May 14 (Yue Ming) At the “2021 China Optical Communication Quality Development Forum” held in Beijing, Zhang Jie, Executive Dean of the School of Electronic Engineering and Deputy Director of the State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communication, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said, The “dual Gigabit” network of 5G+F5G will become a new engine for the high-quality development of the digital economy. He also pointed out that the future development of “dual Gigabit” networks will face four core challenges including core chips, operating systems, network architecture and industrial ecology.

“The integration of 5G and F5G actually represents the integration of connection capabilities and transmission capabilities. Ubiquitous connections are realized through 5G and large-capacity pipes are provided through gigabit optical networks. Such an optimal match will form the basis for the digital transformation of future network construction. A very good base support.” Zhang Jie said that in the key technologies for F5G networks, resource scheduling and connection management are two major problems that need to be solved.

First of all, from the perspective of resource scheduling, the future network resources, especially the development of all-optical network technology, will truly connect technology, transmission and storage resources to realize cloud-network integration. The trend of resource integration and aggregation is very obvious. In this process, how to arrange good resources and realize the heterogeneous flow of various resources has become a very important topic.

The second is connection management. There are two important trends in the development of optical networks: one is upward, the bandwidth is getting higher and higher, and the speed is getting higher and higher; at the same time, in terms of providing service granularity, it is also from the original extensive large-pipe granular provision, It has developed into a fine-grained business-oriented provision. In this process, we are faced with the massive increase in the number of connections and the scale of connections. Therefore, in this process, problems such as the rapid establishment of a large number of optical connections, the realization of deterministic protection, and the concurrent recovery have brought about future connection management issues. challenge.

Key Technologies for F5G Networks: Resource Orchestration + Connection Management

Zhang Jie said that from the perspective of resource orchestration, the main emphasis is on the orchestration of heterogeneous resource capabilities. “In resource orchestration for F5G networks, the key technologies we study include orchestration technology for unified management of services across the entire network, end-to-end virtualized security slicing technology, and service overall scheduling path optimization technology, as well as computing, storage, and transmission resources. Collaborative control.”

He said that his team has established a professional atomic capability service library and a control architecture that integrates AI engines, as well as an open interface for AI applications, and established a control function for network orchestration from three aspects: service, architecture and interface. At the same time, a network control architecture for heterogeneous resources is also proposed, in which the orchestrator and the Controller integrate the AI ​​engine to coordinately control cross-domain, cross-layer, and cloud network resources, and can complete resource scheduling and virtual network slice design to realize multiple cloud networks. application.

Zhang Jie analyzed that the development of the network from the traditional OTN to the multi-service OTN, and the new OTN system for the F5G network in the future is not only the development of the capacity, but also the bandwidth of the pipeline and the particle downward coverage and extension, which supports the determination of the future. In addition, it is the scheduling of low-speed bandwidth for some industrial Internet scenarios, which will generate a large number of small-granularity services. These are not encountered in previous optical networks.

The previous optical network was used as the basic pipe to provide high-capacity connectivity. But from a future perspective, such connectivity capabilities and levels of connectivity will develop on a larger scale. Since OSU-based OTN can carry multi-granularity service access as low as 2Mb/s and as high as 100Gb/s, it will become a very important service requirement by virtue of its pipe connection capability and distribution capability under massive connection conditions. In the dynamic establishment of OSU massive connections, expanding the processing capability of the existing connection management mechanism faces new problems and challenges.

“On this basis, we also study the problem of rapid recovery of F5G network interruptions. The increase in the number of services not only expands the scale of connections, but also brings greater challenges to the reliability and survivability of the network. We Research attempts have been made to improve survivability and efficiency by bundling services at the same location and establishing cross-domain end-to-end services based on Segment Routing.” He introduced to the audience.

Four Core Challenges Facing the “Dual Gigabit” Broadband Era

When talking about the challenges facing the “dual Gigabit” broadband era in the future, Zhang Jie pointed out that in the future we will also face a series of problems including core chips, operating systems, network architecture and industrial ecology.

The first core challenge is the need to improve the competitiveness of core materials, devices and chips. He said that from the chip level, my country’s development in chip design is good, and the subdivision field has reached the international advanced level, but there is still a big gap between the advanced manufacturing equipment and electronic design automation tools and the international advanced level. “How to improve the competitiveness of core materials, devices, chips and modules is a point that needs to be broken through.”

The second core challenge is the need to deeply cultivate the operating system to support industry applications. “When facing the F5G era, the operating system can form an all-round point from different perspectives of network, terminal, user and developer, create a new operating system suitable for this era, and realize the unity of communication, network computing, and transmission of these resources. Convergence, these bring us new challenges.”

The third core challenge is the need for smooth evolution of innovative network architectures. He said that under the background of large bandwidth, how to realize the smooth evolution of the current network form to the future architecture, solve the decoupling of the central office and terminal equipment, and realize the intelligent control of the network and the rapid deployment of end-to-end services are the major challenges facing the development of the F5G network. challenge.

The fourth core challenge is the need to integrate innovative business applications. “The evolution of the network ultimately serves users and creates various supports for applications. After the development of the F5G network in the future, what is its application and what is the application supported by the best match? This application is not defined by us, but It is defined by users, and then to create a corresponding ecology, this is a very important topic.”

At the end of the speech, Zhang Jie pointed out that “Dual Gigabit” is actually a new starting point for future development. He believes that the future broadband network after dual 5G will focus more on improving the actual user experience, and at the same time pay more attention to the security of personal information on the network, and will build a “human, machine, material, and spiritual” network that integrates heaven and earth.

Source: C114 Communication Network

Author: Yue Ming