Network Function Virtualization technologies applied to cellular systems

Future 5G networks will exploit the inherent flexibility associated to the introduction of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technologies in both the core network and even the Radio Access Network (RAN) through the software implementation of network functions running on general purpose computing/storage resources. The advent of the NFV paradigm provides an inherent capability to add new functionalities, extend, upgrade or evolve existing functionalities and to customize the network on a per-tenant basis. In this context, this work intends to make an analysis of the cuFuture 5G networks open a new spectrum of possibilities, both at the level of services it can offer, and at the level of its deployment. This thesis aims to make a study of some of the technologies that make possible the arrival of 5G, such as virtualization and virtualization applied to networks, NFV. In order to better understand the defined standard for NFV, the analysis of market NFV-MANO available tools is included. In addition, the study and evaluation of the deployment process of a virtualized 5G network scenario has been performed with HPE NFV Director

Will SDN be part of 5G?

For many, this is no longer a valid question and the case is considered settled with SDN/NFV (Software Defined Networking/Network Function Virtualization) providing the inevitable innovation enablers solving many outstanding management issues regarding 5G. However, given the monumental task of softwarization of radio access network (RAN) while 5G is just around the corner and some companies have started unveiling their 5G equipment already, the concern is very realistic that we may only see some point solutions involving SDN technology instead of a fully SDN-enabled RAN. This survey paper identifies all important obstacles in the way and looks at the state of the art of the relevant solutions. This survey is different from the previous surveys on SDN-based RAN as it focuses on the salient problems and discusses solutions proposed within and outside SDN literature. Our main focus is on fronthaul, backward compatibility, supposedly disruptive nature of SDN deployment, business cases and monetization of SDN related upgrades, latency of general purpose processors (GPP), and additional security vulnerabilities, softwarization brings along to the RAN. We have also provided a summary of the architectural developments in SDN-based RAN landscape as not all work can be covered under the focused issues. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on the state of the art of SDN-based RAN and clearly points out the gaps in the technology.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figure

Context-based security function orchestration for the network edge

Over the last few years the number of interconnected devices has increased dramatically, generating zettabytes of traffic each year. In order to cater to the requirements of end-users, operators have deployed network services to enhance their infrastructure. Nowadays, telecommunications service providers are making use of virtualised, flexible, and cost-effective network-wide services, under what is known as Network Function Virtualisation (NFV). Future network and application requirements necessitate services to be delivered at the edge of the network, in close proximity to end-users, which has the potential to reduce end-to-end latency and minimise the utilisation of the core infrastructure while providing flexible allocation of resources. One class of functionality that NFV facilitates is the rapid deployment of network security services. However, the urgency for assuring connectivity to an ever increasing number of devices as well as their resource-constrained nature, has led to neglecting security principles and best practices. These low-cost devices are often exploited for malicious purposes in targeting the network infrastructure, with recent volumetric Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks often surpassing 1 terabyte per second of network traffic. The work presented in this thesis aims to identify the unique requirements of security modules implemented as Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), and the associated challenges in providing management and orchestration of complex chains consisting of multiple VNFs The work presented here focuses on deployment, placement, and lifecycle management of microservice-based security VNFs in resource-constrained environments using contextual information on device behaviour. Furthermore, the thesis presents a formulation of the latency-optimal placement of service chains at the network edge, provides an optimal solution using Integer Linear Programming, and an associated near-optimal heuristic solution that is able to solve larger-size problems in reduced time, which can be used in conjunction with context-based security paradigms. The results of this work demonstrate that lightweight security VNFs can be tailored for, and hosted on, a variety of devices, including commodity resource-constrained systems found in edge networks. Furthermore, using a context-based implementation of the management and orchestration of lightweight services enables the deployment of real-world complex security service chains tailored towards the user’s performance demands from the network. Finally, the results of this work show that on-path placement of service chains reduces the end-to-end latency and minimise the number of service-level agreement violations, therefore enabling secure use of latency-critical networks

IoT-B&B: Edge-Based NFV for IoT Devices with CPE Crowdsourcing

For embracing the ubiquitous Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, edge computing and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) have been enabled in branch offices and homes in the form of virtual Customer-Premises Equipment (vCPE). A Service Provider (SP) deploys vCPE instances as Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) on top of generic physical Customer-Premises Equipment (pCPE) to ease administration. Upon a usage surge of IoT devices at a certain part of the network, vCPU, memory, and other resource limitations of a single pCPE node make it difficult to add new services handling the high demand. In this paper, we present IoT-B&B, a novel architecture featuring resource sharing of pCPE nodes. When a pCPE node has sharable resources available, the SP will utilize its free resources as a "bed-and-breakfast" place to deploy vCPE instances in need. A placement algorithm is also presented to assign vCPE instances to a cost-efficient pCPE node. By keeping vCPE instances at the network edge, their costs of hosting are reduced. Meanwhile, the transmission latencies are maintained at acceptable levels for processing real-time data burst from IoT devices. The traffic load to the remote, centralized cloud can be substantially reduced

A reduced reference video quality assessment method for provision as a service over SDN/NFV-enabled networks

139 p.The proliferation of multimedia applications and services has generarted a noteworthy upsurge in network traffic regarding video content and has created the need for trustworthy service quality assessment methods. Currently, predominent position among the technological trends in telecommunication networkds are Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Software Defined Networking (SDN) and 5G mobile networks equipped with small cells. Additionally Video Quality Assessment (VQA) methods are a very useful tool for both content providers and network operators, to understand of how users perceive quality and this study the feasibility of potential services and adapt the network available resources to satisfy the user requirements