+Software Defined Networking (SDN) can simplify cellular data networks design & management

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LTE Data Plane

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Simplified LTE Data Plane

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+4 main extensions tocontrollers, switches, and base stations

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Flexible policies on subscriber attributes

Scalability through local switch agents

Flexible switch patterns and actions

Remote control of virtualized base-station resources

Cellular networks would benefit from support for deep packet inspection, header compression, and message-based control protocols like SCTP.

An open API between the controller and base station can enable remote control of radio resource allocation, admission control, handoff, and paging.

Automatically translate policies based on subscriber attributes to packet-processing rules based on IP addresses and network locations.

Switches should run software agents that perform simple local actions (such as polling traffic counters and comparing against thresholds), at the behest of the controller.

+ Directing Traffic Through Middleboxes

Monitoring for Network Control & Billing

Flexible switch patterns and actions

Remote control of virtualized base-station resources