Network slicing is considered one of the key enabling technologies for 5G due
to its ability to customize and "slice" a common resource to support diverse
services and verticals.This paper introduces a novel inter-operator network
slicing framework in which multiple mobile network operators (MNOs) can
coordinate and jointly slice their accessible spectrum resources in both
licensed and unlicensed bands. For licensed band slicing, we propose an
inter-operator spectrum aggregation method that allows two or more MNOs to
cooperate and share their licensed bands to support a common set of service
types. We then consider the sharing of unlicensed bands. Because all MNOs enjoy
equal rights to accessing these bands, we introduce the concept of right
sharing for MNOs to share and trade their spectrum access rights. We develop a
{\em modified back-of-the-envelope (mBoE) method} for MNOs to evaluate their
{\em Value-of-Rights (VoR)} when coexisting with other wireless technologies. A
{\em network slicing game} based on the overlapping coalition formation game is
formulated to investigate cooperation between MNOs. We prove that our proposed
game always has at least one stable slicing structure that maximizes the social
welfare. To implement our proposed framework without requiring MNOs to reveal
private information to other MNOs, we develop a distributed algorithm called
D-ADMM-PVS. Performance evaluation of our proposed framework is provided using
a discrete-event simulator that is driven by real MNO deployment scenarios
based on over 400 base station locations deployed by two primary cellular
operators in the city of Dublin.Numerical results show that our proposed
framework can almost double the capacity for all supported services for each
MNO in an urban setting.

该论文介绍了一种新型的运营商网络分片框架，其中多个移动网络运营商可以协调并共同分片他们可访问的频谱资源（包括许可和非许可频段），我们提出了一种基于重叠联盟形成博弈的网络分片博弈，并设计了 D-ADMM-PVS 分布式算法，实现了运营商之间的协作而不需要公开私人信息。结果表明该框架可以几乎将城市中所有支持的服务的每个运营商的容量翻倍。