Towards continuously programmable networks

While programmability has been a feature of network devices for a long time, the past decade has seen significant enhancement of programming capability for network functions and nodes, spearheaded by the ongoing trend towards softwarization and cloudification. In his context, new design principles and technology enablers are introduced (Section 7.2) which reside at: (i) service/application provisioning level, (ii) network and resource management level, as well as (iii) network deployment and connectivity level

5G-PPP Software Network Working Group:Network Applications: Opening up 5G and beyond networks 5G-PPP projects analysis

As part of the 5G-PPP Initiative, the Software Network Working Group prepared this white paper to demystify the concept of the Network Applications. In fact, the Network Application ecosystem is more than the introduction of new vertical applications that have interaction capabilities. It refers to the need for a separate middleware layer to simplify the implementation and deployment of vertical systems on a large scale. Specifically, third parties or network operators can contribute to Network Applications, depending on the level of interaction and trust. Different implementations have been conducted by the different projects considering different API types and different level of trust between the verticals and the owner of 5G platforms. In this paper, the different approaches considered by the projects are summarized. By analysing them, it appears three options of interaction between the verticals and the 5G platform owner: - aaS Model: it is the model where the vertical application consumes the Network Applications as a service. The vertical application deployed in the vertical service provider domain. It connects with the 3GPP network systems (EPS, 5GS) in one or more PLMN operator domain. - Hybrid: it is the model where the vertical instantiates a part of its Vertical App in the operator domain like the EDGE. The other part remains in the vertical domain. A similar approach has been followed in TS 23.286 related to the deployment of V2X server. - Coupled/Delegated: it is the model where the vertical delegates its app to the operator. The Network Applications will be composed and managed by the operator. This approach is the one followed in the platforms like 5G-EVE. In addition, the paper brings an analysis of the different API type deployed. It appears that the abstraction from network APIs to service APIs is necessary to hide the telco complexity making APIs easy to consume for verticals with no telco expertise and to adress data privacy requirements

Networking Solutions for Integrated Heterogeneous Wireless Ecosystem

As wireless communications technology is steadily evolving to improve the offered connectivity levels, additional research on emerging network architectures is becoming timely to understand the applicability of both traditional and novel networking solutions. This chapter concentrates on the utilization of cloud computing techniques to construct feasible system prototypes and demonstrators within the rapidly maturing heterogeneous wireless ecosystem. Our first solution facilitates cooperative radio resource management in heterogeneous networks. The second solution enables assisted direct connectivity between proximate users. The contents of the chapter outline our corresponding research and development efforts as well as summarize the major experiences and lessons learned

Käyttäjätason ohjelmistokontittaminen pilviradioliityntäverkossa

The amount of devices connected through mobile networks has been growing rapidly. This growth will create a demand for network capacity that cannot be met with traditional methods. This problem could be solved by implementing a cloud radio access network (RAN), a new concept, to adapt cloud computing technologies, such as software containers, from the software industry to RANs. This adaptation will also create a need to modify working practices in order to better comply with these new cloud computing technologies. While cloud RAN has recently received much research attention, the actual software implementations have not been widely discussed in the literature. Therefore, this thesis evaluates the feasibility of using software containers in the user-plane applications of cloud RAN in terms of networking and inter-container communications (ICC). This is accomplished by identifying potential approaches for ICC and for container networking as well as measuring the performance of these approaches. Two approaches are proposed for ICC and container networking. The approaches were evaluated in terms of throughput and latency. These approaches were found to be suitable for use in cloud RAN user-plane applications. However, since the measurements were performed in a simplified environment, implementing the approaches into a cloud RAN component will require further work.Mobiiliverkkoihin liitettävien laitteiden määrä kasvaa nopeasti. Tämä kasvu tulee luomaan verkon kapasiteetille kysynnän, johon ei kyetä vastaamaan perinteisin menetelmin. Tämä ongelma voitaineen ratkaista implementoimalla pilviradioliityntäverkko (Cloud RAN), uusi konsepti, joka sovittaa ohjelmistoalalla vakiintuneita pilvilaskentateknologioita käytettäväksi radioliityntäverkoissa (radio access network, RAN). Tämä sovitusprosessi luo tarpeen mukauttaa myös työskentelytavat yhteensopiviksi uusien pilvilaskentateknologioiden kanssa. Vaikka pilviradioliityntäverkkoa on tutkittu aktiivisesti viime aikoina, käytännön ohjelmistototeutukset eivät juuri ole olleet esillä kirjallisuudessa. Tämä diplomityö arvioi ohjelmistokonttien (software containers) soveltuvuutta käytettäväksi pilviradioliityntäverkon käyttäjätason (user-plane) applikaatioissa verkottamisen (networking) ja ohjelmistokonttien välisen kommunikoinnin (inter-container communications, ICC) suhteen. Tämä arviointi suoritetaan identifioimalla mahdollisia toteutuksia ohjelmistokonttien väliselle kommunikaatiolle ja ohjelmistokonttien verkottamiselle sekä mittaamalla näiden toteutuksien suorituskyky. Tässä diplomityössä ehdotetaan tutkittavaksi kaksi toteutusta ohjelmistokonttien väliselle kommunikaatiolle ja ohjelmistokonttien verkottamiselle. Nämä toteutukset arvioitiin välityskyvyn (throughput) ja latenssin suhteen. Näiden toteutuksien todettiin olevan soveliaita käytettäväksi pilviradioliityntäverkon käyttäjätason applikaatioissa. Kuitenkin, koska mittaukset toteutettiin yksinkertaistetussa ympäristössä, vaatii toteutuksien implementointi pilviradioliityntäverkon komponenttiin lisätyötä

Algorithms for advance bandwidth reservation in media production networks

Media production generally requires many geographically distributed actors (e.g., production houses, broadcasters, advertisers) to exchange huge amounts of raw video and audio data. Traditional distribution techniques, such as dedicated point-to-point optical links, are highly inefficient in terms of installation time and cost. To improve efficiency, shared media production networks that connect all involved actors over a large geographical area, are currently being deployed. The traffic in such networks is often predictable, as the timing and bandwidth requirements of data transfers are generally known hours or even days in advance. As such, the use of advance bandwidth reservation (AR) can greatly increase resource utilization and cost efficiency. In this paper, we propose an Integer Linear Programming formulation of the bandwidth scheduling problem, which takes into account the specific characteristics of media production networks, is presented. Two novel optimization algorithms based on this model are thoroughly evaluated and compared by means of in-depth simulation results

5G-PPP Software Network Working Group:Network Applications: Opening up 5G and beyond networks 5G-PPP projects analysis, Version 2

It is expected that the communication fabric and the way network services are consumed will evolve towards 6G, building on and extending capabilities of 5G and Beyond networks. Service APIs, Operation APIs, Network APIs are different aspects of the network exposure, which provides the communication service providers a way to monetize the network capabilities. Allowing the developer community to use network capabilities via APIs is an emerging area for network monetization. Thus, it is important that network exposure caters for the needs of developers serving different markets, e.g., different vertical industry segments. The concept of “Network Applications” is introduced following this idea. It is defined as a set of services that provides certain functionalities to verticals and their associated use cases. The Network Applications is more than the introduction of new vertical applications that have interaction capabilities. It refers to the need for a separate middleware layer to simplify the implementation and deployment of vertical systems on a large scale. Specifically, third parties or network operators can contribute to Network Applications, depending on the level of interaction and trust. In practice, a Network Application uses the exposed APIs from the network and can either be integrated with (part of) a vertical application or expose its APIs (e.g., service APIs) for further consumption by vertical applications. This paper builds on the findings of the white paper released in 2022. It targets to go into details about the implementations of the two major Network Applications class: “aaS” and hybrid models. It introduces the Network Applications marketplace and put the light on technological solution like CAMARA project, as part of the standard landscape. <br/

Edge computing platforms for Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to transform many domains of human activity, enabled by the collection of data from the physical world at a massive scale. As the projected growth of IoT data exceeds that of available network capacity, transferring it to centralized cloud data centers is infeasible. Edge computing aims to solve this problem by processing data at the edge of the network, enabling applications with specialized requirements that cloud computing cannot meet. The current market of platforms that support building IoT applications is very fragmented, with offerings available from hundreds of companies with no common architecture. This threatens the realization of IoT's potential: with more interoperability, a new class of applications that combine the collected data and use it in new ways could emerge. In this thesis, promising IoT platforms for edge computing are surveyed. First, an understanding of current challenges in the field is gained through studying the available literature on the topic. Second, IoT edge platforms having the most potential to meet these challenges are chosen and reviewed for their capabilities. Finally, the platforms are compared against each other, with a focus on their potential to meet the challenges learned in the first part. The work shows that AWS IoT for the edge and Microsoft Azure IoT Edge have mature feature sets. However, these platforms are tied to their respective cloud platforms, limiting interoperability and the possibility of switching providers. On the other hand, open source EdgeX Foundry and KubeEdge have the potential for more standardization and interoperability in IoT but are limited in functionality for building practical IoT applications