RESOURCE AND TRAFFIC CONTROL IN HETEROGENEOUS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Mobilni internet visokih prenosnih hitrosti, nizkih zakasnitev ter velike razpoložljivosti, selitev storitev in aplikacij v internetni oblak ter razmah interneta stvari in komunikacij med napravami je nova stvarnost, s katero se danes soočajo operaterji sodobnih komunikacijskih sistemov. Na letnem nivoju že vrsto let sledimo trendu povečevanja prenosa podatkovnega prometa, sočasno pa se povečuje tudi obseg sistemske signalizacije ter število povezanih naprav. Odgovor na te izzive predstavlja razvit paketni sistem (angl. EPS – Evolved Packet System) ter njegova evolucijska nadgradnja, tehnologija pete generacije. Z uvajanjem sistema pete generacije (angl. 5G – Fifth generation) ter njegovim pozicioniranjem v nove industrijske vertikale, kot so energetika, pametna mesta, tovarne 4.0, digitalno zdravje in avtonomna vožnja, sodobni mobilni sistemi postajajo tehnološko in zmogljivostno še bolj heterogeni, saj bodo morali za svojo uveljavitev in uspešno komercializacijo podpirati tudi industrijskim specifikam prilagojene tehnološke rešitve. Takšen primer so tudi sistemi za kritične komunikacije, kjer poleg splošnih funkcionalnih in nefunkcionalnih zahtev v ospredje stopijo predvsem domensko-pogojene specifike, med katere sodijo podpora za sočasno gostovanje v tehnološko različnih dostopovnih omrežjih ter možnost združevanja njihovih kapacitet za potrebe zagotavljanja visoke razpoložljivosti in učinkovito uravnanjave prometne obremenitve posameznih segmentov komunikacijskega omrežja. Današnji operaterji so se tako znašli na prelomnici, tako v storitvenem, tehnološkem kot poslovnem smislu, zato bodo morali korenito spremeniti koncept načrtovanja, upravljanja in delovanja omrežij ter razviti nove modele zaračunavanja ter medsebojnega povezovanja za do nedavnega popolnoma ločene industrijske vertikale.Today, the new digital reality that operators of modern communications systems are faced with is shaped by a variety of phenomenal technological advancements, including, a high-speed, low-latency and high-availability mobile Internet, migration of services and applications into the Internet cloud, and the rise of the Internet of Things and machine-to-machine communications. The trends of data-based traffic in mobile networks has been consistently increasing over the past years, which in parallel effects in the equally increasing numbers of the required system-level signalling traffic and the number of connected devices. The evolved packet system (EPS) represents an answer to these challenges along with its evolutionary successor fifth generation (5G). The introduction of 5G and its positioning within new industrial verticals, such as energy systems, smart cities, industry 4.0, digital health and autonomous driving, is a driving force for further increase in the technological heterogeneity of modern mobile systems where a successful rollout and commercialisation of 5G depends among other things also on a successful and timely delivery of technological solutions that comply with particular specifics of each vertical industry. Emergency communications represent such an example where general functional and non-functional requirements are further complemented with domain-specific expectations, including support for multi-homing in technologically diverse access systems and possibilities for capacity and performance bundling to deliver improved availability and efficient load balancing of individual segments of the communications systems. As a result, the operators and service providers are today faced with ground-breaking changes both technology and service wise as well as in terms of their businesses, and are forced to drastically redesign their concepts of network design, management and operation as well as develop new business models that will cater for newly interconnected vertical sectors