Dynamic Mobile X-Haul Reconfiguration by Fast Network Switching for Low-Latency MEC Service

Abstract

The architectural flexibility of the Radio Access Network (RAN) is expected to be enhanced by applying Network Function Virtualization (NFV) to realize low-latency Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC). In order to provide on-demand MEC service tailored to the user's demands, RAN and the optical network should be constructed quickly without service interruption. In this paper, we propose a network and RAN control method that ensures cooperation of the network controller and RAN controller. It can switch network and RAN at the same time by simple reconfiguration. We evaluate the service interruption time by using the proposed method in some experimental setups in a comparison with the existing method. Finally, we confirm the proposed method enables faster reconfiguration than the network operator method.