Service oriented cloud CPE as a means of a future terminal

The current CPE deployment model, which is based on deploying “intelligent” independent equipment in the customer premises, has important challenges that have been limiting the profitability of services for telecommunications service providers. Cloud CPE model provides a win for cost and service performance for the future, as it reduces onsite CPE complex requirements to a minimum and moves these features into the cloud, under service provider control. The financial analysis proves that the cCPE is a viable solution for the operators and also it is proved that can bring costs down for the operator but also for the end user and can be a viable solution for the 5G ecosystem

Control Framework for Ultra-dense cellular networks

The current work focuses on the current network deployments and the transition to the 5G era, toward encompassing the proposed approaches in the network design. In this direction, the base station densification gain and the control/coordination of the Radio Access Network (RAN) are being taken into account. The densification gain (with respect to the Base Station density) represents the ability of the network to offer the desired data rate and comply with other important key performance indices for a 5G environment. Finally, load balancing and offloading techniques are discussed which are going to play an important role in the future networks. A coordination framework for the whole RAN infrastructure has been described by setting the criteria and the control mechanisms for the management of the network

Efficient Resource Allocation and Spectrum Trading for Virtualized Multi-tenant 5G Networks

The huge increase of mobile devices and user data demand has initiated efforts for more efficient mobile network solutions. To this direction, virtualization has attracted much attention as a promising solution for higher resource utilization and improved system performance. Therefore, basic on-demand wireless resource allocation approaches among multiple tenants are investigated. Taking also into consideration two contrasting terms, the spectrum scarcity and the spectrum underutilization, this work proposes spectrum trading among frequency owners and tenants, enabling dynamic spectrum access and optimal management

Code Quality Evaluation Methodology Using The ISO/IEC 9126 Standard

This work proposes a methodology for source code quality and static behaviour evaluation of a software system, based on the standard ISO/IEC-9126. It uses elements automatically derived from source code enhanced with expert knowledge in the form of quality characteristic rankings, allowing software engineers to assign weights to source code attributes. It is flexible in terms of the set of metrics and source code attributes employed, even in terms of the ISO/IEC-9126 characteristics to be assessed. We applied the methodology to two case studies, involving five open source and one proprietary system. Results demonstrated that the methodology can capture software quality trends and express expert perceptions concerning system quality in a quantitative and systematic manner.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figure

State-of-the-art on Virtualization and Software Defined Networking for Efficient Resource Allocation on Multi-tenant 5G Networks

Global data traffic explosion is expected to set stringent requirements for next generation networks in the next decades. Besides, very low latencies will have to be guaranteed for enabling new delay critical services. However, current Software Defined Networking (SDN) solutions have limitations in terms of separating both data and control planes among tenants/operators, and the capability to adapt to new or changing requirements. Moreover, some virtualization schemes do not ensure isolation of resources and do not guarantee bandwidth across the entities. While some others fail to provide flexibility to the slices to customize the resource allocation across the users. Therefore, novel SDN and virtualization techniques should be implemented to realize the upcoming 5G network that will facilitate at least efficient resource allocation and multi-tenancy among the plethora of different requirements

State-of-the-art on Virtualization and Software Defined Networking for Efficient Resource Allocation on Multi-tenant 5G Networks

Global data traffic explosion is expected to set stringent requirements for next generation networks in the next decades. Besides, very low latencies will have to be guaranteed for enabling new delay critical services. However, current Software Defined Networking (SDN) solutions have limitations in terms of separating both data and control planes among tenants/operators, and the capability to adapt to new or changing requirements. Moreover, some virtualization schemes do not ensure isolation of resources and do not guarantee bandwidth across the entities. While some others fail to provide flexibility to the slices to customize the resource allocation across the users. Therefore, novel SDN and virtualization techniques should be implemented to realize the upcoming 5G network that will facilitate at least efficient resource allocation and multi-tenancy among the plethora of different requirements

Security Features and Cooperative Services in Smart Grid Networks

218 σ.Το έξυπνο δίκτυο επιχειρεί να εκσυγχρονίσει το υπάρχον απαρχαιωμένο σύστημα δικτύου ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας. Τα ευεργετικά χαρακτηριστικά του έξυπνου δικτύου, κύριος εκφραστής των οποίων αποτελεί ο έξυπνος μετρητής, συμβάλλουν στη βέλτιστη αξιοποίηση ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας τόσο στην πλευρά της παραγωγής όσο και στην πλευρά της κατανάλωσης. Εισάγοντας τις νέες τεχνολογίες επικοινωνιών και πληροφορικής σε καίρια σημεία του δικτύου, επιτυγχάνεται η ενσωμάτωση ανανεώσιμων πηγών ενέργειας καθώς και η ενεργητικότητα των καταναλωτών στο σενάριο λειτουργίας του έξυπνου δικτύου. Ωστόσο, η ενσωμάτωση των νέων τεχνολογιών, ειδικά αυτών που σχετίζονται με το Διαδίκτυο, ίσως εισάγουν νέες απειλές για την ασφάλεια του έξυπνου δικτύου. Ορισμένοι κακοπροαίρετοι επιτιθέμενοι μπορούν να εκμεταλλευτούν τα ευάλωτα σημεία του δικτύου επικοινωνιών και να καταλάβουν ηλεκτρονικές συσκευές, να υποκλέψουν απόρρητες ή προσωπικές πληροφορίες, να απαγορεύσουν τη διαθεσιμότητα απαραίτητων υπηρεσιών, να προκαλέσουν μια εκτεταμένη διακοπή ρεύματος, με συνέπεια ένα δυσμενές οικονομικό κόστος. Για αυτό το λόγο, η αντιμετώπιση των ζητημάτων ασφάλειας στο έξυπνο δίκτυο παίζει πρωταρχικό ρόλο. Η εμπιστευτικότητα, η ακεραιότητα και η διαθεσιμότητα των διακινούμενων πληροφοριών είναι ανάγκη να προστατευθούν, έτσι ώστε να αυξηθεί η αξιοπιστία του συστήματος. Η κρυπτογράφηση των δεδομένων μέτρησης συνιστά μια αποδοτική λύση, όπως και η προστασία των προσωπικών καταναλωτικών πληροφοριών με το καινοτόμο σύστημα διαχείρισης ηλεκτρικού φορτίου “ElecPrivacy”. Επιπλέον, οι συνεργατικές ασύρματες επικοινωνίες στο έξυπνο δίκτυο έχουν τη δυνατότητα να συνεισφέρουν στην αποδοτικότερη αξιοποίηση της διαθέσιμης ενέργειας των συνεργαζόμενων κόμβων, αυξάνοντας με αυτό τον τρόπο την ποιότητα μετάδοσης υπηρεσιών. Εκμεταλλευόμενο τα πλεονεκτήματα συνεργασίας, το έξυπνο δίκτυο μέτρησης, αποτελούμενο από χωρικά διασκορπισμένους έξυπνους μετρητές, κρυπτογραφεί τα προσωπικά δεδομένα μέτρησης και τα μεταφέρει αποτελεσματικά στο κέντρο ελέγχου αποφεύγοντας συγκρούσεις και προβλήματα δρομολόγησης. Τέλος, η λειτουργία του έξυπνου δικτύου προσομοιώνεται με τη βοήθεια του περιβάλλοντος προσομοίωσης OMNET++. Το βασικό σενάριο λειτουργίας περιλαμβάνει τη χρήση ενός κοινού δικτύου επικοινωνιών για την ανταλλαγή πληροφοριών μεταξύ έξυπνων μετρητών και υπεύθυνων του κέντρου ελέγχου, την εξαπόλυση επίθεσης Άρνησης Υπηρεσιών (DoS) από επιτιθέμενους προς ανυποψίαστους έξυπνους μετρητές, την εξυπηρέτηση κινούμενων χρηστών από απομακρυσμένους εξυπηρετητές του Διαδικτύου (Http, VideoStream) αλλά και από άλλους συνεργατικούς χρήστες (VideoStream).The smart grid is attempting to modernize the existing antiquated electricity grid system. The beneficial features of the smart grid, whose main representative is the smart meter, contribute to the optimal use of electricity in both the production side and consumption side. Introducing the new communications and information technologies at key points in the network achieved the integration of renewable energy and the energy consumer in the scenario of operation of the smart grid. However, integration of new technologies, especially those related to the Internet, may introduce new security threats to the smart grid. Some malicious attackers can exploit the vulnerabilities of network communications and seize electronic devices, steal confidential personal information or to prohibit the availability of essential services, causing a widespread power outage, resulting in adverse economic costs. For this reason, addressing safety issues in smart grid plays a key role. The confidentiality, integrity and availability of mobile information need to be protected so as to increase system reliability. Data encryption is an effective measurement solution, and the protection of personal consumer information with the innovative load management system "ElecPrivacy". In addition, cooperative wireless communications in smart grid has the potential to contribute to more efficient utilization of the available energy of cooperating nodes, increasing thereby the quality of transmission services. By leveraging the advantages of cooperation, the smart metering network, which consists of spatially dispersed smart meters, encrypts personal data measurement and effectively transmit them to the control center to avoid conflicts and routing problems. Finally, the operation of the smart grid is simulated using the simulation environment OMNET++. The baseline operation involves the use of a common communications network for exchanging information between smart meters and responsive control center, launching denial of service attack (DoS) from attackers to unsuspecting smart meters, serving mobile users by remote Internet servers (Http, VideoStream) and other collaborative users (VideoStream).Χρήστος Ε. Τσιράκη

Load balancing in 5G Networks

The expected huge increase of mobile devices and user data demand by 2020 will stress the current mobile network in an unprecedented way. The future mobile networks must meet several strong requirements regarding the data rate, latency, quality of service and experience, mobility, spectrum and energy efficiency. Therefore, efforts for more efficient mobile network solutions have been recently initiated. To this direction, load balancing has attracted much attention as a promising solution for higher resource utilization, improved system performance and decreased operational cost. It is an effective method for balancing the traffic and alleviating the congestion among heterogeneous networks in the upcoming 5G networks. In this paper, we focus on an offloading scenario for load balancing among LTE and Wi-Fi networks. Additionally, network graphs methodology and its abstracted parameters are investigated in order to better manage wireless resource allocation among multiple connections. The COHERENT architectural framework, which consists of two main control components, makes use of such abstracted network graphs for controlling or managing various tasks such as traffic steering, load balancing, spectrum sharing and RAN sharing. As a result, the COHERENT project eventually develops a unified programmable control framework used to efficiently coordinate the underlying heterogeneous mobile networks as a whole

Load balancing in 5G Networks

The expected huge increase of mobile devices and user data demand by 2020 will stress the current mobile network in an unprecedented way. The future mobile networks must meet several strong requirements regarding the data rate, latency, quality of service and experience, mobility, spectrum and energy efficiency. Therefore, efforts for more efficient mobile network solutions have been recently initiated. To this direction, load balancing has attracted much attention as a promising solution for higher resource utilization, improved system performance and decreased operational cost. It is an effective method for balancing the traffic and alleviating the congestion among heterogeneous networks in the upcoming 5G networks. In this paper, we focus on an offloading scenario for load balancing among LTE and Wi-Fi networks. Additionally, network graphs methodology and its abstracted parameters are investigated in order to better manage wireless resource allocation among multiple connections. The COHERENT architectural framework, which consists of two main control components, makes use of such abstracted network graphs for controlling or managing various tasks such as traffic steering, load balancing, spectrum sharing and RAN sharing. As a result, the COHERENT project eventually develops a unified programmable control framework used to efficiently coordinate the underlying heterogeneous mobile networks as a whole