An Open RAN Implementation of 5G Network Slicing

Network slicing has been introduced as a fundamental feature of 5G mobile networks. In this paper, the concept of network slicing is first clarified and the type of network slicing that might be achievable in the first deployments is defined. Then, some critical aspects of slicing implementation in open-RAN base-stations are detailed. Given that network slicing resides in resource allocation, the different resources that the base station can associate with slices are reviewed, together with the technologies that can be used for associating resources to slices.