IP Layer Research Articles

SecureZone: Secure and Efficient Multipath Routing for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) represent collaborative networks formed by mobile nodes without a centralized infrastructure, finding application across diverse domains including military and security-sensitive operations. However, securing the routing process within MANETs poses significant challenges due to the absence of a central authority and the dynamic nature of the network. Existing routing protocols suffer from limitations such as bandwidth consumption and route request delays. In response, this paper introduces the Secure and Energy-efficient Zone-based Multipath Routing Protocol (SEZMRPR) for MANETs. SEZMRPR integrates proactive and reactive approaches while incorporating digital signatures and encryption techniques to ensure message integrity, data confidentiality, and end-to-end authentication at the IP layer. The paper provides a comprehensive design of SEZMRPR, assesses its resilience against security attacks, and evaluates its performance through simulations. Results demonstrate SEZMRPR's robustness against security threats, its efficient security performance with acceptable overhead, and its applicability in securing MANETs for military and security-sensitive operations. SEZMRPR, in conjunction with existing security measures, establishes a reliable framework for ensuring secure operations in ad hoc networks. Future enhancements may focus on optimizing performance, scalability, energy efficiency, and addressing quality of service requirements to further refine the protocol.

Enabling Extremely Energy-Efficient End-to-End Secure Communications for Smart Metering Internet of Things Applications Using Static Context Header Compression

Smart metering IoT applications are among the most energy-critical in the current panorama. Metering sensors are battery-powered and are expected to have a lifetime exceeding ten years. In order to achieve such long operation duration, a generic header compression mechanism named Static Context Header Compression (SCHC) has been introduced and accepted as a standard by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). This paper aims to demonstrate the energy savings enabled by the use of SCHC on a cellular IoT network by the means of real-life implementation and measurements. Experiments are conducted in a controlled environment for different scenarios and considering multiple parameters such as message size and radio conditions. Measurements show the high impact of this header compression mechanism, particularly when the radio conditions are bad and repetitions are used to improve the reliability of the transmission: a reduction of up to 40% in energy consumption is observed. Using SCHC over the non-IP transport mode (NIDD) of NB-IoT compared to the legacy IP mode also enables significant energy savings and allows the latency to be reduced while maintaining the interoperability provided by the IP layer.

Survivability with Adaptive Routing and Reactive Defragmentation in IP-over-EON after A Router Outage

The occurrence of a router outage in the IP layer can lead to network survivability issues in IP-over-elastic-optical networks with consequent effects on the existing connections used in transiting the router. This usually leads to the application of a path to recover any affected traffic by utilizing the spare capacity of the unaffected lightpath on each link. However, the spare capacity in some links is sometimes insufficient and thus needs to be spectrally expanded. A new lightpath is also sometimes required when it is impossible to implement the first process. It is important to note that both processes normally lead to a large number of lightpath reconfigurations when applied to different unaffected lightpaths. Therefore, this study proposes an adaptive routing strategy to generate the best path with the ability to optimize the use of unaffected lightpaths to perform reconfiguration and minimize the addition of free spectrum during the expansion process. The reactive defragmentation strategy is also applied when it is impossible to apply spectrum expansion because of the obstruction of the neighboring spectrum. This proposed strategy is called lightpath reconfiguration and spectrum expansion with reactive defragmentation (LRSE+RD), and its performance was compared to the first Shortest Path (1SP) as the benchmark without a reactive defragmentation strategy. The simulation conducted for the two topologies with two traffic conditions showed that LRSE+RD succeeded in reducing the lightpath reconfigurations, new lightpath number, and additional power consumption, including the additional operational expense compared to 1SP.

Packet Inspection to Identify Network Layer Attacks Using Machine Learning

Abstract: With the advent of technology, computer networks have become an integral part of our lives. However, with the increase in the use of computer networks, network attacks have also increased. Network attacks can cause serious harm to network infrastructure, resulting in loss of data, financial loss, and reputation damage. In this paper, we propose a machine learning algorithm to analyze network packets to detect malicious activities that are aimed at disrupting the normal functioning of a network. Network layer attacks typically target the underlying infrastructure of a network, which includes the IP layer, transport layer, and network access layer. These attacks can cause various problems such as denial of service, data theft, and network downtime. To detect network layer attacks, the proposed approach involves extracting features from network packets. Features refer to the attributes or characteristics of a packet, such as the source and destination IP addresses, protocol type, payload size, etc. These features are then used to train a machine learning model to identify various network layer attacks such as DDoS, ARP spoofing, and ICMP attacks. The machine learning model uses these features to learn the patterns and behaviours of these attacks and uses this knowledge to detect them in real-time. The proposed approach is evaluated using various metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. The evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed approach is effective in detecting network layer attacks and outperforms existing approaches. The proposed approach can be used to enhance network security and prevent network attacks.

Discourse markers in L1 and L2 Italian: A cartographic analysis of the sentence-internal position

This article compares the use of discourse markers (DMs) in Italian as a second language (L2) produced by Belgian-Dutch learners, with the DMs produced by Italian native (L1) speakers. The quantitative analysis of the data shows that L1 speakers produce more DMs than L2 speakers, whereas the comparison between the levels of proficiency in L2 reveals an effect of the type of task on the frequency of DMs. From the qualitative analysis, interesting discrepancies emerge between the L1 and the L2 use of DMs, especially those uttered in sentence-internal position. We offer an analysis within the cartographic approach and we demonstrate that the sentence-internal DMs with an epistemic value realize specific syntactic positions dedicated to the expression of modality within the IP layer. We also show that the L2 learners, despite projecting the correct syntactic structure, realize it with pragmatically infelicitous forms as a result of linguistic interference with their L1. Our study brings original evidence on the syntactic status of DMs: given their multifunctionality, more syntactic options are available depending on the markers’ discursive and pragmatic import. Furthermore, sentence-internal DMs reveal intriguing properties of the L2 acquisition at the syntax and discourse–pragmatics interface.

On the Evaluation of Complex Networks Designs for an Energy-Efficient IP/WDM Core Network

As the Internet grows in capacity, the energy consumption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are significantly increasing. Significant research efforts on energy conservation have been devoted to devise different technological solutions to address raised concerns surrounding the power consumption of networking equipment and its impact firstly on the emission of greenhouse gases and secondly on electricity bills. In this work, we investigate energy-efficient physical topologies for NSF IP over wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) network for the purpose of minimizing energy consumption by redesigning its current physical connectivity. We implement different network topologies, such as implementing the small-world, scale-free (SFN), and random networks on the NSF network, then evaluate and compare its physical properties and network power consumption with the current NSF topology design using a mixed-integer linear programming model, all with the aim of minimizing the network total power consumption. The evaluation shall optimize and minimize the embodied energy consumption of network equipment in the IP and optical layers. Results have demonstrated that the implementation of the proposed energy-minimized topology designs can significantly improve the node’s clustering coefficient, reduce network’s diameter, and reduce energy consumption of the NSF IP over WDM network to 28% if compared with the current design implementation.

Multilayer Measurement Methodology with Open-Source Tools for Evaluating IEEE 802.11ad Communication Quality

IEEE 802.11ad is the practical networking technology widely used as a 60 GHz millimeter-wave communication method ahead of Beyond 5G and 6G networks. However, compared with the existing Wi-Fi systems that use 2.4/5 GHz, it is difficult to manage the communication quality due to the high carrier frequency, e.g., the signal strength suddenly and significantly degrades due to various factors such as distance and obstacles. For IEEE 802.11ad to be widely adopted, a simple and inexpensive measurement method is needed for non-specialists, including end users, to build and manage a stable IEEE 802.11ad network. In addition, easy-to-understand performance indicators are required. This paper then proposes a multilayer measurement methodology with open-source tools, i.e., iperf3, ping, and iw, for IEEE 802.11ad communication. Our methodology selects indicators necessary to evaluate IEEE 802.11ad communication performance. The tools iperf3 and ping mainly evaluate the IP layer indicators such as throughput, jitter, packet retries, packet loss, and RTT. On the other hand, the RSSI and Tx bitrates of the iw results are used to investigate the wireless link quality. Through empirical results with our measurement methodology in real environments, we show that in addition to traditional indicators such as through-put, the Tx bitrate output by iw can be a new indicator for understanding the IEEE 802.11ad communication quality.

A smart packet type identification scheme for selective discard of video packets

In recent years, due to the growth of social networks and development of video sharing platforms, transmission of video content has increased dramatically. This huge amount of data imposes a heavy load on the limited bandwidth of the networks. As a result, data loss will be inevitable. Nevertheless, since some types of video frames, such as B-frames are more resilient to packet loss, discarding them can ease network congestion while maintaining QoE. However, frame-type information is only available in the packet payload. Limited processing power of devices in high-speed networks, data encryption and user credibility issues, make finding the frame types a costly operation. Therefore, an intelligent router with fast and reliable decision-making is proposed to model live video streams structures and recognize the importance of video packets at the network level. This information enables the network routers to discard insignificant video packets ahead of congestion. The proposed method does not need to read the IP layer payload and uses only the packet header data for decision making. Experimental results show an intelligent router, at the worst scenario can classify packet type with better than 95.1% accuracy, as if packet types are marked at the source without any bias. Tests on various HD video, with 1–10% packet drop rates, shows while the proposed packet discarding scheme is 0.8–2.7 dB inferior to ground truth method, it is still 6–10 dB better than dropping packets at random.

Why and how edge cloud computing can address performance and economic sustainability issues for telco domestic networks

This paper analyzes some of the telecommunication companies' (telcos) domestic networks' main objectives and issues related to the application services Quality of Experience (QoE), i.e., "technical QoE," and the economic sustainability of the Very High Capacity (VHC) networks. Telco domestic networks and Over The Top (OTT) networks are the Internet segments connecting the end-user equipment to the servers/clouds that provide application services. With the advent of VHC networks, telcos afford difficulties in managing effectively and efficiently the application services and their business sustainability. This paper affords some issues related to traditional telcos' domestic network architectures and the approach to managing the application services' performance improvement. Some telcos started changing their architectures, although a massive transformation had not yet started in the industry. Traditionally, telcos focus on network services, i.e., the transport of IP packets. Performance improvement is obtained by QoS-based traffic management techniques, such as bandwidth reservation and packet prioritization. To manage application performance improvement, the use of layer 4 techniques and Edge Cloud Computing (ECC) is effective, as demonstrated by the multiyear experience of OTTs which already use these technologies. In telco domestic networks, layer 2 tunnels increase the complexity of deploying ECC. However, some vendors provide non-standard solutions to make the IP layer 3 user plane visible and to deploy ECC. ECC is the key factor for the transformation. It is a mini/micro-data center that distributes some applications and content closer to the end users. The distribution can provide a paradigm shift in a telco's business. In the paper, we first highlight the need for regulators to appreciate the need to encourage this industry transformation fully.

The Techniques of Based Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Protocol to Secure Key Negotiation

The Internet is a massive network that connects millions of users from all over the world and the data transmitted via it needs great protection, especially since that are in the age of big data. To solve part of this problem, IPsec was utilized, which is a set of protocols necessary to offer security to units of the Internet in general and the IP layer in particular. It is mostly based on major exchange protocols. The most frequent mechanism for transferring key materials and establishing security linkages between two entities is Internet Key Exchange (IKE). In the present work, it is proposed to use a public key that works together with Diffie-Hellman cryptography and the main advantages of a single-stage contribution (as opposed to the two-stage in standard IKE) it is better in terms of improved transfer and time (more time for the corresponding negotiation) to make the proposed IKE more secure with Simple account constraints. Index Terms— IPsec; Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol; Security Association (SA).

MAToC: A Novel Match-Action Table Architecture on Corundum for 8 × 25G Networking

Packet processing offloads are increasingly needed by high-speed networks. This paper proposes a high throughput, low latency, scalable and reconfigurable Match-Action Table (MAT) architecture based on the open source FPGA-based NIC Corundum. The flexibility and capability of this scheme is demonstrated by an example implementation of IP layer forwarding offload. It makes the NIC work as a router that can forward packets for different subnet and virtual local area networks (VLAN). Experiments are performed on a Zynq MPSoC device with two QSFPs and the results show that it can work at line rate of 8 × 25 Gbps (200 Gbps), within a maximum latency of 76 nanoseconds. In addition, a high-performance MAT pipeline with full-featured, resource-efficient TCAM and a compact frame merging deparser are presented.

Entropy-Driven Adaptive INT and Its Applications in Network Automation of IP-Over-EONs

Recently, IP over elastic optical network (IP-over-EON) has become a promising architecture for metro and core networks. This work studies how to visualize both layers of an IP-over-EON in real time, at different granularities (<i>e.g.</i>, at flow-level, lightpath-level, and link-level), and with self-adaptivity. Specifically, we consider the multilayer application of in-band telemetry (INT) and propose entropy-driven adaptive INT (namely, EntropyINT). We introduce stateful processing to programmable data plane (PDP) switches for EntropyINT, such that they can make local decisions to determine whether and what type of telemetry data about the IP and EON layers should be encoded in each packet. The local decisions are designed to be based on the amount of information that can be conveyed by telemetry data to the network automation system. Meanwhile, we make EntropyINT cooperate with out-of-band monitoring, to detect and locate exceptions in the EON layer. Our proposal is implemented in a real-world testbed of IP-over-EON, to evaluate its assistance to network automation. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of our proposal, and indicate that the telemetry data collected by EntropyINT and out-of-band monitoring can better assist the machine learning in network automation, for status prediction and anomaly detection.

On the benefits of point-to-multipoint coherent optics for multilayer capacity planning in ring networks with varying traffic profiles

Point-to-multipoint (P2MP) coherent optics using digital subcarrier multiplexing have recently been proposed as a promising new technology to reduce the cost and complexity of optical transport networks, particularly those in metro aggregation scenarios with hub-and-spoke (H&amp;S) traffic patterns. In this paper, we perform a case study on fault tolerant ring networks with more general traffic profiles to assess the benefits of P2MP optics for alternative network scenarios such as those appearing in metro rings. We propose mixed integer linear programming formulations for multilayer capacity planning to minimize total transceiver costs, considering both point-to-point and P2MP transceivers, as well as a heuristic approach for the more complex P2MP case. Results indicate that P2MP optics can bring several advantages for all tested traffic profiles, ranging from pure uniform flows to mostly H&amp;S. Transceiver cost savings are achieved in various cases, greater at higher network loads and for traffic patterns that are mostly H&amp;S. Results also show that P2MP optics prompt a multilayer redesign of the network with significantly reduced spectrum usage and a reduced number of IP hops, resulting in lower optical–electronic–optical and IP processing latency and lower IP layer equipment costs for all traffic profiles.

All-optical aggregation and distribution of traffic in large metropolitan area networks using multi-Tb/s S-BVTs

Current metropolitan area network architectures are based on a number of hierarchical levels that aggregate traffic toward the core at the IP layer. In this setting, routers are interconnected by means of fixed transceivers operating on a point-to-point basis where the rates of transceivers need to match. This implies a great deal of intermediate transceivers to collect traffic and groom and send it to the core. This paper proposes an alternative scheme based on sliceable bandwidth/bitrate variable transceivers (S-BVTs) where the slice-ability property is exploited to perform the aggregation of traffic from multiple edges n -to-1 rather than 1-to-1. This approach can feature relevant cost reductions through IP offloading at intermediate transit nodes but requires viable optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) margins for all-optical transmission through the network. In this work, we prove through simulation the viability and applicability of this technique in large metro networks with a vertical-cavity-surface-emitting laser-based S-BVT design to target net capacities per channel of 25, 40, and 50 Gb/s. The study reveals that this technology can support most of the paths required for IP offloading after simulation in a semi-synthetic topology modeling a 20-million-inhabitant metropolitan area. Moreover, OSNR margins enable the use of protection paths (secondary disjoint paths) between the target node and the core much longer than primary paths in terms of both the number of intermediate hops and kilometers.

SCHC over LoRaWAN Efficiency: Evaluation and Experimental Performance of Packet Fragmentation.

Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) are expected to enable the massive connectivity of small and constrained devices to the Internet of Things. Due to the restricted nature of both end devices and network links, LPWAN technologies employ network stacks where there is no interoperable network layer as a general case; instead, application data are usually placed directly into technology-specific two-layer frames. Besides not being able to run standard IP-based protocols at the end device, the lack of an IP layer also causes LPWAN segments to operate in an isolated manner, requiring middleboxes to interface non-IP LPWAN technologies with the IP world. The IETF has standardized a compression and fragmentation scheme, called Static Context Header Compression and Fragmentation (SCHC), which can compress and fragment IPv6 and UDP headers for LPWAN in a way that enables IP-based communications on the constrained end device. This article presents a model to determine the channel occupation efficiency based on the transmission times of SCHC messages in the upstream channel of a LoRaWAN™ link using the ACK-on-Error mode of standard SCHC. The model is compared against experimental data obtained from the transmission of packets that are fragmented using a SCHC over LoRaWAN implementation. This modeling provides a relationship between the channel occupancy efficiency, the spreading factor of LoRa™, and the probability of an error of a SCHC message. The results show that the model correctly predicts the efficiency in channel occupation for all spreading factors. Furthermore, the SCHC ACK-on-Error mode implementation for the upstream channel has been made fully available for further use by the research community.

Employing FAMTAR and AHB to Achieve an Optical Resource-Efficient Multilayer IP-Over-EON SDN Network

With the global Internet traffic continuously growing, network operators face more and more challenges related to the management of their networks. Efficient utilization of the available network resources becomes crucial to maintain the desired Quality of Service level and control the upsurge in operational expenses. The combination of the Software-Defined Networking concept with the multi-layer network architecture can simplify the process of control and management of the network, its layers, and resources. In this paper, we propose a solution to enhance resource utilization in software-defined multi-layer optical networks. The proposed solution takes the advantages of the Software-Defined Networking, Flow-Aware Multi-Topology Adaptive Routing, and Automatic Hidden Bypasses mechanisms to ensure simultaneous, multi-path data transmissions in both IP and optical layers. The Software-Defined Networking controller manages both mentioned mechanisms, selects the best possible bypass, and allocates lightpaths to ensure that the optical spectral efficiency is optimal. The evaluation shows that the proposed solution for multi-layer software-defined network increases the overall network performance and resource utilization.

Circuits/cutsets duality and theoretical foundation of a structural approach to survivable logical topology mapping in IP-over-WDM optical networks

The survivable logical topology mapping (SLTM) problem in IP-over-WDM networks is to map each link in the logical topology (IP layer) onto a lightpath in the physical topology (optical layer) such that a failure of a physical link does not cause the logical topology to become disconnected. This problem is known to be NP-complete. For this SLTM problem, two lines of investigations have been reported in the literature: the mathematical programming approach [1] and the structural approach introduced by Kurant and Thiran in [2] and pursued by Thulasiraman et al. [3,4,5]. In this paper we present an integrated treatment of the theoretical foundation of the survivable topology mapping problem presented in [3,4,5]. We believe that the algorithmic strategy developed in this paper will serve as an important phase in any strategy in the emerging area of resilient slicing of elastic optical networks. We conclude with a comparative evaluation, based on simulations, of the different algorithmic strategies developed in the paper, and also pointing to applications beyond IP-over-WDM optical networks, in particular, survivable design of inter-dependent multi-layer cyber physical systems such as smart power grids.

Development of suberized barrier is critical for ion partitioning between senescent and non-senescent tissues in a succulent halophyte Sarcocornia quinqueflora

Senescence of plant tissues is a physiologically synchronized process that enables an evergreen or a perennial plant to retrieve, recycle and remobilize nutrients from elder to younger tissues or upcoming seeds. The succulent perennial halophyte S. quinqueflora utilizes this process to discard excess salt being accumulated in outer tissues of their leafy stems. The exact mechanism for salt shedding in this plant, however, remains elusive. In this work we show that the plant develops two distinct types of tissues - an endodermis-like layer (suberized layer, ED), and an additional internal photosynthetic layer (IP) - to enable this process. Their potential roles toward salt-coping strategy were investigated in this study. We show that elevated salinity leads to an accelerated development of the ED, and that its development strongly affected ion partitioning between outer (senescent) and inner (non-senescent) tissues. A positive correlation between the ratio of ED to a bead diameter and the outer to inner concentration of Na+ was observed. These ratios were highest in older (basipetally-located) beads and progressively decreased towards the tip. Furthermore, the Na+/ K+ ratio in inner tissues of bottom beads at highest salinity treatments (800 and 1000 mM NaCl) that showed clear senescence symptoms was ∼1.0, indicative of complete separation of the outer and inner tissues at late developmental stage due to the fully suberized ED multilayer. A dual-sources: dual-sinks model explaining the role of the IP layer in plant adaptation to salinity is presented.

Optical Protection Cost of Loop Free Alternates on Completely Connected IP Networks Over Optical Rings

We consider protection switching in an IP over optical network. There is IP Fast Reroute Loop-free Alternates (IP FRR LFA) at the IP layer, and protection switching at the optical layer. Our network model assumes a completely connected IP network over an optical ring network that is required to protect a predetermined fraction of network bandwidth. This model leads to analytical formulas on network protection costs which we show are accurate. We also show that network cost is at or near zero when the network is required to protect at most 33% of traffic. A cost comparison to networks using MPLS Fast Reroute (MPLS FRR) further indicates that LFA is a feasible protection mechanism.

Improved algorithm for enhance robustness of IPTV based on GEPON

Abstract Ten Gigabit-capable ethernet passive optical network (GEPON) can quickly improve network bandwidth, meet multilevel business needs, and quickly improve the comprehensive competitiveness of the network. It is well known that the 10G EPON access network technology is used to carry IPTV services, VoIP services and high-speed Internet access, known as “triple play”, and IPTV services have been particularly popular in recent years. As the demand for IPTV service increases exponentially, a large amount of data will be generated, occupying a large access bandwidth and causing an impact on other services. Therefore, reasonable scheduling of IPTV service queue is an urgent problem to be solved under multiservice environment at present. Therefore, the design of PON bearing IPTV robustness algorithm to meet user experience is the focus of this paper. This paper proposes a Forward Error Correction with Weight Round Robin algorithm (FWRR), which adopts RS error correction code and Weighted Round Robin algorithm based on IP layer. When IPTV packet is lost at optical line terminal (OLT) end, downlink optical network unit (ONU) can recover the lost data through received packets. This mechanism can effectively solve the problem of packet loss caused by the blocking of OLT end, and realize the scheme of PON carrying IPTV multicast service. Simulations results in OPNET show that compared with weighted round robin (WRR) algorithm and round robin (RR) algorithm, FWRR mechanism can reduce packet loss, delay and jitter, in addition, improve the robustness of IPTV service in GEPON.