With novel paradigms such as everything as a software, software defined radio, edge networking, stateless core networks, cognitive network management,  big data in telco, Network Functions Virtualization, Software Defined Networks and Service Function Chaining, a very high level of customization can be achieved. 

In order to be able to provide a coherent evolution towards 5G, the different stakeholders form the different network domains (radio, core network, backhaul, management, applications, virtualization and devices) have to achieve a common understanding across the complete ecosystem. This will provide the means to achieve meaningful R&D results which can be mapped directly to the 5G software and equipment. 

This half a day workshop will provide a comprehensive mirror of the current status of the network architecture evolution towards 5G, including the 5G radio access network, LTE, WiFi, fixed and satellite network convergence, edge network support, backhaul and fronthaul integration, cognitive self-adaptable management systems, support for highly heterogeneous devices and applications. 

The evolution of the core network and of the management system will be underlined in detail as the main triggers for achieving a more efficient network system. Following, a careful critical attention will be given to the different use cases coming from the telecom as well as from other markets domains and the influence of their requirements on the network architecture. The main focus will be given to the core network functionality beyond 3GPP Evolved Packet Core (EPC) including innovative research items for mobility management, security and access control, QoS and connectivity and device management, monitoring and network management. 

A best practice highly innovative model for the core network architecture model following by the best practices from research will be analysed from the perspective of the 5G requirements and of the migration path from the current operator networks. Then, this tutorial will outline how the major concepts will affect the core network architecture. Additionally, the scope of the SDOs (MVNO, 3GPP, ETSI NFV, IETF, ONF etc.), their initial results and their future directions will be introduced. The tutorial terminates with outlining how the new technology can be brought in a relevant manner to the 5G R&D, the status of live 5G testbeds and later exploited in the 5G ecosystem. Furthermore, the software toolkits and experimentation platforms of Fraunhofer FOKUS/TU Berlin will be introduced, namely Open5GCore, Open5GMTC and OpenSDNCore and the 5G Playground,  enabling demonstrations and hands-on know how accumulation and comprehensive prototyping in the context of academic and industry research.

Agenda:

Currently, there are various competing wireless access technologies that address various M2M traffic characteristics. While the 3GPP cellular technologies (2G, 3G, and 4G) try to provide global M2M access with various profiling and business models, emerging technologies associated with new players appear in the M2M market. They rely on low-power wide area technologies such as the ultra-wide band, the TV whitespace or the ultra-long rang spread spectrum. However, the 3GPP community aims to improve the RAN (Radio Access Network) in 4.5G and 5G to meet most of the M2M challenges defined by various vertical domains.

In order to ensure the interoperability across the M2M stack, various standards developing organizations (SDO) have recently promoted standardization activities in the M2M domain. The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) develops mobile Service Enabler specifications, and defines a light-weigh device management enabler. In 2012, the oneM2M consortium was established with the aim of consolidating the standardization work in M2M communication. The first release of oneM2M specification has been announced beginning of this year. Recently, the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) published a high-level architecture of the IoT-based architecture for the industry. The tutorial will present most of the key features of theses standards.

While the M2M objective is to connect smart objects with the network platforms, the IoT is stepping toward as a fully integrated Internet, which significantly increases the need for cross-domain applications. In this regard, the IoT aims to ensure the interoperability of data flows across different domains and applications. For instance in smart city, the IoT platform should have the capability to analyses data collected from various vertical domains and provide instant real time solutions for many applications in order to promote positive outcomes. 

• The M2M tutorial will cover the following topics:
• M2M and IoT motivations and overview 
• Economic prospective and related business branches
• Various wireless access technologies covering local and wide area networks
• The need for a flexible M2M/IoT communication infrastructure
• Challenges and requirements of M2M/IoT applications
• M2M Standard Landscape covering access technologies, transport protocols, networks and up to system architectures such as oneM2M, OMA, 3GPP and IIC
• Available M2M solutions and platforms
• Introduction to Fraunhofer FOKUS OpenMTC and Open5GMTC (Open Machine-Type Communication)
• Demos from different vertical domains