Jun 2026· IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization· pp. 476-482· 0 citations· 20 references
Computer Science
Abstract
This work investigates the computational footprint of containerized 5G components deployed on a virtualized infrastructure, and leverages this profiling to propose an intelligent orchestration mechanism to maximize both the capacity offered to mobile network users and resource availability to application level services deployed on the computing infrastructure. We deployed and configured containerized 5G core network and radio access components using Open5GCore and UERANSIM, analyzing their resource occupation on the host server. The results show that the User Plane Function and the virtualized gNodeB introduce the most significant processing overhead. For instance, as the system scales from 5 users with 5 Mbps channels to 100 users with 50 Mbps channels, we observe an increase in CPU utilization of approximately 522%, highlighting the strong dependency between traffic load and resource consumption. Then, we incorporate the measured resource profiles into a state-of-the-art service orchestration system capable of deploying both 5G core network components and application-level services on heterogeneous computing equipment. Using an appropriate simulation tool, we evaluate our intelligent scheduling algorithm for service placement and compare it with relevant heuristic strategies. Results demonstrate that the proposed approach reduces service blocking probability by up to 76.77% while improving the bandwidth delivered to users by up to 46.76%, depending on service arrival rates and the number of users connected to the network. Based on these findings, we conclude that the proposed approach proves helpful in improving both resource efficiency and service quality.
This paper presents the design and evaluation of a network slicing implementation in a simulated 5G Standalone (SA) mobile network deployed as a nomadic edge node, where “nomadic” refers to the physical portability and ease of redeployment of a self-contained, containerized 5G testbed suitable for university teaching and experimentation. The platform integrates Open5GS, UERANSIM, Kamailio, and Prometheus/Grafana to emulate a sliced 5G core and access network supporting differentiated service requirements typical of heterogeneous traffic classes and latency-sensitive applications. Slice provisioning is fully configurable, and Docker-based resource constraints are applied to enforce Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation. Performance was assessed through bandwidth and traffic-quality measurements, demonstrating measurable improvements in packet loss and jitter for high-priority slices, with corresponding degradation for lower-priority slices. Although the laboratory environment limits replication of distributed real-world deployments, the results confirm the effectiveness of network slicing for traffic isolation and service prioritization in 5G SA systems. These findings highlight the practical boundaries of container-based slicing enforcement in a single-host nomadic 5G SA node, and inform the design of future multi-host deployments.
Elena-Ramona Modroiu, Jianwei Cheng, Damian Atlaß et al.· International Conference on...· 0 citations
The evolution of the 5 G and future 6 G networks into a virtualized infrastructure enables the deployment of virtual firewalls (vFW) to protect the network from undesirable traffic and other threats. The main advantages of the vFW systems come from the flexible deployment of vFW instances across the Telco Cloud-Edge Continuum (TCE) infrastructure and from horizontal scaling of vFW to accommodate daily changes in traffic demand. We propose a new virtual Firewall Allocation and Traffic Distribution (vFATD) approach to orchestrate the vFW system. We formulate the vFATD problem, design a MILP-based optimum orchestration algorithm, and propose k-center-based and genetic-evolution-based heuristic algorithms for practical use. Comprehensive experiments based on actual network topologies and traffic data from a mobile network operator confirmed that the proposed vFATD approach significantly outperforms the current approaches. The results say that the main gain comes from engaging traffic distribution that: i) reduces the vFW system costs by optimizing used computing and network resources, ii) improves its robustness against unexpected traffic changes, e.g., during DDoS attacks, and iii) relaxes the need for precise vFW provisioning as its performance is continuously adapted to actual traffic demands.
Bartosz Kopeć-Persiński, Andrzej Bęben· Journal of Network and Syste...· 0 citations
Compute and memory resources in cloud environments are strictly managed and isolated by the control plane; in contrast, network resources lack equivalent management and isolation mechanisms. This best-effort treatment of networking leads to significant challenges for modern AI workloads, which have diverse and bandwidth-intensive communication patterns. Without fine-grained network resource control, these workloads suffer from interference, unpredictable throughput, and suboptimal cluster utilization. To address these issues, this paper demonstrates how network bandwidth can be elevated to a first-class, schedulable, and enforceable resource within Kubernetes, the de facto standard for cloud-native orchestration. We introduce a new scheduling capability that models network interfaces as allocatable resources and regulates bandwidth sharing through the Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) framework, with enforcement implemented using the Hierarchical Token Bucket (HTB) mechanism. We evaluate the system using multitenant AI workloads derived from real-world communication characteristics with a simulation-based approach and validate the proposed enforcement strategy in a real cluster. Results show that the proposed two-level bandwidth allocation improves tenant performance predictability and satisfaction while maintaining packed cluster utilization.
This work introduces an emulation framework that allows developers and operators to decide how to deploy networks, computing devices, and applications in a Computing Continuum environment, ensuring compliance with established Quality of Service standards.
José Gómez-delaHiz, J. Herrera, S. Laso et al.· Infocommunications journal· 0 citations
Network slicing is a key enabling technology for fifth-generation (5G) and beyond mobile networks, which enables operators to run multiple logical networks on top of common physical infrastructure while meeting heterogeneous quality-ofservice (QoS) requirements. In this paper, we summarize the design, implementation, and evaluation of a UDP-based virtual network slicing simulator modeling four slices in accordance with 3GPP service types: enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC), Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), and a dedicated Best Effort slice. The simulator uses real UDP sockets on localhost in a multi-threaded framework and implements separate admission control per slice, supporting three configurable resourceborrowing modes—none, full, and controlled—in which the primary slices (eMBB, URLLC, mMTC) may borrow unused capacity from the Best Effort slice when their own allocation runs out. QoS metrics including throughput, packet loss ratio, one-way delay, and jitter are collected in a thread-safe manner per slice. Experimental results under controlled borrowing (60 s, 16 nodes, 3 MB per slice, 40% borrow cap) demonstrate activation of the borrowing mechanism with nonzero borrowed-in and borrowedout values, and illustrate the trade-off between primary-slice throughput and Best Effort protection.
Sroor Habeeb Mahmood, Ali Al-Allawee· IEEE Jordan Conference on Ap...· 0 citations
A constrained optimization model that supports different management goals through alternative objective functions (latency-aware or power-aware) while enforcing operational constraints, including node capacities, slice-specific latency bounds, and explicit limits on VNF migrations/relocations between scheduling periods is proposed.
R. Moreno-Vozmediano, E. Huedo, R. Montero et al.· Journal of Network and Syste...· 0 citations
