Edge Caching in a Small Cell Network

Abstract

An explosive growth of the use of the public internet by mobile phones along with new high speed data technologies increases the challenge of mobile data delivery. The owners of popular media typically use content delivery networks (CDN) to distribute their content. Currently there is no collaboration between the CDNs and the mobile networks. In this paper we present a novel method for caching at the edge of small cell wireless networks. Our solution allows the small cell network operator to control and manage the access to the storage system at the edge of the small cell network while delegating to the CDN provider the task of managing the content placement. We define a managed caching architecture that consists of new components deployed in the mobile core networks and within the small cell network. These components are interconnected amongst themselves and with an external CDN using newly defined interfaces which are designed using existing OpenAPI and TR-69 standards.