SDN/NFV-enabled satellite communications networks: opportunities, scenarios and challenges

In the context of next generation 5G networks, the satellite industry is clearly committed to revisit and revamp the role of satellite communications. As major drivers in the evolution of (terrestrial) fixed and mobile networks, Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) technologies are also being positioned as central technology enablers towards improved and more flexible integration of satellite and terrestrial segments, providing satellite network further service innovation and business agility by advanced network resources management techniques. Through the analysis of scenarios and use cases, this paper provides a description of the benefits that SDN/NFV technologies can bring into satellite communications towards 5G. Three scenarios are presented and analysed to delineate different potential improvement areas pursued through the introduction of SDN/NFV technologies in the satellite ground segment domain. Within each scenario, a number of use cases are developed to gain further insight into specific capabilities and to identify the technical challenges stemming from them.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Size Matters: Microservices Research and Applications

In this chapter we offer an overview of microservices providing the introductory information that a reader should know before continuing reading this book. We introduce the idea of microservices and we discuss some of the current research challenges and real-life software applications where the microservice paradigm play a key role. We have identified a set of areas where both researcher and developer can propose new ideas and technical solutions.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1706.0735

A Taxonomy of Workflow Management Systems for Grid Computing

With the advent of Grid and application technologies, scientists and engineers are building more and more complex applications to manage and process large data sets, and execute scientific experiments on distributed resources. Such application scenarios require means for composing and executing complex workflows. Therefore, many efforts have been made towards the development of workflow management systems for Grid computing. In this paper, we propose a taxonomy that characterizes and classifies various approaches for building and executing workflows on Grids. We also survey several representative Grid workflow systems developed by various projects world-wide to demonstrate the comprehensiveness of the taxonomy. The taxonomy not only highlights the design and engineering similarities and differences of state-of-the-art in Grid workflow systems, but also identifies the areas that need further research.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figure

Using Dedicated and Opportunistic Networks in Synergy for a Cost-effective Distributed Stream Processing Platform

This paper presents a case for exploiting the synergy of dedicated and opportunistic network resources in a distributed hosting platform for data stream processing applications. Our previous studies have demonstrated the benefits of combining dedicated reliable resources with opportunistic resources in case of high-throughput computing applications, where timely allocation of the processing units is the primary concern. Since distributed stream processing applications demand large volume of data transmission between the processing sites at a consistent rate, adequate control over the network resources is important here to assure a steady flow of processing. In this paper, we propose a system model for the hybrid hosting platform where stream processing servers installed at distributed sites are interconnected with a combination of dedicated links and public Internet. Decentralized algorithms have been developed for allocation of the two classes of network resources among the competing tasks with an objective towards higher task throughput and better utilization of expensive dedicated resources. Results from extensive simulation study show that with proper management, systems exploiting the synergy of dedicated and opportunistic resources yield considerably higher task throughput and thus, higher return on investment over the systems solely using expensive dedicated resources.Comment: 9 page