On Slice Isolation Options in the Transport Network and Associated Feasibility Indicators

Abstract

Isolation is one of the more relevant attributes associated to the idea of network slicing, introduced by 5G services. Through isolation it is expected that slices from different customers could gracefully coexist without interfering each other, in the sense that whatever misbehavior or unforeseen demand from one slice customer could not affect the communication service received by any other slice customer supported atop the same physical transport infrastructure. This paper surveys and compare different technical approaches that can be taken for providing distinct isolation levels in the transport network, as a major component of end-to-end network slices. Furthermore, a number of isolation feasibility indicators are defined and proposed. These indicators are based on the approaches referred before, as a mean of guiding orchestration decisions at the time of provisioning or reconfiguring the transport slices in the network.