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

Coherent, automatic address resolution for vehicular ad hoc networks

Published in: Int. J. of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, 2017 Vol.25, No.3, pp.163 - 179. DOI: 10.1504/IJAHUC.2017.10001935The interest in vehicular communications has increased notably. In this paper, the use of the address resolution (AR) procedures is studied for vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). We analyse the poor performance of AR transactions in such networks and we present a new proposal called coherent, automatic address resolution (CAAR). Our approach inhibits the use of AR transactions and instead increases the usefulness of routing signalling to automatically match the IP and MAC addresses. Through extensive simulations in realistic VANET scenarios using the Estinet simulator, we compare our proposal CAAR to classical AR and to another of our proposals that enhances AR for mobile wireless networks, called AR+. In addition, we present a performance evaluation of the behaviour of CAAR, AR and AR+ with unicast traffic of a reporting service for VANETs. Results show that CAAR outperforms the other two solutions in terms of packet losses and furthermore, it does not introduce additional overhead.Postprint (published version

Software Defined Networks based Smart Grid Communication: A Comprehensive Survey

The current power grid is no longer a feasible solution due to ever-increasing user demand of electricity, old infrastructure, and reliability issues and thus require transformation to a better grid a.k.a., smart grid (SG). The key features that distinguish SG from the conventional electrical power grid are its capability to perform two-way communication, demand side management, and real time pricing. Despite all these advantages that SG will bring, there are certain issues which are specific to SG communication system. For instance, network management of current SG systems is complex, time consuming, and done manually. Moreover, SG communication (SGC) system is built on different vendor specific devices and protocols. Therefore, the current SG systems are not protocol independent, thus leading to interoperability issue. Software defined network (SDN) has been proposed to monitor and manage the communication networks globally. This article serves as a comprehensive survey on SDN-based SGC. In this article, we first discuss taxonomy of advantages of SDNbased SGC.We then discuss SDN-based SGC architectures, along with case studies. Our article provides an in-depth discussion on routing schemes for SDN-based SGC. We also provide detailed survey of security and privacy schemes applied to SDN-based SGC. We furthermore present challenges, open issues, and future research directions related to SDN-based SGC.Comment: Accepte