iTETRIS: An Integrated Wireless and Traffic Platform for Real-Time Road Traffic Management Solutions

Wireless vehicular cooperative systems have been identified as an attractive solution to improve road traffic management, thereby contributing to the European goal of safer, cleaner, and more efficient and sustainable traffic solutions. V2V-V2I communication technologies can improve traffic management through real-time exchange of data among vehicles and with road infrastructure. It is also of great importance to investigate the adequate combination of V2V and V2I technologies to ensure the continuous and costefficient operation of traffic management solutions based on wireless vehicular cooperative solutions. However, to adequately design and optimize these communication protocols and analyze the potential of wireless vehicular cooperative systems to improve road traffic management, adequate testbeds and field operational tests need to be conducted. Despite the potential of Field Operational Tests to get the first insights into the benefits and problems faced in the development of wireless vehicular cooperative systems, there is yet the need to evaluate in the long term and large dimension the true potential benefits of wireless vehicular cooperative systems to improve traffic efficiency. To this aim, iTETRIS is devoted to the development of advanced tools coupling traffic and wireless communication simulators

Next-Generation SDN and Fog Computing: A New Paradigm for SDN-Based Edge Computing

In the last few years, we have been able to see how terms like Mobile Edge Computing, Cloudlets, and Fog computing have arisen as concepts that reach a level of popularity to express computing towards network Edge. Shifting some processing tasks from the Cloud to the Edge brings challenges to the table that might have been non-considered before in next-generation Software-Defined Networking (SDN). Efficient routing mechanisms, Edge Computing, and SDN applications are challenging to deploy as controllers are expected to have different distributions. In particular, with the advances of SDN and the P4 language, there are new opportunities and challenges that next-generation SDN has for Fog computing. The development of new pipelines along with the progress regarding control-to-data plane programming protocols can also promote data and control plane function offloading. We propose a new mechanism of deploying SDN control planes both locally and remotely to attend different challenges. We encourage researchers to develop new ways to functionally deploying Fog and Cloud control planes that let cross-layer planes interact by deploying specific control and data plane applications. With our proposal, the control and data plane distribution can provide a lower response time for locally deployed applications (local control plane). Besides, it can still be beneficial for a centralized and remotely placed control plane, for applications such as path computation within the same network and between separated networks (remote control plane)

Fronthaul evolution: From CPRI to Ethernet

It is proposed that using Ethernet in the fronthaul, between base station baseband unit (BBU) pools and remote radio heads (RRHs), can bring a number of advantages, from use of lower-cost equipment, shared use of infrastructure with fixed access networks, to obtaining statistical multiplexing and optimised performance through probe-based monitoring and software-defined networking. However, a number of challenges exist: ultra-high-bit-rate requirements from the transport of increased bandwidth radio streams for multiple antennas in future mobile networks, and low latency and jitter to meet delay requirements and the demands of joint processing. A new fronthaul functional division is proposed which can alleviate the most demanding bit-rate requirements by transport of baseband signals instead of sampled radio waveforms, and enable statistical multiplexing gains. Delay and synchronisation issues remain to be solved

Roadmap for Real World Internet applications

This paper emphasises the socioeconomic background required to design the Future Internet in order that its services will be accepted by its users and that the economic value latent in the technology is realised. It contains an innovative outlook on sensing aspects of the Future Internet and describes a scenario-based design approach that is feasible to roadmap the dynamic deployment of Real World Internet applications. A multifaceted socioeconomic assessment leads to recommendations for the technology deployment and key features of the Future Internet that will globally integrate technologies like Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks and Networked Embedded Devices.Real World Internet ; Future Internet ; Scenario-based Design ; Socioeconomics ; Business Models ; Requirements

On the Merits of Deploying TDM-based Next-Generation PON Solutions in the Access Arena As Multiservice, All Packet-Based 4G Mobile Backhaul RAN Architecture

The phenomenal growth of mobile backhaul capacity required to support the emerging fourth-generation (4G) traffic including mobile WiMAX, cellular Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) requires rapid migration from today\u27s legacy circuit switched T1/E1 wireline and microwave backhaul technologies to a new fiber-supported, all-packet-based mobile backhaul infrastructure. Clearly, a cost effective fiber supported all-packet-based mobile backhaul radio access network (RAN) architecture that is compatible with these inherently distributed 4G RAN architectures is needed to efficiently scale current mobile backhaul networks. However, deploying a green fiber-based mobile backhaul infrastructure is a costly proposition mainly due to the significant cost associated with digging the trenches in which the fiber is to be laid. These, along with the inevitable trend towards all-IP/Ethernet transport protocols and packet switched networks, have prompted many carriers around the world to consider the potential of utilizing the existing fiber-based Passive Optical Network (PON) access infrastructure as an all-packet-based converged fixed-mobile optical access networking transport architecture to backhaul both mobile and typical wireline traffic. Passive Optical Network (PON)-based fiber-to-the-curb/home (FTTC/FTTH) access networks are being deployed around the globe based on two Time-Division Multiplexed (TDM) standards: ITU G.984 Gigabit PON (GPON) and IEEE 802.ah Ethernet PON (EPON). A PON connects a group of Optical Network Units (ONUs) located at the subscriber premises to an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) located at the service provider\u27s facility. It is the purpose of this thesis to examine the technological requirements and assess the performance analysis and feasibility for deploying TDM-based next-generation (NG) PON solutions in the access arena as multiservice, all packet-based 4G mobile backhaul RAN and/or converged fixed-mobile optical networking architecture. Specifically, this work proposes and devises a simple and cost-effective 10G-EPON-based 4G mobile backhaul RAN architecture that efficiently transports and supports a wide range of existing and emerging fixed-mobile advanced multimedia applications and services along with the diverse quality of service (QoS), rate, and reliability requirements set by these services. The techno-economics merits of utilizing PON-based 4G RAN architecture versus that of traditional 4G (mobile WiMAX and LTE) RAN will be thoroughly examine and quantified. To achieve our objective, we utilize the existing fiber-based PON access infrastructure with novel ring-based distribution access network and wireless-enabled OLT and ONUs as the multiservice packet-based 4G mobile backhaul RAN infrastructure. Specifically, to simplify the implementation of such a complex undertaking, this work is divided into two sequential phases. In the first phase, we examine and quantify the overall performance of the standalone ring-based 10G-EPON architecture (just the wireline part without overlaying/incorporating the wireless part (4G RAN)) via modeling and simulations. We then assemble the basic building blocks, components, and sub-systems required to build up a proof-of-concept prototype testbed for the standalone ring-based EPON architecture. The testbed will be used to verify and demonstrate the performance of the standalone architecture, specifically, in terms of power budget, scalability, and reach. In the second phase, we develop an integrated framework for the efficient interworking between the two wireline PON and 4G mobile access technologies, particularly, in terms of unified network control and management (NCM) operations. Specifically, we address the key technical challenges associated with tailoring a typically centralized PON-based access architecture to interwork with and support a distributed 4G RAN architecture and associated radio NCM operations. This is achieved via introducing and developing several salient-networking innovations that collectively enable the standalone EPON architecture to support a fully distributed 4G mobile backhaul RAN and/or a truly unified NG-PON-4G access networking architecture. These include a fully distributed control plane that enables intercommunication among the access nodes (ONUs/BSs) as well as signaling, scheduling algorithms, and handoff procedures that operate in a distributed manner. Overall, the proposed NG-PON architecture constitutes a complete networking paradigm shift from the typically centralized PON\u27s architecture and OLT-based NCM operations to a new disruptive fully distributed PON\u27s architecture and NCM operations in which all the typically centralized OLT-based PON\u27s NCM operations are migrated to and independently implemented by the access nodes (ONUs) in a distributed manner. This requires migrating most of the typically centralized wireline and radio control and user-plane functionalities such as dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA), queue management and packet scheduling, handover control, radio resource management, admission control, etc., typically implemented in today\u27s OLT/RNC, to the access nodes (ONUs/4G BSs). It is shown that the overall performance of the proposed EPON-based 4G backhaul including both the RAN and Mobile Packet Core (MPC) {Evolved Packet Core (EPC) per 3GPP LTE\u27s standard} is significantly augmented compared to that of the typical 4G RAN, specifically, in terms of handoff capability, signaling overhead, overall network throughput and latency, and QoS support. Furthermore, the proposed architecture enables redistributing some of the intelligence and NCM operations currently centralized in the MPC platform out into the access nodes of the mobile RAN. Specifically, as this work will show, it enables offloading sizable fraction of the mobile signaling as well as actual local upstream traffic transport and processing (LTE bearers switch/set-up, retain, and tear-down and associated signaling commands from the BSs to the EPC and vice-versa) from the EPC to the access nodes (ONUs/BSs). This has a significant impact on the performance of the EPC. First, it frees up a sizable fraction of the badly needed network resources as well as processing on the overloaded centralized serving nodes (AGW) in the MPC. Second, it frees up capacity and sessions on the typically congested mobile backhaul from the BSs to the EPC and vice-versa

ANCHOR: logically-centralized security for Software-Defined Networks

While the centralization of SDN brought advantages such as a faster pace of innovation, it also disrupted some of the natural defenses of traditional architectures against different threats. The literature on SDN has mostly been concerned with the functional side, despite some specific works concerning non-functional properties like 'security' or 'dependability'. Though addressing the latter in an ad-hoc, piecemeal way, may work, it will most likely lead to efficiency and effectiveness problems. We claim that the enforcement of non-functional properties as a pillar of SDN robustness calls for a systemic approach. As a general concept, we propose ANCHOR, a subsystem architecture that promotes the logical centralization of non-functional properties. To show the effectiveness of the concept, we focus on 'security' in this paper: we identify the current security gaps in SDNs and we populate the architecture middleware with the appropriate security mechanisms, in a global and consistent manner. Essential security mechanisms provided by anchor include reliable entropy and resilient pseudo-random generators, and protocols for secure registration and association of SDN devices. We claim and justify in the paper that centralizing such mechanisms is key for their effectiveness, by allowing us to: define and enforce global policies for those properties; reduce the complexity of controllers and forwarding devices; ensure higher levels of robustness for critical services; foster interoperability of the non-functional property enforcement mechanisms; and promote the security and resilience of the architecture itself. We discuss design and implementation aspects, and we prove and evaluate our algorithms and mechanisms, including the formalisation of the main protocols and the verification of their core security properties using the Tamarin prover.Comment: 42 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, 5 algorithms, 139 reference