1. Wireless Dense Networks:
Simple rescaling or change of paradigm?
Jun 6th, 2013 – Madrid, Spain
Panelist: Claudio Cicconetti

2. First things first
I would put my money on:
Change of paradigm

3. Explanation
• Let’s have a look to the past
• OK, not so much in the past…

4. Good ol’ GSM
• Launched in 1991
• Skype 2003
• Gtalk 2005
• Twitter 2006
• Whatsapp 2009

5. UMTS
• Launched on 2001
• iPhone 2007
• Foursquare 2009
• Google latitude 2009
• Instagram 2010

6. So what?
• The bottom line is:
• Telecom industry used to work this way:
1. See what you can do with state-of-the-art
hardware / RF
 technology push (also requires standards)
2. Money invested will eventually come back when
somebody finds how to use the technology

7. BUT what about now?
• Fact #1
– The Internet (= core network) just works
• Fact #2
– Radio access technology is (largely!)
overprovisioned
• IEEE 802.11n: easily 100 Mb/s, can be 300 Mb/s
• HSPA+: up to 84 Mb/s
• LTE: up to 300 Mb/s
• Let’s not even mention LTE-A!

8. SO where is the problem exactly?
• Theoretical capacity is already there
BUT
• Actual capacity is not always where the user
wants it to be (i.e., close to him/her)
HENCE
• NO NEED for a technology push
– the network is already adapting to what the users
want NOW  densification of wireless networks

9. Back to the original question
• We have demands from market/users TODAY
• We have technology supporting those
demands TODAY
• UNFORTUNATELY, we just can’t continue to
deploy new base stations since that would
break the spell  we have a problem TODAY
backhauling constraints, control protocols do
not scale well, growth is not economically
viable, etc.

10. Conclusion
(same as opening slide if you have paid attention)
I would put my money on:
Change of paradigm

11. Any tips on what we could do?
• Goal: deploy lots of access points operating
efficiently in a sustainable manner
– Sustainable = cost-effective
 hardware must be simple
 operation must be energy-efficient
– Efficient operation = continuous optimisation
 control must be complex
• Solution:
– Software Defined Networking!
www.ict-crowd.eu
@FP7CROWD

12. SDN for DenseNets
• From:
– static, vendor-specific, centralised control
• To:
– dynamic, open, distributed control
Local
controller
Regional
controller
Core network
Backhauling

13. Well, life is not THAT easy 
 much research to be done 
More realistic view
of the architecture

14. Contacts
My name: Claudio Cicconetti
My affiliation: INTECS S.p.A.
My email: claudio.cicconetti@intecs.it
My bio: about.me/ccicconetti
My twitter channel: @ccicconetti
My ongoing project: www.ict-crowd.eu
Scan this (if you can)