SDN and NFV for QoE-driven multimedia services delivery: the road towards 6G and beyond networks
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Date
2022
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
The concept for developing the future mobile communication systems has been explored in recent years with
a vision towards 5G and 6G systems. Meeting performance targets such as higher data rate transmission,
lower end-to-end latency, higher capacity, lower cost, and satisfied Quality of Experience (QoE) for delivered
services is the key for the success of 5G and 6G networks. Within these performance targets and associated
enabling technologies, QoE and the overall management of multimedia services is the one which has been
less well addressed for 5G in the past. This paper provides a comprehensive and ground-breaking discussion
regarding QoE management in the context of future softwarized 5G/6G networks. We introduce a generalized
QoE provisioning ecosystem for emerging multimedia streaming services in softwarized 5G/6G and beyond
networks. We explore potential network softwarization and communication technologies that will enable
the end-user’s QoE in 5G/6G. We further provide promising use case scenarios regarding (a) QoE-driven
management of multimedia services over multi-access cloud/edge softwarized and virtualized 5G networks, (b)
QoE monitoring for large traffic variations in business, residential and public areas in 5G networks, along with
a Machine Learning (ML)-based softwarized controller for QoE provisioning over 5G/6G networks. We build on
the achievements of 5G networks to provide the roadmap towards the development of 6G and beyond networks
in terms of requirements, use case scenarios and service classes. We also present potential technologies that
will be dominant through 2025–2030 in shaping the vision of 6G and beyond networks including (a) self-
driving 3D network architecture, (b) network management, automation and orchestration, and (c) pervasive
artificial intelligence. Moreover, we provide challenges and research directions in 6G and beyond wireless
communication systems. The paper provides the first roadmap towards the management, orchestration and
monitoring of multimedia 3D services in 6G and beyond networks. The comprehensive goal of this paper is to
encourage researchers from the industry and academia to work together towards the realization of softwarized
6G and beyond networks while tackling the critical research challenges regarding the management of emerging
3D multimedia services and applications. The comments made by the authors in this paper are expectations
on 6G, and the standardization of 6G where these aspects will be decided in 6G networks and beyond, will
be started soon by different standardization bodies and fora.
Description
Journal article
Keywords
5G, 6G, SDN, NFV, Network slicing, Cloud/edge computing, Network softwarization, Artificial intelligence, Multimedia services, QoE, Network management