authors ROST, PETER BERNARDOS CANO, CARLOS JESUS DE DOMENICO, ANTONIO DI GIROLAMO, MARCO LALAM, MASSINISSA MAEDER, ANDREAS SABELLA, DARIO WUEBBEN, DIRK
abstract The evolution toward 5G mobile networks will be characterized by an increasing number of wireless devices, increasing device and service complexity, and the requirement to access mobile services ubiquitously. Two key enablers will allow the realization of the vision of 5G: very dense deployments and centralized processing. This article discusses the challenges and requirements in the design of 5G mobile networks based on these two key enablers. It discusses how cloud technologies and flexible functionality assignment in radio access networks enable network densification and centralized operation of the radio access network over heterogeneous backhaul networks. The article describes the fundamental concepts, shows how to evolve the 3GPP LTE architecture, and outlines the expected benefits. © 2014 IEEE.
keywords complex networks; mobile telecommunication systems; radio; backhaul networks; centralized operations; centralized processing; cloud technologies; fundamental concepts; mobile service; radio access networks; wireless devices; wireless telecommunication systems