Design considerations for a 5G network architecture

This article presents an architecture vision to address the challenges placed on 5G mobile networks. A two-layer architecture is proposed, consisting of a radio network and a network cloud, integrating various enablers such as small cells, massive MIMO, control/user plane split, NFV, and SDN. Three main concepts are integrated: ultra-dense small cell deployments on licensed and unlicensed spectrum, under control/user plane split architecture, to address capacity and data rate challenges; NFV and SDN to provide flexible network deployment and operation; and intelligent use of network data to facilitate optimal use of network resources for QoE provisioning and planning. An initial proof of concept evaluation is…