Real-Time 5G Network Slice Operations

The most important aspect of managing 5G network slicing, is the ability to guarantee the network slice KPIs throughout the slice’s lifecycle. The Slice Operations & Management module is responsible for ongoing slice service assurance and closed loop operation. It monitors the behavior and performance of the various slices, by collecting NFs, infrastructure data and performance indications from the network domains and infrastructure controllers, EMS and NMS.

The solution’s active hybrid inventory module enables vendor-agnostic, continuous monitoring and performance analysis of both the physical and virtualized network slice components. An analytics framework is responsible to analyze the performance data and events that are captured from the network, and to understand the state of network functions and the role each domain has in affecting the performance of the end-to-end slice. Based on massive data collection, statistical modeling, and AI/ML analysis, the system carries out performance prediction and provides early warnings of any degradation of slice performance and SLAs.

Upon the detection of a slice’s KPI breach (such as throughput, packet loss, latency, and jitter), the NSMF triggers the appropriate actions required for network slice service assurance at all times, consistent with the pre-defined roles enforced by the system policy engine. Corrective actions might include healing and/or scaling of the resources to elastically adjust to demand variations, consistent with the specified design, analytics, and policies. This ensures that the required responses are provided, and the committed SLAs are met.

Furthermore, service providers can also automate the operational testing and assurance of the network slices, by provisioning a set of critical testing and assurance functions. For example, validating the performance of new slices, proactively monitoring service levels, and isolating faults.

Consequently, the end-to-end service orchestration and assurance automation maximize the efficient utilization of network resources and enables their adaptive, real-time responsiveness and tuning, to specific business and customer needs, in a timely and cost-efficient manner. This in turn allows controlling and guaranteeing network performance that satisfies QoS, SLAs and security requirements across all domains, thereby ensuring that 5G network slicing fulfills its true potential.