IT in general

The document specifies the requirements for Multi-access Edge Computing with the aim of promoting interoperability and deployments. It contains normative and informative parts. The document also contains an annex describing example use cases and their technical benefits, for the purpose of deriving requirements.

The document provides a framework and reference architecture for Multi-access Edge Computing that describes a MEC system that enables MEC applications to run efficiently and seamlessly in a multi-access network. The document also describes the functional elements and the reference points between them, and a number of MEC services that comprise the solution. It finally presents a number of key concepts related to the multi-access edge architecture.

The document defines a framework to be used by ETSI ISG MEC to coordinate and promote multivendor Proofs of Concept (PoC) projects and MEC Deployment Trial (MDT) projects illustrating key aspects of MEC technology. Proofs of Concept are an important tool to demonstrate the viability of a new technology during its early days and or pre-standardization phase. MDTs are seen as the next step of PoC to demonstrate the viability of MEC in a commercial trial/deployment and to provide feedback to the standardization work.

The document defines design principles for RESTful MEC service APIs, provides guidelines and templates for the documentation of these, and defines patterns of how MEC service APIs use RESTful principles.

The document defines the management of the mobile edge system, mobile edge hosts and mobile edge platforms. This includes platform configuration, performance and fault management, application monitoring, remote service configuration and service control, information gathering regarding the platform features, available services, and available virtualised resources.

The document provides information flows for lifecycle management of applications running on a MEC host, and describes interfaces over the reference points to support application lifecycle management. It also describes application rules and requirements, application-related events, mobility handling and MEC service availability tracking. The document specifies the necessary data model, data format and operation format when applicable.

Based on the testing methodology guidelines and framework specified in ETSI GR MEC-DEC 025, the document specifies part 2 of a multi-part deliverable test specification for the MEC service APIs (currently ETSI GS MEC 012, ETSI GS MEC 013, ETSI GS MEC 014, ETSI GS MEC 015, ETSI GS MEC 016, ETSI GS MEC 021 and ETSI GS MEC 029) and the MEC Application Enablement API (ETSI GS MEC 011). The document includes the Test Suite Structure (TSS) and Test Purposes (TPs) using the standardized notation Test Description Language - Test Objectives extension (TDL_TO).

Based on the testing methodology guidelines and framework specified in ETSI GR MEC-DEC 025, the document specifies part 3 of a multi-part deliverable on conformance test specification. Part 3 provides the Abstract Test Suites (ATS) in TTCN-3 and the Robot Framework for the MEC Application Enablement API specified in ETSI GS MEC 011 and the MEC service APIs.

This Recommendation describes the requirements for a function which enables the cooperation of multiple edge gateways (CMEG) to complete complex tasks. It also describes the required capabilities and requirements of key components. The CEMG function can support the information exchanging among multiple edge gateways and deal with gateway failure cooperatively. It can also specify the central gateway which is responsible for selecting a cooperative gateway for each gateway, which in turn monitors the status of its partner gateway, and manages the cooperative data and devices.

For development of the IEC architecture, there are couple of software-oriented architectural ways to build flexible protocol architecture achieved by deploying and operating the architecture, for instance, an unified software oriented architecture, which is composing logically modular functions to tightly coupled way as a monolithic architecture and microservice architecture which is loosely composing logically or physically separated own processing functions as microservices. Because IEC has developed on different hardware specifications and various functionalities that each business wants, it is standardized based on microservices and used as a reference standard for implementation. As a result of microservices based IEC architecture, it can be continuously developed and operated by updating microservices. This Recommendation specifies signalling architecture, protocol interfaces, protocol procedures and message format for microservices based intelligent edge computing.

A unified and cloud-based edge computing platform allows operators to flexibly deploy network functions and support infrastructure for fixed-mobile network convergence, to provide a unified multi-access edge computing capability for all network access technologies in IMT-2020 networks. This draft Recommendation aims to describe the requirements, architecture and functions of unified multi-access edge computing for supporting fixed mobile convergence (FMC) network.

The draft Recommendation describes the requirements, architecture, functional entities, reference points and information flows of local shunting for multi-access edge computing in IMT-2020 networks.