Resource Slicing in Virtual Wireless Networks: A Survey

TLDR

Network virtualization has enabled radio access networks to be partitioned into isolated virtual slices, but resource allocation and isolation remain challenging due to the dynamic, shared wireless medium. This survey defines the resource slicing problem in detail, discusses its challenges, and outlines future research directions. It reviews existing approaches and analyzes how software‑defined networking and network‑function virtualization can support slicing.

Abstract

New architectural and design approaches for radio access networks have appeared with the introduction of network virtualization in the wireless domain. One of these approaches splits the wireless network infrastructure into isolated virtual slices under their own management, requirements, and characteristics. Despite the advances in wireless virtualization, there are still many open issues regarding the resource allocation and isolation of wireless slices. Because of the dynamics and shared nature of the wireless medium, guaranteeing that the traffic on one slice will not affect the traffic on the others has proven to be difficult. In this paper, we focus on the detailed definition of the problem, discussing its challenges. We also provide a review of existing works that deal with the problem, analyzing how new trends such as software defined networking and network function virtualization can assist in the slicing. We will finally describe some research challenges on this topic.