Title
Leveraging Multiplexing Gain in Network Slice Bundles
Abstract
In this paper, we propose strategies and develop solutions for a network service provider (NSP) to cost-effectively provision and manage a large number of network slices. Specifically, we propose a novel framework, namely, network slice bundling, in which (1) an NSP can allocate resources and create multiple network slice bundles in advance, (2) a network slice request can be quickly instantiated in the bundle that supports its service requirements, and (3) network slices in the same bundle can share the resources and achieve a multiplexing gain by leveraging the stochastic behaviors of resource usage. Within this framework, we focus on a core problem, which is how to leverage the multiplexing gain to maximize the utility by optimally assigning multiple network slices to a set of pre-defined bundles. We formulate an optimization problem and theoretically analyze the irregularity of constraints and the difficulty of the problem. We develop a novel reinforcement learning (RL) based slice assignment solution. Finally, we conduct extensive data-driven simulation experiments. The numerical results confirm that the proposed solution can efficiently solve the network slice assignment problem and achieve significantly higher utility than the best baseline algorithm.
Year
DOI
Venue
2021
10.1109/TNSE.2020.3031347
IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Multiplexing gain,network slice bundles,quality-of-service,reinforcement learning
Journal
8
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
1
2327-4697
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Qian Xu16712.25
Xiang Yan26617.39
Kui Wu3102482.25
Jianping Wang41422103.90
Kejie Lu598084.68
Weiwei Wu6146.11