Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a technology that allows cellular communication nodes in 5G systems to partition bandwidth more efficiently in order to improve end-to-end data transmission rates. In simulations, the technology is capable of meeting the international goal of 10 Gbps in peak performance areas.
According to assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and author of a paper on the work, Shih-Chun Lin, End-to-end transfer means that the technology accounts for all of the connections between a data source and the end user.
The new technology, incorporating both hardware and software, is a framework that takes into account data transfer rates, wired and wireless bandwidth availability, and the power of base stations – or eNodeBs – in a 5G network. It then uses stochastic optimization modeling to determine the most efficient means of transferring and retrieving data – and it does this very quickly, without using a lot of computing power.
Lin says that simulation testing of the framework is promising, and he and his research team are in the process of building a fully functional prototype. The prototype will allow them to conduct tests on a 5G testbed platform, since full-scale 5G networks are not yet online. But simulation results suggest that they will be able to meet the 3GPP goal of 10 gigabits per second data transfer in peak coverage areas.
The team is currently seeking industry partners to work with them on developing, testing and deploying the framework to better characterize its performance prior to widespread adoption of 5G networks.
Here is a link to the paper that talks about this technology: End-to-End Network Slicing for 5G&B Wireless Software-Defined Systems
