Cellular networks were originally designed as a one-size-fits-all solution for the needs of the public for mobile communications. That has been true since the first call was made on April 3, 1973. But network slicing has changed that. It allows a carrier to deploy distinctly different core networks for different use cases based on that user’s needs, Lothar Walther, 3GPP RAN2 Delegate, Rohde & Schwarz, told a webinar last week, titled “5G Network Slicing — All You Need to Know.”
Different users with different service needs based on service level agreements can be served with their own slice of the network. For example, a carrier can provide a network slice to the users of a mobile virtual network operator, according to Walther.
“A network slice includes a radio network, a core network and some type of data network, and it can only be deployed in a standalone 5G network,” Walther said. Network slice functions were not included in the 5G network core until Release 15 of the 3GPP. It was enhanced in Release 16, and then enhanced RAN support of network slicing was introduced in Release 17.
Walther went on to describe technically how a network can be customized through slicing to meet different users’ needs, allowing a single phone to connect to multiple data networks over a single network slice and how a phone could be connected to up to eight network slices. In general, a network slice can be programmed for the handling of 5G enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable low latency communications, massive IoT, V2X services and high-performance machine-type communications, according to Walther.
Click here to view the webinar.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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