Fog Radio Access Networks: Mobility Management, Interference Mitigation, and Resource Optimization

In order to make Internet connections ubiquitous and autonomous in our daily lives, maximizing the utilization of radio resources and social information is one of the major research topics in future mobile communication technologies. FRAN is regarded as a promising paradigm for the fifth generation of mobile networks. FRAN integrates fog computing with RAN and makes full use of the edge of networks. FRAN would be different in networking, computing, storage, and control compared to conventional RAN and the emerging cloud RAN. In this article, we provide a description of the FRAN architecture, and discuss how the distinctive characteristics of FRAN make it possible to efficiently alleviate the burden on the fronthaul, backhaul, and backbone networks, as well as reduce content delivery latencies. We focus on the mobility management, interference mitigation, and resource optimization in FRAN. Our simulation results show that the proposed FRAN architecture and the associated mobility and resource management mechanisms can reduce the signaling cost and increase the net utility for the RAN.