Resource Orchestration in Softwarized Networks

Network softwarization is an emerging research area that is envisioned to revolutionize the way network infrastructure is designed, operated, and managed today. Contemporary telecommunication networks are going through a major transformation, and softwarization is recognized as a crucial enabler of this transformation by both academia and industry. Softwarization promises to overcome the current ossified state of Internet network architecture and evolve towards a more open, agile, flexible, and programmable networking paradigm that will reduce both capital and operational expenditures, cut-down time-to-market of new services, and create new revenue streams. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are two complementary networking technologies that have established themselves as the cornerstones of network softwarization. SDN decouples the control and data planes to provide enhanced programmability and faster innovation of networking technologies. It facilitates simplified network control, scalability, availability, flexibility, security, cost-reduction, autonomic management, and fine-grained control of network traffic. NFV utilizes virtualization technology to reduce dependency on underlying hardware by moving packet processing activities from proprietary hardware middleboxes to virtualized entities that can run on commodity hardware. Together SDN and NFV simplify network infrastructure by utilizing standardized and commodity hardware for both compute and networking; bringing the benefits of agility, economies of scale, and flexibility of data centers to networks. Network softwarization provides the tools required to re-architect the current network infrastructure of the Internet. However, the effective application of these tools requires efficient utilization of networking resources in the softwarized environment. Innovative techniques and mechanisms are required for all aspects of network management and control. The overarching goal of this thesis is to address several key resource orchestration challenges in softwarized networks. The resource allocation and orchestration techniques presented in this thesis utilize the functionality provided by softwarization to reduce operational cost, improve resource utilization, ensure scalability, dynamically scale resource pools according to demand, and optimize energy utilization

Design and Management of DOT: A Distributed OpenFlow Testbed

Abstract-With the growing adoption of Software Defined Networking (SDN), there is a compelling need for SDN emulators that facilitate experimenting with new SDN-based technologies. Unfortunately, Mininet [1], the de facto standard emulator for software defined networks, fails to scale with network size and traffic volume. The aim of this paper is to fill the void in this space by presenting a low cost and scalable network emulator called Distributed OpenFlow Testbed (DOT). It can emulate large SDN deployments by distributing the workload over a cluster of compute nodes. Through extensive experiments, we show that DOT can overcome the limitations of Mininet and emulate larger networks. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of DOT on four Rocketfuel topologies. DOT is available for public use and community-driven development at dothub.org

Palm Ash as an Alternative Source for Silica Production

Agricultural wastes such as palm ash and rice husk have a possibility to be used as a useful renewable source for the production of silica (SiO2). Extensive researches have been carried out to extract silica from agricultural wastes such as rice husk, due to silica as a useful raw material for industrial application. In this study, the environmentally benign and economically effective process to produce SiO2 materials from palm ash has been established by using citric acid leaching, not the conventional strong acids. Results showed that silica can be extracted from palm ash using the citric acid leaching method under the optimum extracting conditions with 700 °C of solution temperature, 60 minutes of reaction time and concentration of citric acid of more than 2 %. The purity of silica extracted is more than 90 %

Palm Ash as an Alternative Source for Silica Production

Agricultural wastes such as palm ash and rice husk have a possibility to be used as a useful renewable source for the production of silica (SiO2). Extensive researches have been carried out to extract silica from agricultural wastes such as rice husk, due to silica as a useful raw material for industrial application. In this study, the environmentally benign and economically effective process to produce SiO2 materials from palm ash has been established by using citric acid leaching, not the conventional strong acids. Results showed that silica can be extracted from palm ash using the citric acid leaching method under the optimum extracting conditions with 700 °C of solution temperature, 60 minutes of reaction time and concentration of citric acid of more than 2 %. The purity of silica extracted is more than 90 %

Statistical Analysis Based Feature Selection Enhanced RF-PUF with >99.8% Accuracy on Unmodified Commodity Transmitters for IoT Physical Security

Due to the diverse and mobile nature of the deployment environment, smart commodity devices are vulnerable to various attacks which can grant unauthorized access to a rogue device in a large, connected network. Traditional digital signature-based authentication methods are vulnerable to key recovery attacks, CSRF, etc. To circumvent this, RF-PUF had been proposed as a promising alternative that utilizes the inherent nonidealities of the devices as physical signatures. RF-PUF offers a robust authentication method that is resilient to key-hacking methods due to the absence of secret key requirements and does not require any additional circuitry on the transmitter end, eliminating additional power, area, and computational burden. In this work, for the first time, we analyze the effectiveness of RF-PUF on commodity devices, purchased off-the-shelf, without any modifications whatsoever. Data were collected from 30 Xbee S2C modules and released as a public dataset. A new feature has been engineered through statistical property analysis. With a new and robust feature set, it has been shown that 95% accuracy can be achieved using only ~1.8 ms of test data, reaching >99.8% accuracy with more data and a network of higher model capacity, without any assisting digital preamble. The design space has been explored in detail and the effect of the wireless channel has been determined. The performance of some popular ML algorithms has been compared with the NN approach. A thorough investigation on various PUF properties has been done and both intra and inter-PUF distances have been calculated. With extensive testing of 41238000 cases, the detection probability for RF-PUF for our data is found to be 0.9987, which, for the first time, experimentally establishes RF-PUF as a strong authentication method. Finally, the potential attack models and the robustness of RF-PUF against them have been discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, we have made our dataset (used in this work) public and available at: https://github.com/SparcLab/Sparclab-RF-PUF-Datase

CQNCR: Optimal VM migration planning in cloud data centers

Abstract—With the proliferation of cloud computing, virtu-alization has become the cornerstone of modern data centers and an effective solution to reduce operational costs, maximize utilization and improve performance and reliability. One of the powerful features provided by virtualization is Virtual Machine (VM) migration, which facilitates moving workloads within the infrastructure to reach various performance objectives. As recent virtual resource management schemes are more reliant on this feature, a large number of VM migrations may be triggered simultaneously to optimize resource allocations. In this context, a challenging problem is to find an efficient migration plan, i.e., an optimal sequence in which migrations should be triggered in order to minimize the total migration time and impact on services. In this paper, we propose CQNCR (read as sequencer), an effective technique for determining the execution order of massive VM migrations within data centers. Specifically, given an initial and a target resource configuration, CQNCR sequences VM migrations so as to efficiently reach the final configuration with minimal time and impact on performance. Experiments show that CQNCR can significantly reduce total migration time by up to 35 % and service downtime by up to 60%. I

DEWS: A Decentralized Engine for Web Search

Abstract The way we explore the Web is largely governed by centrally controlled, clustered search engines, which is not healthy for our freedom in the Internet. A better solution is to enable the Web to index itself in a decentralized manner. In this work we propose a decentralized Web search mechanism, named DEWS, which will enable the existing webservers to collaborate with each other to form a distributed index of the Web. DEWS can rank the search results based on query keyword relevance and relative importance of websites. DEWS also supports approximate matching of query keywords and incremental retrieval of search results in a decentralized manner. We use the standard LETOR 3.0 dataset to validate the DEWS protocol. Simulation results show that the ranking accuracy of DEWS is very close to the centralized case, while network overhead for collaborative search and indexing is logarithmic on network size. Simulation results also show that DEWS is resilient to changes in the available pool of indexing webservers and works efficiently even in presence of heavy query load

Plastic Roads in Asia: Current Implementations and Should It Be Considered?

The rapid economic and industrial growth experienced in the Asian region has significantly increased waste production, particularly single-use plastic. This surge in waste poses a significant challenge for these countries’ municipal solid waste management systems. Consequently, there is a pressing need for progressive and effective solutions to address the plastic waste issue. One promising initiative involves utilizing used plastic to produce components for asphalt pavement. The concept of plastic road technology has gained traction in Asia, with 32 countries displaying varying levels of interest, ranging from small-scale laboratory experiments to large-scale construction projects. However, as a relatively new technology, plastic road implementation requires continuous and comprehensive environmental and health risk assessments to ascertain its viability as a reliable green technology. This review paper presents the current findings and potential implementation of plastic-modified asphalt in Asian countries, with particular attention given to its environmental and human health impacts. While plastic asphalt roads hold promise in waste reduction, improved asphalt properties, and cost savings, it is imperative to thoroughly consider the environmental and health impacts, quality control measures, recycling limitations, and long-term performance of this road construction material. Further research and evaluation are needed to fully understand the viability and sustainability of plastic asphalt roads. This will enable a comprehensive assessment of its potential benefits and drawbacks, aiding in developing robust guidelines and standards for its implementation. By addressing these considerations, it will be possible to optimize the utilization of plastic waste in road construction and contribute to a greener and more sustainable future