Mixing MACs: An Introduction to Hybrid Radio Wireless Virtualization

This study presents the design of the hybrid wireless virtualization HWV controller based network architecture. Using a HWV controller, an unified approach can be taken for provisioning and management of virtualized heterogeneous radios, irrespective of their MAC and PHY layer mechanisms. It is shown that the airtime occupancy by transmissions from different slices or groups can be used as a single metric for tying these virtualized platforms. The HWV controller can account and dynamically reprovision slice quotas, which can be used for maximizing the revenue of the network operator or aggregate system throughput performance. Results from simulations show that an HWV controller based infrastructure is able to improve the revenue generated from a single virtualized basestation and an AP by up to 40 percent under tested conditions.