Clean-slate Design Research Articles

Complementing IoT Services Using Software-Defined Information Centric Networks: A Comprehensive Survey

IoT connects a large number of physical objects with the Internet that capture and exchange real-time information for service provisioning. Traditional network management schemes face challenges to manage vast amounts of network traffic generated by IoT services. Software-defined networking (SDN) and information-centric networking (ICN) are two complementary technologies that could be integrated to solve the challenges of different aspects of IoT service provisioning. ICN offers a clean-slate design to accommodate continuously increasing network traffic by considering content as a network primitive. It provides a novel solution for information propagation and delivery for large-scale IoT services. On the other hand, SDN allocates overall network management responsibilities to a central controller, where network elements act merely as traffic forwarding components. An SDN-enabled network supports ICN without deploying ICN-capable hardware. Therefore, the integration of SDN and ICN provides benefits for large-scale IoT services. This article provides a comprehensive survey on software-defined information-centric Internet of Things (SDIC-IoT) for IoT service provisioning. We present critical enabling technologies of SDIC-IoT, discuss its architecture, and describe its benefits for IoT service provisioning. We elaborate on key IoT service provisioning requirements and discuss how SDIC-IoT supports different aspects of IoT services. We define different taxonomies of SDIC-IoT literature based on various performance parameters. Furthermore, we extensively discuss different use cases, synergies, and advances to realize the SDIC-IoT concept. Finally, we present current challenges and future research directions of IoT service provisioning using SDIC-IoT.

Spectral Efficiency Classification Schemes for Future Network Communications(SECS)

Abstract Future Network is an project created and managed by ISO/IEC. The project has produced technical reports in ISO/IEC TR 29181 series and is in the process setting architectures and protocols. The project is known for its distinctive “clean slate design” approach and works on fundamental structural innovations to allow Future Network deliver its promises. Simultaneously, ISO/IEC Future Network should prepare itself for future breakthrough in SE technology and make plans to adapt Future Network to the fast changing “Post Shannon Era” technological revolutions. Using reference to the mechanism of radio frequency band classifications, this standard classifies the spectral efficiencies of the MCS systems, so as to facilitate the classification, discussion, evaluation and comparison of the efficiency of the spectrum of information systems.

Federated Learning and Control at the Wireless Network Edge

We are at the cusp of two transformational technologies, namely the fifth generation of wireless communication systems, known as 5G, and machine learning (ML). On the one hand, while the evolutionary part of 5G, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), focusing mainly on millimeter-wave transmissions has made significant progress, fundamentals of ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC), one of the major tenets of the 5G revolution, are yet to be fully understood. In essence, URLLC warrants a departure from average-based system design toward a clean slate design centered on tail, risk, and scale [1]. While risk is encountered when dealing with decision making under uncertainty, scale is driven by the sheer amount of devices, antennas, sensors, and actuators, all of which pose unprecedented challenges in network design, optimization, and scalability.

Identifier and Locator Mapping Service Research

The original TCP/IP architecture has faced some critical challenges from scalability, mobility, security and so on. It also hampered the development of some new network technologies such as multi-homing, traffic engineering. One of the most important reasons is IP address semantic overloading. Academy commonly considered that we should give a clean-slate design for the naming and addressing architecture of the future Internet. “Locator/ID Split” is one of the most important research areas. The scalable flat-labels based mapping service is the kernel of “Locator/ID Split”. HLIM uses hash-based routing to provide a deterministic mapping resolution for the edge network through distributed mapping servers. HLIM satisfies the scalability of the flat-labels mapping service, and can adapt mapping nodes’ dynamic join and exit.

Internet backbones in space

Several "NewSpace" companies have launched the first of thousands of planned satellites for providing global broadband Internet service. The resulting low-Earth-orbit (LEO) constellations will not only bridge the digital divide by providing service to remote areas, but they also promise much lower latency than terrestrial fiber for long-distance routes. We show that unlocking this potential is non-trivial: such constellations provide inherently variable connectivity, which today's Internet is ill-suited to accommodate. We therefore study cost-performance tradeoffs in the design space for Internet routing that incorporates satellite connectivity examining four solutions ranging from naively using BGP to an ideal, clean-slate design. We find that the optimal solution is provided by a path-aware networking architecture in which end-hosts obtain information and control over network paths. However, a pragmatic and more deployable approach inspired by the design of content distribution networks can also achieve stable and close-to-optimal performance.

Named Data Networking in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks: State-of-the-Art and Challenges

Information-centric networking (ICN) has been proposed as one of the future Internet architectures. It is poised to address the challenges faced by today’s Internet that include, but not limited to, scalability, addressing, security, and privacy. Furthermore, it also aims at meeting the requirements for new emerging Internet applications. To realize ICN, named data networking (NDN) is one of the recent implementations of ICN that provides a suitable communication approach due to its clean slate design and simple communication model. There are a plethora of applications realized through ICN in different domains where data is the focal point of communication. One such domain is intelligent transportation system realized through vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) where vehicles exchange information and content with each other and with the infrastructure. Up to date, excellent research results have been yielded in the VANET domain aiming at safe, reliable, and infotainment-rich driving experience. However, due to the dynamic topologies, host-centric model, and ephemeral nature of vehicular communication, various challenges are faced by VANET that hinder the realization of successful vehicular networks and adversely affect the data dissemination, content delivery, and user experiences. To fill these gaps, NDN has been extensively used as underlying communication paradigm for VANET. Inspired by the extensive research results in NDN-based VANET, in this paper, we provide a detailed and systematic review of NDN-driven VANET. More precisely, we investigate the role of NDN in VANET and discuss the feasibility of NDN architecture in VANET environment. Subsequently, we cover in detail, NDN-based naming, routing and forwarding, caching, mobility, and security mechanism for VANET. Furthermore, we discuss the existing standards, solutions, and simulation tools used in NDN-based VANET. Finally, we also identify open challenges and issues faced by NDN-driven VANET and highlight future research directions that should be addressed by the research community.

Bluff Forwarding: A Practical Protocol for Delivering Refreshed Symmetric Keys on a Multi-Path Big Data Ingestion System

In this paper, we present a clean-slate design of a novel and practical protocol for transporting refreshed symmetric keys for multi-path big data ingestion systems. Our objective is to securely and reliably deliver the refreshed keys from data sources to the data collection servers even in the presence of malicious attackers. To satisfy this objective, we first adapt the secret sharing algorithm. We split symmetric keys into multiple secrets in such a way that partial retrieval of the secrets does not warrant the reconstruction of the original key. Then, we hide the updated secret keys by shuffling them into a group of randomly generated fake keys. These keys are encapsulated in a message container called a bluff. We develop a protocol that makes it computationally infeasible for the attackers to distinguish between bluffs and normal data. We implement and test this protocol on Apache Flume, which is a widely used, state-of-the-art data ingestion system. We analyze the security aspects of our protocol and observe the effects of various configuration settings on the data ingestion performance.

Software Defined Networking Meets Information Centric Networking: A Survey

Information centric networking (ICN) and software-defined networking (SDN) are two emerging networking paradigms that promise to solve different aspects of networking problems. ICN is a clean-slate design for accommodating the ever increasing growth of the Internet traffic by regarding content as the network primitive, adopting in-network caching, and name-based routing, while SDN focuses on agile and flexible network management by decoupling network control logic from data forwarding. ICN and SDN have gained significant research attention separately in the most of the previous work. However, the features of ICN have profound impacts on the design and operation of SDN, such as in-network caching and data-centric security. Conversely, SDN provides a powerful tool for experimenting and deploying ICN architectures and can greatly facilitate ICN functionality and management. In this paper, we point out the necessity of surveying the scattered works on integrating SDN and ICN (SD-ICN) for improving operational networks. Specifically, we analyze the points of SD-ICN strengths and opportunities, and discuss the SDN enablers for deploying ICN architectures. In addition, we review and classify the recent work on improving the network management by SD-ICN and discuss the potential security benefits of SD-ICN. Finally, a number of open issues and future trends are highlighted.

A survey on future internet architecture

Internet has become as a social infrastructure.The current Internet architecture based on TCP/IP is faced with many challenges.This fact makes the clean-slate design of future Internet architecture be a hot research topic.This paper analyzes the essential problems that are inherent in the current Internet architecture,including scalability,mobility,security and controllability,and comprehensively introduces the existing research works on the future Internet architecture such as the scalability-oriented architecture,the mobility-oriented architecture etc.Considering experiment-based validation is an important means for the research of future Internet,this paper further presents the development of programmable virtual routers and the corresponding testbeds.Finally,open issues on the future Internet architecture design are discussed.

A verified information-flow architecture

SAFE is a clean-slate design for a highly secure computer system, with pervasive mechanisms for tracking and limiting information flows. At the lowest level, the SAFE hardware supports fine-grained programmable tags, with efficient and flexible propagation and combination of tags as instructions are executed. The operating system virtualizes these generic facilities to present an information-flow abstract machine that allows user programs to label sensitive data with rich confidentiality policies. We present a formal, machine-checked model of the key hardware and software mechanisms used to dynamically control information flow in SAFE and an end-to-end proof of noninterference for this model. We use a refinement proof methodology to propagate the noninterference property of the abstract machine down to the concrete machine level. We use an intermediate layer in the refinement chain that factors out the details of the information-flow control policy and devise a code generator for compiling such information-flow policies into low-level monitor code. Finally, we verify the correctness of this generator using a dedicated Hoare logic that abstracts from low-level machine instructions into a reusable set of verified structured code generators.

Dynamic provisioning and allocation in Cloud Radio Access Networks (C-RANs)

The Radio Access Network (RAN) is the most important part of a cellular wireless network. However, current cellular architectures have several disadvantages: they are not compatible with today’s users’ data-rate requests and do not leverage recent wireless enhancement techniques to achieve those data rates. Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) is a new paradigm for broadband wireless access that provides a higher degree of cooperation and communication among Base Stations (BSs), in which all the BS computational resources are pooled in a central location, e.g., a set of physical servers in a datacenter. C-RAN represents a clean-slate design and allows for dynamic reconfiguration of computing and spectrum resources.In this article, first explanations are provided on how this transformative paradigm can help overcome current cellular network limitations; then, its potential advantages to enable and support cooperative techniques like macro-diversity and collaborative spatial multiplexing are discussed. In addition, innovative C-RAN-based techniques to decrease the bandwidth-limiting Inter-Cell Interference (ICI) problem are proposed. Last, but not least, novel provisioning and allocation methods of Virtual Base Stations (VBSs) in the Base Band Unit (BBU) are proposed, and their pros and cons thoroughly discussed.

A Novel Routing Scheme for ICN

Internet has become as a social infrastructure. The current Internet architecture based on TCP/IP is faced with many challenges. This fact makes the clean slate design of future Internet architecture represented by ICN (Information-Centric Networking) be a hot research topic. In this paper, a novel routing scheme for ICN (Information-Centric Networking) is proposed. On the basis of name-based routing, a process was designed to look for other available interface through which the backtracking-condition-met interest packet will be forwarded, which can reduce the network blocking rate. Moreover, FIB (Forwarding Information Base) of neighbor nodes will be modified when data packets go through a router, which can realize the efficient use of cache. Also, a concept of "popularity" is introduced to improve CS (Content Store) hit rate. The proposed routing scheme is implemented on NSFNET by simulation, and the experimental results have shown that it is feasible and effective.

A verified information-flow architecture

SAFE is a clean-slate design for a highly secure computer system, with pervasive mechanisms for tracking and limiting information flows. At the lowest level, the SAFE hardware supports fine-grained programmable tags, with efficient and flexible propagation and combination of tags as instructions are executed. The operating system virtualizes these generic facilities to present an information-flow abstract machine that allows user programs to label sensitive data with rich confidentiality policies. We present a formal, machine-checked model of the key hardware and software mechanisms used to control information flow in SAFE and an end-to-end proof of noninterference for this model.

Future Internet Trends Research

With the development of Internet scale, diversifications of applications and the network virtualization, novel applications emerge, such as search services, stream, social networks, cloud services, e-commerce, big data services and so on. Current Internet cannot afford the diversifying services any more. The network architecture should be improved or a clean slate architecture design is desired. Novel designs of future Internet become a hot topic. IPv6 is the improvement version of IPv4, which solves the address issue of the current Internet, but issues of routing scalability, security, mobility and Quality of Service are still remain. There are two ways to future Internet, improving ones and clean slate designs. The former is based on the current Internet and the latter is novel design without the limitation of the current network architecture. In this paper, we introduce related work of future Internet and summarize the locator/ID separation mechanism, SDN, OpenFlow, NDN and so on. At final, we conclude the paper.

A Research Framework for the Clean-Slate Design of Next-Generation Optical Access

A comprehensive research framework for a comparative analysis of candidate network architectures and protocols in the clean-slate design of next-generation optical access is proposed. The proposed research framework consists of a comparative analysis framework based on multivariate non-inferiority testing and a notion of equivalent circuit rate taking into account user-perceived performances and a virtual test bed providing a complete experimental platform for the comparative analysis. The capability of the research framework is demonstrated through numerical results from the study of the elasticity of hybrid time division multiplexing/wavelength division multiplexing–passive optical network based on tunable transceivers.

A Survey on Future Internet Architecture

Internet has become as a social infrastructure.The current Internet architecture based on TCP/IP is faced with many challenges.This fact makes the clean-slate design of future Internet architecture be a hot research topic.This paper analyzes the essential problems that are inherent in the current Internet architecture,including scalability,mobility,security and controllability,and comprehensively introduces the existing research works on the future Internet architecture such as the scalability-oriented architecture,the mobility-oriented architecture etc.Considering experiment-based validation is an important means for the research of future Internet,this paper further presents the development of programmable virtual routers and the corresponding testbeds.Finally,open issues on the future Internet architecture design are discussed.

IDRA: A flexible system architecture for next generation wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks consist of embedded devices (sensor nodes), equipped with a low-power radio. They are used for many applications: from wireless building automation to e-health applications. However, due to the limited capabilities of sensor nodes, designing network protocols for these constrained devices is currently very challenging. Therefore, this paper presents the IDRA platform: an information driven architecture designed to support next-generation applications on resource constrained networked objects. IDRA supports simple but useful optimizations at an architectural level. These include support for cross-protocol interactions, energy efficiency optimizations, QoS optimizations (packet priorities, dynamic protocol selection), mobility support and heterogeneous network support. The paper shows how the development of protocols is improved by using an architecture which delegates specific tasks to a central system, decreasing the memory requirements of associated network protocols. A thorough experimental performance analysis demonstrates that IDRA is much more scalable in terms of memory requirements, energy requirements and processing overhead than traditional system architectures. Finally, the paper discusses how the optimizations presented in this paper can be used for the clean-slate design of architectures for other wireless or wired network types.

SoftCast

The focus of this demonstration is the performance of streaming video over the mobile wireless channel. We compare two schemes: the standard approach to video which transmits H.264/AVC-encoded stream over 802.11-like PHY, and SoftCast -- a clean-slate design for wireless video where the source transmits one video stream that each receiver decodes to a video quality commensurate with its specific instantaneous channel quality.

A European approach to a clean slate design for the future internet

The paper discusses a research program for a clean slate design of a “Future Internet” undertaken by Bell Labs in cooperation with a consortium of major European operators, manufacturers, and academia. The research cooperation explores innovative solutions in architectural design, virtualization, and generic connectivity in order to create a future “network of information.” We describe high-level goals and identify technical requirements and the expected business opportunities of this initiative. A basic idea for a new networking concept—the “generic path”—is outlined as an example of how to realize this in the future.

Towards experimental evaluation of explicit congestion control

Innovative efforts to provide a clean-slate design of congestion control for future high-speed heterogeneous networks have recently led to the development of explicit congestion control. These methods rely on multi-byte router feedback and aim to contribute to the design of a more scalable Internet of tomorrow. However, experimental evaluation and deployment experience with these approaches is still limited to either low bandwidth networks or simple topologies. In addition, all existing implementations are exclusively applicable to either rate- or window-based protocols and are unable to study performance of different protocols on a common platform. This paper aims to fill this void by designing a unified Linux implementation framework for both rate- and window-based methods that does not incur any interference with the system's network stack or applications. Using this implementation, we implement and reveal several key properties of four recent explicit congestion control protocols XCP, JetMax, RCP, and PIQI-RCP using Emulab's gigabit testbed with a ariety of simple yet representative network topologies. Our experiments not only confirm the known behavior of these methods, but also demonstrate their previously undocumented properties (e.g., RCP's transient overshoot under abrupt traffic load changes and JetMax's low utilization in the presence mice flows).