Analysis of Controlled Packet Departure to Support Ethernet Fronthaul Synchronization via PTP

The synchronization accuracy achieved via the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) in packet-based fronthaul networks is substantially impaired by packet delay variation (PDV). Nevertheless, in the particular case of deployment over tree topologies, it is known that PDV can be avoided by controlling the departure of PTP packets such that they experience close to constant delays over the fronthaul. This paper analyzes controlled PTP departure under constraints that are peculiar to a fronthaul scenario of interest and considering that radio traffic itself behaves as background traffic relative to PTP. Since the method involves buffering of radio traffic prior to controlled PTP transmissions, its impact on buffer sizes at the baseband and radio units, and the corresponding increase in fronthaul latency are also analyzed. In the end, results collected through a self-developed FPGA-based testbed are presented.This work was supported in part by the Innovation Center, Ericsson Telecomunicac¸ ˜oes S.A., Brazil, CNPq/Capes, Brazil, and by the European Union through the H2020 collaborative Europe/Taiwan research project 5G-CORAL (grant agreement no. 761586)

QUALITY-OF-SERVICE PROVISIONING FOR SMART CITY APPLICATIONS USING SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORKING

In the current world, most cities have WiFi Access Points (AP) in every nook and corner. Hence upraising these cities to the status of a smart city is a more easily achievable task than before. Internet-of-Things (IoT) connections primarily use WiFi standards to form the veins of a smart city. Unfortunately, this vast potential of WiFi technology in the genesis of smart cities is somehow compromised due to its failure in meeting unique Quality-of-Service (QoS) demands of smart city applications. Out of the following QoS factors; transmission link bandwidth, packet transmission delay, jitter, and packet loss rate, not all applications call for the all of the factors at the same time. Since smart city is a pool of drastically unrelated services, this variable demand can actually be advantageous to optimize the network performance. This thesis work is an attempt to achieve one of those QoS demands, namely packet delivery latency. Three algorithms are developed to alleviate traffic load imbalance at APs so as to reduce packet forwarding delay. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is making its way in the network world to be of great use and practicality. The algorithms make use of SDN features to control the connections to APs in order to achieve the delay requirements of smart city services. Real hardware devices are used to imitate a real-life scenario of citywide coverage consisting of WiFi devices and APs that are currently available in the market with neither of those having any additional requirements such as support for specific roaming protocol, running a software agent or sending probe packets. Extensive hardware experimentation proves the efficacy of the proposed algorithms

Demystifying Internet of Things Security

Break down the misconceptions of the Internet of Things by examining the different security building blocks available in Intel Architecture (IA) based IoT platforms. This open access book reviews the threat pyramid, secure boot, chain of trust, and the SW stack leading up to defense-in-depth. The IoT presents unique challenges in implementing security and Intel has both CPU and Isolated Security Engine capabilities to simplify it. This book explores the challenges to secure these devices to make them immune to different threats originating from within and outside the network. The requirements and robustness rules to protect the assets vary greatly and there is no single blanket solution approach to implement security. Demystifying Internet of Things Security provides clarity to industry professionals and provides and overview of different security solutions What You'll Learn Secure devices, immunizing them against different threats originating from inside and outside the network Gather an overview of the different security building blocks available in Intel Architecture (IA) based IoT platforms Understand the threat pyramid, secure boot, chain of trust, and the software stack leading up to defense-in-depth Who This Book Is For Strategists, developers, architects, and managers in the embedded and Internet of Things (IoT) space trying to understand and implement the security in the IoT devices/platforms

Accelerating Network Functions using Reconfigurable Hardware. Design and Validation of High Throughput and Low Latency Network Functions at the Access Edge

Providing Internet access to billions of people worldwide is one of the main technical challenges in the current decade. The Internet access edge connects each residential and mobile subscriber to this network and ensures a certain Quality of Service (QoS). However, the implementation of access edge functionality challenges Internet service providers: First, a good QoS must be provided to the subscribers, for example, high throughput and low latency. Second, the quick rollout of new technologies and functionality demands flexible configuration and programming possibilities of the network components; for example, the support of novel, use-case-specific network protocols. The functionality scope of an Internet access edge requires the use of programming concepts, such as Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). The drawback of NFV-based network functions is a significantly lowered resource efficiency due to the execution as software, commonly resulting in a lowered QoS compared to rigid hardware solutions. The usage of programmable hardware accelerators, named NFV offloading, helps to improve the QoS and flexibility of network function implementations. In this thesis, we design network functions on programmable hardware to improve the QoS and flexibility. First, we introduce the host bypassing concept for improved integration of hardware accelerators in computer systems, for example, in 5G radio access networks. This novel concept bypasses the system’s main memory and enables direct connectivity between the accelerator and network interface card. Our evaluations show an improved throughput and significantly lowered latency jitter for the presented approach. Second, we analyze different programmable hardware technologies for hardware-accelerated Internet subscriber handling, including three P4-programmable platforms and FPGAs. Our results demonstrate that all approaches have excellent performance and are suitable for Internet access creation. We present a fully-fledged User Plane Function (UPF) designed upon these concepts and test it in an end-to-end 5G standalone network as part of this contribution. Third, we analyze and demonstrate the usability of Active Queue Management (AQM) algorithms on programmable hardware as an expansion to the access edge. We show the feasibility of the CoDel AQM algorithm and discuss the challenges and constraints to be considered when limited hardware is used. The results show significant improvements in the QoS when the AQM algorithm is deployed on hardware. Last, we focus on network function benchmarking, which is crucial for understanding the behavior of implementations and their optimization, e.g., Internet access creation. For this, we introduce the load generation and measurement framework P4STA, benefiting from flexible software-based load generation and hardware-assisted measuring. Utilizing programmable network switches, we achieve a nanosecond time accuracy while generating test loads up to the available Ethernet link speed

Hybrid optical fiber-wireless communication to support tactile internet

5G technologies are systems that will set to change the way people, devices and machines connect. This generation of mobile services provide connection in just one click. The advanced 5G infrastructure, defined as “ubiquitous ultra-broadband network supporting future Internet”, represents a revolution in the telecommunications field. It will enable new secure and reliable services to everyone and everything with ultra-low latency. “Full Immersive Experience”, enriched by “Context Information” and “Anything as a Service” are the main drivers for a substantial adoption of the fifth generation networks [1]. The technical challenges that must be taken into account in the design of the 5G system are many and unprecedented. Therefore,5G is expected to be about 10 times faster than LTE-4G, in addition, it is projected that this network will have100-1000 times higher system capacity, user data rates in the order of Gbps everywhere, 10-100 higher number of connected devices per area, latency in the order of 1 millisecond, and 10 times longer battery life for devices. Due to all these technological changes, for years, researchers, suppliers and manufacturers around the world have studied this new network. In order to transform the user's wireless experience and be able to offer fast generalized connectivity anytime, anywhere, to any device.[2]. All this requires an enabler in the new approach of radio access networks, which could be hybrid optical Fiber-Wireless communications. “Photonics technology has been recognized by the European Union as a Key Enabling Technology (KET), which is a technology that enables a market, many times larger than the market of technology itself”. Photonic techniques have become key enablers to unlock future broadband wireless communications with terabit data rates in order to support the current trends of mobile data traffic[3]. The aim of this thesis is to conceive experimentally and validate 1 millisecond latency hybrid optical Fiber-Wireless access links support for tactile Internet taking into account the system requirements. For this purpose, first a review about the implementation of high-speed data links at 75-110 GHz band with low latency was made. Likewise, this work summarizes the components of hybrid optical Fiber-Wireless communication in W- Band. Second, measurements of the delay contribution from individual elements in the W -Band hybrid system were made. In addition, the main contribution was to develop a procedure for measuring latency physically using software defined radio (SDR) and estimating the overall system latency. In this procedure, potential sources of delay can be identified in current high-data-rate hybrid optical-RF communication systems. After knowing how to measure latency in a hybrid optical Fiber-Wireless system, the following objectives were developed: to test an appropriate multiplexing scheme such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing (GFDM), to achieve the lowest latency with improved performance; and to implement WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) to achieve the required low latency.Resumen: Las tecnologías 5G son sistemas de generación de servicios móviles configurados para cambiar la forma en que las personas, los dispositivos y las máquinas se conectan. La infraestructura 5G está definida como una red ubicua de banda ultra-ancha que soportará Internet en el futuro, dicha red representa una revolución en el campo de las telecomunicaciones. Permitirá eficientemente nuevos servicios ultra-confiables, rápidos y seguros, preservando la privacidad y acelerando los servicios críticos para todos y para cada cosa. Estas redes son la evolución del Internet de las cosas, en donde cada una de ellas es tratada como un objeto cognitivo formando sistemas cibernéticos (CPS). La "experiencia de inmersión total", enriquecida con "información de contexto" y "todo como un servicio" son los principales impulsores para una adopción masiva de los nuevos componentes de ésta tecnología y su aceptación del mercado [1]. Se espera que 5G sea aproximadamente 10 veces más rápido que 4G LTE. Por lo tanto, los desafíos técnicos que deben abordarse en el diseño del sistema 5G son muchos y sin precedentes. Actualmente hay varias actividades en todo el mundo para capturar las aplicaciones y los requisitos para 5G, algunas empresas proveedoras de servicio y fabricantes incluso ya han realizado pruebas para la implementación de dichas redes. Algunos de los principales requisitos que demandan estas redes se pueden resumir en: 100-1000 veces más capacidad del sistema, tasas de datos de usuario en el orden de Gbps en todas partes, latencia en el orden de 1 milisegundo, 10-100 veces mayor número de dispositivos conectados por área, 10 veces más duración de la batería para dispositivos. Estos requisitos transformarán dramáticamente la experiencia inalámbrica de un usuario en un sistema 5G al ofrecer conectividad generalizada rápida en cualquier momento, en cualquier lugar, a cualquier dispositivo [2]. Todo esto requiere un habilitador en el nuevo enfoque de las redes de acceso por radio, que podrían ser comunicaciones híbridas de fibra óptica y transmisiones inalámbricas vía radio. La fotónica por su parte ha sido reconocida por la Unión Europea como una Tecnología Clave Habilitadora (KET), una tecnología que permite un mercado que es muchas veces más grande que el mercado de la tecnología en sí. Las técnicas fotónicas combinadas con la generación de microondas en lo que se conoce en su término en inglés como microwave-photonics se han convertido en habilitadores clave para desbloquear futuras comunicaciones inalámbricas de banda ancha con tasas de datos de terabit a fin de soportar las tendencias actuales del tráfico de datos móviles [3]. El objetivo de esta tesis es concebir experimentalmente y validar enlaces de acceso híbridos de fibra óptica-radio, cuya latencia sea de 1 milisegundo con el fin de soportar Internet táctil, el cual es una aplicación de 5G, teniendo en cuenta los requisitos del sistema. Para ello, primero se realizó una investigación sobre la implementación de enlaces de datos con redes híbridas fibra óptica-radio en la banda de 75-110 GHz con baja latencia. Con esto, se analizaron los componentes de la comunicación híbrida fibra ópticaradio en la banda W. En segundo lugar, se realizaron mediciones de los retardos que se generan en cada uno de los elementos en el sistema híbrido de banda W, haciendo la estimación de la latencia general del sistema e identificando fuentes potenciales de demora en los sistemas híbridos de comunicación óptica-RF de alta velocidad de datos. La principal contribución de este trabajo fue el desarrollo de un procedimiento para medir la latencia utilizando radio definida por software (SDR), además de introducir estos sistemas en los enlaces híbridos fibra óptica-radio. Una vez conocido como medir la latencia en un sistema híbrido de fibra óptica-radio, los siguientes objetivos que se desarrollaron fueron: probar un esquema de multiplexación apropiado, como la multiplexación por división de frecuencia ortogonal (OFDM) y la multiplexación por división de frecuencia generalizada (GFDM), para lograr una latencia más baja. A su vez, implementar Multiplexación por división de longitud de onda (WDM) para conocer la latencia y la confiabilidad en cuanto a tasa de error de bits variando la multiplexacion eléctrica y óptica.Doctorad