"The forecasted traffic growth in mobile networks is one of the biggest challenges faced by the mobile industry. In addition, declining average revenues per user (ARPUs) and rising costs of ownership increase the difficulties for service providers to fulfill this upcoming demand. Densifying mobile networks by means of adding small cells, which have a limited footprint but high data rates, is seen as the most promising way to cope with this increasing demand. However, one of the biggest challenges to be solved for a successful deployment of such small cells is the question of backhauling, especially when in many cases the backhaul network is expected to be wireless.
In SESAME, we plan to study how such a small cell wireless backhaul should be designed. In particular, we propose to apply software defined networking (SDN) techniques to the design of the wireless backhaul, which should allow service providers to: i) have a common management framework for a potentially heterogeneous backhaul network, ii) allow a flexible and dynamic deployment of network services running on top of the backhaul network, and iii) enable new business models such as those involving the sharing of the backhaul network among different service providers, hence reducing capital and operational expenditures. The work methodology followed in SESAME will be an experimental research approach, where the designed concepts and protocols will be evaluated by means of simulations and prototyping.
SESAME will potentially impact relevant European and international stakeholders in the software defined networking and in the wireless backhaul arenas. Dissemination and exploitation of the results by means of publications, standard contributions and further collaborations with interested industrial partners is one of the main goals of the project. Finally, the experience of the researcher and of the host institution should guarantee a successful execution of the project."