5G supports service innovations toward enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communications (mMTC) and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC).
Cloud-powered AR/VR, cloud-based gaming, UAV applications, HD live broadcast, and industrial control & IoV are some applications need lower latency, roaming at the edge, and exposure of subscriber location information for real-time service optimization.
Source: Huawei documentation (https://support.huawei.com/carrier/docview!docview?nid=KB1100432382&path=PBI1-21262245/PBI1-7899527/PBI1-22892303/PBI1-22602999)
To satisfy new service requirements, MEC comes into play and offers a future-oriented architecture to meet the requirements of 5G services for low-latency, localization and big calculation.
MEC STANDARDIZATION
The International Telecommunication Union's Radio communication Sector (ITU-R) defines three significant areas of usage and applications as part of its 5G initiative:
Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) - catering to the growing demand for ubiquitous broadband connectivity with enhanced data rates, connection density and mobility;
Massive Internet of things (mMTC) - connectivity for millions of devices transmitting sensitive data. Availability of low-cost devices with long battery lives;
Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Services (URLLC) - reliable connectivity with stringent requirements on latency and throughput.
Source: Huawei 5G documentation (https://www.huawei.com/minisite/hwmbbf16/insights/5G-Nework-Architecture-Whitepaper-en.pdf)
It also defined 5G network capability requirements for
throughput, latency, connection density and spectral efficiency improvement.
MULTI-ACCESS EDGE COMPUTING (MEC)
Multi-access edge computing is proposed by the ETSI & 3GPP. It is an open platform that integrates network, computing, storage, and application core capabilities near the network edge of objects or data sources. Smart interconnection services are provided nearby to meet the industry's key requirements for real-time services, service intelligence, data aggregation and interoperability, security and privacy protection during the digital transformation process.
Source: MEC documentation of E-vendor (https://www.arcweb.com/sites/default/files/MEC Verizon2.jpg)
MEC - FURTHER ELABORATION
Carriers may deliver apps, content and a portion of core network functions (including service logic and resource orchestration) to the edge of access networks using the MEC system. These nodes, as opposed to traditional central DCs, are placed closer to subscribers and can provide greater dependability and service experience.
MEC SUBDIVISION
MEC can be sub-divided into three parts.
Multi-access
MEC was previously named 'Mobile Edge Computing'. Later, the ETSI MEC group replaced 'Mobile' with 'Multi-access'.
Firstly, it referred to various network access modes such as LTE, WiFi, wired and even ZigBee, LoRa, NB-IoT and other Internet of things application scenarios. Secondly, this 'multi-access' feature enables a MEC system to provide a consistent experience to users connecting through any access technologies.
Edge
Network functions and applications are deployed at the edge of the network, as close to the end-user as possible, reducing transmission delays and delivering an ultra-low latency.
Computing
This refers to Cloud + Fog computing, which adopts the computing technology to reduce the construction and O&M cost of a large-scale distributed network. Such capabilities include video coding and decoding, VR/AR rendering, video analysis and AI.
THE HUAWEI MEC SOLUTION
Separation of user plane and control plane is the key feature of Huawei’s MEC network architecture. The user plane functions are deployed on the service provider's MEC platform, together with VAS (value-added) applications (such as Domain Name Service (DNS) firewall, and NAT), mobile edge applications (such as video surveillance, VR, and V2X), and network capability exposure functions.
Source: Documentation of Huawei’s MEC (https://support.huawei.com/carrier/docview!docview?nid=KB1100432382&path=PBI1-21262245/PBI1-7899527/PBI1-22892303/PBI1-22602999)
MEC - USE CASE
Local video surveillance for security and traffic management is one of its most common uses. Surveillance video backhauling takes a lot of bandwidth, although much of the footage is static or of little use. MEC enables the local analysis and processing of video streams, with just the relevant data being backhauled. Insignificant data will be retained locally for a short time before being destroyed.
Source: MEC use case (https://support.huawei.com/carrier/docview!docview?nid=KB1100432382&path=PBI1-21262245/PBI1-7899527/PBI1-22892303/PBI1-22602999)
ENDING LINES
MEC is essential and widely used, especially with the advent of
5G and rise of IoT. These include (but are not limited to) connectivity,
bandwidth management, sparse/bad data, heavy computing needs, etc.
REFERENCES
https://www.etsi.org/newsroom/press-releases/1855-2020-12-etsi-announces-mec-5g-integration-report-and-extension-of-isg-mec
https://www.etsi.org/technologies/multi-access-edge-computing
