FlexNGIA: A Flexible Internet Architecture for the Next-Generation Tactile Internet

From virtual reality and telepresence, to augmented reality, holoportation, and remotely controlled robotics, these future network applications promise an unprecedented development for society, economics and culture by revolutionizing the way we live, learn, work and play. In order to deploy such futuristic applications and to cater to their performance requirements, recent trends stressed the need for the Tactile Internet, an Internet that, according to the International Telecommunication Union, combines ultra low latency with extremely high availability, reliability and security. Unfortunately, today's Internet falls short when it comes to providing such stringent requirements due to several fundamental limitations in the design of the current network architecture and communication protocols. This brings the need to rethink the network architecture and protocols, and efficiently harness recent technological advances in terms of virtualization and network softwarization to design the Tactile Internet of the future. In this paper, we start by analyzing the characteristics and requirements of future networking applications. We then highlight the limitations of the traditional network architecture and protocols and their inability to cater to these requirements. Afterward, we put forward a novel network architecture adapted to the Tactile Internet called FlexNGIA, a Flexible Next-Generation Internet Architecture. We then describe some use-cases where we discuss the potential mechanisms and control loops that could be offered by FlexNGIA in order to ensure the required performance and reliability guarantees for future applications. Finally, we identify the key research challenges to further develop FlexNGIA towards a full-fledged architecture for the future Tactile Internet.Comment: 35 pages, 14 figure

Software Defined Optical Networks (SDONs): A Comprehensive Survey

The emerging Software Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm separates the data plane from the control plane and centralizes network control in an SDN controller. Applications interact with controllers to implement network services, such as network transport with Quality of Service (QoS). SDN facilitates the virtualization of network functions so that multiple virtual networks can operate over a given installed physical network infrastructure. Due to the specific characteristics of optical (photonic) communication components and the high optical transmission capacities, SDN based optical networking poses particular challenges, but holds also great potential. In this article, we comprehensively survey studies that examine the SDN paradigm in optical networks; in brief, we survey the area of Software Defined Optical Networks (SDONs). We mainly organize the SDON studies into studies focused on the infrastructure layer, the control layer, and the application layer. Moreover, we cover SDON studies focused on network virtualization, as well as SDON studies focused on the orchestration of multilayer and multidomain networking. Based on the survey, we identify open challenges for SDONs and outline future directions

A Survey on Low Latency Towards 5G: RAN, Core Network and Caching Solutions

The fifth generation (5G) wireless network technology is to be standardized by 2020, where main goals are to improve capacity, reliability, and energy efficiency, while reducing latency and massively increasing connection density. An integral part of 5G is the capability to transmit touch perception type real-time communication empowered by applicable robotics and haptics equipment at the network edge. In this regard, we need drastic changes in network architecture including core and radio access network (RAN) for achieving end-to-end latency on the order of 1 ms. In this paper, we present a detailed survey on the emerging technologies to achieve low latency communications considering three different solution domains: RAN, core network, and caching. We also present a general overview of 5G cellular networks composed of software defined network (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), caching, and mobile edge computing (MEC) capable of meeting latency and other 5G requirements.Comment: Accepted in IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorial

Management and Orchestration of Network Slices in 5G, Fog, Edge and Clouds

Network slicing allows network operators to build multiple isolated virtual networks on a shared physical network to accommodate a wide variety of services and applications. With network slicing, service providers can provide a cost-efficient solution towards meeting diverse performance requirements of deployed applications and services. Despite slicing benefits, End-to-End orchestration and management of network slices is a challenging and complicated task. In this chapter, we intend to survey all the relevant aspects of network slicing, with the focus on networking technologies such as Software-defined networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) in 5G, Fog/Edge and Cloud Computing platforms. To build the required background, this chapter begins with a brief overview of 5G, Fog/Edge and Cloud computing, and their interplay. Then we cover the 5G vision for network slicing and extend it to the Fog and Cloud computing through surveying the state-of-the-art slicing approaches in these platforms. We conclude the chapter by discussing future directions, analyzing gaps and trends towards the network slicing realization.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures, Fog and Edge Computing: Principles and Paradigms, Wiley Press, New York, USA, 201

Ultra-Low Latency (ULL) Networks: The IEEE TSN and IETF DetNet Standards and Related 5G ULL Research

Many network applications, e.g., industrial control, demand Ultra-Low Latency (ULL). However, traditional packet networks can only reduce the end-to-end latencies to the order of tens of milliseconds. The IEEE 802.1 Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) standard and related research studies have sought to provide link layer support for ULL networking, while the emerging IETF Deterministic Networking (DetNet) standards seek to provide the complementary network layer ULL support. This article provides an up-to-date comprehensive survey of the IEEE TSN and IETF DetNet standards and the related research studies. The survey of these standards and research studies is organized according to the main categories of flow concept, flow synchronization, flow management, flow control, and flow integrity. ULL networking mechanisms play a critical role in the emerging fifth generation (5G) network access chain from wireless devices via access, backhaul, and core networks. We survey the studies that specifically target the support of ULL in 5G networks, with the main categories of fronthaul, backhaul, and network management. Throughout, we identify the pitfalls and limitations of the existing standards and research studies. This survey can thus serve as a basis for the development of standards enhancements and future ULL research studies that address the identified pitfalls and limitations

A Survey on 5G: The Next Generation of Mobile Communication

The rapidly increasing number of mobile devices, voluminous data, and higher data rate are pushing to rethink the current generation of the cellular mobile communication. The next or fifth generation (5G) cellular networks are expected to meet high-end requirements. The 5G networks are broadly characterized by three unique features: ubiquitous connectivity, extremely low latency, and very high-speed data transfer. The 5G networks would provide novel architectures and technologies beyond state-of-the-art architectures and technologies. In this paper, our intent is to find an answer to the question: "what will be done by 5G and how?" We investigate and discuss serious limitations of the fourth generation (4G) cellular networks and corresponding new features of 5G networks. We identify challenges in 5G networks, new technologies for 5G networks, and present a comparative study of the proposed architectures that can be categorized on the basis of energy-efficiency, network hierarchy, and network types. Interestingly, the implementation issues, e.g., interference, QoS, handoff, security-privacy, channel access, and load balancing, hugely effect the realization of 5G networks. Furthermore, our illustrations highlight the feasibility of these models through an evaluation of existing real-experiments and testbeds.Comment: Accepted in Elsevier Physical Communication, 24 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Opportunistic Spectrum Sharing in Dynamic Access Networks: Deployment Challenges, Optimizations, Solutions, and Open Issues

In this paper, we investigate the issue of spectrum assignment in CRNs and examine various opportunistic spectrum access approaches proposed in the literature. We provide insight into the efficiency of such approaches and their ability to attain their design objectives. We discuss the factors that impact the selection of the appropriate operating channel(s), including the important interaction between the cognitive linkquality conditions and the time-varying nature of PRNs. Protocols that consider such interaction are described. We argue that using best quality channels does not achieve the maximum possible throughput in CRNs (does not provide the best spectrum utilization). The impact of guard bands on the design of opportunistic spectrum access protocols is also investigated. Various complementary techniques and optimization methods are underlined and discussed, including the utilization of variablewidth spectrum assignment, resource virtualization, full-duplex capability, cross-layer design, beamforming and MIMO technology, cooperative communication, network coding, discontinuousOFDM technology, and software defined radios. Finally, we highlight several directions for future research in this field

Resource Allocation in a Network-Based Cloud Computing Environment: Design Challenges

Cloud computing is an increasingly popular computing paradigm, now proving a necessity for utility computing services. Each provider offers a unique service portfolio with a range of resource configurations. Resource provisioning for cloud services in a comprehensive way is crucial to any resource allocation model. Any model should consider both computational resources and network resources to accurately represent and serve practical needs. Another aspect that should be considered while provisioning resources is energy consumption. This aspect is getting more attention from industry and governments parties. Calls of support for the green clouds are gaining momentum. With that in mind, resource allocation algorithms aim to accomplish the task of scheduling virtual machines on data center servers and then scheduling connection requests on the network paths available while complying with the problem constraints. Several external and internal factors that affect the performance of resource allocation models are introduced in this paper. These factors are discussed in detail and research gaps are pointed out. Design challenges are discussed with the aim of providing a reference to be used when designing a comprehensive energy aware resource allocation model for cloud computing data centers.Comment: To appear in IEEE Communications Magazine, November 201

All One Needs to Know about Fog Computing and Related Edge Computing Paradigms: A Complete Survey

With the Internet of Things (IoT) becoming part of our daily life and our environment, we expect rapid growth in the number of connected devices. IoT is expected to connect billions of devices and humans to bring promising advantages for us. With this growth, fog computing, along with its related edge computing paradigms, such as multi-access edge computing (MEC) and cloudlet, are seen as promising solutions for handling the large volume of security-critical and time-sensitive data that is being produced by the IoT. In this paper, we first provide a tutorial on fog computing and its related computing paradigms, including their similarities and differences. Next, we provide a taxonomy of research topics in fog computing, and through a comprehensive survey, we summarize and categorize the efforts on fog computing and its related computing paradigms. Finally, we provide challenges and future directions for research in fog computing.Comment: 48 pages, 7 tables, 11 figures, 450 references. The data (categories and features/objectives of the papers) of this survey are now available publicly. Accepted by Elsevier Journal of Systems Architectur

Exploiting the power of multiplicity: a holistic survey of network-layer multipath

The Internet is inherently a multipath network---for an underlying network with only a single path connecting various nodes would have been debilitatingly fragile. Unfortunately, traditional Internet technologies have been designed around the restrictive assumption of a single working path between a source and a destination. The lack of native multipath support constrains network performance even as the underlying network is richly connected and has redundant multiple paths. Computer networks can exploit the power of multiplicity to unlock the inherent redundancy of the Internet. This opens up a new vista of opportunities promising increased throughput (through concurrent usage of multiple paths) and increased reliability and fault-tolerance (through the use of multiple paths in backup/ redundant arrangements). There are many emerging trends in networking that signify that the Internet's future will be unmistakably multipath, including the use of multipath technology in datacenter computing; multi-interface, multi-channel, and multi-antenna trends in wireless; ubiquity of mobile devices that are multi-homed with heterogeneous access networks; and the development and standardization of multipath transport protocols such as MP-TCP. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive survey of the literature on network-layer multipath solutions. We will present a detailed investigation of two important design issues, namely the control plane problem of how to compute and select the routes, and the data plane problem of how to split the flow on the computed paths. The main contribution of this paper is a systematic articulation of the main design issues in network-layer multipath routing along with a broad-ranging survey of the vast literature on network-layer multipathing. We also highlight open issues and identify directions for future work