Radisys and KDDI Research demonstrated RAN slicing involving different traffic streams with different latency requirements on a single Radio Unit (RU) connected to multiple Centralized Units/Distributed Units in a disaggregated network topology.
The demonstration included the creation of a network slice for eMBB (Enhanced Media Broadband) service that spanned a pair of Distributed Units (DU) in an edge cloud site and a Centralized Unit User Plane (CU-UP) in a regional cloud site. This allows an architectural construct of a Network Slice consisting of Intelligent Edge and regional cloud with functionalities to host a 5G service. While eMBB is a high-speed data service, another network slice was created for Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC) service employing another pair of DUs in the edge cloud.
Key features of the demonstration include:
- Network slicing to implement workloads for 5G services both edge and regional clouds
- Showcasing two important 5G services: eMBB and URLLC
- Creating multiple slices in a single cell
For this demo, Radisys provided an end-to-end configuration consisting of:
- 5G NR (New Radio) gNodeB in Standalone mode operating in sub-6 GHz frequency range along with RAN controller
- 5G Core Network including Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF) and User Plane Function (UPF)
- eMBB and URLLC service functionality portioned in edge and regional clouds
“Our deep partnership with KDDI Research is evident with this critical demonstration of advanced network slicing where we connected multiple CUs and DUs to a single RU,” said Arun Bhikshesvaran, CEO, Radisys. “This demo goes beyond the typical single DU and RU binding and really brings to the forefront how mobile operators will manage their networks with intelligent edge deployments and scale into regional clouds to optimize efficiency and operational costs in order to realize the benefits of 5G disaggregation.”
