Situation-aware Edge Computing

Future wireless networks must cope with an increasing amount of data that needs to be transmitted to or from mobile devices. Furthermore, novel applications, e.g., augmented reality games or autonomous driving, require low latency and high bandwidth at the same time. To address these challenges, the paradigm of edge computing has been proposed. It brings computing closer to the users and takes advantage of the capabilities of telecommunication infrastructures, e.g., cellular base stations or wireless access points, but also of end user devices such as smartphones, wearables, and embedded systems. However, edge computing introduces its own challenges, e.g., economic and business-related questions or device mobility. Being aware of the current situation, i.e., the domain-specific interpretation of environmental information, makes it possible to develop approaches targeting these challenges. In this thesis, the novel concept of situation-aware edge computing is presented. It is divided into three areas: situation-aware infrastructure edge computing, situation-aware device edge computing, and situation-aware embedded edge computing. Therefore, the concepts of situation and situation-awareness are introduced. Furthermore, challenges are identified for each area, and corresponding solutions are presented. In the area of situation-aware infrastructure edge computing, economic and business-related challenges are addressed, since companies offering services and infrastructure edge computing facilities have to find agreements regarding the prices for allowing others to use them. In the area of situation-aware device edge computing, the main challenge is to find suitable nodes that can execute a service and to predict a node’s connection in the near future. Finally, to enable situation-aware embedded edge computing, two novel programming and data analysis approaches are presented that allow programmers to develop situation-aware applications. To show the feasibility, applicability, and importance of situation-aware edge computing, two case studies are presented. The first case study shows how situation-aware edge computing can provide services for emergency response applications, while the second case study presents an approach where network transitions can be implemented in a situation-aware manner

Modular architecture providing convergent and ubiquitous intelligent connectivity for networks beyond 2030

The transition of the networks to support forthcoming beyond 5G (B5G) and 6G services introduces a number of important architectural challenges that force an evolution of existing operational frameworks. Current networks have introduced technical paradigms such as network virtualization, programmability and slicing, being a trend known as network softwarization. Forthcoming B5G and 6G services imposing stringent requirements will motivate a new radical change, augmenting those paradigms with the idea of smartness, pursuing an overall optimization on the usage of network and compute resources in a zero-trust environment. This paper presents a modular architecture under the concept of Convergent and UBiquitous Intelligent Connectivity (CUBIC), conceived to facilitate the aforementioned transition. CUBIC intends to investigate and innovate on the usage, combination and development of novel technologies to accompany the migration of existing networks towards Convergent and Ubiquitous Intelligent Connectivity (CUBIC) solutions, leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) mechanisms and Machine Learning (ML) tools in a totally secure environment

Connectivity and Data Transmission over Wireless Mobile Systems

We live in a world where wireless connectivity is pervasive and becomes ubiquitous. Numerous devices with varying capabilities and multiple interfaces are surrounding us. Most home users use Wi-Fi routers, whereas a large portion of human inhabited land is covered by cellular networks. As the number of these devices, and the services they provide, increase, our needs in bandwidth and interoperability are also augmented. Although deploying additional infrastructure and future protocols may alleviate these problems, efficient use of the available resources is important. We are interested in the problem of identifying the properties of a system able to operate using multiple interfaces, take advantage of user locations, identify the users that should be involved in the routing, and setup a mechanism for information dissemination. The challenges we need to overcome arise from network complexity and heterogeneousness, as well as the fact that they have no single owner or manager. In this thesis I focus on two cases, namely that of utilizing "in-situ" WiFi Access Points to enhance the connections of mobile users, and that of establishing "Virtual Access Points" in locations where there is no fixed roadside equipment available. Both environments have attracted interest for numerous related works. In the first case the main effort is to take advantage of the available bandwidth, while in the second to provide delay tolerant connectivity, possibly in the face of disasters. Our main contribution is to utilize a database to store user locations in the system, and to provide ways to use that information to improve system effectiveness. This feature allows our system to remain effective in specific scenarios and tests, where other approaches fail

Towards a network management solution for vehicular delay-tolerant networks

Vehicular networks appeared as a new communication solution where vehicles act as a communication infrastructure, providing data communications through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks (VDTNs) are a new disruptive network architecture assuming delay tolerant networking paradigm where there are no end-to-end connectivity. In this case the incial node transmits the data to a closed node, the data will be carried by vehicles, hop to hop until the destination. This dissertation focuses on a proposal of a network management solution, based standard protocol Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to VDTN networks. The developed solution allows control a VDTN netowork through a Network Management System (NMS) with the objective to detect and, if it’s possible, anticipate, possible errors on network. The research methodology used was the prototyping. So, it was built a network management module to the laboratorial prototype, called VDTN@Lab. The system built include a MIB (Management Information Base) placed in all vehicular network nodes. The solution was built, demonstrated, validated and evaluated their performance, being ready for use.As redes veiculares foram desenhadas para permitir que os veículos possam transportar dados criando assim um novo tipo de redes, caracterizando-se por dois tipos de comunicação: comunicações veículo-para-veículo (V2V) ou comunicações veículo-parainfra-estrutura (V2I). Redes veiculares intermitentes (do Inglês Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks - VDTNs) surgiram como uma nova arquitectura de rede de dados onde os veículos são utilizados como infra-estruturas de comunicação. As VDTNs caracterizam-se por serem redes veiculares baseadas no paradigma de comunicações intermitentes. Nas redes VDTN não existe uma ligação permanente extremo a extremo entre o emissor e o receptor. Neste caso, o nó inicial transmite os dados para um nó que esteja junto dele e assim sucessivamente, os dados vão sendo transportados pelos veículos, salto a salto até ao destinatário final. Esta dissertação centra-se na proposta de uma solução de gestão de rede, baseada no protocolo estandardizado Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) para redes VDTN. A solução construída permite controlar uma rede VDTN através de um sistema de gestão de rede (do Inglês Network Management System - NMS) com o objectivo de detectar e, se possível antecipar, possíveis erros na rede. A metodologia de investigação utilizada foi a prototipagem. Assim, foi construído um módulo de gestão de redes para o protótipo laboratorial, chamado VDTN@Lab. O sistema construído inclui uma MIB (Management Information Base) que é colocada em todos os nós de uma rede veicular, tanto fixos como móveis. A solução foi construída, demonstrada, validade e avaliado o seu desempenho, estando assim pronta para ser utilizada