A down-to-earth integration of Named Data Networking in the real-world IoT

International audienceThe IEEE802.15.4 wireless technology is one of the enablers of the Internet of Things. It allows constrained devices to communicate with a satisfactory data rate, payload size and distance range, all with reduced energy consumption. To provide IoT devices with a global Internet identity, 6LoWPAN defines the IPv6 adaptation to communicate over IEEE802.15.4. However, this integration still needs additional protocols to support other IoT requirements, which makes the IP stack in IoT devices more complex and therefore shows the limitations of the IP model to support the needs of future Internet. Named Data Networking represents an alternative that can natively support IoT constraints including mobility, security and human readable data names. This paper is a synthesis of an ongoing work that investigates the integration of NDN with IEEE802.15.4 for constrained IoT devices. The proposed design has been implemented in a real-world smart agriculture scenario, and evaluated by simulation focusing on energy consumption and network overhead in comparison to IP-based protocols

An efficient pending interest table control management in named data network

Named Data Networking (NDN) is an emerging Internet architecture that employs a new network communication model based on the identity of Internet content. Its core component, the Pending Interest Table (PIT) serves a significant role of recording Interest packet information which is ready to be sent but in waiting for matching Data packet. In managing PIT, the issue of flow PIT sizing has been very challenging due to massive use of long Interest lifetime particularly when there is no flexible replacement policy, hence affecting PIT performance. The aim of this study is to propose an efficient PIT Control Management (PITCM) approach to be used in handling incoming Interest packets in order to mitigate PIT overflow thus enhancing PIT utilization and performance. PITCM consists of Adaptive Virtual PIT (AVPIT) mechanism, Smart Threshold Interest Lifetime (STIL) mechanism and Highest Lifetime Least Request (HLLR) policy. The AVPIT is responsible for obtaining early PIT overflow prediction and reaction. STIL is meant for adjusting lifetime value for incoming Interest packet while HLLR is utilized for managing PIT entries in efficient manner. A specific research methodology is followed to ensure that the work is rigorous in achieving the aim of the study. The network simulation tool is used to design and evaluate PITCM. The results of study show that PITCM outperforms the performance of standard NDN PIT with 45% higher Interest satisfaction rate, 78% less Interest retransmission rate and 65% less Interest drop rate. In addition, Interest satisfaction delay and PIT length is reduced significantly to 33% and 46%, respectively. The contribution of this study is important for Interest packet management in NDN routing and forwarding systems. The AVPIT and STIL mechanisms as well as the HLLR policy can be used in monitoring, controlling and managing the PIT contents for Internet architecture of the future

Evaluation of push and pull communication models on a VANET with virtual traffic lights

It is expected in a near future that safety applications based on vehicle-to-everything communications will be a common reality in the traffic roads. This technology will contribute to improve the safety of vulnerable road users, for example, with the use of virtual traffic light systems (VTLS) in the intersections. This work implements and evaluates a VTLS conceived to help the pedestrians pass safely the intersections without real traffic lights. The simulated VTLS scenario used two distinct communication paradigms—the pull and push communication models. The pull model was implemented in named data networking (NDN), because NDN uses natively a pull-based communication model, where consumers send requests to pull the contents from the provider. A distinct approach is followed by the push-based model, where consumers subscribe previously the information, and then the producers distribute the available information to those consumers. Comparing the performance of the push and pull models on a VANET with VTLS, it is observed that the push mode presents lower packet loss and generates fewer packets, and consequently occupies less bandwidth, than the pull mode. In fact, for the considered metrics, the VTLS implemented with the pull mode presents no advantage when compared with the push mode.This work has been supported by national funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2020 and by the European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER component, through the Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme (COMPETE 2020) [Project nº 039334; Funding Reference: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-039334]

On the application of contextual IoT service discovery in Information Centric Networks

The continuous flow of technological developments in communications and electronic industries has led to the growing expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT). By leveraging the capabilities of smart networked devices and integrating them into existing industrial, leisure and communication applications, the IoT is expected to positively impact both economy and society, reducing the gap between the physical and digital worlds. Therefore, several efforts have been dedicated to the development of networking solutions addressing the diversity of challenges associated with such a vision. In this context, the integration of Information Centric Networking (ICN) concepts into the core of IoT is a research area gaining momentum and involving both research and industry actors. The massive amount of heterogeneous devices, as well as the data they produce, is a significant challenge for a wide-scale adoption of the IoT. In this paper we propose a service discovery mechanism, based on Named Data Networking (NDN), that leverages the use of a semantic matching mechanism for achieving a flexible discovery process. The development of appropriate service discovery mechanisms enriched with semantic capabilities for understanding and processing context information is a key feature for turning raw data into useful knowledge and ensuring the interoperability among different devices and applications. We assessed the performance of our solution through the implementation and deployment of a proof-of-concept prototype. Obtained results illustrate the potential of integrating semantic and ICN mechanisms to enable a flexible service discovery in IoT scenarios

Security and Privacy of IP-ICN Coexistence: A Comprehensive Survey

Internet usage has changed from its first design. Hence, the current Internet must cope with some limitations, including performance degradation, availability of IP addresses, and multiple security and privacy issues. Nevertheless, to unsettle the current Internet's network layer i.e., Internet Protocol with ICN is a challenging, expensive task. It also requires worldwide coordination among Internet Service Providers , backbone, and Autonomous Services. Additionally, history showed that technology changes e.g., from 3G to 4G, from IPv4 to IPv6 are not immediate, and usually, the replacement includes a long coexistence period between the old and new technology. Similarly, we believe that the process of replacement of the current Internet will surely transition through the coexistence of IP and ICN. Although the tremendous amount of security and privacy issues of the current Internet taught us the importance of securely designing the architectures, only a few of the proposed architectures place the security-by-design. Therefore, this article aims to provide the first comprehensive Security and Privacy analysis of the state-of-the-art coexistence architectures. Additionally, it yields a horizontal comparison of security and privacy among three deployment approaches of IP and ICN protocol i.e., overlay, underlay, and hybrid and a vertical comparison among ten considered security and privacy features. As a result of our analysis, emerges that most of the architectures utterly fail to provide several SP features including data and traffic flow confidentiality, availability and communication anonymity. We believe this article draws a picture of the secure combination of current and future protocol stacks during the coexistence phase that the Internet will definitely walk across

Incrementando as redes centradas à informaçãopara uma internet das coisas baseada em nomes

The way we use the Internet has been evolving since its origins. Nowadays, users are more interested in accessing contents and services with high demands in terms of bandwidth, security and mobility. This evolution has triggered the emergence of novel networking architectures targeting current, as well as future, utilisation demands. Information-Centric Networking (ICN) is a prominent example of these novel architectures that moves away from the current host-centric communications and centres its networking functions around content. Parallel to this, new utilisation scenarios in which smart devices interact with one another, as well as with other networked elements, have emerged to constitute what we know as the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is expected to have a significant impact on both the economy and society. However, fostering the widespread adoption of IoT requires many challenges to be overcome. Despite recent developments, several issues concerning the deployment of IPbased IoT solutions on a large scale are still open. The fact that IoT is focused on data and information rather than on point-topoint communications suggests the adoption of solutions relying on ICN architectures. In this context, this work explores the ground concepts of ICN to develop a comprehensive vision of the principal requirements that should be met by an IoT-oriented ICN architecture. This vision is complemented with solutions to fundamental issues for the adoption of an ICN-based IoT. First, to ensure the freshness of the information while retaining the advantages of ICN’s in-network caching mechanisms. Second, to enable discovery functionalities in both local and large-scale domains. The proposed mechanisms are evaluated through both simulation and prototyping approaches, with results showcasing the feasibility of their adoption. Moreover, the outcomes of this work contribute to the development of new compelling concepts towards a full-fledged Named Network of Things.A forma como usamos a Internet tem vindo a evoluir desde a sua criação. Atualmente, os utilizadores estão mais interessados em aceder a conteúdos e serviços, com elevados requisitos em termos de largura de banda, segurança e mobilidade. Esta evolução desencadeou o desenvolvimento de novas arquiteturas de rede, visando os atuais, bem como os futuros, requisitos de utilização. As Redes Centradas à Informação (Information-Centric Networking - ICN) são um exemplo proeminente destas novas arquiteturas que, em vez de seguirem um modelo de comunicação centrado nos dispositivos terminais, centram as suas funções de rede em torno do próprio conteúdo. Paralelamente, novos cenários de utilização onde dispositivos inteligentes interagem entre si, e com outros elementos de rede, têm vindo a aparecer e constituem o que hoje conhecemos como a Internet das Coisas (Internet of Things - IoT ). É esperado que a IoT tenha um impacto significativo na economia e na sociedade. No entanto, promover a adoção em massa da IoT ainda requer que muitos desafios sejam superados. Apesar dos desenvolvimentos recentes, vários problemas relacionados com a adoção em larga escala de soluções de IoT baseadas no protocolo IP estão em aberto. O facto da IoT estar focada em dados e informação, em vez de comunicações ponto-a-ponto, sugere a adoção de soluções baseadas em arquiteturas ICN. Neste sentido, este trabalho explora os conceitos base destas soluções para desenvolver uma visão completa dos principais requisitos que devem ser satisfeitos por uma solução IoT baseada na arquitetura de rede ICN. Esta visão é complementada com soluções para problemas cruciais para a adoção de uma IoT baseada em ICN. Em primeiro lugar, assegurar que a informação seja atualizada e, ao mesmo tempo, manter as vantagens do armazenamento intrínseco em elementos de rede das arquiteturas ICN. Em segundo lugar, permitir as funcionalidades de descoberta não só em domínios locais, mas também em domínios de larga-escala. Os mecanismos propostos são avaliados através de simulações e prototipagem, com os resultados a demonstrarem a viabilidade da sua adoção. Para além disso, os resultados deste trabalho contribuem para o desenvolvimento de conceitos sólidos em direção a uma verdadeira Internet das Coisas baseada em Nomes.Programa Doutoral em Telecomunicaçõe

Security Properties of Information-centric Networks

The IP network was built decades ago, and with today s use of Internet, a new network layer protocol is much needed. Named Data Networking (NDN) is a proposal for content-centric discovery and routing. Yet, the public key infrastructure issue has not been solved in NDN. Identity-based cryptography (IBC) seems to be applicable to wireless sensor networks, and even more applicable when deployed over NDN. In this paper I will explain the NDN architecture and the basics of IBC. Further, I will model and implement a trust model in a thought sensor network using IBC, running over NDN. Implementing and testing my proposal verifies the relevancy of IBC over wireless sensor network running over NDN, and the usability of developing applications over NDN. I formally and informally prove the security in the protocols suggested for device registration and data pull under deployment in the application