A Survey on the Contributions of Software-Defined Networking to Traffic Engineering

Since the appearance of OpenFlow back in 2008, software-defined networking (SDN) has gained momentum. Although there are some discrepancies between the standards developing organizations working with SDN about what SDN is and how it is defined, they all outline traffic engineering (TE) as a key application. One of the most common objectives of TE is the congestion minimization, where techniques such as traffic splitting among multiple paths or advanced reservation systems are used. In such a scenario, this manuscript surveys the role of a comprehensive list of SDN protocols in TE solutions, in order to assess how these protocols can benefit TE. The SDN protocols have been categorized using the SDN architecture proposed by the open networking foundation, which differentiates among data-controller plane interfaces, application-controller plane interfaces, and management interfaces, in order to state how the interface type in which they operate influences TE. In addition, the impact of the SDN protocols on TE has been evaluated by comparing them with the path computation element (PCE)-based architecture. The PCE-based architecture has been selected to measure the impact of SDN on TE because it is the most novel TE architecture until the date, and because it already defines a set of metrics to measure the performance of TE solutions. We conclude that using the three types of interfaces simultaneously will result in more powerful and enhanced TE solutions, since they benefit TE in complementary ways.European Commission through the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (GN4) under Grant 691567 Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the Secure Deployment of Services Over SDN and NFV-based Networks Project S&NSEC under Grant TEC2013-47960-C4-3-

Machine Learning at the Edge: A Data-Driven Architecture with Applications to 5G Cellular Networks

The fifth generation of cellular networks (5G) will rely on edge cloud deployments to satisfy the ultra-low latency demand of future applications. In this paper, we argue that such deployments can also be used to enable advanced data-driven and Machine Learning (ML) applications in mobile networks. We propose an edge-controller-based architecture for cellular networks and evaluate its performance with real data from hundreds of base stations of a major U.S. operator. In this regard, we will provide insights on how to dynamically cluster and associate base stations and controllers, according to the global mobility patterns of the users. Then, we will describe how the controllers can be used to run ML algorithms to predict the number of users in each base station, and a use case in which these predictions are exploited by a higher-layer application to route vehicular traffic according to network Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). We show that the prediction accuracy improves when based on machine learning algorithms that rely on the controllers' view and, consequently, on the spatial correlation introduced by the user mobility, with respect to when the prediction is based only on the local data of each single base station.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computin

Design Considerations for Low Power Internet Protocols

Over the past 10 years, low-power wireless networks have transitioned to supporting IPv6 connectivity through 6LoWPAN, a set of standards which specify how to aggressively compress IPv6 packets over low-power wireless links such as 802.15.4. We find that different low-power IPv6 stacks are unable to communicate using 6LoWPAN, and therefore IP, due to design tradeoffs between code size and energy efficiency. We argue that applying traditional protocol design principles to low-power networks is responsible for these failures, in part because receivers must accommodate a wide range of senders. Based on these findings, we propose three design principles for Internet protocols on low-power networks. These principles are based around the importance of providing flexible tradeoffs between code size and energy efficiency. We apply these principles to 6LoWPAN and show that the resulting design of the protocol provides developers a wide range of tradeoff points while allowing implementations with different choices to seamlessly communicate

SCOR: Software-defined Constrained Optimal Routing Platform for SDN

A Software-defined Constrained Optimal Routing (SCOR) platform is introduced as a Northbound interface in SDN architecture. It is based on constraint programming techniques and is implemented in MiniZinc modelling language. Using constraint programming techniques in this Northbound interface has created an efficient tool for implementing complex Quality of Service routing applications in a few lines of code. The code includes only the problem statement and the solution is found by a general solver program. A routing framework is introduced based on SDN's architecture model which uses SCOR as its Northbound interface and an upper layer of applications implemented in SCOR. Performance of a few implemented routing applications are evaluated in different network topologies, network sizes and various number of concurrent flows.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, 11 algorithms, 3 table

CLOSER: A Collaborative Locality-aware Overlay SERvice

Current Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing systems make use of a considerable percentage of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) bandwidth. This paper presents the Collaborative Locality-aware Overlay SERvice (CLOSER), an architecture that aims at lessening the usage of expensive international links by exploiting traffic locality (i.e., a resource is downloaded from the inside of the ISP whenever possible). The paper proves the effectiveness of CLOSER by analysis and simulation, also comparing this architecture with existing solutions for traffic locality in P2P systems. While savings on international links can be attractive for ISPs, it is necessary to offer some features that can be of interest for users to favor a wide adoption of the application. For this reason, CLOSER also introduces a privacy module that may arouse the users' interest and encourage them to switch to the new architectur

Traffic optimization at the Application Level Proof of Concept, development and usefulness evaluation of the ALTO solution

This paper presents an overview, proof of concept, and a preliminary demonstrative benchmarking study of the Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) architecture proposed by the IETF ALTO Working Group. The main ALTO system purpose is to allow applications to get a more complete view of the underlying network infrastructure, allowing for wellreasoned connection decisions in situations of service redundancy. This paper first begins with a technical description of the ALTO project, and afterwards evaluates how P2P applications, guided by our proposed prototype implementation of the ALTO architecture, perform in comparison to traditional peer selection algorithms on the task of downloading a file in a typical file-sharing P2P network environment. The obtained results from our developed ALTO prototype system state that an application guided by the ALTO solution reduced overall network usage by around 40% with no significant impact in the application performance.FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/202

New concepts for traffic, resource and mobility management in software-defined mobile networks

The evolution of mobile telecommunication networks is accompanied by new demands for the performance, portability, elasticity, and energy efficiency of network functions. Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Software Defined Networking (SDN), and cloud service technologies are claimed to be able to provide most of the capabilities. However, great leap forward will only be achieved if resource, traffic, and mobility management methods of mobile network services can efficiently utilize these technologies. This paper conceptualizes the future requirements of mobile networks and proposes new concepts and solutions in the form of Software-Defined Mobile Networks (SDMN) leveraging SDN, NFV and cloud technologies. We evaluate the proposed solutions through testbed implementations and simulations. The results reveal that our proposed SDMN enhancements supports heterogeneity in wireless networks with performance improvements through programmable interfaces and centralized control