A 5G Radio-Light SDN Architecture for Wireless and

Mobile Network Access in Buildings

J. Cosmas1, B. Meunier1, K. Ali1, N. Jawad1, M. Salih1, Y. Zhang2, Z. Hadad3, B. Globen3, H. Gokmen4, S. Malkos4, M. Cakan4,
H. Koumaras5, A. Kourtis5, C. Sakkas5, D. Negru6, M. Lacaud6, Moshe Ran7, Einat Ran7, J. Garcia8, W. Li9, L-K Huang9, R.
Zetik10, K. Cabaj11, W. Mazurczyk11, Xun Zhang12, A. Kapovits13

Brunel University1, University of Leicester2, Runel plc3, Arcelik A.S4, National Centre for Scientific Research Demokritos5,
Joada6, MostlyTek7, Oledcom8, Cobham Wireless9, FHG-IIS10, Warsaw University of Technology11, ISEP12, Eurescom13

email: [email protected]

Abstract— The Internet of Radio-Light architecture provides increasingly turning to the deployment of cellular home
both direct WLAN type access to the Internet using 5G RAN as networks (HeNBs) in their buildings because they operate in
well as access to the Internet via Mobile Networks using a 5G licensed spectrum that can avoid interference and congestion.
mmWave and VLC Radio Access Network (RAN) within Unfortunately these deployments require the permission of
buildings. A SDN is used to manage the various different packet
MNOs due to their potential to interfere with the main
flows between the RAN, the Internet Interface and the Mobile
Network User and Control plane interfaces for SmartPhone, transmitted signal from the main mobile network (eNB).
Tablet PCs, HDTVs and Virtual Reality headsets within However MNOs have only had the capacity to analyse their
buildings. largest customers’ deployment requests thereby losing a large
Index Terms — 5G, VLC, mmWave, NFV, SDN. market opportunity. The result is fewer than 2% of commercial
and public buildings are currently covered by dedicated
I. INTRODUCTION wireless indoor solutions [4]. The introduction of a commercial
and public buildings network solution for mobile networks
Mobile data growth is forecast to have a 53% compound could have an enormous impact on this market.
annual growth rate from 2015 to 2020 [1] and 80% of this is
WiGig Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11ad technology is a
generated indoors and is growing 20% faster each year than
backwards-compatible extension to the IEEE 802.11-2012
outdoor wireless traffic [2] [3].
specification that adds a new MAC/PHY to provide short
This growth has been driven by the use of smartphones, range, high capacity links in the 60 GHz unlicensed band. It
which have benefited from wireless networks because they let
could be considered as an interesting technical solution for
users perform a variety of tasks with Internet access ranking as
Wireless Building networking protocol as it has been rapidly
one of the most important. The Internet allows users to check
evolving to support the increasing demand for high data rates,
their mail, surf the web and download multimedia content.
with the standard providing 6.7 Gb/s using GHz of bandwidth
While Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) provide Internet at 60 GHz mmWave frequencies [5]. In current Wi-Fi systems,
access through their outside data networks, smartphones can interworking between WiGig and LTE/LTE-A systems is not
also connect to Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN)
supported, although it is badly needed due to users’ frequent
building networks. It is customary now when people enter
mobility between the coverage areas of Wi-Fi access points and
building that they search for the most convenient wireless
mobile networks. Therefore the solution, as proposed by [6],
network from which they can access the Internet from their
could be used to manage handovers between mobile network
smart phones and when they leave the building they switch to and the WiGig Home Network and between the different rooms
using the mobile network. The Smart Phone user simply within the WiGig Home Network. However the benefit of
locates an open wireless network usually found in buildings
using 5G for buildings is that its multi-component carrier
such as coffee shops, hotels, airports, train stations and
architecture allows for combining VLC and mmWave physical
libraries, which can be either an Open Wireless Network or
layer to provide higher bandwidths. The bimodal nature of
accessed via a password that is made available by the visible light and mmWave channels depending on the presence
building’s staff. Commercial organizations like these often or absence of line-of-sight allows buildings to be easily
feature free WLAN Internet for customers to promote
subdivided into rooms/floors cellular areas thereby increasing
business. Smart Phone users like using WLAN network
the total bitrate that can be provided to buildings. It can be
whenever one is available because Internet access is faster and
seamlessly integrated with the wider 5G network with inter
free. Also it does not consume their monthly data limits set by
gNB and Home gNB handover.
their Mobile MNO contract.
Internet of Radio-Light project provides this 5G solution to
This increased use of WLAN communications in buildings
the problem of broadband wireless access in buildings by
is causing congestion and interference, whilst modern building
developing a 5G Radio-Light multi-component carrier,
materials are restricting the propagation of Radio Frequency
Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) broadband system for
(RF) waves within them. Therefore building owners have been
buildings, consisting of a VLC downlink channel in the

978-1-5386-4982-4/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

135
unlicensed THz visible light spectrum and mm Wave remote from RRLH at the IHIPG and at FPGA located in the
up/downlink channels in unlicensed 30-300 GHz spectrum, RRLH Controllers.
which allows wireless communication networks to be deployed A UE can either obtain direct access to the Internet, by
in buildings without MNO approval that can provide bitrates only using 5G protocols on the Access Layer interface to the
greater than 10Gbits/sec, latencies of less than 1ms, location UE, to deliver IP packets to the Network Layer and thence to
accuracy of less than 10cm, whilst reducing EMF levels and the Server Applications in the Service Layer via the Internet or
interference, lowering energy consumption at obtain access to the Mobile Network Operator’s (MNO)
transmitter/receiver and increasing User Equipment (UE) Evolved Packet Core (EPC), by using 5G protocols on the
energy battery lifetime. Access Layer interfaces to both the UE and EPC, to deliver IP
packets to the Network Layer and thence to the applications
II. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE supported by the MNO. This latter approach allows
The IoRL architecture is a layered architecture consisting applications, such as Facebook, on a Smart phone to be
of four layers namely: Service, Network Function accessed on both the outside Mobile Network as well as the
Virtualisation (NFV), Software Defined Network (SDN) and Intelligent home Network with handover between them. The
Access, as shown in Figure 1. It is an architecture that is more Virtual Network Functions on the NFV Layer identify the
akin to a Radio-Light Home eNodeB suitable for a single destination of IP packets and the SDN Controller directs these
building network rather than an EPC suitable for a whole IP packets to their appropriate destination.
country [7]. The Service layer is required to run server side In IoRL project, the positioning system consists of two
applications to stream audio-video, receive, store results on parts: VLC-based positioning system and mmWaves-based
databases and monitor security etc. from a multi-core Cloud positioning system. A high positioning accuracy, which is less
Home Data Centre Server (CHDCS) and is required to run than 10cm, could be provided by combining both techniques.
mobile apps from User Equipment (UE) i.e. Smart Phones, The positioning system based on VLC uses visible light
Tablet PCs, Virtual Reality Headsets and HDTVs. signals for determining the positioning of target where the
SERVICE
LAYER
CHDCS-
Intel i9
signals are transmitted by RRLH lamps (e.g. LEDs) and
Home Museum Supermarket
Train
Station
Network
Security received by light sensors (e.g. photodiode (PD) or camera), on
MNO
the target UE.
NFV
EPC Internet
Eight reference amplitude sub-carriers from the Transport
Northbound
LAYER

NFV
NFVI VNF
Repository
Interface
Block (TB) are dedicated to be sent by each of the eight lights
PoP
Orchestrator
in a MISO group. The received signal strength (RSS) at the UE
IHIPG- Dell 730-2
SDN
apps
SDN
apps
PDs is proportional to the distance travelled from each of the
SDN
LAYER
SDN
Controller light and can be used to estimate position from at least three
5G L2 L3 5G L2 L3
IHIPG- Dell 730-1
distance measurements.
Protocol
Protocol
Processing Processing In the mmWave positioning system, the UE is a transmitter
WIFI
Remote
Radio Light
Remote
Radio Light
5G High L1
Protocol
and Multiple lamps (RRLHs) located at a priori known
positions receive a signal transmitted from the UE at different
Head Head Processing
Controller Controller
6
ACCESS
LAYER
VLC mmW VLC mmW VLC mmW VLC mmW
times depending on distance. The RRLH controller performs
RRLH RRLH
8 RRLH RRLH RRLH RRLH 8 RRLH RRLH
measurements and estimates location relevant signal
parameters using time-difference of arrival (TDOA) between
different RRLHs. Combining a 10 MHz GPS synchronization
clock with a 10 GHz Ethernet Bus clock could provide location
Figure 1: IoRL Layered Architecture accuracy of between 3cm to 6cm.
The user equipment (UE) design is similar to the RAN
At the SDN Layer resides the SDN Forwarding Device
design described in Section above but using one RF chain of
(FD) to route IP packets to/from their 5G Layer 2/3 Protocol
the RAN and clearly with much less computer processing
Processors and the Internet or 5G Network Interfaces
power.
connected to the SDN Controller. The Network Function
Virtualisation Orchestrator (NFVO) invokes various virtual III. SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
functions required for an Intelligent Home IP Gateway
(IHIPG) such as Access & Mobility Management, Deep In the Network Layer a logically centralized controller is
Packet Inspection and Network Security Functions. required that is capable of forwarding UE traffic to different
The Access Layer Radio Access Network (RAN) consists destinations, such as Internet, Mobile Network, WiFi and
different RRLH Controllers of the IoRL RAN Network, based
of six RRLH Controllers. Each RRLH Controller drives up to
on the type of traffic categorized by different network entities
eight VLC and mmWave RRLH pairs with the same
and applications such as DPI, as shown in Figure 2.
Transmission Block Sub-Frame, thereby providing a Multiple
Input Single Output (MISO) transmission on downlink paths The NFV Orchestrator (NFVO) is the top-level
and Single Input Multiple Output (MISO) on uplink paths for management entity of the IHIPG domain. The NFVO is the
its coverage area, which is typically a room or floor area of a orchestration entity, which is responsible for the management
building. The 5G Layer 1, 2 and 3 processing is performed

136
 Northbound Interface to
Application Layer on IHIPG

IoRL RAN VNF

ETH Repository
MAC WIFI
Tablet PC Beam No
ADDR
7

M=8 RFS SDN

With beam RRLH Controler 5G
NFVO
# in TB ADDR 1.0.8 Controller Cloud Home
UHDTV VLC
5G L2/L3
Data Center
VLC Module Server
MISO Beam Processing
Module Lower L1 ADDR ETH
1 MAC
TDD ADDR 1
MSS Location Security Transco
mmWave
RF Duplex
mmW VNF VNF VNF der VNF
5G L2/L3
Module
Module Processing
Beam
Lower L1 ADDR
2 5G
ADDR 1.1.8
Internet
ETH
MAC

Digital 6 ADDR
8
Ethernet Ethernet SDN FD
N6
interface interface

Ethernet port
Signage M=8 RFS
RRLH Controler 5G
ADDR 6.0.8
With beam 4G/5G
# in TB RRLH Control MNO
5G L2/L3
VLC Plane I/F
Smart VLC
MISO Lower L1
Beam
ADDR ETH
Processing
VNF N2
EPC
4G/5G
Phone Module 11 MAC
ADDR 6 User N3
TDD Plane I/F
RRLH
mm Wave mmW 5G L2/L3 VNF X2
RF Duplex Processing
Module
Lower L1
Beam ETH MAC 5G base station
VR ADDR
12
ADDR 0
5G
Protocol OpenStack eNB
Processing
Headset 5G Upper L1
Processing
ADDR 6.1.8
DELL 730 - 1
Intelligent Home IP Gateway
DELL 730 - 2

Figure 2: NFV/SDN Architecture - Note: All VNFs can have connections to SDN Controller and NFVO (sometimes not shown)
of the Network Service (NS) lifecycle, which includes NS Except the usage of Network Address Translation (NAT) these
instantiation, dimensioning and termination. addresses are not changed during packet forwarding. Hop-by-
The NFVO receives appropriate commands from the upper hop addressing between directly connected devices is
layer (i.e. application layer) by use-case specific applications, performed by the L2 (Data-link layer), for example MAC
which include the Logic of each use-case and provide to the addresses in the Ethernet frames.
NFVO appropriate NS descriptors, which initiates the VNF Due to performance reasons, 5G L3 and L2 processing is
instantiation with the appropriate network configuration performed on the dedicated machine (DELL R730-1) and 5G
internally in the IHIPG, which acts as a NFV Infrastructure L1 processing on dedicated FPGAs and circuits, which are
(NFVI) Point of Presence (PoP). connected to the rest of the IHIPG (DELL R730 - 2) using
The main role of the SDN is to route IP packets within direct 1G/10G Ethernet link.
Ethernet MAC frames to/from the 5G L3 & L2 Processing Data exchange between IoRL RAN and the IHIPG SDN
cores in the IHIPG depending on which RRLH Controller network depends on the used control or user data plane.
coverage area the UE is located and to/from Internet Bridge, The control plane for Internet interface is local to the UE
4G/5G Control Plane Interface and 4G/5G User Plane Interface and RAN and is fixed with a single radio bearer within a
depending on whether the IP Packets are Internet packets, single Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session per UE.
4G/5G Control packets or 4G/5G User packets, respectively. In The interface used between "5G L3-RRC and L2
the special case of video streaming, the SDN forwarding device processing" unit and the SDN FD at the user plane uses a
is used to simultaneously route both higher and lower quality direct Ethernet link and Ethernet frames, which contain exact
video streams to RRLH Controllers and WLAN. At the UE IP data generated at the UE. In the SDN network side all
each of these streams is aggregated with each other to produce packets destined to or sourced from the SDN network use
a video signal of increasingly better quality as more and more single MAC address (aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.09) that is characteristic
streams are combined. Virtual Network Functions are used for for the SDN network. The addresses to or from the RAN part
transcoding the original high resolution video into lower is associated with the exact RRLH or used module (VLC or
resolution for transmission over the WLAN. mmWave) which forwards this packet further.
Figure 3 presents an Ethernet frame which is sent from "5G
A. Internet Access L2 processing" unit to the SDN FD when the user UE located
For direct Internet access, IP addresses are used by the L3 within the RRLH1 Controller’s coverage area sends data to the
(Network layer) for end-to-end addressing. In the IoRL system Google search engine.
for example, IP addresses of the UE device are used by the
user web server in the Internet, for example www.google.com.

137
 Northbound Interface to
Application Layer on IHIPG property or at SDN Level by performing a handover between
VNF
RRLHs depending on the measured location of the UE, as
Repository
shown in Figure 5.
SDN
When, in the presented example, the user changes his
Cloud Home
location to e.g. the location with the RRLH 6 Controller’s
TCP: HTTP NFVO TCP: HTTP
Tablet PC IP
Controller IP Data Center
s:UE_IP s:UE_IP Server
d:google_IP
MAC-ETH
MSS Security Transco
d:google_IP
MAC-ETH
s: Home Router
coverage area, the source MAC address of the Ethernet frame
at changes. Now it is associated with the RRLH6 VLC or
s: aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.01 Location
d: aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.08 VNF VNF VNF d:Next Hop
der
TCP: HTTP
VNF PHY-ETH

mmWave module, which later allows for appropriate routing of

PHY-ETH
IP
s:UE_IP IoRL Ethernet
port
Internet

the frames. This situation is presented in the Figure 6.

d:google_IP Ethernet SDN
interface
SDAP

PDCP
RAN FD

Northbound Interface to
4G/5G
Control MNO Application Layer on IHIPG
RLC Plane I/F
EPC
MAC-5G 4G/5G VNF
User VNF
PHY-5G Plane I/F
VNF
Repository

Intelligent Home IP Gateway

DELL 730 - 2
TCP: HTTP
SDN NFVO Cloud Home
Tablet PC Controller Data Center
IP
Figure 3: Ethernet frame to the SDN FD when the UE located below the s:UE_IP
d:google_IP
Server

RRLH1 SDAP MSS Location Security Transco

VNF VNF VNF der
PDCP
VNF
Figure 4 presents the response packet from the Google web RLC
Internet

server which is sent to the appropriate VLC or mmWave

MAC-5G

PHY-5G
IoRL Ethernet
port Ethernet
interface
SDN
FD

module MAC address. RAN TCP: HTTP

IP 4G/5G TCP: HTTP
s:UE_IP Control IP MNO
Tablet PC d:google_IP Plane I/F s:UE_IP EPC
4G/5G VNF d:google_IP
MAC-ETH
s: aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.06 User MAC-ETH
d: aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.08 Plane I/F s: Home router
VNF d: MME_MAC
Northbound Interface to PHY-ETH
Application Layer on IHIPG PHY-ETH
Intelligent Home IP Gateway
DELL 730 - 2

VNF
Repository
Figure 6: Ethernet frame to the SDN FD when the UE located below the
TCP: HTTP
RRLH6
SDN NFVO TCP: HTTP Cloud Home
IP
Tablet PC s:UE_IP Controller
IP Data Center

C. Mobile Network Access

d:google_IP s:google_IP Server
MAC-ETH d:UE_IP
s: aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.08 MAC-ETH
d: aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.01 MSS Location Security Transco s: Next Hop
VNF VNF d: Home router
The IoRL 5G system control plane protocol flow is shown in
VNF
der
TCP: HTTP PHY-ETH
VNF PHY-ETH

Figure 7 and Figure 8. The interface used between "5G L3-

IP
s:UE_IP
d:google_IP IoRL Ethernet
port Ethernet SDN
Internet

SDAP

PDCP RAN
interface
FD RRC and L2 processing" unit and the SDN FD at the control
RLC
4G/5G
Control
Plane I/F
MNO plane uses a direct Ethernet link and Ethernet frames, which
EPC
contain exact Non-Access Stratum (NAS) data generated at
MAC-5G
4G/5G VNF
PHY-5G User

the UE. In the EPC side, all packets destined to or sourced

Plane I/F
VNF

Intelligent Home IP Gateway

DELL 730 - 2 from EPC use single MAC address (EPC_MAC) via N2
interface. The addresses to or from the RAN part is associated
Figure 4: Response Ethernet frame from the SDN FD to UE located below the
with the exact RRLH or used module (VLC or mmWave)
RRLH1
which forwards this packet further.
B. Intra Building gNB Handover with Internet Access Figure 7 presents an Ethernet frame which is sent from "5G L2
processing" unit to the SDN FD when the user UE located
VLC and mmWave location estimation algorithms at the within the coverage area of the RRLH1 sends data to EPC.
UE continuously report their location to the nearest 10cm to a Northbound Interface to
Application Layer on IHIPG
Location Service linked to the SDN Controller.
VNF
Repository

✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ Tablet PC SDN NFV

/UE NAS Payload Controll O
er
MAC-ETH
S1AP(NAS Payload)
s: aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.01
d: 5GControlPlaneMAC MSS Securit Transco Cloud
Locati SCTP
VNF on y VNF der Home Data
VNF VNF IP Center
✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓ TCP+HTTP PHY-ETH s: eNodeB
Server
IP
s:google_IP
d:UE_IP
IoRL Etherne Ethern SDN
d: EPC
MAC-ETH
s: 5GControlPlaneMAC
Internet
t port et d: EPC_MAC
SDAP

PDCP
RAN interfa
ce
4G/5G
FD
PHY-ETH

Control
RLC Plane N2 MNO
MAC-5G 4G/5G I/F VNF EPC
Figure 5: Intra Building Handover PHY-5G
User
Plane
N6
I/F VNF
N3
Intra building handover between rooms or floors of a home Intelligent Home IP Gateway
DELL 730 - 2
network is either performed by the MS Streaming application
at the Service Level since its content consumption scheduler Figure 7: 5G system control plane protocol flow (Uplink)
handles stream synchronization from multiple paths and Figure 8 presents the response packet from EPC server
multiple sources transmitted from different parts of the which is sent to the appropriate VLC or mmWave module

138
MAC address. When, in the presented example, the user 6 Controller the source MAC address of the Ethernet frame at
changes his location to e.g. the location just below the RRLH changes. Now it is associated with the RRLH6 VLC or
6 the source MAC address of the Ethernet frame at changes. mmWave module, which later allows for appropriate routing
Now it is associated with the RRLH6 VLC or mmWave of the frames.
module, which later allows for appropriate routing of the Northbound Interface to
Application Layer on IHIPG
frames. VNF
Northbound Interface to Repository
Application Layer on IHIPG

VNF Tablet PC SDN NFV

Repository
/UE Controll O
er

Tablet PC SDN NFV MSS Locati Securit Transco Cloud

/UE Controll VNF on y VNF der Home Data
NAS Payload O VNF
er S1AP(NAS Payload) VNF Center
TCP+HTTP
MAC-ETH Server
s: 5GControlPlaneMAC
d: : aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.01 MSS
VNF 1
Locati
on
Securit
y VNF
Transco
SCTP

der IP
Cloud
Home Data
IP
s:google_IP
d:UE_IP
IoRL Etherne Ethern SDN
TCP+HTTP
IP
Internet
SrcVNF
AMF t port et s: UE_IP
TCP+HTTP PHY-ETH
VNF Dst: eNodeB Center
Server
SDAP
RAN interfa
FD d:google_IP

IoRL MAC-ETH ce
IP PDCP 4G/5G GTP
s:google_IP s: 5GControlPlaneMAC
TCP+HTTP Control
d:UE_IP
Etherne Ethern SDN d: EPC_MAC Internet RLC N2 MNO
Plane UDP
t port et
FD
RAN PHY-ETH IP 4G/5G I/F VNF EPC
SDAP interfa MAC-5G IP
s: google_IP
ce d: UE_IP
User s: S-GW N6
PDCP 4G/5G PHY-5G Plane d:5GUserPlaneIP
Control MAC-ETH I/F VNF
RLC Plane N2 MNO s: 5GUserPlaneMAC MAC-ETH N3
4G/5G Interfac EPC d:aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.01 s: S-GW_MAC
MAC-5G
e
Intelligent Home IP Gateway
d: 5GUserPlaneMAC
User N6 DELL 730 - 2
PHY-5G Plane PHY-ETH
PHY-ETH
Interfac
e N3
Intelligent Home IP Gateway
DELL 730 - 2 Figure 10: 5G system user plane protocol flow (Downlink)

Figure 8: 5G system control plane protocol flow (Downlink)

E. Inter Home gNB and Outside Network gNB Handover with
The IoRL 5G system user plane protocol flow is shown in Mobile Network Access
Figure 9 and Figure 10. The interface used between "5G L3-
RRC and L2 processing" unit and the SDN FD at the user
plane uses a direct Ethernet link and Ethernet frames, which ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗

contain exact IP data generated at the UE. In the EPC side all
✗
packets destined to or sourced from EPC use single MAC ✓

address (S-GW_MAC) that is characteristic for the EPC User ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓

Plane Function (UPF) via N3 interface. The addresses to or

from the RAN part is associated with the exact RRLH or used
module (VLC or mmWave) which forwards this packet
further. Figure 11: Outside to Inside Building Handover
Northbound Interface to
Application Layer on IHIPG
In the case of inside IoRL (source) to outside gNB (target)
TCP+HTTP
VNF
Repository handover, as shown in Figure 11, the Reference Signal
IP
s: UE_IP
d: google_IP
Received Power (RSRP) and Reference Signal Received
Tablet PC SDN
/UE
MAC-ETH
s: aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.01
d: 5GUserPlaneMAC
Controll
NFV
O
Quality (RSRQ) of the outside radio network together with
er
PHY-ETH
Cloud
knowledge of the UE’s location in the home radio-light
MSS Securit Transco
VNF
Locati
on
VNF
y VNF der
VNF
Home Data
Center
network is measured by the UE and used to commence a
TCP+HTTP
IP
s:UE_IP IoRL TCP+HTTP
Server
inter network handover procedure through signaling initiated
Etherne SDN Internet
from IoRL RAN to the gNB on the X2 interface, as shown in
d:google_IP Ethern
t port et IP
FD
RAN
SDAP interfa s: UE_IP
d:google_IP

Figure 12.
ce
PDCP 4G/5G
Control GTP
RLC Plane N2 MNO
UDP Northbound Interface to
MAC-5G 4G/5G I/F VNF EPC
User IP N6 Application Layer on IHIPG
PHY-5G Plane s:5GUserPlaneIP
I/F VNF d:S-GW_IP
N3
MAC-ETH VNF
Intelligent Home IP Gateway
s: : 5GUserPlaneMAC Repository
DELL 730 - 2 d:S-GW_MAC
PHY-ETH

SDN NFV
Figure 9: 5G system user plane protocol flow (Uplink) Controll O
RRC er
MAC-ETH
s: aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.01 MSS Securit Transco Cloud
D. Intra Building gNB Handover with Mobile Network Access d: 5GControlPlaneMAC

PHY-ETH
VNF
Location
VNF y VNF
X2-AP
der
VNF
Home Data
Center
TCP+HTTP SCTP

Figure 9 presents an Ethernet frame, which is sent from

Server
IP
s:google_IP IoRL Etherne Ethern SDN
IP
Src: IoRL
Dst: eNB Internet
"5G L2 processing" unit to the SDN FD when the user UE
d:UE_IP
t port et
SDAP
RAN interfa
ce
FD MAC-ETH
s: 5GControlPlaneMAC

located the coverage area of RRLH1 Controller sends data to PDCP

RLC
4G/5G
Control
Plane
d: eNB_X2_MAC

PHY-ETH N2 MNO
EPC. MAC-5G 4G/5G
User
I/F VNF EPC
N6
Tablet PC
Figure 10 presents the response packet from EPC server which
PHY-5G Plane N3
I/F VNF
/UE
will be sent to the appropriate VLC or mmWave module MAC Intelligent Home IP Gateway
DELL 730 - 2
X2 gNB

address. When, in the presented example, the user changes his

location to e.g. the location within the coverage area of RRLH Figure 12: Control Plane protocol Flow IoRL to gNB Handover (Uplink)

139
Any subsequent user plane packets that are misdirected to the signaling initiated from gNB to the IoRL RAN on the X2
IoRL network then gets redirected to the target gNB over the interface, as shown in Figure 14.
X2 interface, as shown in Figure 13. Any subsequent user plane packets misdirected to the gNB
Northbound Interface to
Application Layer on IHIPG
then get redirected to the target IoRL network over the X2
interface, as shown in Figure 15.
VNF
Repository
IV. CONCLUSIONS
SDN
NFV Cloud
This paper presents an architecture that provides both direct
Controller
O Home Data WLAN type access to the Internet using 5G RAN as well as
Center
access to the Internet via Mobile Networks using a 5G
TCP+HTTP
IP Server
MSS Security Transco
mmWave and VLC Radio Access Network (RAN) within
Location s: google_IP
VNF der d:UE_IP
VNF VNF
Internet
VNF
TCP+HTTP
GTP S1-U TEID
buildings. A SDN is used to manage the various different
IoRL Etherne Ethern
IP
SDN
s: google_IP
UDP
IP packet flows between the RAN, the Internet Interface and the
t port et d:UE_IP
FD s: SGW

RAN interfa
ce
GTP X2-U TEID
4G/5G
d: IoRL
MAC-ETH
Mobile Network User and Control plane interfaces for
UDP
Control
IPPlane
s: SGW_MAC
d:IoRL MAC N2 MNO SmartPhone, Tablet PCs, HDTVs and Virtual Reality headsets
4G/5G
User
I/F VNF
s: IoRL
d: eNB
PHY-ETH EPC N6
within buildings.
Tablet PC
Plane MAC-ETH
I/F VNF s: IoRL MAC N3 /UE
From the operator’s point of view the presented architecture
d:eNB MAC
Intelligent Home IP Gateway
PHY-ETH X2 gNB represents an excellent solution for an existing issue as it will
DELL 730 - 2
allow more efficient use of the scarce spectrum by utilizing
Figure 13: User Plane protocol Flow IoRL to gNB Handover license free VLC communication and mmWave instead of
Northbound Interface to
their spectrum as an access mechanism to the network;
Application Layer on IHIPG
however it will support larger number of users only by
Location
VNF
VNF
Repository
allowing the IHIPG to be connected to their systems and being
registered with MNOs.
Tablet PC SDN NFV From the UE point of view, it will improve user experience
/UE Controll
RRC er
O
as a user registered with one MNO by experiencing better
coverage via VLC and mmwave access network, faster Internet
MAC-ETH
s: 5GControlPlaneMAC MSS Security Transco Cloud
d: : aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.01 Location
VNF VNF der Home Data
by reducing the delay from MNO and offloading him to the
VNF
VNF Center
TCP+HTTP PHY-ETH X2-AP
Server
IP
s:google_IP
d:UE_IP
IoRL Etherne Ethern SDN
SCTP
IP
Src: eNB Internet
local Internet connection, and also enjoying a set of local
services provided by the local server. It will also allow the UE
t port et
FD Dst: IoRL
SDAP

PDCP
RAN interfa
ce
4G/5G
MAC-ETH
s: eNB MAC

RLC
Control
Plane
d: IoRL

PHY-ETH
N2 MNO to obtain direct WLAN type access to the Internet using 5G
EPC
RAN.
MAC-5G 4G/5G I/F VNF
User N6
PHY-5G Plane
I/F VNF
N3
Intelligent Home IP Gateway
DELL 730 - 2
X2 gNB ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Figure 14: Control Plane protocol Flow gNB to IoRL Handover The authors gratefully acknowledge the European
Commission for its financial support on the Horizon 2020
Northbound Interface to
Application Layer on IHIPG Internet of Radio-Light (IoRL) project No: 761992.
VNF
Repository REFERENCES
Tablet PC SDN
[1] “The Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data
/UE Controll
NFV
O TCP+HTTP Traffic Forecast Update”, Cisco, February 2016J.
er
[2] “Amdocs 2015 State of the RAN”, Amdocs, 2015.
IP
s: google_IP
MSS Security Transco d:UE_IP Cloud
Location
VNF Home Data
[3] “Wireless in Buildings”, Commscope, February 2016R.
VNF VNF der
GTP
VNF Center
TCP+HTTP UDP Server
IP
s:google_IP
d:UE_IP
IoRL Etherne Ethern SDN
IP
s: eNB
Internet
[4] “In-Building Wireless”, ABI Research, April 2014 / “Wireless
t port et
FD
d: IoRL
in Buildings”, Commscope, February 2016
SDAP
RAN interfa
ce
MAC-ETH
s: eNB_MAC
PDCP

RLC TCP+HTTP
4G/5G
Control
d:IoRL MAC N2
MNO
[5] Sridhar. Rajagopal, Shadi. Abu-Surra, Sudhir. Ramakrishna, et
al “MIMO designs for mmWave wireless LAN systems” 48th
Plane PHY-ETH
MAC-5G IP 4G/5G I/F VNF EPC
N6
IEEE Signal Proc Soc. Asilomar Conference on Signals,
s: google_IP User
PHY-5G d: UE_IP Plane N3
MAC-ETH
Systems, and Computers, Pacific Grove, CA Date: Nov 02-05,
I/F VNF
s: 5GUserPlaneMAC
d:aa.bb.cc.dd.ee.01

PHY-ETH
Intelligent Home IP Gateway
DELL 730 - 2 X2 gNB 2014, Pp: 1916-1920
[6] Haijun Zhang, Xiaoli Chu, Weisi Guo and Siyi Wang
Figure 15: User Plane protocol Flow gNB to IoRL Handover “Coexistence of Wi-Fi and Heterogeneous Small Cell Networks
Sharing Unlicensed Spectrum” IEEE Communications
In the case of outside gNB (source) to inside IoRL (target) Magazine, Vol. 53, Iss. 3, Pp:158-164, Mar 2015.
handover, the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and [7] John Cosmas, Yue Zhang, Xun Zhang “Internet of Radio-Light:
Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) of the outside 5G Broadband in Buildings” EU Wireless, Dresden, Germany
radio network together with knowledge of the UE’s location in 17-19 May 2017
the home radio-light network is measured by the UE and used
to commence a inter network handover procedure through

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