Research Platform for Software-Defined and Virtualized Wireless Networks

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Recently, software-defined networking (SDN) and network virtualization have received tremendous interests from both academia and industry. Compared to traditional paradigms, software-defined and virtualized wireless networks enable direct programmability of wireless network controls and abstraction of the underlying radio spectrum and infrastructure, simplify network management and configuration, improve spectrum efficiency and energy efficiency, reduce the capital expenses (CapEx) and operation expenses (OpEx), and facilitate network evolution. Several standardization organizations, including ETSI and 3GPP, are paving the way for the realization of software-defined and virtualized wireless networks in the 5th generation (5G) and beyond. Despite the potential vision of software-defined and virtualized wireless networks, several significant research challenges remain to be addressed before widespread deployment of software-defined and virtualized wireless networks become practical. The proposed infrastructure will provide an experimentation platform for implementing the novel network architecture and protocols, resource management schemes, and cross-layer designs developed in our NSERC Strategic Partnership Grant for Projects, entitled Enabling Technologies for Future Software-defined and Virtualized Wireless Networks. It will enable us to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed schemes in practice to make sure that they are not only robust but also practical to implement. The platform will also provide the means for proof-of-concept demonstrations, technology transfer and commercialization. The platform will be used to train a large number of highly qualified personnel at the postgraduate and undergraduate level to serve the needs of the growing wireless communications and networks industry in Canada.