Network Slice Selection Function on M-CORD

As Network Slicing functionality gets applied to mobile networking, a mechanism that enables the selection of network slices becomes indispensable. Following the 3GPP Technical Specification for the 5G Architecture, the inclusion of the Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) in order to leverage the process of slice selection is apparent. However, actual implementation of this network function needs to deal with the dynamic changes of network instances, due to this, a platform that supports the orchestration of Virtual Network Functions (VNF) is required. Our proposed solution include the use of the Central Office Rearchitected as a Data Center (CORD) platform, with the specified profile for mobile networks (M-CORD) that integrates a service orchestrator (XOS) alongside solutions oriented to Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (VNF) and virtual machine management through OpenStack, in order to provide the right ecosystem where our implementation of NSSF can obtain slice information dynamically by relying on synchronization between back-end services and network function instances.