Validation platform specification – D5.1

Deliverable D5.1 del projecte Europeu OneFIT (ICT-2009-257385)The present deliverable introduces the OneFIT Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Architecture which will be used as a basis for the validation platform development throughout the project. This PoC Architecture proposal is validated by identifying the roles of the various components in the framework of the OneFIT Scenarios as derived and detailed in WP2. The applied methodology ensures that all required features are appropriately considered. Furthermore, the hardware components available to the project are detailed which are the basis for the development of an integrated validation platform. Their role is highlighted by an instantiation step which maps the PoC Architecture components to the identified hardware components. Finally, a scenario instantiation is derived which illustrates the role of the various hardware components for the validation of selected OneFIT scenarios.Postprint (published version

Leveraging Resources on Anonymous Mobile Edge Nodes

Smart devices have become an essential component in the life of mankind. The quick rise of smartphones, IoTs, and wearable devices enabled applications that were not possible few years ago, e.g., health monitoring and online banking. Meanwhile, smart sensing laid the infrastructure for smart homes and smart cities. The intrusive nature of smart devices granted access to huge amounts of raw data. Researchers seized the moment with complex algorithms and data models to process the data over the cloud and extract as much information as possible. However, the pace and amount of data generation, in addition to, networking protocols transmitting data to cloud servers failed short in touching more than 20% of what was generated on the edge of the network. On the other hand, smart devices carry a large set of resources, e.g., CPU, memory, and camera, that sit idle most of the time. Studies showed that for plenty of the time resources are either idle, e.g., sleeping and eating, or underutilized, e.g. inertial sensors during phone calls. These findings articulate a problem in processing large data sets, while having idle resources in the close proximity. In this dissertation, we propose harvesting underutilized edge resources then use them in processing the huge data generated, and currently wasted, through applications running at the edge of the network. We propose flipping the concept of cloud computing, instead of sending massive amounts of data for processing over the cloud, we distribute lightweight applications to process data on users\u27 smart devices. We envision this approach to enhance the network\u27s bandwidth, grant access to larger datasets, provide low latency responses, and more importantly involve up-to-date user\u27s contextual information in processing. However, such benefits come with a set of challenges: How to locate suitable resources? How to match resources with data providers? How to inform resources what to do? and When? How to orchestrate applications\u27 execution on multiple devices? and How to communicate between devices on the edge? Communication between devices at the edge has different parameters in terms of device mobility, topology, and data rate. Standard protocols, e.g., Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, were not designed for edge computing, hence, does not offer a perfect match. Edge computing requires a lightweight protocol that provides quick device discovery, decent data rate, and multicasting to devices in the proximity. Bluetooth features wide acceptance within the IoT community, however, the low data rate and unicast communication limits its use on the edge. Despite being the most suitable communication protocol for edge computing and unlike other protocols, Bluetooth has a closed source code that blocks lower layer in front of all forms of research study, enhancement, and customization. Hence, we offer an open source version of Bluetooth and then customize it for edge computing applications. In this dissertation, we propose Leveraging Resources on Anonymous Mobile Edge Nodes (LAMEN), a three-tier framework where edge devices are clustered by proximities. On having an application to execute, LAMEN clusters discover and allocate resources, share application\u27s executable with resources, and estimate incentives for each participating resource. In a cluster, a single head node, i.e., mediator, is responsible for resource discovery and allocation. Mediators orchestrate cluster resources and present them as a virtually large homogeneous resource. For example, two devices each offering either a camera or a speaker are presented outside the cluster as a single device with both camera and speaker, this can be extended to any combination of resources. Then, mediator handles applications\u27 distribution within a cluster as needed. Also, we provide a communication protocol that is customizable to the edge environment and application\u27s need. Pushing lightweight applications that end devices can execute over their locally generated data have the following benefits: First, avoid sharing user data with cloud server, which is a privacy concern for many of them; Second, introduce mediators as a local cloud controller closer to the edge; Third, hide the user\u27s identity behind mediators; and Finally, enhance bandwidth utilization by keeping raw data at the edge and transmitting processed information. Our evaluation shows an optimized resource lookup and application assignment schemes. In addition to, scalability in handling networks with large number of devices. In order to overcome the communication challenges, we provide an open source communication protocol that we customize for edge computing applications, however, it can be used beyond the scope of LAMEN. Finally, we present three applications to show how LAMEN enables various application domains on the edge of the network. In summary, we propose a framework to orchestrate underutilized resources at the edge of the network towards processing data that are generated in their proximity. Using the approaches explained later in the dissertation, we show how LAMEN enhances the performance of applications and enables a new set of applications that were not feasible

Datacenter Design for Future Cloud Radio Access Network.

Cloud radio access network (C-RAN), an emerging cloud service that combines the traditional radio access network (RAN) with cloud computing technology, has been proposed as a solution to handle the growing energy consumption and cost of the traditional RAN. Through aggregating baseband units (BBUs) in a centralized cloud datacenter, C-RAN reduces energy and cost, and improves wireless throughput and quality of service. However, designing a datacenter for C-RAN has not yet been studied. In this dissertation, I investigate how a datacenter for C-RAN BBUs should be built on commodity servers. I first design WiBench, an open-source benchmark suite containing the key signal processing kernels of many mainstream wireless protocols, and study its characteristics. The characterization study shows that there is abundant data level parallelism (DLP) and thread level parallelism (TLP). Based on this result, I then develop high performance software implementations of C-RAN BBU kernels in C++ and CUDA for both CPUs and GPUs. In addition, I generalize the GPU parallelization techniques of the Turbo decoder to the trellis algorithms, an important family of algorithms that are widely used in data compression and channel coding. Then I evaluate the performance of commodity CPU servers and GPU servers. The study shows that the datacenter with GPU servers can meet the LTE standard throughput with 4× to 16× fewer machines than with CPU servers. A further energy and cost analysis show that GPU servers can save on average 13× more energy and 6× more cost. Thus, I propose the C-RAN datacenter be built using GPUs as a server platform. Next I study resource management techniques to handle the temporal and spatial traffic imbalance in a C-RAN datacenter. I propose a “hill-climbing” power management that combines powering-off GPUs and DVFS to match the temporal C-RAN traffic pattern. Under a practical traffic model, this technique saves 40% of the BBU energy in a GPU-based C-RAN datacenter. For spatial traffic imbalance, I propose three workload distribution techniques to improve load balance and throughput. Among all three techniques, pipelining packets has the most throughput improvement at 10% and 16% for balanced and unbalanced loads, respectively.PhDComputer Science and EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/120825/1/qizheng_1.pd

Netzwerkdienste für Massively Multiplayer Online Games

In dieser Arbeit präsentieren wir das Design und die Umsetzung von drei Netzwerkdiensten für Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Der erste Dienst stellt eine integrierte Sprachkommunikation für Online-Spiele dar. Dabei basiert das Design auf einer hybriden Architektur, die für das Aushandeln der Verbindungen einen zentralen Server verwendet, die Audiodaten jedoch von Peer zu Peer überträgt. Dieses Vorgehen ermöglicht es, die Verbindungen basierend auf Spielereignissen aufzubauen, ohne dabei zentrale Ressourcen für das Übertragen der Audioströme zu verbrauchen. Der zweite Dienst ist ein Ansatz für eine Overlay-Netzwerkstruktur. Das Hauptziel bei der Entwicklung war es, hohe Echtzeit- und Skalierbarkeitsanforderungen zu erfüllen. Daher wird ein unstrukturiertes Peer-to-Peer-Netzwerk mit einem dynamischen Verbindungschema verwendet. Der dritte Dienst kann für den Leistungsvergleich von Peer-to-Peer-Gaming-Overlays eingesetzt werden. Er beeinhaltet das Festlegen der Methodik, die Definition von Metriken, die Generierung von realistischer Last und die Implementierung einer vollständigen Evaluationsplattform

IDMS solution for hybrid broadcast broadband delivery within the context of HbbTV standard

"© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permissíon from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertisíng or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works."[EN] Inter-destination media synchronization (IDMS) is a key requirement to enable successful networked shared media experiences between remote users. This paper presents an adaptive, accurate and standard-compliant IDMS solution for hybrid broadcast and broadband delivery. Apart from providing multi- and cross-technology support, the presented IDMS solution is able to accomplish synchronization when different formats/versions of the same, or even related, contents are being played out in a shared session. It is also able to independently manage the playout processes of different groups of users. The IDMS solution has been integrated within an end-to-end platform, which is compatible with the hybrid broadcast broadband TV standard. It has been applied to digital video broadcasting-terrestrial technology and tested for a Social TV scenario, by also including an ad-hoc chat tool as an interaction channel. The results of the conducted (objective and subjective) evaluations prove the statisfactory behavior and performance of the IDMS solution and platform as well as in terms of the perceived quality of experience.This work was supported by Generalitat Valenciana, Investigacion competitiva proyectos, through the Research and Development Program "Grants for research groups to be consolidated, AICO/2017," under Grant AICO/2017/059.Marfil-Reguero, D.; Boronat, F.; Montagud, M.; Sapena Piera, A. (2019). IDMS solution for hybrid broadcast broadband delivery within the context of HbbTV standard. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting. 65(4):645-663. https://doi.org/10.1109/TBC.2018.2878285S64566365

Teaching Your Wireless Card New Tricks: Smartphone Performance and Security Enhancements Through Wi-Fi Firmware Modifications

Smartphones come with a variety of sensors and communication interfaces, which make them perfect candidates for mobile communication testbeds. Nevertheless, proprietary firmwares hinder us from accessing the full capabilities of the underlying hardware platform which impedes innovation. Focusing on FullMAC Wi-Fi chips, we present Nexmon, a C-based firmware modification framework. It gives access to raw Wi-Fi frames and advanced capabilities that we found by reverse engineering chips and their firmware. As firmware modifications pose security risks, we discuss how to secure firmware handling without impeding experimentation on Wi-Fi chips. To present and evaluate our findings in the field, we developed the following applications. We start by presenting a ping-offloading application that handles ping requests in the firmware instead of the operating system. It significantly reduces energy consumption and processing delays. Then, we present a software-defined wireless networking application that enhances scalable video streaming by setting flow-based requirements on physical-layer parameters. As security application, we present a reactive Wi-Fi jammer that analyses incoming frames during reception and transmits arbitrary jamming waveforms by operating Wi-Fi chips as software-defined radios (SDRs). We further introduce an acknowledging jammer to ensure the flow of non-targeted frames and an adaptive power-control jammer to adjust transmission powers based on measured jamming successes. Additionally, we discovered how to extract channel state information (CSI) on a per-frame basis. Using both SDR and CSI-extraction capabilities, we present a physical-layer covert channel. It hides covert symbols in phase changes of selected OFDM subcarriers. Those manipulations can be extracted from CSI measurements at a receiver. To ease the analysis of firmware binaries, we created a debugging application that supports single stepping and runs as firmware patch on the Wi-Fi chip. We published the source code of our framework and our applications to ensure reproducibility of our results and to enable other researchers to extend our work. Our framework and the applications emphasize the need for freely modifiable firmware and detailed hardware documentation to create novel and exciting applications on commercial off-the-shelf devices