Network Slicing in 5G for Mission-Critical Use Cases

Introduction;

Network slicing has been touted as one of the key advantages of 5G and has even been cited as one of the top enablers of 5G business models.

Many industry experts are convinced that network slicing will usher in a new age of mobile services with rich,

immersive, and personalized experiences catering to all business segments including the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine-to-Machine (M2M), Industrial IoT (IIoT),

Automotive, media and entertainment, healthcare, education, and retail among others. With all these benefits, why should you care?

What is network slicing?

Network slicing is the concept of dividing up a 5g network into different slices so that each slice can cater to particular usage cases.

For example, if you have an autonomous car you may want to give it dedicated bandwidth to ensure safety and high speeds at all times.

This is where 5g network slicing comes into play.

5g networks are designed to be able to provide custom coverage for different types of applications, services, and use cases such as transportation, manufacturing, or healthcare.

5g offers increased speed, capacity, connectivity, and latency due to new technologies like MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) antennas,

OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) systems, and multiuser MIMO (MU-MIMO).

5g will allow many devices on the same wireless connection without having any interference issues.

How can it be used for mission-critical applications?

5g network slicing is a new technology that will allow mission-critical applications to be prioritized on the 5g network.

This will enable these applications to use more of the bandwidth and have shorter response times, while other apps are relegated to slower speeds.

Examples of potential mission-critical apps include autonomous driving, virtual reality, and augmented reality.

For example, if there is a driverless car accident on the road, a control center could prioritize traffic data from sensors in the car over regular user data and take real-time action to avoid other accidents.

The 5g network would also make it possible for self-driving cars to communicate with each other about obstacles like pedestrians, cyclists, and animals on the street ahead.

What are the benefits of using network slicing?

5g network slicing can be beneficial to companies that have mission-critical use cases and need a high quality of service.

It allows 5g networks to be sliced into subnetworks which are determined by the needs of the company’s customers.

This means that there will be a certain subnetwork for voice, another one for video, and yet another one for IoT applications.

Because these networks are created specifically with their customer’s requirements in mind, this means that they are also more focused on high-quality service,

Making it more likely that your mission-critical application will have the bandwidth it needs to function properly without lag.

A lot of carriers are also exploring ways to use 5g as a way to offload traffic from 4g/LTE networks.

The idea behind this is that if you’re downloading or uploading an important file, you would want all the bandwidth available.

So 5g could be used as a backup if say, 3G was too crowded at the time you needed it most.
The result?

A 5g network slice for each scenario – small enough for a data-driven world, but large enough for anything else!

How can network slicing be implemented?

A 5g network slice is a virtualized segment of the network that can be created by a network operator to provide specific services. It is important to note that 5g network slicing is not a single technology, but rather an approach based on new technologies to create virtual networks with different characteristics and functionalities.
5g networks will allow operators to take their whole spectrum portfolio and divide it into slices with different requirements, serving various needs. One example of this could be separating video traffic from voice traffic, as the video will require more bandwidth than voice does. However, many 5g applications are mission-critical and therefore are sensitive to latency.
Therefore, network slicing should be done with care so that latency isn’t introduced when there isn’t any needed for the particular application. To make sure 5g networks will have low latency, 5G NR (New Radio) will implement three different time domains: CoMP transmission coordination across sites; centralized transmission scheduling between sites; distributed transmission scheduling within site boundaries.

What are the challenges associated with implementing network slicing?

There are two major challenges with implementing network slicing. The first challenge is that, while 5g is the evolution of 4g, it isn’t simply a replacement, and as such will require new infrastructure to support it. The second challenge is implementing new technologies like network slicing into already existing networks. This can be difficult because it requires a change in how the network operates, which may cause unintended consequences.

Conclusion

5g network slicing is a promising technology with high potential to transform the future of telecommunications. It could lead to the development of new, innovative applications and services that have not been possible before due to limitations on bandwidth or latency. The first use case on which 5g network slicing has been deployed is mission-critical communications where it can provide a high level of reliability and availability. This capability will be critical as 5g networks are set up to handle more users with higher demands from each user. Another important use case for 5g network slicing is public safety communications where emergency services need access to information quickly without interruption when disasters strike.