Information-Centric Multilayer Networking: Improving Performance Through an ICN/WDM Architecture

Information-centric networking (ICN) facilitates content identification in networks and offers parametric representation of content semantics. This paper proposes an ICN/WDM network architecture that uses these features to offer superior network utilization, in terms of performance and power consumption. The architecture introduces an ICN publish/subscribe communication approach to the wavelength layer, whereby content is aggregated according to its popularity rank into wavelength-size groups that can be published and subscribed to by multiple nodes. Consequently, routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) algorithms benefit from anycast to identify multiple sources of aggregate content and allow optimization of the source selection of light paths. A power-aware algorithm, maximum degree of connectivity, has been developed with the objective of exploiting this flexibility to address the tradeoff between power consumption and network performance. The algorithm is also applicable to IP architectures, albeit with less flexibility. Evaluation results indicate the superiority of the proposed ICN architecture, even when utilizing conventional routing methods, compared with its IP counterpart. The results further highlight the performance improvement achieved by the proposed algorithm, compared with the conventional RWA methods, such as shortest-path first fit

Seamless handover in IP over ICN networks: A coding approach

Seamless connectivity plays a key role in realizing QoS-based delivery in mobile networks. However, current handover mechanisms hinder the ability to meet this target, due to the high ratio of handover failures, packet loss and service interruption. These challenges are further magnified in Heterogeneous Cellular Networks (HCN) such as Advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE-Advanced) and LTE in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-LAA), due to the variation in handover requirements. Although mechanisms, such as Fast Handover for Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PFMIPv6), attempt to tackle these issues; they come at a high cost with sub-optimal outcomes. This primarily stems from various limitations of existing IP core networks. In this paper we propose a novel handover solution for mobile networks, exploiting the advantages of a revolutionary IP over Information-Centric Networking (IP-over-ICN) architecture in supporting flexible service provisioning through anycast and multicast, combined with the advantages of random linear coding techniques in eliminating the need for retransmissions. Our solution allows coded traffic to be disseminated in a multicast fashion during handover phase from source directly to the destination(s), without the need for an intermediate anchor as in exiting solutions; thereby, overcoming packet loss and handover failures, while reducing overall delivery cost. We evaluate our approach with an analytical and simulation model showing significant cost reduction compared to PFMIPv6

Anchor Free IP Mobility

Efficient mobility management techniques are critical in providing seamless connectivity and session continuity between a mobile node and the network during its movement. However, current mobility management solutions generally require a central entity in the network core, tracking IP address movement, and anchoring traffic from source to destination through point-to-point tunnels. Intuitively, this approach suffers from scalability limitations as it creates bottlenecks in the network, due to sub-optimal routing via the anchor point. This is often termed 'dog-leg' routing. Meanwhile, alternative anchorless, solutions are not feasible due to the current limitations of the IP semantics, which strongly tie addressing information to location. In contrast, this paper introduces a novel anchorless mobility solution that overcomes these limitations by exploiting a new path-based forwarding fabric together with emerging mechanisms from information-centric networking. These mechanisms decouple the end-system IP address from the path based data forwarding to eliminate the need for anchoring traffic through the network core; thereby, allowing flexible path calculation and service provisioning. Furthermore, by eliminating the limitation of routing via the anchor point, our approach reduces the network cost compared to anchored solutions through bandwidth saving while maintaining comparable handover delay. The proposed solution is applicable to both cellular and large-scale wireless LAN networks that aim to support seamless handover in a single operator domain scenario. The solution is modeled as a Markov-chain which applies a topological basis to describe mobility. The validity of the proposed Markovian model was verified through simulation of both random walk mobility on random geometric networks and trace information from a large-scale, city wide data set. Evaluation results illustrate a significant reduction in the total network traffic cost by 45 percent or more when using the proposed solution, compared to Proxy Mobile IPv6