Application Slice Orchestration for 5G Edge Microservices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing 5G and edge computing technologies lack a coherent approach to manage compute and network resources simultaneously, leading to suboptimal performance of applications due to independent management of these resources, which are crucial for applications with varying latency, bandwidth, and reliability requirements.
Innovation Solution
An application-centric specification called app slice that integrates compute and network requirements, utilizing an application slice specification and a runtime component with a resource manager, application slice controller, and monitor to manage and dynamically adjust resources across multiple tiers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If 5G and edge computing infrastructure are developed independently with separate management approaches, then each infrastructure can be optimized individually, but the overall system performance and coherence deteriorate due to lack of integration between compute and network resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges previously separate 5G network infrastructure and edge computing infrastructure into a unified multi-tiered infrastructure. The application slice specification simultaneously defines both network slice requirements and compute slice requirements, creating an integrated management approach that ensures coherent resource allocation and improves overall application performance while maintaining infrastructure coherence.
2Productivity
If compute and network resources are managed independently, then each resource type can be allocated separately, but resource allocation efficiency deteriorates due to inability to consider joint requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines compute resource management and network resource management into a unified framework through the application slice specification. This specification simultaneously defines compute slice requirements (CPU, memory, storage) and network slice requirements (bandwidth, latency, reliability), enabling joint optimization of resource allocation while maintaining ease of operation through standardized specification templates.
Solution Approach 2:
The application slice specification serves multiple functions simultaneously: it defines application characteristics, specifies compute resource requirements, specifies network resource requirements, and enables coordinated allocation across multi-tiered infrastructure. This universal specification approach improves resource allocation efficiency without increasing operational complexity.
3Reliability
If a unified application-centric specification is implemented to manage both compute and network requirements, then resource allocation coherence improves, but specification and management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the unified application slice specification into distinct but coordinated components: application characteristics section, compute slice requirements section, and network slice requirements section. This segmentation allows comprehensive resource coordination while maintaining manageable complexity through structured, modular specification elements that can be independently defined and validated.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for specifying and executing an application including multiple microservices on 5G slices within a multi-tiered 5G infrastructure is presented. The method includes managing compute requirements and network requirements of the application simultaneously by determining end-to-end application characteristics by employing an application slice specification including an application ID component, an application name component, an application metadata component, a function dependencies component, a function instances component, and an instance connections component, specifying a function slice specification including a function network slice specification and a function compute slice specification, and employing a runtime component including a resource manager, an application slice controller, and an application slice monitor, wherein the resource manager maintains a database and manages starting, stopping, updating, and deleting application instances.