Security analysis of wireless mesh backhauls for mobile networks

Radio links are used to provide backhaul connectivity for base stations of mobile networks, in cases in which cable-based alternatives are not available and cannot be deployed in an economic or timely manner. While such wireless backhauls have been predominantly used in redundant tree and ring topologies in the past, mobile network operators have become increasingly interested in meshed topologies for carrier-grade wireless backhauls. However, wireless mesh backhauls are potentially more susceptible to security vulnerabilities, given that radio links are more exposed to tampering and given their higher system complexity. This article extends prior security threat analyses of 3rd generation mobile network architectures for the case of wireless mesh backhauls. It presents a description of the security model for the considered architecture and provides a list of the basic assumptions, security objectives, assets to be protected and actors of the analysis. On this foundation, potential security threats are analyzed and discussed and then assessed for their corresponding risk. The result of this risk assessment is then used to define a set of security requirements. Finally, we give some recommendations for wireless mesh backhaul designs and implementations following these requirements.European Community's Seventh Framework ProgramPublicad

Behind-the-scenes of IEEE 802.11a based multi-radio mesh networks: a measurement driven evaluation of inter-channel interference

To successfully develop IEEE 802.11a based wireless mesh network solutions that can achieve the reliability and capacities required to offer high quality triple play services the use of multiple radios in each mesh node is essential. Unfortunately, the co-location of multiple antennas in a single device leads to a number of interference problems. In this paper the impact of non-overlapping channel interference in IEEE 802.11a based multi-radio nodes is investigated. A detailed explanation of the performance decreases and their relation to radio settings is presented. The primary contribution of this paper is the discovery of a channel interference effect which is present over the entire 802.11a frequency space. This interference appears if two radios are located less than 50 cm from each other and both are attempting to operate as usual. The results were obtained by conducting experiments in a well planned testbed to produce reliable and reproducible results. The presented results incorporate multiple parameters including transmission power, modulation coding scheme, channel separation and physical layer effects such as adjacent channel interference, carrier sensing, retransmissions and packet distortion.European Community's Seventh Framework ProgramPublicad

Measurements and evaluations for an IEEE 802.11a based carrier-grade multi-radio wireless mesh network deployment

Proceeding of: The Fifth International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Communications, (ICWMC 2009), 23-29 August 2009, Cannes/La Bocca (France)Although there currently exists a number of Wireless Local Area Network based mesh network deployments most have been deployed to provide best effort broadband Internet access. Consequently, they cannot meet the requirements of network operators in order to utilise these networks to offer carrier grade services. The goal of providing carrier grade services over a wireless mesh infrastructure requires high performance in terms of throughput and reliability. One way of achieving this increase in performance is to utilise multi-radio Mesh Nodes, however, due to the Physical Layer layer limitations of 802.11a this can have significant problems. This paper analyses these issues and investigates what performance can be expected when frequency multiplexing is considered. The results presented in this paper are based on real measurements taken from multi-radio Mesh Nodes and are evaluated using statistical algorithms. The main contribution of this paper is an analysis of the impact of the Adjacent Channel Interference effect in 802.11a based multi-radio Mesh Nodes.European Community's Seventh Framework ProgramThis work was partially funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Program in the context of the ICT project Carrier-Grade Mesh Networks (CARMEN) (Grant Agreement No. 214994).Publicad

Supporting Carrier Grade Services over Wireless Mesh Networks: the approach of the European FP-7 STREP CARMEN

CARMEN is a three-year Specific Targeted Research Project (STREP) funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Program. The CARMEN access network will complement existing access technologies by exploiting low cost mesh networking techniques, thus minimizing deployment and maintenance costs. The CARMEN architecture introduces an abstraction layer that hides the specifics of the underlying access technology providing an abstract interface on top of which higher layers can be easily developed. This allows for the integration of current and future heterogeneous wireless technologies to provide scalable and efficient mobile ubiquitous Internet access, able to adapt to different environments and user requirements. Following these goals, CARMEN aims to define, study and implement link and technology abstractions, mobility support, and quality of service. The architecture also includes advanced monitoring features that allow for dynamic self-configuration, thereby reducing the installation and operational costs.European Community's Seventh Framework ProgramPublicad

Using RAW as Control Plane for Wireless Deterministic Networks: Challenges Ahead

This paper provides extensive analysis of RAW (Reliable and Available Wireless) enhancements and solutions needed to manage industrial environments more effectively. Starting from the description of the industrial use case, an analysis of gaps and potential new extensions is performed. Namely, the need to (i) support multi-domain operation, at both technology and administrative levels; (ii) integrate RAW with edge architectures; and, (iii) the support for mobility support in RAW networks, are analysed. The identified gaps are indeed not yet tackled by the relevant standardisation development organisations, mainly the Internet Engineering Task Force, and are thus object of our future wor

Using RAW as control plane for wireless deterministic networks: challenges ahead

MobiHoc '23: Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth International Symposium on Theory, Algorithmic Foundations, and Protocol Design for Mobile Networks and Mobile Computing, 23-26 October 2023, Washington DC, USA.This paper provides an extensive analysis of Reliable and Available Wireless (RAW) enhancements and solutions needed to manage industrial environments more effectively. Starting from the description of a representative industrial use case, an analysis of gaps and promising new extensions is performed. Namely, the need to (i) support multi-domain operation, at both technology and administrative levels; (ii) integrate RAW with edge architectures; and, (iii) increase the mobility support in RAW networks. The identified gaps are indeed not yet tackled by the relevant standardization development organizations, mainly the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and are thus object of our future work.This work has been partially funded by the European Commission Horizon Europe SNS JU PREDICT-6G (GA 101095890) Project and the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and the European Union-NextGenerationEU through the UNICO 5G I+D 6G-EDGEDT and 6G-DATADRIVEN

A hierarchical AI-based control plane solution for multitechnology deterministic networks

Following the Industry 4.0 vision of a full digitiSation of the industry, time-critical services and applications, allowing network infrastructures to deliver information with determinism and reliability, are becoming more and more relevant for a set of vertical sectors. As a consequence, deterministic network solutions are progressively emerging, albeit they are still bounded to specific technological domains. Even considering the existence of interconnected deterministic networks, the provision of an end-to-end (E2E) deterministic service over them must rely on a specific control plane architecture, capable of seamlessly integrate and control the underlying multi-technology data plane. In this work, we envision such a control plane solution, extending previous works and exploiting several innovations and novel architectural concepts. The proposed control architecture is service-centric, in order to provide the necessary flexibility, scalability, and modularity to deal with a heterogenous data plane. The architecture is hierarchical and encompasses a set of management platforms to interact with specific network technologies overarched by an E2E platform for the management, monitoring, and control of E2E deterministic services. Furthermore, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Twinning are used to enable network predictability and automation, as well as smart resource allocation, to ensure service reliability in dynamic scenarios where existing services may terminate and new ones may need to be deployed

A hierarchical AI-based control plane solution for multi-technology deterministic networks

Following the Industry 4.0 vision of a full digitization of the industry, time-critical services and applications, allowing network infrastructures to deliver information with determinism and reliability, are becoming more and more relevant for a set of vertical sectors. As a consequence, deterministic network solutions are progressively emerging, albeit they are still bounded to specific technological domains. Even considering the existence of interconnected deterministic networks, the provision of an end-to-end (E2E) deterministic service over them must rely on a specific control plane architecture, capable of seamlessly integrate and control the underlying multi-technology data plane. In this work, we envision such a control plane solution, extending previous works and exploiting several innovations and novel architectural concepts. The proposed control architecture is service-centric, in order to provide the necessary flexibility, scalability, and modularity to deal with a heterogenous data plane. The architecture is hierarchical and encompasses a set of management platforms to interact with specific network technologies overarched by an E2E platform for the management, monitoring, and control of E2E deterministic services. Furthermore, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Twinning are used to enable network predictability and automation, as well as smart resource allocation, to ensure service reliability in dynamic scenarios where existing services may terminate and new ones may need to be deployed.This work has been partially funded by the European Commission Horizon Europe SNS JU PREDICT-6G (GA 101095890) Project.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft