Managed ecosystems of networked objects

Small embedded devices such as sensors and actuators will become the cornerstone of the Future Internet. To this end, generic, open and secure communication and service platforms are needed in order to be able to exploit the new business opportunities these devices bring. In this paper, we evaluate the current efforts to integrate sensors and actuators into the Internet and identify the limitations at the level of cooperation of these Internet-connected objects and the possible intelligence at the end points. As a solution, we propose the concept of Managed Ecosystem of Networked Objects, which aims to create a smart network architecture for groups of Internet-connected objects by combining network virtualization and clean-slate end-to-end protocol design. The concept maps to many real-life scenarios and should empower application developers to use sensor data in an easy and natural way. At the same time, the concept introduces many new challenging research problems, but their realization could offer a meaningful contribution to the realization of the Internet of Things

Self organising cloud cells: a resource efficient network densification strategy

Network densification is envisioned as the key enabler for 2020 vision that requires cellular systems to grow in capacity by hundreds of times to cope with unprecedented traffic growth trends being witnessed since advent of broadband on the move. However, increased energy consumption and complex mobility management associated with network densifications remain as the two main challenges to be addressed before further network densification can be exploited on a wide scale. In the wake of these challenges, this paper proposes and evaluates a novel dense network deployment strategy for increasing the capacity of future cellular systems without sacrificing energy efficiency and compromising mobility performance. Our deployment architecture consists of smart small cells, called cloud nodes, which provide data coverage to individual users on a demand bases while taking into account the spatial and temporal dynamics of user mobility and traffic. The decision to activate the cloud nodes, such that certain performance objectives at system level are targeted, is carried out by the overlaying macrocell based on a fuzzy-logic framework. We also compare the proposed architecture with conventional macrocell only deployment and pure microcell-based dense deployment in terms of blocking probability, handover probability and energy efficiency and discuss and quantify the trade-offs therein