Virtualization Technology in Cloud Computing Based Radio Access Networks: A Primer

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-5188.2017.04.007

Abstract

Abstract:

Since virtualization technology enables the abstraction and sharing of resources in a flexible management way, the overall expenses of network deployment can be significantly reduced. Therefore, the technology has been widely applied in the core network. With the tremendous growth in mobile traffic and services, it is natural to extend virtualization technology to the cloud computing based radio access networks (CC-RANs) for achieving high spectral efficiency with low cost. In this paper, the virtualization technologies in CC-RANs are surveyed, including the system architecture, key enabling techniques, challenges, and open issues. The enabling key technologies for virtualization in CC-RANs mainly including virtual resource allocation, radio access network (RAN) slicing, mobility management, and social-awareness have been comprehensively surveyed to satisfy the isolation, customization and high-efficiency utilization of radio resources. The challenges and open issues mainly focus on virtualization levels for CC-RANs, signaling design for CC-RAN virtualization, performance analysis for CC-RAN virtualization, and network security for virtualized CC-RANs.

Key words: network virtualization, CC-RAN, RAN slicing, fog computing

ZHANG Xian, PENG Mugen. Virtualization Technology in Cloud Computing Based Radio Access Networks: A Primer[J]. ZTE Communications, 2017, 15(4): 47-66.

Figures/Tables 8

Figure 1. Network virtualization architecture from the resource perspective.

Figure 2. An example of infrastructure virtualization on C-RAN architecture [31].

Figure 3. Evaluation results of the spectrum virtualization in [15].

Figure 4. An example of cache virtualization framework. The physical content (cache) is sliced into virtual contents that can be shared among different services dynamically and the slicing can be time multiplexing or space multiplexing [29].

Figure 5. Virtualization architecture of a) SD-RAN and b) the centralized controller [63].

Figure 6. Virtualization architecture in C-RANs [59].

Figure 7. Virtualization architecture in F-RANs.

Figure 8. The handover process for virtualized F-RANs based on 5G network slicing system [105].

References 112

[1]	M. Peng, Y. Li, Z. Zhao, C. Wang , “System architecture and key technologies for 5G heterogeneous cloud radio access networks,” IEEE Network, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 6-14, Mar. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2015.7064897.
[2]	M. Peng and W. Wang , “Technologies and standards for TD-SCDMA evolutions to IMT-Advanced,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 47, no. 12, pp. 50-58, Dec. 2009. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2009.5350368.
[3]	B. Cao, F. He, Y. Li, C. Wang, W. Liang , “Software defined virtual wireless network: Framework and challenges,” IEEE Network, vol. 29, no.4, pp.6-12, Jul.-Aug. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2015.7166185.
[4]	H. Zhang, S. Vreic, G. Senarath , et al., “5G wireless network: MyNET and SONAC,” IEEE Network, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 14-23, Jul.-Aug. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2015.7166186.
[5]	S. Dixit, C. Politis, A. T. Papathanassiou , “Network virtualization in the wireless world,” IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol.10, no. 3, pp. 27-29, Sept. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MVT.2015.2446452.
[6]	K. Zhu and E. Hossain , “Virtualization of 5G cellular networks as a hierarchical combinatorial auction,” IEEE Transaction on Mobile Computing, vol. 15, no. 10, pp. 2640-2654, Oct. 2016. doi: 10.1109/TMC.2015.2506578.
[7]	M. M. Rahman, C. Despins, S. Affes , “Design optimization of wireless access virtualization based on cost and QoS trade-off utility maximization,” IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 15, no. 9, pp. 6146-6162, Sept. 2016. doi: 10.1109/TWC.2016.2580505.
[8]	R. Riggio, A. Bradai, D. Harutyunyan, T. Rasheed, T. Ahmed , “Scheduling wireless virtual networks functions,” IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 240-252, Jun. 2016. doi: 10.1109/TNSM.2016.2549563.
[9]	Y. Li and M. Chen , “Software-defined network function virtualization: a survey,” IEEE Access, vol. 3, pp. 2542-2553, Dec. 2015. doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2015.2499271.
[10]	C. Liang and F. R. Yu , “Wireless virtualization for next generation mobile cellular networks,” IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 61-69, Feb. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2015.7054720.
[11]	H. Huang, P. Li, S. Guo, W. Zhuang , “Software-defined wireless mesh networks: architecture and traffic orchestration,” IEEE network, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 24-30, Jul./Aug. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2015.7166187.
[12]	T. Wood, K. K. Ramakrishnan, J. Hwang, G. Liu, W. Zhang , “Toward a software-based network integrating software defined networking and network function virtualization,” IEEE Network, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 36-41, May-Jun. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2015.7113223.
[13]	J. G. Herrera J. F. Botero , “Resource allocation in NFV: a comprehensive survey,” IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 518-532, Sept. 2016. doi: 10.1109/TNSM.2016.2598420.
[14]	Q. Zhou, C. Wang, S. Mclaughlin, X. Zhou , “Network virtualization and resource description in software-defined wireless networks,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 110-117, Nov. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7321979.
[15]	Z. Feng, C. Qiu, Z. Feng , et al., “An effective approach to 5G: wireless network virtualization,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol.53, no.12, pp. 53-59, Dec. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7355585.
[16]	C. J. Bernardos, A. D. L. Olive, P. Serrano , et al., “An architecture for software defined wireless networking,” IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 52-61, Jun. 2014. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2014.6845049.
[17]	H. Li, M. Dong, K. Ota , “Radio access network virtualization for the social internet of things,” IEEE Could Computing, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 42-50, Nov.-Dec. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCC.2015.114.
[18]	F. Granelli, A. A. Gebremariam, M. Usman , et al., “Software defined and virtualized wireless access in future wireless networks: scenarios and standards,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 26-34, Jun. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7120042.
[19]	X. Costa-Prez, J. Swetina, T. Guo, R. Mahindra, S. Rangarajan , “Radio access network for future mobile carrier networks,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 51, no. 7, pp. 27-35, Jul. 2013. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2013.6553675.
[20]	R. Kokku, R. Mahindra, H. Zhang, S. Ranfarajan , “NVS: a substrate for virtualizing wireless resources in cellular networks,” IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 1333-1346, Oct. 2012. doi: 10.1109/TNET.2011.2179063.
[21]	G. Tseliou, F. Adelantado, C. Verikoukis , “Scalable RAN virtualization in multitenant LTE-A heterogeneous networks,” IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 65, pp. 6651-6664, Aug. 2016. doi: 10.1109/TVT.2015.2475641.
[22]	C. Liang and F. R. Yu , “Wireless network virtualization: a survey, some research issues and challenges,” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol.17, no. 1, pp. 358-380, first quarter 2015. doi: 10.1109/COMST.2014.2352118.
[23]	F. Callegati, W. Cerroni, C. Contoli , et al., “SDN for dynamic NFV deployment,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 54, no. 10, pp. 89-95, Oct. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2016.7588275.
[24]	VMWARE. (2014, Jul.). Virtualization essentials [Online]. Available:
[25]	H. Hawilo, A. shami, M. Mirahmadi and R. Asal , “NFV: state of the art, challenges, and implementation in next generation mobile networks (vEPC),” IEEE Network., vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 18-26, Nov.-Dec. 2014. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2014.6963800.
[26]	ETSI. (2012, Oct.). Network function virtualization: an introduction, benefits, enablers, challenges, & call for action, SDN and OpenFlow World Congress [Online]: Available:
[27]	A. Wang, M. Iyer, R. Dutta, G. N. Rouskas, I. Baldine , “Network virtualization: technologies, perspectives, and frontiers,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 523-537, Feb. 2013. doi: 10.1109/JLT.2012.2213796.
[28]	M. A. Marotta, N. Kaminski, I. Gomez-Miguelez , et al., “Resource sharing in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks,” IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 74-82, Jun. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2015.7143329.
[29]	C. Liang, F. R. Yu, X. Zhang , “Information-centric network function virtualization over 5G mobile wireless networks,” IEEE Network., vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 68-74, May-Jun. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2015.7113228.
[30]	M. Yang, Y. Li, D. Jin , et al., “Software-defined and virtualized future and wireless networks: a survey,” Mobile Networking and Application, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 4-18, Feb. 2015. doi: 10.1007/s11036-014-0533-8.
[31]	P. Rost, I. Berberana, A. Maeder , et al., “Benefits and challenges of virtualization in 5G radio access networks,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol.53, no. 12, pp. 75-82, Dec. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7355588.
[32]	N. Marshall and J. Hoffman . (2015, Jul.). NFV: radio virtualization in the RAN [Online]. Available:
[33]	M. Y. Arslan, K. Sundaresan, S. Rangarajan , “Software-defined networking in cellular radio access networks: potential and challenges,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 150-156, Jan. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7010528.
[34]	EU FP7. (2017, Mar.). FLAVIA project [Online]. Available:
[35]	Small Cell Forum (2015, Jun.). Virtualization for small cells: overview, Rep. version:106.07.01 [Online]. Available:
[36]	5GPPP 5GEx project, “5GEx Multi-domain service creation-from 90 days to 90 minutes,” A 5GEx White Paper V1, Mar.2016.
[37]	5GPPP. (2017, Mar.). SEAME project [Online]. Available:
[38]	X. Zhou, R. Li, T. Chen, H. Zhang , “Network slicing as a service: enabling enterprises’ own software-defined cellular networks,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 54, no. 7, pp. 146-153, Jul. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2016.7509393.
[39]	D. Sabella, P. Rost Y. Sheng , et al., “RAN as a service: challenges of designing a flexible RAN architecture in a cloud-based heterogeneous mobile network,” in Proc. Future Network & Mobile Summit, Lisboa,Portugal, 2013, pp. 1-8.
[40]	M. Patwary, S. K. Sharma, S. Chatzinotas , et al., “Universal intelligent small cell (UnISCell) for next generation cellular networks,” Digital Communications and Networks, vol. 2, no. 4, Nov. 2016, pp. 167-174, doi: 10.1016/j.dcan.2016.09.003.
[41]	R. P. Esteves, L. Z. Granville, R. Boutaba , “On the management of virtual networks,” IEEE Communications Magazine., vol. 51, no. 7, pp. 80-88, Jul. 2014. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2013.6553682.
[42]	M. Peng, Y. Sun, X. Li, Z. Mao, C. Wang , “Recent advances in cloud radio access networks: system architecture, key techniques, and open issues,” IEEE Communications Surveys &Tutorials, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 2282-2308, third quarter 2016. doi: 10.1109/COMST.2016.2548658.
[43]	A. Checko, H. L. Christiansen, Y. Yan , et al., “Cloud RAN for mobile networks-a technology overview,” IEEE Communications Surveys &Tutorials, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 405-426, first quarter 2015. doi: 10.1109/COMST.2014.2355255.
[44]	S. Abdelwahab, B. Hamdaoui, M. Guizani, T. Znati , “Network function virtualization in 5G,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 84-91, Apr. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2016.7452271.
[45]	M. I. M M. I. M. Alfaqawi J. Chebil M. H. Habaebi and D. Datla , “Wireless distributed computing for cyclostationary feature detection,” Digital Communications and Networks, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 47-56, Feb. 2016. doi: 10.1016/j.dcan.2015.09.003.
[46]	X. Li, X. Wang, C. Zhu, W. Cai, V. C. M. Leung , “Caching-as-a-service: Virtual caching framework in the cloud-based mobile networks,” in IEEE INFOCOM 2015 Workshops on Computer Communications (INFOCOM WKSHPS), Hong Kong,China, pp. 372-377, Aug. 2015. doi: 10.1109/INFCOMW.2015.7179413.
[47]	S. Buzzi C.-L. I T. E. Klein , et al., “A survey of energy-efficient techniques for 5G networks and challenges Ahead,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications., vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 697-709, Apr. 2016. doi: 10.1109/JSAC.2016.2550338.
[48]	ITU, “IMT vision—framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2020 and beyond,” ITU-R M.2083-0, Sept. 2015.
[49]	Z. Chang, Z. Zhou, S. Zhou, T. Ristaniemi, Z. Niu . ( 2016, Apr.). Towards service-oriented 5G: virtualizing the networks for everything-as-a-service [Online]. Available:
[50]	S. Barbarossa, S. Sardellitti, P. D. Lorenzo , “Computing while computing: distributed mobile cloud computing over 5G heterogeneous networks,” IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 45-55, Nov. 2014. doi: 10.1109/MSP.2014.2334709.
[51]	M. Peng, Y. Yu, H. Xiang, H. V. Poor , “Energy-eﬃcient resource allocation optimization for multimedia heterogeneous cloud radio access networks”, IEEE Trans. Multimedia, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 879-892, May 2016.
[52]	S. Zhou, J. Gong, Z. Zhou, W. Chen, Z. Niu , “GreenDelivery: proactive content caching and push with energy-harvesting based small cells” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 142-149, Apr. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7081087.
[53]	R. Khanna, H. Liu, T. Rangarajan , “Wireless data center management: sensor network applications and challenges,” IEEE Microwave Magazine, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. S45-S60, Nov./Dec. 2014. doi: 10.1109/MMM.2014.2356151.
[54]	E. S. Correa, L. A. Fletscher, J. F. Botero , “Virtual data center embedding: a survey,” IEEE Latin America Transactions, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 1661-1670, May 2015. doi: 10.1109/TLA.2015.7112029.
[55]	Techopedia. (2017, Mar.). Data center virtualization [Online]. Available:
[56]	H. Shirayanagi, H. Yamada, K. Kono , “Honeyguide: a VM migration-aware network topology for saving energy consumption in data center networks,” in IEEE Symposium Computers and Communications (ISCC), Cappadocia,Turkey, 2012. pp. 000460-000467. doi: 10.1109/ISCC.2012.6249339.
[57]	S. Zhou, T. Zhao, Z. Niu, S. Zhou , “Software-defined hyper-cellular architecture for green and elastic wireless access,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 54, no. 1, Jan. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2016.7378420.
[58]	Z. Zaidi, V. Friderikos, M. A. Imran , “Future RAN architecture: SD-RAN through a general-purpose processing platform,” IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 52-60, Mar. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MVT.2014.2380632.
[59]	C.-L. I, Y. Yuan, J. Huang , et al., “Rethink fronthaul for soft RAN,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 9, pp. 82-88, Sept. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7263350.
[60]	T. Chen, M. Matinmikko, X. Chen, X. Zhou, P. Ahokangas , “Software defined mobile networks: concept, survey, and research directions,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 126-133, Nov. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7321981.
[61]	M. Y. Arslan, K. Sundaresan, S. Rangarajan , “Software-defined networking in cellular radio access networks: potential and challenges,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 150-156, Jan. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7010528.
[62]	A. M. Akhtar, X. wang and L. Hanzo , “Synergistic spectrum sharing in 5G HetNets: a harmonized SDN-enabled approach,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 40-47, Jan. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2016.7378424.
[63]	A. Gupta and R. K. Jha , “A survey of 5G network: architecture and emerging technologies,” IEEE Access, vol. 3, pp. 1206-1232, Jul. 2015. doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2015.2461602.
[64]	R. Riggio, M. K. Marina, J. Schulz-Zander, S. Kuklinski, T. Rashed , “Programming abstractions for software-defined wireless networks,” IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 146-162, Jun. 2015. doi: 10.1109/TNSM.2015.2417772.
[65]	M. Peng, C. Wang, J. Li, H. Xiang, V. Lau , “Recent advances in underlay heterogeneous networks: interference control, resource allocation, and self-organization,” IEEE Communications on Surveys & Tutorials., vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 700-729, Second quarter 2015. doi: 10.1109/COMST.2015.2416772.
[66]	H. Ibrahim, H. ElSawy, U. T. Nguyen, M.-S. Alouini , “Mobility-aware modeling and analysis of dense cellular networks with C-Plane/U-Plane split architecture,” IEEE Transactions on Communications., vol. 64, no. 11, pp. 4879-4894, Nov. 2016. doi: 10.1109/TCOMM.2016.2609905.
[67]	M. Peng, Y. Li, Z. Zhao, J. Jiang, J. Li, C. Wang , “Heterogeneous cloud radio access networks: a new perspective for enhancing spectral and energy efficiencies,” IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 126-135, Dec. 2014. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2014.7000980/ISSN: 1536-1284.
[68]	M. Armbrust, A. Fox, R. Griffith , et al., “A view of cloud computing,” Communications of the ACM, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 50-58, Apr. 2010. doi: 10.1145/1721654.1721672.
[69]	M. Peng, C. Wang, V. Lau, H. V. Poor , “Fronthaul-constrained cloud radio access networks: insights and challenges,” IEEE Wireless Communications., vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 152-160, Apr. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2015.7096298.
[70]	O. Simeone, A. Maeder, M. Peng, O. Sahin, W. Yu , “Cloud radio access network: virtualizing wireless access for dense heterogeneous systems,” Journal of Communications and Networks, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 135-149, Apr. 2016. doi: 10.1109/JCN.2016.000023.
[71]	K. A. Meerja, A. Shami, S. Refaey , “Hailing cloud empowered radio access networks,” IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 122-129, Feb. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2015.7054727.
[72]	A. Blenk, A. Basta, M. Reisslein, W. Kellerer , “Survey on network virtualization hypervisors for software defined networking,” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 655-685, First quarter 2016. doi: 10.1109/COMST.2015.2489183.
[73]	C.-L. I, J. Huang, R. Duan , et al., “Recent progress on C-RAN centralization and cloudification,” IEEE Access, vol. 2, pp. 1030-1039, Aug. 2014. doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2014.2351411.
[74]	C.-L. I, C. Rowell, S. Han , et al., “Toward green and soft: a 5G perspective,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 66-73, Feb. 2014. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2014.6736745.
[75]	F. Bonomi, R. Milito, J. Zhu, S. Addepalli , “Fog computing and it’s role in the internet of things,” in Proc. First Edition of MCC Workshop on the Mobile Cloud Computing, Helsinki,Finland, 2012, pp. 13-16.
[76]	F. Bonomi, R. Milito, P. Natarajan, J. Zhu , “Fog computing: a platform for internet of things and analytics,” in Big Data and Internet of Things: A Roadmap for Smart Environments, N. Bessis and C. Dobre ed. New York, USA: Springer, 2014, vol.546, pp. 169-186. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-05029-4_7.
[77]	Y. Ai, M. Peng, K. Zhang. (2017). Edge cloud computing technologies for internet of things: a primer, Digital Communications and Networks [Online]. Available:
[78]	K. Liang, L. Zhao, X. Chu, H.-H. Chen , “An integrated architecture for software defined and virtualized radio access networks with fog computing,” IEEE Network, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 80-87, Jan./Feb. 2017. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2017.1600027NM.
[79]	M. Peng, S. Yan, K. Zhang, C. Wang , “Fog-computing-based radio access networks: issues and challenges,” IEEE Network, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 46-53, Jul.-Aug. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2016.7513863.
[80]	M. Peng, K. Zhang , “Recent advances in fog radio access networks: performance analysis and radio resource allocation,” IEEE Access, vol. 4, pp. 5003-5009, Aug. 2016. doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2016.2603996.
[81]	S. -C. Hung, H. Hsu, S. -Y. Lien, and K. -C. Chen , “Architecture harmonization between cloud radio access networks and fog network,” IEEE Access, vol. 3, pp. 3019-3034, Dec. 2015. doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2015.2509638.
[82]	R. Tandon and O. Simeone “Harnessing cloud and edge synergies: toward an information theory of fog radio access networks,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 54, no. 8, pp. 44-50, Aug. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2016.7537176.
[83]	S. Sarkar, S. Chatterjee, S. Misra , “Assessment of the suitability of fog computing in the context of internet of things,” IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing, vol. PP, no. 99, pp. 1-14, Oct. 2015. doi: 10.1109/TCC.2015.2485206.
[84]	S. H. Yeganeh and Y. Ganjali , “Kandoo: a framework for efficient and scalable offloading of control applications,” in Proc. 1st Workshop on Hot Topics in Software Defined Networks, New York,USA, 2012, pp. 19-24.
[85]	Nokia, “Dynamic end-to-end network slicing for 5G,” Whitepaper, Jun. 2016.
[86]	5GPPP, “Deliverable D2. 2: draft overall 5G RAN design,” Whitepaper, Jun. 2016.
[87]	ZTE Corporation, “Some Clarification for NW Slicing,” (Type: discussion), Reno, US, R3-162723, Nov. 2016.
[88]	A. Fischer, J. F. Botero, M. T. Beck, H. de Meer and X. Hesselbach , “Virtual network embedding: a survey,” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 1888-1906, FourthQuarter 2013. doi: 10.1109/SURV.2013.013013.00155.
[89]	T. LeAnh, N. H. Trane, D. T. Ngo, C. S. Hong , “Resource allocation for virtualized wireless networks with backhaul constraints,” IEEE Communications Letters, Oct. 2016, doi: 10.1109/LCOMM.2016.2617307.
[90]	V. Jumba, S. Parsaeefard, M. Derakhshani, T. Le-Ngoc , “Resource provisioning in wireless virtualized networks via massive-MIMO,” IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 4, no. 3, pp.237-240, Jun. 2015. doi: 10.1109/LWC.2015.2402126.
[91]	S. Parsaeefard, R. Dawadi, M. Derakhshani, T. Le-Ngoc , “Joint user-association and resource-allocation in virtualized wireless networks,” IEEE Access, Apr. 2016, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2016.2560218.
[92]	F. Fu and U. C. Kozat , “Stochastic game for wireless network virtualization,” IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 84-97, Feb. 2013. doi: 10.1109/TNET.2012.2190419.
[93]	E. Amaldi, S. Coniglio, A. M. C. A. Koster, M. Tieves , “On the computational complexity of the virtual network embedding problem,” Electronic Notes in Discrete Mathematics, vol. 52, pp. 213-220, Jun. 2016. doi: 10.1016/j.endm.2016.03.028.
[94]	F. Z. Yousaf and T. Taleb , “Fine-grained resource-aware virtual network function management for 5G carrier cloud,” IEEE Network, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 110-115, Mar.-Apr. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2016.7437032.
[95]	S. -H. Park, O. Simeone, and S. Shamai(Shitz) , “Joint optimization of cloud and edge processing for fog radio access networks” IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 15, no. 11, pp. 7621-7632, Nov. 2016. doi: 10.1109/TWC.2016.2605104.
[96]	NGMN Alliance, “Description of network slicing concept,” Final Deliverable (approved), January 2016.
[97]	O. Sallent, J. Perez-Romero, R. Ferrus, R. Agusti , “On radio access network slicing from a radio resource management perspective,” IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. PP, no. 99, pp. 2-10, Apr. 2017. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2017.1600220WC.
[98]	A. Ksentini and N. Nikaein , “Toward enforcing network slicing on RAN: flexibility and resource abstraction,” IEEE Communications Magazine., vol. 55, no. 6, pp. 102-108, June 2017. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2017.1601119.
[99]	X. Foukas, N. Nikaein, M. M. Kassem , “FlexRAN: a flexible and programmable platform for software-defined radio access networks,” in Proc. 12th ACM International Conference on Emerging Networking Experiments and Technologies, Irvine, USA, Dec. 2016, pp. 427-441.
[100]	China Mobile Communications Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Deutsche Telekom AG, and Volkswagen, “5G service-guaranteed networking slicing white paper,” White Paper V1.0, Feb. 2017.
[101]	M. Richart, J. Baliosian, J. Serrat, J. Gorricho , “Resource slicing in virtual wireless network: a survey,” IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 462-476, Sept. 2016. doi: 10.1109/TNSM.2016.2597295.
[102]	F. R. Yu, V. W. S. Wong, J.-H. Song, V. C. M. Leung, and H. C. B. Chan. (2011, Apr.). Next generation mobility management: an introduction, Wireless Communications on Mobile Computing [Online]. 11(4), pp. 446-458. Available:
[103]	L. Zhu, F. R. Yu, T. Tang, B. Ning , “Handoff performance improvement in an integrated train-ground communication system based on wireless network virtualization,” IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 1165-1178, May 2017. doi: 10.1109/TITS.2016.2620171.
[104]	X. Duan and X. Wang , “Authentication handover and privacy protection in 5G HetNets using software-defined networking,” IEEE Communications Magazine., vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 28-35, Apr. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7081072.
[105]	H. Zhang, N. Liu, X. Chu , et al. (2017, Apr.). Network slicing based 5G and future mobile networks mobility, resource management, and challenges [Online]. Available:
[106]	F. Xia, L. Liu, J. Ma, A. V. Vasilakos , “Socially aware networking: a survey,” IEEE System Journal, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 904-921, Sept. 2015. doi: 10.1109/JSYST.2013.2281262.
[107]	Y. Cao, C. Long, T. Jiang, S. Mao , “Share communication and computation resources on mobile devices: a social awareness perspective,” IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 52-59, Aug. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2016.7553026.
[108]	L. Jiang, H. Tian, Z. Xing , et al., “Social-aware energy harvesting device-to-device communications in 5G networks,” IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 20-27, Aug. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2016.7553022.
[109]	B. Bai, L. Wang, Z. Han, W. Chen, T. Svensson , “Caching based socially-D2D communications in wireless content delivery networks: a hypergraph framework,” IEEE Wireless Communications., vol. 23, no.4, pp. 74-81, Aug. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2016.7553029.
[110]	A. Leivadeas, C. Papagianni, S. Papavassiliou , “Socio-aware virtual network embedding,” IEEE Network, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 35-43, Sept.-Oct. 2012. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2012.6308073.
[111]	F. Z. Yousaf, P. Loureiro, F. Zdarsky, T. Taleb, M. Liebsch , “Cost analysis of initial deployment strategies for virtualized mobile core network functions,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 12, pp. 60-66, Dec. 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7355586.
[112]	Q. Duan , “Cloud service performance evaluation: status, challenges, and opportunities-a survey from the system modeling perspective,” Digital Communications and Networks, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 101-111, May 2017. doi. org/10.1016/j.dcan.2016.12.002.