers demanding discussions with exact populations. (Network engineers and other experts working in service providers) The interview procedure is a shedding light on study process via an informal dialog. As part of this research project, an interview guide will be drawn to make the interviews semi-structured. Interview questions will be written down, and the interviewers will be trained so that they truly understand the subject matter as well the responses they receive. The compilation of word-based data will mainly gather, unify and examine diverse booklets that contain pertinent info to the topic of study for example customer and employee databases and manuals for various systems (Pickard, 33-38). 4. Data analysis methods Quantitative analyzes will be appropriate for this project with a bit of use qualitative methods as well. Codes will be assigned to qualitative variables such as reliability, and qualitative records analysis will be performed using this coding strategy (Katsirikou and Christos, 17-23). Content study will be used to examine the considerable body of data composed in this research with the following procedure: 1. Reading of collected data 2. Description of organization categories for the collected data. 3. The classification of the assembled data. 4. Quantification and arithmetical treatment of data. 5. The technical explanation of the researched cases. 6. The interpretation of results. For quantitative data analysis, both the descriptive and the inferential statistics will be done to better understand the impact of SDN/NFV support of mobility on communication technology. Mechanisms to assure the quality of the study. Confidentiality will be enhanced in the research and individuals filling in questionnaires will not be required to write their names. Relevant authorities will be contacted so as to gain permission to carry out the research. Study period and work plan. STEP PERIOD Getting permission to access employees in the involved companies 2 weeks Designing and testing questionnaires 1 week Interviews and posting the questionnaires 3 weeks Editing of completed questionnaires, grouping and coding of data 2 weeks Analysis of data 1 week Conclusion The current and future information society have an extensive variety of services and application necessities, and the 5G network is expected to fulfill these demands. Networks must, therefore, be designed to the massive necessities of the info society in mind. The network hardware might be distracted and animatedly utilized via virtualization tools, and that is why SDN/NFV tools are important. SDN/NFV will also enable network resources to be optimized and easily manageable. The implementation of the 5G network will lead to various consequences that include expanding the capabilities the network to support higher data rates, lower latency, and higher connection density. It will also enable consistent customer experience, flexibility efficiency, and innovation. This study will provide findings that show whether the expected outcomes have been achieved and to what extent. Its findings will boost the understanding of this current trends allow further evolutions. Work cited. Akram Hakiri and Pascal Benthon . Leveraging SDN for the 5G networks: Trends, prospects and challenges. CNRS, France. Boucadair, Mohamed, and Christian Jacquenet. Handbook of Research on Redesigning the Future of Internet Architectures. , 2015. Print. ETSI GS NFV 004 v1.1 Network function virtualization (NFV) G. Monteleone and P. Paglierani, Session Border Controller Virtualization towards service- Defined Networks based on NFV and SDN. In IEEE SDN4NS, 2013 Intelligent design enables architectural evolution in proceedings of the 10th ACM workshop on Hot topics in networks, New York, USA: ACM, 2011, PP.3:1-6 IRTF working group. Interface to the routing system. 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