Presentation given by C. Cicconetti at Pisa internet festival 2013 (http://www.internetfestival.it/), illustrating highlights from the FP7 CROWD project (http://www.ict-crowd.eu/)

1. How to tame densification of
wireless networks using SDN/NFV
Pisa Internet Festival, 10/10/13

2. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 2
History: 2G & 3G
MSC
BSC (2G)
RNC (3G)
BSC (2G)
RNC (3G)
Works very well…
until he archenemy arrives

3. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 3
History: 2G & 3G
This leads to the
Big Problem

4. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 4
The Big Problem
Traffic
Revenues
Data eraVoice era
Telecom
operator 

5. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 5
Picture of the Big Problem
Debut of
Pope
Benedict
Debut of
Pope
Francis

6. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 6
Need more wireless capacity?
• Today’s radio access technology is (largely!)
overprovisioned:
– IEEE 802.11n: easily 100 Mb/s, can be 300 Mb/s
– HSPA+: up to 84 Mb/s
– LTE: up to 300 Mb/s
• Let’s not even mention LTE-A!

7. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 7
So what do we need?
• Add more and more base stations, esp. where
capacity is needed:
– Crowded public spaces
– Residential buildings, offices
– Events, fairs
– …
What we get

8. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 8
Densification of wireless access
networks
From macro-cell only

9. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 9
Densification of wireless access
networks
From macro-cell only
to pico-cells

10. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 10
Densification of wireless access
networks
From macro-cell only
to pico-cells
to small-cells

11. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 11
Summary
• We have demands from market/users today
• We have technology supporting those
demands today
• Unfortunately we just can’t continue to deploy
new base stations because we have issues:
1. high CAPEX/OPEX €€€
2. interference
3. backhaul
4. signalling

12. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 12
Solution

13. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 13
Project overview
• Connectivity management for energy optimised
wireless dense networks
– Start: 1/1/13
– End: 30/6/15
– Total cost: 4,460 k€
– Total funding: 2,978 k€
– Total effort: 443 PM

14. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 14
Goal
To enable sustainable deployment of very dense
and heterogeneous wireless networks
sustainable = cost effective + energy efficient
very dense = 1000x compared to current
density (in users/sqm vs. users/BS)
heterogeneous =
+ diverse range (macro vs. pico vs. femto)
+ diverse technologies (LTE vs. WiFi)
+ diverse deployments (planned vs. unplanned)
+ diverse backhaul types (optical vs. wireless)

15. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 15
How is this done?

16. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 16
Local controller concept

17. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 17
Example: LTE Today

18. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 18
Example: LTE Danger!
Extreme density 

19. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 19
Example: LTE CROWD

20. 10/10/2013 – Pisa Internet Festival claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it 20
Roadmap
End of 2013
• Architecture final
• Preliminary solutions
• Numerical / simulation
analysis
End of 2014
• First public release of CROWD
controllers
• Final solutions validated with
stand-alone testbeds
• Initial results from integrated
testbed
June 2015
• Final demonstrator ready
• Full results available

21. My name: Claudio Cicconetti
My affiliation: INTECS S.p.A.
My email: claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it
My bio: about.me/ccicconetti
My twitter channel: @ccicconetti
My project: www.ict-crowd.eu
@FP7CROWD
Scan this (if you can)