| Title | : | Network-Initiated Handover Mechanism for 5G Networks using P4-based Programmable Data Plane Switches |
| Speaker | : | Phanindra Palagummi (IITM) |
| Details | : | Mon, 29 Apr, 2019 3:00 PM @ Turing Hall |
| Abstract: | : | Programming Protocol independent Packet Parsers (P4) are expected to lead the next generation of programmable network switches. P4 switches can parse the packets and invoke actions defined by the protocol designer. These actions can be made to perform a simple packet forwarding or can aid the functional behavior of the system. Our work deals with the design of protocols for 5G-and-beyond wireless networks. In particular, it considers a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN), where the Base Band Unit (BBU) functions are split across a Central Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU). Our work proposes the introduction of P4-based switches between the CU and DU for processing packets exchanged between the two. This switch is used to illustrate a smart handover (SMARTHO) scheme based performance enhancement for User Equipments (UEs) that traverses a fixed-path during part of its movement. The idea is to perform the resource allocation in subsequent macro-cells in advance of the user’s movement, by having the P4 switch spoof the behavior of the UE. Using an implementation based on Mininet and P4BM software switch, it is seen that the proposed method results in an 18% and 25% improvement of HO response time in the sequence of two and three handovers, respectively. Ongoing efforts to implement the proposed mechanism in a P4-enabled hardware switch will also be discussed in the seminar. |
