Personalized Travel Itineraries with Multi-access Edge Computing Touristic Services

International audienceThe 5G networks enable new touristic services with challenging communication requirements, such as augmented reality (AR) applications, and allow the visitors to enjoy a touristic experience that involves both the physical and virtual space. Here, we propose a novel multiuser travel itinerary planning framework based on an optimal problem formulation that considers both individual trip itinerary (e.g., tourist's preferences, time or cost) and touristic service constraints (e.g., nearby edge cloud resources and application requirements). The main idea is to maximize the itinerary score of individual visitors, while also optimizing the resource allocation at the edge. We consider two services, video streaming and AR, and evaluate our framework using data from Flickr. Results demonstrate gains up to 100% in the resource allocation and user experience in comparison with a state-of-the-art solution adapted to this scenario

Itinerary Recommendation Algorithm in the Age of MEC

To provide fully immersive mobile experiences, next-generation touristic services will rely on the high bandwidth and low latency provided by the 5G networks and the Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) paradigm. Recommendation algorithms, being integral part of travel planning systems, devise personalized tour itineraries for a user considering the popularity of the Points of Interest (POIs) of a city as well as the tourist preferences and constraints. However, in the context of next-generation touristic services, recommendation algorithms should also consider the applications (e.g., augmented reality) the tourist will consume in the POIs and the quality in which such applications will be delivered by the MEC infrastructure. In this paper, we address the joint problem of recommending personalized tour itineraries for tourists and efficiently allocating MEC resources for advanced touristic applications. We formulate an optimization problem that maximizes the itinerary score of individual tourists, while optimizing the resource allocation at the network edge. We then propose an exact algorithm that quickly solves the problem optimally considering instances of realistic size. Finally, we evaluate our algorithm using a real dataset extracted from Flickr. Results demonstrate gains up to 100% in the resource allocation and user experience in comparison with a state-of-the-art solution

Manageability of Future Internet Virtual Networks from a Practical Viewpoint

International audienceThe Autonomic Internet project approach relies on abstractions and distributed systems of a five plane solution for the provision of Future Internet Services (OSKMV): Orchestration, Service Enablers, Knowledge, Management and Virtualisation Planes. This paper presents a practical viewpoint of the manageability of virtual networks, exercising the components and systems that integrate this approach and that are being validated. This paper positions the distributed systems and networking services that integrate this solution, focusing on the provision of Future Internet services for self-configuration and self- performance management scenes

Modular architecture providing convergent and ubiquitous intelligent connectivity for networks beyond 2030

The transition of the networks to support forthcoming beyond 5G (B5G) and 6G services introduces a number of important architectural challenges that force an evolution of existing operational frameworks. Current networks have introduced technical paradigms such as network virtualization, programmability and slicing, being a trend known as network softwarization. Forthcoming B5G and 6G services imposing stringent requirements will motivate a new radical change, augmenting those paradigms with the idea of smartness, pursuing an overall optimization on the usage of network and compute resources in a zero-trust environment. This paper presents a modular architecture under the concept of Convergent and UBiquitous Intelligent Connectivity (CUBIC), conceived to facilitate the aforementioned transition. CUBIC intends to investigate and innovate on the usage, combination and development of novel technologies to accompany the migration of existing networks towards Convergent and Ubiquitous Intelligent Connectivity (CUBIC) solutions, leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) mechanisms and Machine Learning (ML) tools in a totally secure environment

Transport protocol behavior and energy-saving potential

Abstract — We investigate the energy-saving potential of transport protocols. We seek an answer to strategic issues of maximizing energy and bandwidth exploitation, without damaging the dynamics of multiple-flow equilibrium. We claim that (i) an energy-saving strategy of the transport level needs to be associated with some energy potential index which, unlike energy expenditure, is not device-specific and (ii) system-wise an energyefficient system of flows is not always a better choice: we show that a less energy-efficient system may be more reliable in terms of packet multiplexing and, in turn, may reduce the probability that some flows may expend their energy with zero gain. We present results using a real testbed. I

Saving energy for internetworked battery-powered devices in heterogeneous environments

In this thesis, we propose, explore and evaluate approaches to energy conservation in Internetworked battery-powered devices. We focus on the behavior of Internet protocols in heterogeneous environments (e.g., wireless or high-speed networks) and their impact on energy consumption. We take into account the special application requirements in both design and evaluation phases of our analysis. For example, a sensor application may not have special requirements in terms of bandwidth, while being delay-sensitive. Consequently, the evaluation of a network protocol for sensor applications should be focused on delay-related metrics rather than throughput. We discuss a new packet service paradigm, called "Less Impact Better Service" (LIBS). In simple terms, LIBS primarily schedules packets based on the delay they cause and cancels service differentiation policies when the cumulative delay caused by prioritization becomes significant for non-prioritized packets. Based on LIBS, we evaluate different service policies that prioritize small packets using different service boundaries and we show that, by and large, LIBS satisfies more users with diverse demands in delay and throughput. Among other traditional performance measures, we also define and measure fairness in the context of LIBS, that is, we address the question whether the delay experienced per flow is proportional to the delay caused by that flow. We obtained very promising analytical and simulation results. Από την περίληψη θα ληφθούν υπ’ όψη μόνο οι πρώτοι 2500 χαρακτήρες μαζί με τα κενάΣτη διατριβή προτείνουμε, διερευνούμε και αξιολογούμε τρόπους εξοικονόμησης ενέργειας στις διαδικτυακές συσκευές με μπαταρία. Ενδιαφερόμαστε για τη συμπεριφορά των διαδικτυακών πρωτοκόλλων σε ετερογενή περιβάλλοντα (π.χ. ασύρματα δίκτυα, υψηλών ταχυτήτων κ.α.) και την επίδραση των ιδιαίτερων συνθηκών των τελευταίων στην κατανάλωση ενέργειας. Λαμβάνουμε υπόψη μας τις ειδικές απαιτήσεις κάθε εφαρμογής σε δικτυακούς πόρους, τόσο στη φάση του σχεδιασμού των προτεινόμενων μηχανισμών, όσο και στην αξιολόγηση τους. Για παράδειγμα, μια εφαρμογή δικτύων αισθητήρων μπορεί να μην έχει ιδιαίτερες απαιτήσεις σε ρυθμό μετάδοσης αλλά να είναι ιδιαίτερα ευαίσθητη στην καθυστέρηση (delay). Επομένως, η αξιολόγηση ενός πρωτοκόλλου για τα δίκτυα αισθητήρων δεν θα πρέπει να δώσει κυρίαρχο βάρος σε μετρικές (metrics) που αξιολογούν το ρυθμό μετάδοσης, αλλά να επικεντρωθεί σε μετρικές σχετικές με την καθυστέρηση. Προτείνουμε μια νέα φιλοσοφία κατανομής των πόρων, τη "Less Impact Better Service" (LIBS), η οποία στοχεύει στην εξυπηρέτηση εφαρμογών που δεν συνεισφέρουν στη συμφόρηση, χωρίς να δημιουργεί επιπρόσθετο κόστος στις υπόλοιπες εφαρμογές και το σύστημα. Στα πλαίσια της LIBS, προτείνουμε νέους αλγόριθμους χρονοπρογραμματισμού και διαφορετική μεθοδολογία ανάλυσης, συμπεριλαμβάνοντας ειδικούς δείκτες απόδοσης. Στην περίπτωση μας, η δικαιοσύνη εκφράζεται με διαφορετικό τρόπο από τους παραδοσιακούς δείκτες δικαιοσύνης, σχετίζεται με την καθυστέρηση και στοχεύει στην ικανοποίηση περισσότερων χρηστών από τις δικτυακές υπηρεσίες. Τα θεωρητικά και πειραματικά μας αποτελέσματα δείχνουν ότι οι προτάσεις μας οδηγούν σε σημαντική βελτίωση με όρους απόδοσης και κατανάλωσης ενέργειας