Automatic configuration of OpenFlow in wireless mobile ad hoc networks

A Mobile wireless Ad hoc NETwork (MANET) is a decentralized wireless network in which mobile wireless nodes either directly communicate with each other or communicate via other wireless nodes in the network. In addition, OpenFlow has disruptive potential in designing a flexible programmable network which can foster innovation, reduce complexity and deliver right economics. In recent years, there are significant interests from research communities to deploy OpenFlow in MANETs. This paper proposes a configuration method with which OpenFlow can be deployed automatically in a MANET without any manual configuration. The proposed configuration method is tested in an emulated MANET created on the Fed4FIRE testbed using Mininet-WiFi (an emulator for wireless software-defined wireless networks). Experimentation includes automatic configuration of OpenFlow in linear, sparse, and dense mobile ad hoc networks. Results show the effectiveness of the method in configuring OpenFlow in wireless mobile ad hoc networks

Link layer Connectivity as a Service for Ad-hoc Microservice Platforms

Microservice platforms have brought many advantages to support the deployment of light-weight applications at both near the edge and data centers. Still, their suitability to support telecommunication and vertical services beyond the network edge is far from being a reality. On one hand, their flat networking approach does not support the establishment of link-layer connectivity among the different components of telecommunication and vertical services (e.g., access points, routers, specific-purpose servers, etc.) due to their reliance on high-level APIs. On the other hand, their networking approach has not been designed to operate over ad hoc networks built by the resource-constrained devices that may be available beyond the network edge. This can lead to suboptimal behaviors for the delivery of data traffic between microservices. This article presents the results of a research collaboration between Universidad Carlos III of Madrid and Telefónica: L2S-M. Our solution provides a programmable data plane that enables the establishment of on-demand link layer connectivity between microservices on ad hoc networks. This solution has the flexibility to execute different algorithms to build traffic paths between microservices, as well as to react against temporary link breakdowns, which could be present in these types of networks. The article presents a proof of concept for a functional validation of L2S-M, using an aerial ad hoc network deployed at 5TONIC Laboratory in collaboration with Telefonica. The validation results showcase the proper operation of L2S-M as a networking service for microservice platforms in ad hoc networks, including its ability to reconfigure the programmable data plane when link disruptions occur.This article has been supported by the TRUE5G (PID2019-108713RB681) project funded by the Spanish National Research Agency (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/5011000110) and by the H2020 FISHY Project (Grant agreement ID: 952644)

The Octopus switch

This chapter1 discusses the interconnection architecture of the Mobile Digital Companion. The approach to build a low-power handheld multimedia computer presented here is to have autonomous, reconfigurable modules such as network, video and audio devices, interconnected by a switch rather than by a bus, and to offload as much as work as possible from the CPU to programmable modules placed in the data streams. Thus, communication between components is not broadcast over a bus but delivered exactly where it is needed, work is carried out where the data passes through, bypassing the memory. The amount of buffering is minimised, and if it is required at all, it is placed right on the data path, where it is needed. A reconfigurable internal communication network switch called Octopus exploits locality of reference and eliminates wasteful data copies. The switch is implemented as a simplified ATM switch and provides Quality of Service guarantees and enough bandwidth for multimedia applications. We have built a testbed of the architecture, of which we will present performance and energy consumption characteristics

Understanding the Computational Requirements of Virtualized Baseband Units using a Programmable Cloud Radio Access Network Testbed

Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) is emerging as a transformative architecture for the next generation of mobile cellular networks. In C-RAN, the Baseband Unit (BBU) is decoupled from the Base Station (BS) and consolidated in a centralized processing center. While the potential benefits of C-RAN have been studied extensively from the theoretical perspective, there are only a few works that address the system implementation issues and characterize the computational requirements of the virtualized BBU. In this paper, a programmable C-RAN testbed is presented where the BBU is virtualized using the OpenAirInterface (OAI) software platform, and the eNodeB and User Equipment (UEs) are implemented using USRP boards. Extensive experiments have been performed in a FDD downlink LTE emulation system to characterize the performance and computing resource consumption of the BBU under various conditions. It is shown that the processing time and CPU utilization of the BBU increase with the channel resources and with the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index, and that the CPU utilization percentage can be well approximated as a linear increasing function of the maximum downlink data rate. These results provide real-world insights into the characteristics of the BBU in terms of computing resource and power consumption, which may serve as inputs for the design of efficient resource-provisioning and allocation strategies in C-RAN systems.Comment: In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Autonomic Computing (ICAC), July 201

Flexible programmable networking: A reflective, component-based approach

The need for programmability and adaptability in networking systems is becoming increasingly important. More specifically, the challenge is in the ability to add services rapidly, and be able to deploy, configure and reconfigure them as easily as possible. Such demand is creating a considerable shift in the way networks are expected to operate in the future. This is the main aim of programmable networking research community, and in our project we are investigating a component-based approach to the structuring of programmable networking software. Our intention is to apply the notion of components, component frameworks and reflection ubiquitously, thus accommodating all the different elements that comprise a programmable networking system

Octopus - an energy-efficient architecture for wireless multimedia systems

Multimedia computing and mobile computing are two trends that will lead to a new application domain in the near future. However, the technological challenges to establishing this paradigm of computing are non-trivial. Personal mobile computing offers a vision of the future with a much richer and more exciting set of architecture research challenges than extrapolations of the current desktop architectures. In particular, these devices will have limited battery resources, will handle diverse data types, and will operate in environments that are insecure, dynamic and which vary significantly in time and location. The approach we made to achieve such a system is to use autonomous, adaptable modules, interconnected by a switch rather than by a bus, and to offload as much as work as possible from the CPU to programmable modules that is placed in the data streams. A reconfigurable internal communication network switch called Octopus exploits locality of reference and eliminates wasteful data copies