Analysis of Traffic Performance on Network Slicing Using Complex Network Theory

In order to provide various customized services, network slicing as a key technology for fifth-generation mobile networks enables wireless infrastructure to be sliced into multiple isolated logical networks. Thanks to the softwarization and virtualization, slices which often in competition for physical resources are realized in standardized servers. Despite the advances in the realization of network slicing, analyzing the impact of resource allocation on the traffic performance of slices still faces some challenges. In this paper, a multilayer complex network model is introduced to catch the results of resource allocation and slice deployment. This model facilitates real-time resource monitoring and topology information updating for infrastructure network providers. With this model, we investigate the impact of changing resource allocation parameters by modelling the traffic data which are transmitted within the slices. To avoid the traffic congestion caused by the resource competition, the traffic performance of slices is analyzed. The analysis results enable us to propose two cost-effective control strategies which are increasing the capacity of hub nodes and enlarging the scale of the infrastructure network by adding more servers. These strategies aim to suppress the congestion while guaranteeing the traffic performance of slices. Simulation results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed strategies.