Virtualized C-RAN with Mininet and OAI Supporting Flexible Network Topologies

System virtualization ensures greater flexibility to improve the resource management of telecommunication and network applications when compared with physical solutions. The centralized radio access network (C-RAN) architecture enables cloud processing, making functions virtualization possible in a mobile network deployment. C-RAN components communication occurs through fronthaul and backhaul links, where both have different topologies, interfaces, and requirements. Experimentation with different fronthaul and backhaul topologies may be difficult to setup and expensive since it requires numerous routers and switches. This paper proposes a C-RAN deployment using the OpenAirInterface platform with virtualized fronthaul and backhaul using Mininet which enables easier setup of fronthaul and backhaul topologies.