Content Delivery Latency of Caching Strategies for Information-Centric IoT

In-network caching is a central aspect of Information-Centric Networking (ICN). It enables the rapid distribution of content across the network, alleviating strain on content producers and reducing content delivery latencies. ICN has emerged as a promising candidate for use in the Internet of Things (IoT). However, IoT devices operate under severe constraints, most notably limited memory. This means that nodes cannot indiscriminately cache all content; instead, there is a need for a caching strategy that decides what content to cache. Furthermore, many applications in the IoT space are timesensitive; therefore, finding a caching strategy that minimises the latency between content request and delivery is desirable. In this paper, we evaluate a number of ICN caching strategies in regards to latency and hop count reduction using IoT devices in a physical testbed. We find that the topology of the network, and thus the routing algorithm used to generate forwarding information, has a significant impact on the performance of a given caching strategy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on latency effects in ICN-IoT caching while using real IoT hardware, and the first to explicitly discuss the link between routing algorithm, network topology, and caching effects.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, journal pape

Evaluation of a Novel Rapid Test System for the Detection of Specific IgE to Hymenoptera Venoms

Background. The Allergy Lateral Flow Assay (ALFA) is a novel rapid assay for the detection of sIgE to allergens. The objective of this study is the evaluation of ALFA for the detection of sIgE to bee venom (BV) and wasp venom (WV) in insect venom allergic patients. Methods. Specific IgE to BV and WV was analyzed by ALFA, ALLERG-O-LIQ, and ImmunoCAP in 80 insect venom allergic patients and 60 control sera. Sensitivity and specificity of ALFA and correlation of ALFA and ImmunoCAP results were calculated. Results. The sensitivity/specificity of ALFA to the diagnosis was 100%/83% for BV and 82%/97% for WV. For insect venom allergic patients, the Spearman correlation coefficient for ALFA versus ImmunoCAP was 0.79 for BV and 0.80 for WV. However, significant differences in the negative control groups were observed. Conclusion. ALFA represents a simple, robust, and reliable tool for the rapid detection of sIgE to insect venoms

Gain More for Less: The Surprising Benefits of QoS Management in Constrained NDN Networks

Quality of Service (QoS) in the IP world mainly manages forwarding resources, i.e., link capacities and buffer spaces. In addition, Information Centric Networking (ICN) offers resource dimensions such as in-network caches and forwarding state. In constrained wireless networks, these resources are scarce with a potentially high impact due to lossy radio transmission. In this paper, we explore the two basic service qualities (i) prompt and (ii) reliable traffic forwarding for the case of NDN. The resources we take into account are forwarding and queuing priorities, as well as the utilization of caches and of forwarding state space. We treat QoS resources not only in isolation, but correlate their use on local nodes and between network members. Network-wide coordination is based on simple, predefined QoS code points. Our findings indicate that coordinated QoS management in ICN is more than the sum of its parts and exceeds the impact QoS can have in the IP world

Lightweight Caching and Load Balancing for Efficient Content Delivery in Information-Centric IoT

In recent years, Information-Centric Networking (ICN) has emerged as a promising candidate for a future Internet architecture. While originally designed with the traditional Internet in mind, it has also been identified as a potential replacement for current Internet of Things (IoT) networking solutions. However, applications in the IoT face a number of unique challenges due to the constrained nature of the hardware. One of these challenges is that available memory is often extremely limited. This thesis aims to evaluate the feasibility of using ICN in-network caching on IoT devices in order to achieve efficient content delivery. It evaluates the performance of existing approaches on constrained hardware and explores how the technology can be improved and tailored towards that environment. Existing strategies are found to be lacking in key aspects, particularly the fact that the effects of network topology are often not considered when making caching decisions. It is shown that approaches based on network centrality are promising, but existing implementations are not suited for constrained hardware. Therefore, a lightweight in-network caching strategy called Approximate Betweenness Centrality (ABC) is proposed that takes the specific requirements of IoT into consideration and allows for efficient cache placement regardless of network topology. Then, a modular solution for load balancing through off-path caching is presented to address potential shortcomings of the centrality-based caching approach. It allows the network to make more efficient use of available caching resources without introducing additional overhead. Furthermore, solutions for ensuring Quality of Service (QoS) are discussed. The expanded role of caching strategies under such QoS constraints is explored and their performance is evaluated. This thesis shows that it is possible to design and deploy lightweight, low-overhead solutions on constrained hardware. Using a realistic deployment of physical IoT devices, it is demonstrated that these approaches can reach satisfactory levels of performance

Lightweight Caching and Load Balancing for Efficient Content Delivery in Information-Centric IoT

In recent years, Information-Centric Networking (ICN) has emerged as a promising candidate for a future Internet architecture. While originally designed with the traditional Internet in mind, it has also been identified as a potential replacement for current Internet of Things (IoT) networking solutions. However, applications in the IoT face a number of unique challenges due to the constrained nature of the hardware. One of these challenges is that available memory is often extremely limited.  This thesis aims to evaluate the feasibility of using ICN in-network caching on IoT devices in order to achieve efficient content delivery. It evaluates the performance of existing approaches on constrained hardware and explores how the technology can be improved and tailored towards that environment. Existing strategies are found to be lacking in key aspects, particularly the fact that the effects of network topology are often not considered when making caching decisions. It is shown that approaches based on network centrality are promising, but existing implementations are not suited for constrained hardware. Therefore, a lightweight in-network caching strategy called Approximate Betweenness Centrality (ABC) is proposed that takes the specific requirements of IoT into consideration and allows for efficient cache placement regardless of network topology. Then, a modular solution for load balancing through off-path caching is presented to address potential shortcomings of the centrality-based caching approach. It allows the network to make more efficient use of available caching resources without introducing additional overhead. Furthermore, solutions for ensuring Quality of Service (QoS) are discussed. The expanded role of caching strategies under such QoS constraints is explored and their performance is evaluated.  This thesis shows that it is possible to design and deploy lightweight, low-overhead solutions on constrained hardware. Using a realistic deployment of physical IoT devices, it is demonstrated that these approaches can reach satisfactory levels of performance.</p

On the Impact of QoS Management in an Information-centric Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) comprises a relevant class of applications that require Quality of Service (QoS) assurances. Information Centric Networking (ICN) has shown promising characteristics in constrained wireless networks, but differentiated QoS has not yet fully emerged. In this paper, we design and analyze a QoS scheme that manages the NDN resources forwarding and queuing priorities, as well as the utilization of caches and of forwarding state space. In constrained wireless networks, these resources are scarce with a potentially high impact due to lossy radio transmission. We explore the two basic service qualities (i) prompt and (ii) reliable traffic forwarding. We treat QoS resources not only in isolation, but correlate their use on local nodes and between network members. Network-wide coordination is based on simple QoS code points that can be distributed via a routing protocol. Fairness measures that prevent resource starvation are part of this management scheme. Our findings indicate that our coordinated QoS management in ICN does not only effectively prioritize the privileged data chunks, but also improves regular data communication. We can show that appropriate QoS coordination can enhance the overall network performance by more than the sum of its parts and that it exceeds the impact QoS can have in the IP world

Quality of Service for ICN in the IoT

This document describes manageable resources in ICN IoT deployments and a lightweight traffic classification method for mapping priorities to resources. Management methods are further derived for controlling latency and reliability of traffic flows in constrained environments

Toward a RESTful Information-Centric Web of Things: A Deeper Look at Data Orientation in CoAP

The information-centric networking (ICN) paradigm offers replication of autonomously verifiable content throughout a network, in which content is bound to names instead of hosts. This has proven beneficial in particular for the constrained IoT. Several approaches, the most prominent of which being Named Data Networking, propose access to named content directly on the network layer. Independently, the IETF CoAP protocol group started to develop mechanisms that support autonomous content processing and in-network storage. In this paper, we explore the emerging CoAP protocol building blocks and how they contribute to an information-centric network architecture for a data-oriented RESTful Web of Things. We discuss design options and measure characteristic performances of different network configurations, which deploy CoAP proxies and OSCORE content object security, and compare with NDN. Our findings indicate an almost continuous design space ranging from plain CoAP at the one end to NDN on the other. On both ends - -ICN and CoAP - -we identify protocol features and aspects whose mutual transfer potentially improves design and operation of the other