Energies, Vol. 14, Pages 6876: Conceptual Evaluation of a 5G Network Slicing Technique for Emergency Communications and Preliminary Estimate of Energy Trade-Off (Energies)

The definition of multiple slicing types in 5G has created a wide field for service innovation in communications. However, the advantages that network slicing has to offer remain to be fully exploited by today`s applications and users. An important area that can potentially benefit from 5G slicing is emergency communications for First Responders. The latter consists of heterogeneous teams, imposing different requirements on the connectivity network. In this paper, the RESPOND-A platform is presented, which provides First Responders with network-enabled tools on top of 5G on-scene planning, with enhanced service slicing capabilities tailored to emergency communications. Furthermore, a mapping of emergency services and communications to specific slice types is proposed to identify the current challenges in the field. Additionally, the proposed tentative mechanism is evaluated in terms of energy efficiency. Finally, the approach is summarized by discussing future steps in the convergence of 5G network slicing in various areas of emergency vertical applications.