Enabling 5G RAN Slicing With EDF Slice Scheduling

Network slicing serves as a key mechanism in fifth generation (5G) networks to support vertical industries with diversified service requirements in terms of the throughput, latency, reliability, etc. An end-to-end slice may include both a radio access network (RAN) part and a core network (CN) part. Compared to CN slicing, RAN slicing faces additional challenges due to the limited and fluctuating radio channels. This paper proposes a novel framework for 5G RAN slicing. The slice performance requirements are represented in terms of the required number of resources per deadline interval. The idea of earliest deadline first (EDF) scheduling originally used in real-time operating systems is exploited for radio resource allocation in RAN slicing for the first time. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can fulfill all the main requirements of RAN slicing: diversified performance, customization, isolation, and efficient resource utilization. Depending on operators' requirements, different EDF variations can be adopted and further tuned.