A Comprehensive Survey of RAN Architectures Toward 5G Mobile Communication System

The fifth generation (5G) of mobile communication system aims to deliver a ubiquitous mobile service with enhanced quality of service (QoS). It is also expected to enable new use-cases for various vertical industrial applications—such as automobiles, public transportation, medical care, energy, public safety, agriculture, entertainment, manufacturing, and so on. Rapid increases are predicted to occur in user density, traffic volume, and data rate. This calls for novel solutions to the requirements of both mobile users and vertical industries in the next decade. Among various available options, one that appears attractive is to redesign the network architecture—more specifically, to reconstruct the radio access network (RAN). In this paper, we present an inclusive and comprehensive survey on various RAN architectures toward 5G, namely cloud-RAN, heterogeneous cloud-RAN, virtualized cloud-RAN, and fog-RAN. We compare them from various perspectives, such as energy consumption, operations expenditure, resource allocation, spectrum efficiency, system architecture, and network performance. Moreover, we review the key enabling technologies for 5G systems, such as multi-access edge computing, network function virtualization, software-defined networking, and network slicing; and some crucial radio access technologies (RATs), such as millimeter wave, massive multi-input multi-output, device-to-device communication, and massive machine-type communication. Last but not least, we discuss the major research challenges in 5G RAN and 5G RATs and identify several possible directions of future research.

[1]  C. Buyukkoc,et al.  Software-Defined Networks for Future Networks and Services , 2014 .

[2]  Gerhard P. Hancke,et al.  A Survey on 5G Networks for the Internet of Things: Communication Technologies and Challenges , 2018, IEEE Access.

[3]  Oriol Sallent,et al.  On Radio Access Network Slicing from a Radio Resource Management Perspective , 2017, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[4]  Jing Wang,et al.  A 5G virtualized RAN based on NO Stack , 2017, China Communications.

[5]  Bin Han,et al.  Optimal resource dedication in grouped random access for massive Machine-Type Communications , 2017, 2017 IEEE Conference on Standards for Communications and Networking (CSCN).

[6]  Thierry Turletti,et al.  A Survey of Software-Defined Networking: Past, Present, and Future of Programmable Networks , 2014, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[7]  Erik Et Al Dahlman.  3g evoluation hspa & lte for mobile broadband , 2014 .

[8]  Dario Pompili,et al.  Elastic resource utilization framework for high capacity and energy efficiency in cloud RAN , 2016, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[9]  Tarik Taleb,et al.  Content delivery network slicing: QoE and cost awareness , 2017, 2017 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[10]  George K. Karagiannidis,et al.  Resource Allocation in NOMA-Based Fog Radio Access Networks , 2018, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[11]  Mahesh K. Marina,et al.  Network Slicing in 5G: Survey and Challenges , 2017, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[12]  Michael S. Berger,et al.  Cloud RAN for Mobile Networks—A Technology Overview , 2015, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[13]  Timothy A. Thomas,et al.  LTE-advanced: next-generation wireless broadband technology [Invited Paper] , 2010, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[14]  Jim Esch,et al.  Software-Defined Networking: A Comprehensive Survey , 2015, Proc. IEEE.

[15]  Geoffrey Fox,et al.  Architecture and measured characteristics of a cloud based internet of things , 2012, 2012 International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems (CTS).

[16]  Mohamed Kamoun,et al.  Energy-optimal resource scheduling and computation offloading in small cell networks , 2015, 2015 22nd International Conference on Telecommunications (ICT).

[17]  Sachin Shetty,et al.  Secure Radio Resource Management in Cloud Computing Based Cognitive Radio Networks , 2012, 2012 41st International Conference on Parallel Processing Workshops.

[18]  Bin Han,et al.  Network Slicing in 5G Mobile Communication Architecture, Profit Modeling, and Challenges , 2017, ArXiv.

[19]  Abd-Elhamid M. Taha,et al.  A survey of access management techniques in machine type communications , 2014, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[20]  Supeng Leng,et al.  Social-Aware Edge Caching in Fog Radio Access Networks , 2017, IEEE Access.

[21]  Ziyu Wang,et al.  Energy Evaluation for Cloud RAN Employing TDM-PON as Front-Haul Based on a New Network Traffic Modeling , 2017, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[22]  Quoc-Tuan Vien,et al.  Optimising energy efficiency of non-orthogonal multiple access for wireless backhaul in heterogeneous cloud radio access network , 2016, IET Commun..

[23]  Sanjiv Nanda,et al.  Femtocells [Industry Perspectives] , 2010 .

[24]  H. S. Al-Raweshidy,et al.  Modelling the energy efficiency of Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2015, 2015 International Conference on Emerging Technologies (ICET).

[25]  Timo Rantalainen,et al.  Radio resource control for GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN)-inter radio access technology and inter-mode procedures , 2001, IEEE 54th Vehicular Technology Conference. VTC Fall 2001. Proceedings (Cat. No.01CH37211).

[26]  Volker Kühn,et al.  Energy Efficient Robust F-RAN Downlink Design for Hard and Soft Fronthauling , 2018, 2018 IEEE 87th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Spring).

[27]  Xiang Cheng,et al.  Device-to-device channel measurements and models: a survey , 2015, IET Commun..

[28]  Akhilesh Pokhariyal,et al.  Interference management and performance analysis of UMTS/HSPA+ femtocells , 2009, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[29]  Jörg Ott,et al.  Security and Privacy in Device-to-Device (D2D) Communication: A Review , 2017, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[30]  Min Chen,et al.  Software-Defined Network Function Virtualization: A Survey , 2015, IEEE Access.

[31]  Olli Mäkinen,et al.  Streaming at the Edge: Local Service Concepts Utilizing Mobile Edge Computing , 2015, NGMAST.

[32]  Chin-Sean Sum,et al.  Beam Codebook Based Beamforming Protocol for Multi-Gbps Millimeter-Wave WPAN Systems , 2009, GLOBECOM 2009 - 2009 IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference.

[33]  Ying Wang,et al.  A framework for energy efficient control in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks , 2016, 2016 IEEE/CIC International Conference on Communications in China (ICCC Workshops).

[34]  Roch H. Glitho,et al.  A Comprehensive Survey on Fog Computing: State-of-the-Art and Research Challenges , 2017, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[35]  Sampath Rangarajan,et al.  Radio access network virtualization for future mobile carrier networks , 2013, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[36]  Khaled Ben Letaief,et al.  Dynamic Computation Offloading for Mobile-Edge Computing With Energy Harvesting Devices , 2016, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[37]  H. Vincent Poor,et al.  Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation Optimization for Multimedia Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia.

[38]  Fredrik Tufvesson,et al.  5G: A Tutorial Overview of Standards, Trials, Challenges, Deployment, and Practice , 2017, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[39]  Rong Yu,et al.  Toward cloud-based vehicular networks with efficient resource management , 2013, IEEE Network.

[40]  Filip De Turck,et al.  Network Function Virtualization: State-of-the-Art and Research Challenges , 2015, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[41]  Bin Han,et al.  The Structure of Service Level Agreement of Slice-based 5G Network , 2018, ArXiv.

[42]  Paulo Pereira Monteiro,et al.  Toward an Efficient C-RAN Optical Fronthaul for the Future Networks: A Tutorial on Technologies, Requirements, Challenges, and Solutions , 2018, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[43]  Bin Han,et al.  Applying Device-to-Device Communication to Enhance IoT Services , 2017, IEEE Communications Standards Magazine.

[44]  Tarik Taleb,et al.  An architecture for on-demand service deployment over a telco CDN , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[45]  Victor C. M. Leung,et al.  Fronthauling for 5G LTE-U Ultra Dense Cloud Small Cell Networks , 2016, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[46]  Robert W. Heath,et al.  Five disruptive technology directions for 5G , 2013, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[47]  Emil Björnson,et al.  Joint Power Allocation and User Association Optimization for Massive MIMO Systems , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[48]  Pekka Pirinen,et al.  A brief overview of 5G research activities , 2014, 1st International Conference on 5G for Ubiquitous Connectivity.

[49]  Hayssam Dahrouj,et al.  Resource allocation in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks: advances and challenges , 2015, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[50]  Sherali Zeadally,et al.  A Survey of Device-to-Device Communications: Research Issues and Challenges , 2018, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[51]  Bin Han,et al.  Network Slicing to Enable Scalability and Flexibility in 5G Mobile Networks , 2017, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[52]  Hui Zhao,et al.  Energy Efficient Power Allocation Algorithm for Downlink Massive MIMO with MRT Precoding , 2013, 2013 IEEE 78th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Fall).

[53]  Tarcisio F. Maciel,et al.  Massive MIMO: survey and future research topics , 2016, IET Commun..

[54]  AKHIL GUPTA,et al.  A Survey of 5G Network: Architecture and Emerging Technologies , 2015, IEEE Access.

[55]  Nirwan Ansari,et al.  EdgeIoT: Mobile Edge Computing for the Internet of Things , 2016, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[56]  Christian Lanzani,et al.  Advanced multimode radio for wireless & mobile broadband communication , 2009, 2009 European Wireless Technology Conference.

[57]  Yong Li,et al.  System architecture and key technologies for 5G heterogeneous cloud radio access networks , 2015, IEEE Netw..

[58]  Cheng-Xiang Wang,et al.  5G Ultra-Dense Cellular Networks , 2015, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[59]  Gerd Ascheid,et al.  Uplink power control with MMSE receiver in multi-cell MU-massive-MIMO systems , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[60]  Massimo Tornatore,et al.  Energy-Efficient Baseband Unit Placement in a Fixed/Mobile Converged WDM Aggregation Network , 2014, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[61]  Jing Wang,et al.  5G virtualized radio access network approach based on NO Stack framework , 2017, 2017 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[62]  Gunnar Mildh,et al.  Impact of network slicing on 5G Radio Access Networks , 2016, 2016 European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC).

[63]  Ming Xiao,et al.  Millimeter Wave Communications for Future Mobile Networks (Guest Editorial), Part I , 2017, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun..

[64]  Min Dong,et al.  Joint offloading and resource allocation for computation and communication in mobile cloud with computing access point , 2017, IEEE INFOCOM 2017 - IEEE Conference on Computer Communications.

[65]  Jian Song,et al.  On the feasibility of interference alignment in ultra-dense millimeter-wave cellular networks , 2016, 2016 50th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers.

[66]  Jeffrey G. Andrews,et al.  The Interplay Between Massive MIMO and Underlaid D2D Networking , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[67]  Ying Wang,et al.  Wireless Network Virtualization With SDN and C-RAN for 5G Networks: Requirements, Opportunities, and Challenges , 2017, IEEE Access.

[68]  Di Chen,et al.  Backhaul traffic balancing and dynamic content-centric clustering for the downlink of Fog Radio Access Network , 2016, 2016 IEEE 17th International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC).

[69]  Christopher Cox,et al.  An Introduction to LTE: LTE, LTE-Advanced, SAE and 4G Mobile Communications , 2012 .

[70]  Farrukh Salim Shaikh,et al.  Routing in Multi-Hop Cellular Device-to-Device (D2D) Networks: A Survey , 2018, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[71]  Ada S. Y. Poon,et al.  Coding the Beams: Improving Beamforming Training in mmWave Communication System , 2011, 2011 IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference - GLOBECOM 2011.

[72]  Lazaros F. Merakos,et al.  OpeNB: A framework for virtualizing base stations in LTE networks , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[73]  Qing Wang,et al.  Wireless network cloud: Architecture and system requirements , 2010, IBM J. Res. Dev..

[74]  Hamid Reza Karimi,et al.  Evolution Towards Dynamic Spectrum Sharing in Mobile Communications , 2006, 2006 IEEE 17th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications.

[75]  Vijay K. Bhargava,et al.  Energy Efficiency in Massive MIMO-Based 5G Networks: Opportunities and Challenges , 2015, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[76]  Lingyang Song,et al.  Multi-gigabit millimeter wave wireless communications for 5G: from fixed access to cellular networks , 2014, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[77]  Zheng Yan,et al.  A Survey on Security in D2D Communications , 2017, Mob. Networks Appl..

[78]  Qian Sun,et al.  Evaluation Methodology for Virtual Base Station Platforms in Radio Access Networks , 2018, IEEE Access.

[79]  Shantanu Sharma,et al.  A survey on 5G: The next generation of mobile communication , 2015, Phys. Commun..

[80]  Ali Ghaffari,et al.  Software defined networks: A survey , 2016, J. Netw. Comput. Appl..

[81]  Christian Bonnet,et al.  Fog Computing architecture to enable consumer centric Internet of Things services , 2015, 2015 International Symposium on Consumer Electronics (ISCE).

[82]  Wei-Ho Chung,et al.  Ultra-low latency service provision in 5G Fog-Radio Access Networks , 2016, 2016 IEEE 27th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC).

[83]  Joongheon Kim,et al.  Adaptive Resource Balancing for Serviceability Maximization in Fog Radio Access Networks , 2017, IEEE Access.

[84]  Hsiao-Hwa Chen,et al.  Cooperative Device-to-Device Communications: Social Networking Perspectives , 2017, IEEE Network.

[85]  Zdenek Becvar,et al.  Mobile Edge Computing: A Survey on Architecture and Computation Offloading , 2017, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[86]  R. Nejabati,et al.  SDN and NFV convergence a technology enabler for abstracting and virtualising hardware and control of optical networks (invited) , 2015, 2015 Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC).

[87]  V. H. Mac Donald,et al.  Advanced mobile phone service: The cellular concept , 1979, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[88]  Achille Pattavina,et al.  Cost models for BaseBand Unit (BBU) hotelling: From local to cloud , 2015, 2015 IEEE 4th International Conference on Cloud Networking (CloudNet).

[89]  Jonathan Loo,et al.  A new network slicing framework for multi-tenant heterogeneous cloud radio access networks , 2016, 2016 International Conference on Advances in Electrical, Electronic and Systems Engineering (ICAEES).

[90]  Vincent W. S. Wong,et al.  A Dynamic Resource Sharing Mechanism for Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[91]  Jeffrey G. Andrews,et al.  Modeling and Analyzing Millimeter Wave Cellular Systems , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Communications.

[92]  Victor C. M. Leung,et al.  Fog Radio Access Networks: Mobility Management, Interference Mitigation, and Resource Optimization , 2017, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[93]  Gerhard Fettweis,et al.  Benefits and challenges of virtualization in 5G radio access networks , 2015, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[94]  Long Bao Le,et al.  Energy-efficient coordinated transmission for Cloud-RANs: Algorithm design and trade-off , 2014, 2014 48th Annual Conference on Information Sciences and Systems (CISS).

[95]  Nada Chendeb Taher,et al.  Joint allocation strategies for radio and processing resources in Virtual Radio Access Networks (V-RAN) , 2017, 2017 IEEE 28th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC).

[96]  Navrati Saxena,et al.  Next Generation 5G Wireless Networks: A Comprehensive Survey , 2016, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[97]  Holger Claussen,et al.  Financial Analysis of a Pico-Cellular Home Network Deployment , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Conference on Communications.

[98]  Guihai Chen,et al.  Millimeter Wave Communication: A Comprehensive Survey , 2018, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[99]  Tara Ali-Yahiya,et al.  Understanding LTE and its Performance , 2011 .

[100]  Qixun Zhang,et al.  An Approach to 5G Wireless Network Virtualization: Architecture and Trial Environment , 2017, 2017 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC).

[101]  Wanjiun Liao,et al.  Hierarchical cooperation in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[102]  Victor C. M. Leung,et al.  Energy-Efficient Power Allocation with Interference Mitigation in MmWave-Based Fog Radio Access Networks , 2018, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[103]  Albert Banchs,et al.  Offloading Cellular Traffic Through Opportunistic Communications: Analysis and Optimization , 2016, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[104]  Walid Saad,et al.  Toward Massive Machine Type Cellular Communications , 2017, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[105]  Marco Fiore,et al.  On User Mobility in Dynamic Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2018 .

[106]  Hsiao-Hwa Chen,et al.  Radio Resource Management in Machine-to-Machine Communications—A Survey , 2018, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[107]  Xuemin Shen,et al.  MAC-Layer Concurrent Beamforming Protocol for Indoor Millimeter-Wave Networks , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[108]  Rahim Tafazolli,et al.  In-network caching of Internet-of-Things data , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[109]  Bo Ai,et al.  Security and Reliability Performance Analysis for Cloud Radio Access Networks With Channel Estimation Errors , 2014, IEEE Access.

[110]  Peter Schefczik,et al.  Radio base stations in the cloud , 2013, Bell Labs Technical Journal.

[111]  Qing Wang,et al.  A Survey on Device-to-Device Communication in Cellular Networks , 2013, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[112]  Juan Felipe Botero,et al.  Resource Allocation in NFV: A Comprehensive Survey , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management.

[113]  Oussama Dhifallah.  Resource Allocation for Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2016 .

[114]  Prem Prakash Jayaraman,et al.  Fog Computing: Survey of Trends, Architectures, Requirements, and Research Directions , 2018, IEEE Access.

[115]  Lisandro Zambenedetti Granville,et al.  Resource sharing in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks , 2015, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[116]  Young-June Choi,et al.  Survey of Promising Technologies for 5G Networks , 2016, Mob. Inf. Syst..

[117]  Bin Han,et al.  Modeling profit of sliced 5G networks for advanced network resource management and slice implementation , 2017, 2017 IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC).

[118]  Nick Antonopoulos,et al.  Video Stream Analysis in Clouds: An Object Detection and Classification Framework for High Performance Video Analytics , 2019, IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing.

[119]  Wenbo Wang,et al.  An Evolutionary Game for User Access Mode Selection in Fog Radio Access Networks , 2017, IEEE Access.

[120]  Biswanath Mukherjee,et al.  Energy-Efficient Virtual Base Station Formation in Optical-Access-Enabled Cloud-RAN , 2016, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[121]  Chong Luo,et al.  Multimedia Cloud Computing , 2011, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine.

[122]  Chonggang Wang,et al.  Balancing backhaul load in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks , 2015, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[123]  Robert W. Heath,et al.  Energy-Efficient Hybrid Analog and Digital Precoding for MmWave MIMO Systems With Large Antenna Arrays , 2015, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[124]  R. Martinez,et al.  SDN/NFV orchestration for dynamic deployment of virtual SDN controllers as VNF for multi-tenant optical networks , 2015, 2015 Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC).

[125]  Ian F. Akyildiz,et al.  Wireless software-defined networks (W-SDNs) and network function virtualization (NFV) for 5G cellular systems: An overview and qualitative evaluation , 2015, Comput. Networks.

[126]  Rahim Tafazolli,et al.  Small Cells for 5G Mobile Networks , 2015 .

[127]  Biswanath Mukherjee,et al.  Virtualized Cloud Radio Access Network for 5G Transport , 2017, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[128]  Josip Lorincz,et al.  Measurements and Modelling of Base Station Power Consumption under Real Traffic Loads † , 2012, Sensors.

[129]  Sungwook Kim.  Fog radio access network system control scheme based on the embedded game model , 2017, EURASIP J. Wirel. Commun. Netw..

[130]  Bin Han,et al.  Edge-Assisted Congestion Control Mechanism for 5G Network Using Software-Defined Networking , 2018, 2018 15th International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems (ISWCS).

[131]  Z. Qing-ling,et al.  Rain Attenuation in Millimeter Wave Ranges , 2006, 2006 7th International Symposium on Antennas, Propagation & EM Theory.

[132]  Thomas Olsson,et al.  Online user survey on current mobile augmented reality applications , 2011, 2011 10th IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality.

[133]  Mugen Peng,et al.  Network Slicing in Fog Radio Access Networks: Issues and Challenges , 2017, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[134]  Zhiguo Ding,et al.  Energy-Efficient Joint Congestion Control and Resource Optimization in Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[135]  P. Chanclou,et al.  An energy consumption comparison of different mobile backhaul and fronthaul optical access architectures , 2014, 2014 The European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC).

[136]  Liu Qi,et al.  Joint resource allocation and coordinated computation offloading for fog radio access networks , 2016, China Communications.

[137]  Mugen Peng,et al.  Coverage and Rate Analysis in Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks With Device-to-Device Communication , 2016, IEEE Access.

[138]  Antti Toskala,et al.  WCDMA for UMTS: Radio Access for Third Generation Mobile Communications , 2000 .

[139]  Theodore S. Rappaport,et al.  Overview of Millimeter Wave Communications for Fifth-Generation (5G) Wireless Networks—With a Focus on Propagation Models , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[140]  Hamed S. Al-Raweshidy,et al.  Power Model for Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2015, 2015 IEEE International Conference on Data Science and Data Intensive Systems.

[141]  Seungjoon Lee,et al.  Network function virtualization: Challenges and opportunities for innovations , 2015, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[142]  Melody Moh,et al.  Location and Mobility Aware Resource Management for 5G Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2017, 2017 International Conference on High Performance Computing & Simulation (HPCS).

[143]  Kwang-Cheng Chen,et al.  Resource-Optimal Licensed-Assisted Access in Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks With Heterogeneous Carrier Communications , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[144]  Xiaoli Chu,et al.  Device-to-device ( D 2 D ) Meets LTE-Unlicensed , 2016 .

[145]  Tiankui Zhang,et al.  Energy Efficient Resource Allocation in Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2017, 2017 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC).

[146]  Ian F. Akyildiz,et al.  SoftAir: A software defined networking architecture for 5G wireless systems , 2015, Comput. Networks.

[147]  Mugen Peng,et al.  Fog-computing-based radio access networks: issues and challenges , 2015, IEEE Network.

[148]  Jakub Dolezal,et al.  Performance evaluation of computation offloading from mobile device to the edge of mobile network , 2016, 2016 IEEE Conference on Standards for Communications and Networking (CSCN).

[149]  Tao Jiang,et al.  Green Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks: Potential Techniques, Performance Trade-offs, and Challenges , 2017, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[150]  Yaser Jararweh,et al.  Resource Efficient Mobile Computing Using Cloudlet Infrastructure , 2013, 2013 IEEE 9th International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks.

[151]  Huaning Niu,et al.  RAN architecture options and performance for 5G network evolution , 2014, 2014 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference Workshops (WCNCW).

[152]  H. Vincent Poor,et al.  Design of Massive-MIMO-NOMA With Limited Feedback , 2015, IEEE Signal Processing Letters.

[153]  Tharmalingam Ratnarajah,et al.  Performance Analysis of Cloud Radio Access Networks With Distributed Multiple Antenna Remote Radio Heads , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing.

[154]  Xun Luo.  From Augmented Reality to Augmented Computing: A Look at Cloud-Mobile Convergence , 2009, 2009 International Symposium on Ubiquitous Virtual Reality.

[155]  Abdallah Shami,et al.  NFV: state of the art, challenges, and implementation in next generation mobile networks (vEPC) , 2014, IEEE Network.

[156]  Anna Brunstrom,et al.  SDN/NFV-Based Mobile Packet Core Network Architectures: A Survey , 2017, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[157]  Yuan Li,et al.  Heterogeneous cloud radio access networks: a new perspective for enhancing spectral and energy efficiencies , 2014, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[158]  Qiang Liu,et al.  On Designing Energy-Efficient Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2018, IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking.

[159]  Yacine Challal,et al.  Security in device-to-device communications: a survey , 2018, IET Networks.

[160]  Thomas L. Marzetta,et al.  Noncooperative Cellular Wireless with Unlimited Numbers of Base Station Antennas , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[161]  Sanjeev Jain,et al.  A survey on device-to-device (D2D) communication: Architecture and security issues , 2017, J. Netw. Comput. Appl..

[162]  Yong Xiang,et al.  Cost Efficient Resource Management in Fog Computing Supported Medical Cyber-Physical System , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing.

[163]  M. R. M. Rizk,et al.  Extended study towards performance improvement of Cloud-RAN , 2017, 2017 13th International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC).

[164]  Rosdiadee Nordin,et al.  A survey on interference management for Device-to-Device (D2D) communication and its challenges in 5G networks , 2016, J. Netw. Comput. Appl..

[165]  H. Vincent Poor,et al.  Contract-Based Interference Coordination in Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2015, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[166]  Matteo Artuso,et al.  A framework for resources allocation in virtualised C-RAN , 2016, 2016 IEEE 27th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC).

[167]  Ejaz Ahmed,et al.  A survey on mobile edge computing , 2016, 2016 10th International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Control (ISCO).

[168]  Nerea Toledo,et al.  Toward an SDN-enabled NFV architecture , 2015, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[169]  R. Humpleman,et al.  Investigation of attenuation by rainfall at 60 GHz , 1978 .

[170]  Henrik Lehrmann Christiansen,et al.  Macro Cell Assisted Cell Discovery Method for 5G Mobile Networks , 2016, 2016 IEEE 83rd Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Spring).

[171]  Zhiguo Ding,et al.  NOMA Meets Finite Resolution Analog Beamforming in Massive MIMO and Millimeter-Wave Networks , 2017, IEEE Communications Letters.

[172]  Chenyang Yang,et al.  Massive MIMO or small cell network: Who is more energy efficient? , 2013, 2013 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference Workshops (WCNCW).

[173]  Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas,et al.  Fiber-wireless technology for small cell backhauling , 2015, 2015 17th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON).

[174]  Hamed S. Al-Raweshidy,et al.  A parameterized and optimized BBU pool virtualization power model for C-RAN architecture , 2017, IEEE EUROCON 2017 -17th International Conference on Smart Technologies.

[175]  Basem Shihada,et al.  Enhanced machine learning scheme for energy efficient resource allocation in 5G heterogeneous cloud radio access networks , 2017, 2017 IEEE 28th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC).

[176]  Mahesh K. Marina,et al.  On the Benefits of RAN Virtualisation in C-RAN Based Mobile Networks , 2014, 2014 Third European Workshop on Software Defined Networks.

[177]  Muhammad Ali Imran,et al.  How much energy is needed to run a wireless network? , 2011, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[178]  Ashiq Khan,et al.  Base station virtualization for OFDM air interfaces with strict isolation , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC).

[179]  Liang Liu,et al.  Analysis of handover performance improvement in cloud-RAN architecture , 2012, 7th International Conference on Communications and Networking in China.

[180]  Kamal Benzekki,et al.  Software-defined networking (SDN): a survey , 2016, Secur. Commun. Networks.

[181]  Dusit Niyato,et al.  Random access for machine-to-machine communication in LTE-advanced networks: issues and approaches , 2013, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[182]  Lei Shu,et al.  Survey of Fog Computing: Fundamental, Network Applications, and Research Challenges , 2018, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[183]  Theodore S. Rappaport,et al.  Millimeter Wave Mobile Communications for 5G Cellular: It Will Work! , 2013, IEEE Access.

[184]  Jose Ordonez-Lucena,et al.  Network Slicing for 5G with SDN/NFV: Concepts, Architectures, and Challenges , 2017, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[185]  Emil Björnson,et al.  Uplink pilot and data power control for single cell massive MIMO systems with MRC , 2015, 2015 International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems (ISWCS).

[186]  Sergio Barbarossa,et al.  Distributed mobile cloud computing: Joint optimization of radio and computational resources , 2014, 2014 IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps).

[187]  Xianbin Wang,et al.  Live Data Analytics With Collaborative Edge and Cloud Processing in Wireless IoT Networks , 2017, IEEE Access.

[188]  Sergey D. Andreev,et al.  Cooperative Radio Resource Management in Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2015, IEEE Access.

[189]  Shlomo Shamai,et al.  Joint cloud and edge processing for latency minimization in Fog Radio Access Networks , 2016, 2016 IEEE 17th International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC).

[190]  Ian F. Akyildiz,et al.  5G roadmap: 10 key enabling technologies , 2016, Comput. Networks.

[191]  Farooq Khan,et al.  LTE for 4G Mobile Broadband: Air Interface Technologies and Performance , 2009 .

[192]  Fernando A. Kuipers,et al.  SDN and Virtualization Solutions for the Internet of Things: A Survey , 2016, IEEE Access.

[193]  Zhu Han,et al.  A Survey on Socially Aware Device-to-Device Communications , 2018, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[194]  Zhengang Pan,et al.  Toward green and soft: a 5G perspective , 2014, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[195]  Mugen Peng,et al.  Hierarchical content caching in fog radio access networks: ergodic rate and transmit latency , 2016, China Communications.

[196]  Carsten Bockelmann,et al.  Massive machine-type communications in 5g: physical and MAC-layer solutions , 2016, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[197]  Tarik Taleb,et al.  Machine-type communications: current status and future perspectives toward 5G systems , 2015, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[198]  Mugen Peng,et al.  Recent Advances in Fog Radio Access Networks: Performance Analysis and Radio Resource Allocation , 2016, IEEE Access.

[199]  H. Vincent Poor,et al.  Inter-Tier Interference Suppression in Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2015, IEEE Access.

[200]  Zdenek Becvar,et al.  In-Band Device-to-Device Communication in OFDMA Cellular Networks: A Survey and Challenges , 2015, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[201]  Gang Pan,et al.  Complementary base station clustering for cost-effective and energy-efficient cloud-RAN , 2017, 2017 IEEE SmartWorld, Ubiquitous Intelligence & Computing, Advanced & Trusted Computed, Scalable Computing & Communications, Cloud & Big Data Computing, Internet of People and Smart City Innovation (SmartWorld/SCALCOM/UIC/ATC/CBDCom/IOP/SCI).

[202]  Fan-Min Tseng,et al.  3GPP device-to-device communications for beyond 4G cellular networks , 2016, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[203]  Frederick W. Vook,et al.  MIMO and beamforming solutions for 5G technology , 2014, 2014 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS2014).

[204]  Pilot Reuse and Interference-Aided MMSE Detection for D2D Underlay Massive MIMO , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[205]  Ville Haikola,et al.  HSDPA Performance with Dual Stream MIMO in a Combined Macro-Femto Cell Network , 2010, 2010 IEEE 71st Vehicular Technology Conference.

[206]  Victor C. M. Leung,et al.  An Energy Efficient Implementation of C-RAN in HetNet , 2014, 2014 IEEE 80th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2014-Fall).

[207]  Jianping Wang,et al.  OpenSCaaS: an open service chain as a service platform toward the integration of SDN and NFV , 2015, IEEE Network.

[208]  Christos Bouras,et al.  Cost modeling for SDN/NFV based mobile 5G networks , 2016, 2016 8th International Congress on Ultra Modern Telecommunications and Control Systems and Workshops (ICUMT).

[209]  Wei-Ho Chung,et al.  Enabling Low-Latency Applications in Fog-Radio Access Networks , 2017, IEEE Network.

[210]  Mugen Peng,et al.  Ergodic Rate Analysis for User Access in Downlink Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2014, 2015 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM).

[211]  Chan Zhou,et al.  On the Way to Massive Access in 5G: Challenges and Solutions for Massive Machine Communications - (Invited Paper) , 2015, CrownCom.

[212]  Bin Han,et al.  Grouping-Based Random Access Collision Control for Massive Machine-Type Communication , 2017, GLOBECOM 2017 - 2017 IEEE Global Communications Conference.

[213]  Antonio Manzalini,et al.  Horizon 2020 and Beyond: On the 5G Operating System for a True Digital Society , 2015, IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine.

[214]  Osvaldo Simeone,et al.  Cloud-aided wireless networks with edge caching: Fundamental latency trade-offs in fog Radio Access Networks , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT).

[215]  Bo Yi,et al.  A comprehensive survey of Network Function Virtualization , 2018, Comput. Networks.

[216]  Ismail Güvenç,et al.  A comparative study of different deployment modes for femtocell networks , 2009, 2009 IEEE 20th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications.

[217]  Christos V. Verikoukis,et al.  Scalable RAN Virtualization in Multitenant LTE-A Heterogeneous Networks , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[218]  Shlomo Shamai,et al.  Joint optimization of cloud and edge processing for fog radio access networks , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT).

[219]  Hung-Yu Wei,et al.  5G Radio Access Network Design with the Fog Paradigm: Confluence of Communications and Computing , 2017, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[220]  Theodore S. Rappaport,et al.  Millimeter-Wave Cellular Wireless Networks: Potentials and Challenges , 2014, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[221]  Himank Gupta,et al.  KORA: A Framework for Dynamic Consolidation & Relocation of Control Units in Virtualized 5G RAN , 2018, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[222]  Peng Zhang,et al.  A Survey on C-RAN Security , 2017, IEEE Access.

[223]  Albert Banchs,et al.  Mobile network architecture evolution toward 5G , 2016, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[224]  Mohsen Guizani,et al.  Millimeter-wave multimedia communications: challenges, methodology, and applications , 2015, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[225]  Lusheng Wang,et al.  Priority-based cell selection for mobile equipments in heterogeneous cloud radio access networks , 2015, 2015 International Conference on Connected Vehicles and Expo (ICCVE).

[226]  Qimei Cui,et al.  An energy-optimal offloading algorithm of mobile computing based on HetNets , 2015, 2015 International Conference on Connected Vehicles and Expo (ICCVE).

[227]  Yonggang Wen,et al.  Cloud radio access network (C-RAN): a primer , 2015, IEEE Network.

[228]  Yili Gong,et al.  A survey on software defined networking and its applications , 2015, Frontiers of Computer Science.

[229]  L. Javier García-Villalba,et al.  Trends on virtualisation with software defined networking and network function virtualisation , 2015, IET Networks.

[230]  Sanjeev Singh,et al.  A Survey on Software Defined Networking: Architecture for Next Generation Network , 2016, Journal of Network and Systems Management.

[231]  Pingzhi Fan,et al.  Key techniques for 5G wireless communications: network architecture, physical layer, and MAC layer perspectives , 2015, Science China Information Sciences.

[232]  Geng Wu,et al.  An end-to-end network slicing framework for 5G wireless communication systems , 2016, ArXiv.

[233]  Jeffrey G. Andrews,et al.  Femtocell networks: a survey , 2008, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[234]  Jiaheng Wang,et al.  Energy-Efficient Resource Assignment and Power Allocation in Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[235]  Toktam Mahmoodi,et al.  Network slicing management & prioritization in 5G mobile systems , 2016 .

[236]  F. Hashim,et al.  Characterizing energy efficiency for heterogeneous cellular networks , 2012, 2012 IEEE Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD).

[237]  Lena Wosinska,et al.  Modeling energy performance of C-RAN with optical transport in 5G network scenarios , 2016, IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking.

[238]  Yongbin Wei,et al.  A survey on 3GPP heterogeneous networks , 2011, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[239]  Mugen Peng,et al.  Radio Resource Allocation for Achieving Ultra-Low Latency in Fog Radio Access Networks , 2018, IEEE Access.

[240]  Johann M. Marquez-Barja,et al.  5G: Adaptable Networks Enabled by Versatile Radio Access Technologies , 2017, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[241]  Ke Zhang,et al.  Energy-Efficient Offloading for Mobile Edge Computing in 5G Heterogeneous Networks , 2016, IEEE Access.

[242]  Richard D. Gitlin,et al.  A Clustering Algorithm That Maximizes Throughput in 5G Heterogeneous F-RAN Networks , 2018, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[243]  Hamid Farhadi,et al.  Software-Defined Networking: A survey , 2015, Comput. Networks.

[244]  Nei Kato,et al.  Device-to-Device Communication in LTE-Advanced Networks: A Survey , 2015, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[245]  Antti Toskala,et al.  WCDMA for UMTS: HSPA Evolution and LTE , 2010 .

[246]  Dong In Kim,et al.  LTE/LTE-A Random Access for Massive Machine-Type Communications in Smart Cities , 2016, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[247]  Naoaki Yamanaka,et al.  Network Function Virtualization: A Survey , 2017, IEICE Trans. Commun..

[248]  Mianxiong Dong,et al.  Radio Access Network Virtualization for the Social Internet of Things , 2015, IEEE Cloud Computing.

[249]  Rouzbeh Razavi,et al.  Small cell networks : deployment, management, and optimization , 2018 .

[250]  Thierry Turletti,et al.  Cost Optimization of Cloud-RAN Planning and Provisioning for 5G Networks , 2018, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[251]  Yang Sun,et al.  Enhancing performance of heterogeneous cloud radio access networks with efficient user association , 2017, 2017 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[252]  Li Ping,et al.  On Orthogonal and Superimposed Pilot Schemes in Massive MIMO NOMA Systems , 2017, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[253]  Hsiao-Hwa Chen,et al.  An Integrated Architecture for Software Defined and Virtualized Radio Access Networks with Fog Computing , 2017, IEEE Network.

[254]  Hsiao-Hwa Chen,et al.  Joint mode selection and resource allocation for downlink fog radio access networks supported D2D , 2015, 2015 11th International Conference on Heterogeneous Networking for Quality, Reliability, Security and Robustness (QSHINE).

[255]  Basem Shihada,et al.  Sophisticated Online Learning Scheme for Green Resource Allocation in 5G Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks , 2018, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing.

[256]  Wang Haining,et al.  A flexible three clouds 5G mobile network architecture based on NFV & SDN , 2015, China Communications.

[257]  Kwang-Cheng Chen,et al.  Collaborative radio access of heterogeneous cloud radio access networks and edge computing networks , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC).

[258]  Bernhard Walke.  The roots of GPRS: the first system for mobile packet-based global internet access , 2013, IEEE Wireless Communications.