An End-to-End Network Slicing Resource Allocation Mechanism in Non-Collaborative Mobile Network

Network slicing is the key technology for the fifth-generation (5G) mobile network to provide customized services for vertical businesses. In practical end-to-end 5G network slice implementation, core network (CN) slices and radio access network (RAN) slices might be possessed by multiple network operators. Due to the existence of multiple network operators, the exchange of network slice operation information between CN and RAN slice is insufficient. Network slices that implement in such non-collaborative CN and RAN scenario can lead to degradation on SLA and violation of QoS. To address this issue, we propose a network slicing resource allocation mechanism to guarantee the end-to-end network slice performance in non-collaborative mobile network. First, we utilize a heartbeat detective mechanism to enable the orchestrator to proactively perceive the status of CN and RAN and the network slice operation information. Second, the orchestrator adjusts the resource allocation strategy of network slices given the heartbeat packet detection results. Simulation results show that the proposed mechanism guarantees good performance and low error rate of network slices compared with the baseline mechanisms. Additionally, we can accurately estimate the delay in the non-collaborative scenarios of the CN and RAN slices.