Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SEMANTIC (end-to-end Slicing and data-drivEn autoMAtion of Next generation cellular neTworks with mobIle edge Clouds)
Período documentado: 2020-01-01 hasta 2021-12-31
SEMANTIC “end-to-end Slicing and data-drivEn autoMAtion of Next-generation cellular neTworks with mobIle edge Clouds", aims to create an innovative research and training network for multi-GHz spectrum communications, MEC-empowered service provisioning, and end-to-end network slicing, all integrated and jointly orchestrated by forward-looking data-driven network control and automation exploiting the enormous amounts of big data spurred into the the telecommunications network.
The 5G mobile network architecture, which is currently consolidated (in terms of network components, technologies and interfaces), reveals a great network performance potential, appealing to different vertical market players. However, this potential cannot be fully harnessed without the appropriate algorithmic innovations and data-driven network automation that will permit full exploitation, global management and end-to-end integration of all the heterogeneous network components and resources. However, despite the rapidly increasing efforts devoted to the consolidation of the core 5G technologies (e.g. 5GPPP phase 2/3 projects), substantial work is still required to meet the IMT-2020 objectives set for the 5G network performance and fully harness the multitude of technological capabilities offered by 5G with minimum human intervention (e.g. through intelligent network automation and control). SEMANTIC aims to answer the aforementioned performance and technological gaps by forming an innovative research and training network for multi-GHz spectrum communications, MEC-empowered service provisioning and end-to-end network slicing, all integrated and jointly orchestrated by forward-looking data-driven network control and automation exploiting the enormous amounts of mobile big data spurred into the mobile data network. In this context, SEMANTIC will form an integrated, multi-disciplinary training network of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs), guided by experienced supervisors, aiming at the creation of highly-trained academic researchers and industrial professionals with a future-proof background on PHY design for multi-GHz communications, end-to-end MEC/RAN integration, slice-enabled connectivity and data-driven network orchestration in the 5G continuum.
The SEMANTIC efforts will be channelled towards four ambitious Research Objectives (ROs):
1) Propose future-proof 5G NR transmission techniques tailored to multi-GHz spectrum utilization allowing smooth coexistence of 5G NR with other mmWave systems.
2) Devise architectural and functional enhancements for the integration of MEC services into the standard operation of 5G, fully realizing the convergence of radio, processing and storage at the edge.
3) Develop models and forward-thinking strategies for flexible modeling, creation and optimization of dynamic e2e slices over joint MEC/RAN infrastructures, full exploiting radically new technologies specific to 5G.
4) Innovate data-driven network control and automation towards fast acceleration and joint optimization of critical network tasks affecting system-wide performance.
SEMANTIC aims to contribute to structuring doctoral/early-stage research training at the European level and to strengthening European innovation capacity. SEMANTIC will create a new generation of experts capable of understanding in-depth, planning and employing emerging 5G architectures, concepts, technologies, processes and tools (e.g. data analysis, ML, OAI) for the e2e optimization of 5G-enabled services and networks.
The 5G mobile network architecture, which is currently consolidated (in terms of network components, technologies and interfaces), reveals a great network performance potential, appealing to different vertical market players. However, this potential cannot be fully harnessed without the appropriate algorithmic innovations and data-driven network automation that will permit full exploitation, global management and end-to-end integration of all the heterogeneous network components and resources. However, despite the rapidly increasing efforts devoted to the consolidation of the core 5G technologies (e.g. 5GPPP phase 2/3 projects), substantial work is still required to meet the IMT-2020 objectives set for the 5G network performance and fully harness the multitude of technological capabilities offered by 5G with minimum human intervention (e.g. through intelligent network automation and control). SEMANTIC aims to answer the aforementioned performance and technological gaps by forming an innovative research and training network for multi-GHz spectrum communications, MEC-empowered service provisioning and end-to-end network slicing, all integrated and jointly orchestrated by forward-looking data-driven network control and automation exploiting the enormous amounts of mobile big data spurred into the mobile data network. In this context, SEMANTIC will form an integrated, multi-disciplinary training network of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs), guided by experienced supervisors, aiming at the creation of highly-trained academic researchers and industrial professionals with a future-proof background on PHY design for multi-GHz communications, end-to-end MEC/RAN integration, slice-enabled connectivity and data-driven network orchestration in the 5G continuum.
The SEMANTIC efforts will be channelled towards four ambitious Research Objectives (ROs):
1) Propose future-proof 5G NR transmission techniques tailored to multi-GHz spectrum utilization allowing smooth coexistence of 5G NR with other mmWave systems.
2) Devise architectural and functional enhancements for the integration of MEC services into the standard operation of 5G, fully realizing the convergence of radio, processing and storage at the edge.
3) Develop models and forward-thinking strategies for flexible modeling, creation and optimization of dynamic e2e slices over joint MEC/RAN infrastructures, full exploiting radically new technologies specific to 5G.
4) Innovate data-driven network control and automation towards fast acceleration and joint optimization of critical network tasks affecting system-wide performance.
SEMANTIC aims to contribute to structuring doctoral/early-stage research training at the European level and to strengthening European innovation capacity. SEMANTIC will create a new generation of experts capable of understanding in-depth, planning and employing emerging 5G architectures, concepts, technologies, processes and tools (e.g. data analysis, ML, OAI) for the e2e optimization of 5G-enabled services and networks.
During Phase 1, all ESRs have studied the key SoA concepts, methodologies and tools relevant to their individual projects while obtaining a system-wide perspective on the: i) 5G ecosystem and technologies, ii) key 5G players (infrastructure owners, operators, verticals), iii) standardization efforts and releases (e.g. 3GPP on NR, ETSI on MEC/RAN integration, ITU-T on IMT-2020), and iv) related projects (e.g. 5GPPP Phase 2&3). ESRs from academia learnt advanced mathematical, and network simulation tools, while ESRs from industrial partners will focus on experimental platforms.
During the second phase of the project, the early-stage researchers have started going beyond the state-of-the-arte by proposing and modelling new solutions to meet the individual requirements of their research projects.
During the second phase of the project, the early-stage researchers have started going beyond the state-of-the-arte by proposing and modelling new solutions to meet the individual requirements of their research projects.
SEMANTIC will foster novel techniques for multi-GHz spectrum communications that explore the recently-released NR capabilities for dynamic beam management, adaptive duplexing, and selfcontained
subframe transmissions, further studying coexistence issues with other systems operating in multi-GHz bands and proposing future-proof NR enhancements for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and massively distributed MIMO. SEMANTIC will also be one of the first EU-funded projects to devise forward-thinking enhancements and original methodological tools for dynamic service provisioning capable to guarantee "zero perceived" downtime and massive connectivity at the network edge, through the integration of MEC-empowered upgrades to the 5G operation (ML-based optimizations for MEC service continuity, MEC-empowered localization and edge content caching, resource orchestration tailored to massive connectivity, etc.) as well as through the optimized creation, placement, chaining and utilization of e2e slices in the 5G continuum (resources, VNFs), fully exploiting the flexibility offered for dynamic functional split, traffic steering and IAB. Different from other EU-funded projects,
SEMANTIC will innovate 5G network control and automation through a comprehensive data-driven framework that will be specialized to the i) control and parameterization of the large number of features ii) dynamic service placement and chaining of VNFs spanning the different network tiers and domains, as well as iii) inter-slice management and joint allocation of resources in converged MEC/RAN infrastructures.
subframe transmissions, further studying coexistence issues with other systems operating in multi-GHz bands and proposing future-proof NR enhancements for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and massively distributed MIMO. SEMANTIC will also be one of the first EU-funded projects to devise forward-thinking enhancements and original methodological tools for dynamic service provisioning capable to guarantee "zero perceived" downtime and massive connectivity at the network edge, through the integration of MEC-empowered upgrades to the 5G operation (ML-based optimizations for MEC service continuity, MEC-empowered localization and edge content caching, resource orchestration tailored to massive connectivity, etc.) as well as through the optimized creation, placement, chaining and utilization of e2e slices in the 5G continuum (resources, VNFs), fully exploiting the flexibility offered for dynamic functional split, traffic steering and IAB. Different from other EU-funded projects,
SEMANTIC will innovate 5G network control and automation through a comprehensive data-driven framework that will be specialized to the i) control and parameterization of the large number of features ii) dynamic service placement and chaining of VNFs spanning the different network tiers and domains, as well as iii) inter-slice management and joint allocation of resources in converged MEC/RAN infrastructures.