This paper analyzes current standardization situation of 5G and the role network softwarization plays in order to address the challenges the new generation of mobile networks must face. This paper surveys recent documentation from the main stakeholders to pick out the use cases, scenarios and emerging vertical sectors that will be enabled by 5G technologies, and to identify future high-level service requirements. Driven by those service requirements 5G systems will support diverse radio access technology scenarios, meet end-to-end user experienced requirements and provide capability of flexible network deployment and efficient operations. Then, based on the identified requirements, the paper overviews the main 5G technology trends and design principles to address them. In particular, the paper emphasizes the role played by three main technologies, namely SDN, NFV and MEC, and analyzes the main open issues of these technologies in relation to 5G.

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This paper presents initial results available from the European Commission Horizon 2020 5G Public Private Partnership Phase 2 project "SaT5G" (Satellite and Terrestrial Network for 5G). 1 After describing the concept, objectives, challenges, and research pillars addressed by the SaT5G project, this paper elaborates on the selected use cases and scenarios for satellite communications positioning in the 5G usage scenario of enhanced mobile broadband.

5G envisages a "hyper-connected society" where an enormous number of devices are interconnected anywhere and at any time. Cloud-enabled radio access networks (RAN) where intelligence is placed in conjunction with the radio heads at the proximity of end users is a promising solution to fulfil the 5G expectations of sub-millisecond latency, huge traffic volumes and higher data rates. Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) developments enable end users to access advanced features such as configurability, automation, scalability, improved resource utilization and multi tenancy over the cloud-enabled RANs. Management and orchestration techniques are the ultimate factor that determine the effectiveness of the novel SDN/NFV features being introduced. Our focus in this study is the resource allocation in a realistic cloud-enabled RAN, taking into account the dynamics of ~100,000 persons movement in a crowded event, i.e. a football match. The proposed solution jointly orchestrates NFV and bandwidth resources, as one resource affects the other. Simulation results clearly verify the benefits of the proposed solution over traditional disjoint schemes.

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