scope:

This recommended practice provides an SDN-based architecture for multi-radio access technology (RAT ) wireless access networks. It also specifies an SDN-based middleware to support unified and vendor independent control and management of the data plane functions belonging to different RATS, such as wireless local area networks (WLANs), wireless regional area networks (WRANs), and other terrestrial radio access systems [e.g., those defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R)]. This document also recommends a logically unified multi-RAT control plane function. The control plane function is responsible for control and management of the multi-RAT access network with the help of the proposed middleware.

Purpose

Today's wireless networks are multi-RAT networks comprising different RATS, such as IEEE 802.11™, IEEE 802.22™, 3GPP, and ITU-R cellular technologies.¹ These are also multivendor networks consisting of equipment from a diverse set of vendors. An SDN-based control and management framework can facilitate unified and vendor-independent control and management for these multi-RAT wireless access networks. Such a framework can also help improve the performance of the wireless networks.

The purpose of this recommended practice is to define an SDN middleware along with an SDN architecture, enabling unified control and management of multi-RAT radio access networks.

¹Information on references can be found in Clause 2.