An adaptive mechanism for LTE P-GW virtualization using SDN and NFV

Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) paradigms have been widely used to redesign the traditional mobile networks. Despite several proposals on the literature, researchers have drawn limited attention to the virtualization of user-plane functions that demand high traffic volume processing, as the case of Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile gateways. This paper introduces an adaptive mechanism for the user plane virtualization of the LTE Packet Data Network (PDN) GateWay (P-GW), running entirely on top of OpenFlow switches. Using both SDN and NFV concepts, the proposed mechanism employs elastic computing notions to dynamically activate or deactivate the infrastructure switches so the virtualized gateway can adjust to workload changes. This work addresses both software and hardware OpenFlow infrastructure platforms, and simulation results highlight the benefits that can be achieved by the presented mechanism.