Software-defined mobile network

Software Defined Mobile Networking (SDMN) is an approach to the design of mobile networks where all protocol-specific features are implemented in software, maximizing the use of generic and commodity hardware and software in both the core network and radio access network.

Software defined radio (SDR) is an important element of SDMN, because it replaces protocol-specific radio hardware with protocol-agnostic digital transceivers. While many earlier digital radio systems used field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or special-puposed digital signal processors (DSPs) for calculations on baseband radio waveforms, the SDMN approach moves all of the baseband processing into general-purpose CPUs. SDMN radio systems also use hardware with publicly-documented interfaces that is designed to be readily reproducible by multiple manufacturers.

Advantages

The SDMN approach has many advantages over conventional mobile network designs.

• Because SDMN hardware is protocol-agnostic, upgrades are software-only, even across technology generations. In the radio network, these changes can even be made on a site-by-site basis.
• Because SDMN hardware is designed to be easily sourced and reproduced:
  • SDMN equipment can be serviced by a wider range of vendors, lowering maintenance costs.
  • SDMN equipment can be manufactured anywhere in the world, lowering production costs.
• Because SDMN software is based on commodity operating systems and development tools:
  • Support staff can be trained more quickly because they are already familiar with the underlying software systems.
  • Many aspects of the SDMN can be monitored and managed with pre-existing tools, because they are already available in the commodity operating systems.

History

Through the 20th century, telecommunications technology was driven by hardware development. In the early 2000’s, generally available CPU’s became cheap enough to enable commercial SDR technology and softswitches. SDMN extends these trends into the design of mobile networks, moving nearly all network functions into software.

The term "software-defined mobile network" first appeared in public literature in early 2014, used independently by Lime Microsystems and researchers from University of Oulu, Finland.