Towards Building Quality-Driven Next-Generation Mobile Networks with Carrier-Grade Virtualized Platforms

在过去的几年中，对高带宽网络连接的需求一直在显著增长。尽管这种快速增长对移动运营商来说是一个商机，但它也暂停了迫切的网络容量挑战，需要及时做出回应。作为一种解决方案，投资额外的基础设施总是存在的。然而，在这种情况下，这远非魔杖，因为资本投资的回报率可能微乎其微。不可否认，网络容量的升级在很大程度上取决于网络所依赖的基础设施。然而，实现特定硬件设置的真正潜力是一个更现实的改进空间和明显影响的目标。运营商一直在寻找一种创新的、改变游戏规则的解决方案，以将网络容量提升到超出预期的网络性能水平。此外，网络运营商正在应对其他与不断增长的需求同样关键的多层次挑战。不断增加的能源、财务和社会成本，以及缺乏具有设计、实施和协调日益复杂的基于硬件的基础设施的专业知识的人员，是运营商主要关心的问题。这些问题的范围不仅限于收入损失；连锁反应表现为上市时间的滞后，以及供应链挑战和信息和通信技术(信通技术)行业创新的普遍障碍。虚拟化技术获得了更大的发展势头，提供了一个网关，降低了运营商的机会成本，旨在减少对专有硬件的依赖。凭借促进硬件和软件分离的能力以及实现更有效的资本投资和更高的资本回报的手段，虚拟化技术有可能给电信业带来革命性的变化。*在本研究计划中，申请人旨在研究和开发一种虚拟电信网络框架，该框架在考虑网络资源利用率(例如无线)和快速变化的计算资源市场的同时，有效地应对虚拟技术挑战。

The demand for high-bandwidth network connectivity has been growing significantly over the past few years. As much as this rapid increase represents a business opportunity for mobile operators, it also pauses pressing network capacity challenges in need of a timely response. Investing in additional infrastructure is always there as a solution. However, this is far from a magic wand in this situation since the return-on-capital investments can be minimal. It is undeniable that upgrading network capacity depends heavily on the infrastructure upon which the network relies. However, realizing the true potential of a specific hardware setup is an objective that has more realistic room for improvement and visible impact. Operators are in insistent search for an innovative game-changing solution to elevate the network capacity beyond the expected network performance levels. Furthermore, network operators are juggling other multi-layered challenges as critical as increasing demand. Increasing energy, financial and social costs coupled with the lack of personnel with expertise to design, implement, and orchestrate a progressively complex hardware-based infrastructure are the primary concerns of operators. The scope of these issues is not limited merely to revenue loss; ripple effects manifest through lags in time-to-market, as well as supply chain challenges and general hindrances to innovation within the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) industries. Virtualization technology gained more momentum offering a gateway reducing the opportunity cost for operators aiming at reducing dependency on proprietary hardware. Empowered with the ability to facilitate hardware and software decoupling and the means to achieve more effective capital investments with higher returns on capital, Virtualization technology has the potential to revolutionize the telecommunications industry. ***In this research program, the applicant aims to investigate and develop a virtualized telecommunications network framework that efficiently address the virtualization technology challenges while considering network resource utilization (e.g., wireless) and the rapidly changing computing resource market.