Mobile networks are driven to their limits due to the unprecedented growth in the number of connected devices and the volume of data traffic, as well as the stringent demands of emerging applications and services. Despite the continuous advances in transmission and networking technologies, the mobile network ecosystem remains vastly heterogeneous and under-organized, failing to fully exploit and efficiently coordinate the vast amount of available network resources. The SPOTLIGHT project aims to overcome these limitations by proposing a disruptive architecture based on the creation of a flat coalition of massively distributed transceivers utilizing a common pool of energy, radio, computing and storage resources that are optimally handled by a cloud-empowered network core. Aiming to meet and surpass the requirements set for the 5G and beyond mobile data network, this project will create a fully-integrated and multi-disciplinary network of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) that will analyze, design, and optimize the performance of the disruptive new mobile network architecture: the SPOTLIGHT architecture.

IQUADRAT’s main contribution to the SPOTLIGHT project will be the extension of the SDN-enabled programmable platform to support the innovative system concepts and architectural components defined within the SPOTLIGHT architectural framework, for 5G and beyond communication networks. These additional features will be employed for the evaluation of novel slicing techniques for end-to-end flow control, supporting a wide range of applications.

Partners: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece), Iquadrat Informática SL (Spain), Ericsson AB (Sweden), Nessos SA (Greece), NEC Europe LTD (Germany), EURECOM (France), University of York (UK), MTN Cyprus LTD (Cyprus), Open University of Catalonia (Spain), Politecnico di Milano (Italy).