A real time packet classification and allocation approach for C-RAN implementation in 5G network

Abstract

Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) is a centralized architecture which is able to solve most of the challenges of mobile operators and to fulfill the needs of ever-growing end-users in the fifth generation (5G) cellular network. The main idea behind C-RAN is to split the functionalities of the traditional base stations (BS) into a radio unit known as Remote Radio Head (RRH) and a Centralized and virtualized Baseband Unit (BBUs). The Virtualization of BBU provides more scalability and flexibility to the BBU unit, along with that this also gives a number of benefits in terms of cost and capacity. There are many research articles published earlier which described the C-RAN network architecture briefly, but no one describes the actual packet flow and processing in the C-RAN network. In this paper, we try to solve this issue in two consecutive steps. The first step is to classify the incoming packets, and then allocate that packet based on the destination address to the proper virtual baseband unit (VB). Then the second step is to schedule the packets based on the priority value and also provide the load balancing mechanism in VB if required.