Network Slicing Management of 5G Ultra-Dense Networks Based on Complex Network Theory

Owing to the rapid increase in mobile data traffic and connected devices, ultra-dense networks (UDN) are proposed to increase the network capacity. In order to satisfy the diverse requirements of emerging use cases, the concept of network slicing (NS) has been progressively introduced in 5G network. For NS in 5G UDN, there are still many challenges in the efficient end to end (E2E) management of massive slices. In this article, we propose a NS management framework of 5G UDN based on complex network (CN) theory. In this framework, we use multilayer network (MN) model to represent the topology of multi-slices and infrastructure network from a global perspective. With the MN model, the topological information of infrastructure network are considered in the deployment policies of slices. Furthermore, we analyze the potential of CN theory to be applied appropriately in NS management from the aspects of improving the resilience and guaranteeing security.