Signalling load reduction in 5G network based on cloud radio access network architecture

Abstract

The rapid growth of both mobile users and application numbers has caused a huge load on the core network (CN). This is attributed to the large numbers of control messages circulating between CN entities for each communication or service request, however, making it imperative to develop innovative designs to handle this load. Consequently, a variety of proposed architectures, including a software defined network (SDN) paradigm focused on the separation of control and data plans, have been implemented to make networks more flexible. Cloud radio access network (C-RAN) architecture has been suggested for this purpose, which is based on separating base band units (BBU) from several base stations and assembling these in one place. In this work, a novel approach to realize this process is based on SDN and C-RAN, which also distributes the control elements of the CN and locates them alongside the BBU to obtain the lowest possible load. The performance of this proposed architecture was evaluated against traditional architecture using MATLAB simulation, and. the results of this assessment indicated a major reduction in signalling load as compared to that seen in the traditional architecture. Overall, the number of signalling messages exchanged between control entities was decreased by 53.19 percent as compared to that seen in the existing architecture.