Design and validation of a meter band rate in OpenFlow and OpenDaylight for optimizing QoS

Technological developments in the Internet and communications have created a vastly complex and dynamic context with diverse heterogeneous networks and fast growth of mobile devices and multimedia. As the Internet becomes the primary mode of communication for many organisations there is requirement to enhance quality of service (QoS) from heterogeneous systems and networks. Traditional networks such as TETRA have become increasingly incapable of addressing the demand for media rich, bandwidth intensive traffic flows and applications. Mission-critical multimedia over new generation mobile networks face QoS constraints. This research explores a novel solution for quality of service performance for streaming mission-critical video data in OpenFlow SDN networks. A Meter Band Rate Evaluation (MBE) mechanism is advanced that improves the native QoS capability of OpenFlow and OpenDaylight. The MBE is a physical component added to the OpenFlow meter table to evaluate and dynamically adjust traffic rates and allows the traffic volume to be specified relative to other traffic in the network. Its design and development are presented and the mechanism is verified through a simulated experiment in an SDN testbed. The results identified that QoS performance experienced a significant percentage increase when the MBE was active. These findings contribute a novel Meter Band Rate Evaluation mechanism that extends the native capability of OpenFlow and OpenDaylight to enhance the efficiency of QoS provision

A meter band rate mechanism to improve the native QoS capability of OpenFlow and OpenDaylight

The exponential growth of mobile connected devices with advanced multimedia features imposes a requirement to enhance quality of service (QoS) from heterogeneous systems and networks. In order to satisfy mission-critical multimedia QoS requirements new generation mobile networks must present content-optimized mechanisms in order to use valuable network resources efficiently and provide QoS requirements for each application. This research explores a novel solution for quality of service performance for streaming mission-critical video data in OpenFlow SDN networks. A Meter Band Rate Evaluator (MBE) Mechanism is proposed based on a new band rate description language to improve the native QoS capability of OpenFlow and OpenDaylight. Its design and development are presented and the mechanism is verified through a simulated experiment in an SDN testbed. The results revealed a significant percentage increase in QoS performance when the MBE was enabled. These findings provide support and validation for the effectiveness of the MBE to enhance the native capability of OpenFlow and OpenDaylight for efficient QoS provision

QoE-Centric Control and Management of Multimedia Services in Software Defined and Virtualized Networks

Multimedia services consumption has increased tremendously since the deployment of 4G/LTE networks. Mobile video services (e.g., YouTube and Mobile TV) on smart devices are expected to continue to grow with the emergence and evolution of future networks such as 5G. The end user’s demand for services with better quality from service providers has triggered a trend towards Quality of Experience (QoE) - centric network management through efficient utilization of network resources. However, existing network technologies are either unable to adapt to diverse changing network conditions or limited in available resources. This has posed challenges to service providers for provisioning of QoE-centric multimedia services. New networking solutions such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) can provide better solutions in terms of QoE control and management of multimedia services in emerging and future networks. The features of SDN, such as adaptability, programmability and cost-effectiveness make it suitable for bandwidth-intensive multimedia applications such as live video streaming, 3D/HD video and video gaming. However, the delivery of multimedia services over SDN/NFV networks to achieve optimized QoE, and the overall QoE-centric network resource management remain an open question especially in the advent development of future softwarized networks. The work in this thesis intends to investigate, design and develop novel approaches for QoE-centric control and management of multimedia services (with a focus on video streaming services) over software defined and virtualized networks. First, a video quality management scheme based on the traffic intensity under Dynamic Adaptive Video Streaming over HTTP (DASH) using SDN is developed. The proposed scheme can mitigate virtual port queue congestion which may cause buffering or stalling events during video streaming, thus, reducing the video quality. A QoE-driven resource allocation mechanism is designed and developed for improving the end user’s QoE for video streaming services. The aim of this approach is to find the best combination of network node functions that can provide an optimized QoE level to end-users through network node cooperation. Furthermore, a novel QoE-centric management scheme is proposed and developed, which utilizes Multipath TCP (MPTCP) and Segment Routing (SR) to enhance QoE for video streaming services over SDN/NFV-based networks. The goal of this strategy is to enable service providers to route network traffic through multiple disjointed bandwidth-satisfying paths and meet specific service QoE guarantees to the end-users. Extensive experiments demonstrated that the proposed schemes in this work improve the video quality significantly compared with the state-of-the- art approaches. The thesis further proposes the path protections and link failure-free MPTCP/SR-based architecture that increases survivability, resilience, availability and robustness of future networks. The proposed path protection and dynamic link recovery scheme achieves a minimum time to recover from a failed link and avoids link congestion in softwarized networks

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-

Intelligent multimedia flow transmission through heterogeneous networks using cognitive software defined networks

[ES] La presente tesis aborda el problema del encaminamiento en las redes definidas por software (SDN). Específicamente, aborda el problema del diseño de un protocolo de encaminamiento basado en inteligencia artificial (AI) para garantizar la calidad de servicio (QoS) en transmisiones multimedia. En la primera parte del trabajo, el concepto de SDN es introducido. Su arquitectura, protocolos y ventajas son comentados. A continuación, el estado del arte es presentado, donde diversos trabajos acerca de QoS, encaminamiento, SDN y AI son detallados. En el siguiente capítulo, el controlador SDN, el cual juega un papel central en la arquitectura propuesta, es presentado. Se detalla el diseño del controlador y se compara su rendimiento con otro controlador comúnmente utilizado. Más tarde, se describe las propuestas de encaminamiento. Primero, se aborda la modificación de un protocolo de encaminamiento tradicional. Esta modificación tiene como objetivo adaptar el protocolo de encaminamiento tradicional a las redes SDN, centrado en las transmisiones multimedia. A continuación, la propuesta final es descrita. Sus mensajes, arquitectura y algoritmos son mostrados. Referente a la AI, el capítulo 5 detalla el módulo de la arquitectura que la implementa, junto con los métodos inteligentes usados en la propuesta de encaminamiento. Además, el algoritmo inteligente de decisión de rutas es descrito y la propuesta es comparada con el protocolo de encaminamiento tradicional y con su adaptación a las redes SDN, mostrando un incremento de la calidad final de la transmisión. Finalmente, se muestra y se describe algunas aplicaciones basadas en la propuesta. Las aplicaciones son presentadas para demostrar que la solución presentada en la tesis está diseñada para trabajar en redes heterogéneas.[CA] La present tesi tracta el problema de l'encaminament en les xarxes definides per programari (SDN). Específicament, tracta el problema del disseny d'un protocol d'encaminament basat en intel·ligència artificial (AI) per a garantir la qualitat de servici (QoS) en les transmissions multimèdia. En la primera part del treball, s'introdueix les xarxes SDN. Es comenten la seva arquitectura, els protocols i els avantatges. A continuació, l'estat de l'art és presentat, on es detellen els diversos treballs al voltant de QoS, encaminament, SDN i AI. Al següent capítol, el controlador SDN, el qual juga un paper central a l'arquitectura proposta, és presentat. Es detalla el disseny del controlador i es compara el seu rendiment amb altre controlador utilitzat comunament. Més endavant, es descriuen les propostes d'encaminament. Primer, s'aborda la modificació d'un protocol d'encaminament tradicional. Aquesta modificació té com a objectiu adaptar el protocol d'encaminament tradicional a les xarxes SDN, centrat a les transmissions multimèdia. A continuació, la proposta final és descrita. Els seus missatges, arquitectura i algoritmes són mostrats. Pel que fa a l'AI, el capítol 5 detalla el mòdul de l'arquitectura que la implementa, junt amb els mètodes intel·ligents usats en la proposta d'encaminament. A més a més, l'algoritme intel·ligent de decisió de rutes és descrit i la proposta és comparada amb el protocol d'encaminament tradicional i amb la seva adaptació a les xarxes SDN, mostrant un increment de la qualitat final de la transmissió. Finalment, es mostra i es descriuen algunes aplicacions basades en la proposta. Les aplicacions són presentades per a demostrar que la solució presentada en la tesi és dissenyada per a treballar en xarxes heterogènies.[EN] This thesis addresses the problem of routing in Software Defined Networks (SDN). Specifically, the problem of designing a routing protocol based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for ensuring Quality of Service (QoS) in multimedia transmissions. In the first part of the work, SDN is introduced. Its architecture, protocols and advantages are discussed. Then, the state of the art is presented, where several works regarding QoS, routing, SDN and AI are detailed. In the next chapter, the SDN controller, which plays the central role in the proposed architecture, is presented. The design of the controller is detailed and its performance compared to another common controller. Later, the routing proposals are described. First, a modification of a traditional routing protocol is discussed. This modification intends to adapt a traditional routing protocol to SDN, focused on multimedia transmissions. Then, the final proposal is described. Its messages, architecture and algorithms are depicted. As regards AI, chapter 5 details the module of the architecture that implements it, along with all the intelligent methods used in the routing proposal. Furthermore, the intelligent route decision algorithm is described and the final proposal is compared to the traditional routing protocol and its adaptation to SDN, showing an increment of the end quality of the transmission. Finally, some applications based on the routing proposal are described. The applications are presented to demonstrate that the proposed solution can work with heterogeneous networks.Rego Máñez, A. (2020). Intelligent multimedia flow transmission through heterogeneous networks using cognitive software defined networks [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/160483TESI

QoSVisor: QoS Framework for SDN

The increasing demand for network services and quality across wide selections of digital applications in the internet era has caused growing congestion and raised questions about how to deal with prioritizing data in ways tailored to particular uses of applications and managing peak congestion times. Software Defined Network (SDN) in particular Slicing Strategy, seems the best solution due to its new constitution intelligently implemented through the SDN OpenFlow protocol. However, Slicing Strategies specifically “FlowVisor” are limited in certain mechanisms such as Traffic Engineering (TE), which make it a requirement to find new ways to deliver Quality of Service (QoS) for different applications. In this paper, QoSVisor presented as an SDN extension action QoS Slicer based as an enhancement to the standard FlowVisor operation slicing tools to ensure the QoS for each Slice-based class of application

A Novel QoE-Centric SDN-Based Multipath Routing Approach for Multimedia Services over 5G Networks

© 2018 IEEE. The explosion of enhanced applications such as live video streaming, video gaming and Virtual Reality calls for efforts to optimize transport protocols to manage the increasing amount of data traffic on future 5G networks. Through bandwidth aggregation over multiple paths, the Multi-Path Transmission Control Protocol (MPTCP) can enhance the performance of network applications. MPTCP can split a large multimedia flow into subflows and apply a congestion control mechanism on each subflow. Segment Routing (SR), a promising source routing approach, has emerged to provide advanced packet forwarding over 5G networks. In this paper, we explore the utilization of MPTCP and SR in SDN-based networks to improve network resources utilization and end- user's QoE for delivering multimedia services over 5G networks. We propose a novel QoE-aware, SDN- based MPTCP/SR approach for service delivery. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, we implemented an intelligent QoE- centric Multipath Routing Algorithm (QoMRA) on an SDN source routing platform using Mininet and POX controller. We carried out experiments on Dynamic Adaptive video Steaming over HTTP (DASH) applications over various network conditions. The preliminary results show that, our QoE-aware SDN- based MPTCP/SR scheme performs better compared to the conventional TCP approach in terms of throughput, link utilization and the end-user's QoE