Software Defined Research Articles

A Re-configurable Body Channel Transceiver towards Wearable and Flexible Biomedical Sensor Networks.

Body channel communication (BCC) has become a promising candidate in wireless body area networks (WBAN) due to its advantages in energy efficiency and security. However, BCC transceivers face two challenges: diverse application requirements and varying channel conditions. To overcome these challenges, this paper proposes a re-configurable architecture for BCC transceivers (TRXs), whose key parameters and communication protocols can be software-defined (SD) according to the requirements. In the proposed TRX, the programmable direct-sampling receiver (RX) is a combination of a programmable low-noise amplifier (LNA) and a fast-convergent successive approaching register analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC), to achieve simple but energy-efficient data reception. The programmable digital transmitter (TX) is essentially implemented by a 2-bit DAC array to transmit either wide-band carrier-free signals like 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-4) or non-return-to-zero (NRZ) or narrow-band carrier-based signals like on-off keying (OOK) or frequency shift keying (FSK). The proposed BCC TRX is fabricated in a 180-nm CMOS process. Through an in-vivo experiment, it achieves up to 10-Mbps data rate and 119.2 pJ/bit energy efficiency. Moreover, the TRX is able to communicate under long-distance (1.5 m) and body-shielding conditions by switching its protocols, which shows the potential to be deployed in all categories of WBAN applications.

Modeling of Burst Impulse Noise Errors in an In-House M-QAM-Based Power Line Communications Channel Using the Fritchman-Markov Model.

Within the power line communication (PLC) network, a large number of electronic devices are connected, and environmental factors can cause unusual behavior, leading to high-amplitude impulse noise in the received signal and, as a result, packet losses and burst errors in the data that are sent. Burst errors make it difficult to send data over power line channels efficiently and accurately. Analyzing error patterns with intelligent techniques can provide valuable insights into data transmission efficiency, enhance transmission quality, and optimize PLC systems. This research proposes a three-state Fritchman-Markov chain-based power line communication error model and develops a software-defined PLC system. The goal is to analyze and model the system's statistical error process. The PLC system's fundamental error pattern is deduced from the transmission and reception of data on our software-defined (SD) PLC platform. The system is designed with multi-state quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) data transmission and reception techniques. An error pattern consisting of 50,000 bits is obtained by comparing the bits transmitted with those received using the in-house M-QAM-based PLC transceiver system. The error characteristics of the newly developed M-QAM SD-PLC system are precisely modeled using the error model. Examining the burst error statistics of the reference error sequences of the SD-PLC system and the three-state Fritchman-Markov error model reveals striking similarities. According to the results, the error model accurately represents the error characteristics of the developed M-QAM SD-PLC system. The proposed three-state Fritchman-Markov chain-based error model for PLC has the potential to provide a comprehensive understanding of the error process in PLC. Additionally, it can assess error control strategies with less computational complexity and a shorter simulation time.

Examining the Performance of Software Defined Virtual Local Area Network

For more than three decades, the Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) has been one of the most popular systems virtualization groups of users on both local and corporate networks. Because of the advantages that VLAN provides, network managers and operators have continued to use it in the creation of their networks and have even extended its use to include cloud computing networking. Previous research studies have established a lot of issues associated with VLAN architecture. Typically, it was revealed that it is difficult to set up a complex VLAN, and even it is successful, it leads to computational time-consuming, and prone to error to process majority of complex VLAN. Considering this, the current research examines the performance of “Software Defined- VLAN”. This is because Software-Defined Network (SDN) is a viable alternative network architecture that allows the separation of information and control functions on devices. It appears to be a promising optimized option VLAN administration. The SDN-enabled VLAN testbed was set out and implemented using OpenFlow. SDN-Enabled VLAN and a conventional VLAN. The finding revealed that SDN-enabled VLAN offers higher network performance, lower packet transfer delay, and a more efficient configuration.

Flow rule‐based routing protocol management system in software‐defined IoT sensor network for IoT applications

SummaryIn this article, a software‐defined (SDN)‐based Internet of things (IoT) sensor network (S‐ISN) architecture is proposed to fulfill the IoT applications in real time. The proposed system's architecture contains three planes, namely, data plane, control plane, and application plane, to enrich SDN in IoT applications. An IoT application‐based SDN controller is designed exclusively with two management rules—IoT application device management and IoT application‐based topology management. IoT application device management engages in controlling the functions of physical devices that lie on the data plane—path formation of the sensor (proactive, reactive, and hybrid) and reporting scheme management (query, time, and event) of the IoT sensor node. Likewise, IoT application topology management facilitates controlling network topology‐related issues using network structure management (data, location, group, and hierarchical) and next‐hop selection management (broadcast, location, and probabilistic) of the IoT sensor network. The above said management policies are achieved in real time to meet the applications of IoT. Hence, this S‐ISN scheme focuses on IoT application‐related issues with great flexibility in real time. Experimental results show that the network metrics have been improved by the proposed approach as compared with existing methods.

“MystifY”: A proactive Moving-Target Defense for a resilient SDN controller in Software Defined CPS

The recent devastating mission Cyber–Physical System (CPS) attacks, failures, and the desperate need to scale and to dynamically adapt to changes, revolutionized traditional CPS to what we name as Software Defined CPS (SD-CPS). SD-CPS embraces the concept of Software Defined (SD) everything where CPS infrastructure is more elastic, dynamically adaptable and online-programmable. However, in SD-CPS, the threat became more immanent, as the long-been physically-protected assets are now programmatically accessible to cyber attackers. In SD-CPSs, a network failure hinders the entire functionality of the system. In this paper, we present MystifY, a spatiotemporal runtime diversification for Moving-Target Defense (MTD) to secure the SD-CPS infrastructure. In this paper, we relied on Smart Grid networks as crucial SD-CPS application to evaluate our presented solution. MystifY’s MTD relies on a set of pillars to ensure the SDN controller resiliency against failures and attacks. The 1st pillar is a grid-aware algorithm that optimally allocates the most suitable controller–deployment​ location in large-scale grids. The 2nd pillar is a special diversifier that dynamically relocates the controller between heterogeneously configured hosts to avoid host-based attacks. The 3rd pillar is a temporal diversifier that dynamically detours controller–workload between multiple controllers to enhance their reliability and to detect and avoid controller intrusions. Our experimental results showed the efficiency and effectiveness of the presented approach.

Results and Achievements of the ALLIANCE Project: New Network Solutions for 5G and Beyond

Leaving the current 4th generation of mobile communications behind, 5G will represent a disruptive paradigm shift integrating 5G Radio Access Networks (RANs), ultra-high-capacity access/metro/core optical networks, and intra-datacentre (DC) network and computational resources into a single converged 5G network infrastructure. The present paper overviews the main achievements obtained in the ALLIANCE project. This project ambitiously aims at architecting a converged 5G-enabled network infrastructure satisfying those needs to effectively realise the envisioned upcoming Digital Society. In particular, we present two networking solutions for 5G and beyond 5G (B5G), such as Software Defined Networking/Network Function Virtualisation (SDN/NFV) on top of an ultra-high-capacity spatially and spectrally flexible all-optical network infrastructure, and the clean-slate Recursive Inter-Network Architecture (RINA) over packet networks, including access, metro, core and DC segments. The common umbrella of all these solutions is the Knowledge-Defined Networking (KDN)-based orchestration layer which, by implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, enables an optimal end-to-end service provisioning. Finally, the cross-layer manager of the ALLIANCE architecture includes two novel elements, namely the monitoring element providing network and user data in real time to the KDN, and the blockchain-based trust element in charge of exchanging reliable and confident information with external domains.

Minimum energy transmission forest‐based geocast in software‐defined wireless sensor networks

AbstractWireless Sensor Networks (WSNs)‐based geographic addressing and routing have many potential applications. Geocast protocols should be made energy efficient to increase the lifetime of nodes and packet delivery ratio. This technique will increase the number of live nodes, reduce message costs, and enhance network throughput. All geocast protocols in the literature of WSN apply mostly restricted flooding and perimeter flooding, which is why still the redundancy they produce significantly high message transmission costs and unnecessarily eats up immense energy of the nodes. Moreover, perimeter flooding cannot succeed in the presence of holes. The present article models WSN with software‐defined (SD) constructs where the network area is divided into some zones. Energy‐efficient transmission tree(s) are constructed in the geocast area to organize the flow of data packets and their links. Therefore, redundancy in the transmission is eliminated while maintaining network throughput as good as regular flooding. Besides, this study introduces a fuzzy controllers named SELECT‐STARTER and GEOCAST‐PROPAGATOR for intellgent energy tansmission control‐making. The proposed technique significantly reduces energy cost and improves nodes' lifetime to function for higher time duration and produce a higher data packet delivery ratio. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first work on geocast in SD‐WSNs.

Experimentations on the Transmit Power of a Universal Software Radio Peripheral Using GNU Radio Framework and a Handheld RF Explorer

The Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) and GNU Radio framework have a wide range of applications and are actively in use for teaching, research and for practical deployment of various trending wireless technologies. In this work, we explore the relationships between the power outputs of a USRP B200 device and its operating frequencies and USRP Hardware Driver (UHD) gains. These relationships are not precisely specified on the device datasheet, thereby hindering prompt design and experimentation decisions among Software Defined and Cognitive Radio (SDCR) researchers. A general purpose handheld spectrum analyser was engaged for recording the power outputs from the USRP B200 device within an experimental testbed that was setup for this study. The B200 device was driven by a GNU radio flowgraph designed for both wired and wireless modes and running on a general purpose host computer in the testbed. The results indicate that the output power decreases while the centre frequency increases, whereas the output power increases as the UHD gain increases from 65 dB until the device reaches the saturation point at 89.9 dB. These results provide a handy toolkit for SDCR researchers and practitioners.

SDWAN (Software Defined-WAN) Network Engineering and Project Management

Many organizations are struggling to provide high bandwidth and reliableinternet connectivity at their branch offices and business locations andgetting the most out of their operational expense. The need for internet connectivity at any branch offices and business locations is not a luxury anymore but is a necessity. Let us try to understand how to plan and documentthe SDWAN (Software Defined- Wide Area Network) implementation in anorganization. We will try to understand why it is essential to implement thenew technology instead of investing in the existing MPLS (Multi-Protocollabel switching) by taking an example of a retail organization. Methods:This project/research was performed using the abilities of Software DefinedNetwork Technology and options available in MPLS (Multi-Protocol LabelSwitching). The Technical Project management principles were adopted asper PMI (Project Management Institute) waterfall methodology. Results/Conclusion: SDWAN technology provides an effective replacement ofMPLS network connection for providing WAN connectivity for our officelocations. It is essential to follow a documented process for appropriatevendor selection based on the available features and other listed attributesin the article. To be successful in the implementation it is essential to perform a POC (Proof of Concept) in a controlled environment and validateresults. SDWAN provides better network performance and improves reliability as the links operate in active-active function.

Software-Defined Vehicular Cloud Networks: Architecture, Applications and Virtual Machine Migration.

Cloud computing supports many unprecedented cloud-based vehicular applications. To improve connectivity and bandwidth through programmable networking architectures, Software- Defined (SD) Vehicular Network (SDVN) is introduced. SDVN architecture enables vehicles to be equipped with SDN OpenFlow switch on which the routing rules are updated from a SDN OpenFlow controller. From SDVN, new vehicular architectures are introduced, for instance SD Vehicular Cloud (SDVC). In SDVC, vehicles are SDN devices that host virtualization technology for enabling deployment of cloud-based vehicular applications. In addition, the migration of Virtual Machines (VM) over SDVC challenges the performance of cloud-based vehicular applications due the highly mobility of vehicles. However, the current literature that discusses VM migration in SDVC is very limited. In this paper, we first analyze the evolution of computation and networking technologies of SDVC with a focus on its architecture within the cloud-based vehicular environment. Then, we discuss the potential cloud-based vehicular applications assisted by the SDVC along with its ability to manage several VM migration scenarios. Lastly, we provide a detailed comparison of existing frameworks in SDVC that integrate the VM migration approach and different emulators or simulators network used to evaluate VM frameworks’ use cases.

Energy Consumption Averaging and Minimization for the Software Defined Wireless Sensor Networks With Edge Computing

The software-defined (SD) and edge computing (EC) are emerging technologies that have been used to improve the network operation efficiency of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Due to the advantages of the SD and EC technologies, the area of WSNs has achieved a new dimension and breakthrough. However, the limited energy allocation mechanism in edge-SD wireless sensor networks (ESDWSNs) makes the energy consumption of different nodes unbalanced. In this paper, we propose an energy allocation optimization (EAO) algorithm that solves the energy averaging and minimization (ECAM) problem in ESDWSNs by selecting appropriate relay nodes and de-duplicated data flows. Specifically, we first establish a novel three-layer network architecture based on the edge computing and software-defined technologies. Then we proposed the ECAM problem, which minimizes the energy consumption in ESDWSNs. Furthermore, we propose an adaptive Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm and derive the optimization value of energy cost function. The extensive simulation results based on the NS-2 simulator demonstrate the energy balance efficiency of the EAO algorithm in ESDWSNs.

The Software-Defined Vehicular Cloud: A New Level of Sharing the Road

A vehicular cloud (VC) is a type of mobile ad hoc cloud in which multiple vehicles share their resources and perform collaborative jobs. In this article, we propose a software-defined (SD) VC (SDVC) architecture to achieve flexible VC control and efficient resource utilization in a centralized manner.

Toward Terabit Autonomic Optical Networks Based on a Software Defined Adaptive/Cognitive Approach [Invited

Terabit elastic optical networking (EON) is foreseen as a viable solution to extend the lifetime of a network exploiting the available bandwidth in previously deployed optical fibers. EON is based on bandwidth-variable transponders capable of supporting multiple bit rates and/or modulation formats according to traffic requirements and node architectures that route arbitrary channel bandwidths. Thus, EON increases the heterogeneity of the network, which may create the need for autonomic adaptive and/or cognitive techniques. In this context, the software-defined networking (SDN) paradigm emerges as an opportunity to enable such techniques thanks to the centralized view of the network by decoupling the control plane and the data plane. This paper surveys different activities carried out at the Optical Technologies Division in Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Telecomunicações, Brazil. We review an optical transport SDN controller for virtual optical networks that supports two adaptive algorithms. First, the autonomic flexible transponder reconfigures the transmission modulation format according to a threshold level. Second, the adaptive global spectrum equalization reconfigures the wavelengths’ attenuation profiles applied at the optical nodes to improve the signals’ optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) at reception. Finally, we report experimental results of an in-band OSNR monitor for advanced modulation formats.

Standardization Progress in Software Defined Networking/OpenFlow

Standardization Progress in Software Defined Networking/OpenFlow

Sensor Network Based Oilwell Health Monitoring and Intelligent Control

Most oil pumping units (OPUs) have been using manual control in the oilfield. This existing oil-pumping system, a high power-consuming process, has the incapability of OPU's structural health monitoring. In this paper, a sensor network based intelligent control is proposed for power economy and efficient oilwell health monitoring. The proposed sensor network consists of three-level sensors: (1) several types of basic sensors, such as load sensor, angular sensor, voltage sensor, current sensor and oil pressure sensor, which are the first level sensors (FLS), are used for oilwell data sensing; (2) our developed intelligent sensors (IS), which belong to the second level sensor, are designed mainly for an oilwell's data elementary processing, main fault alarm/indication, typical data storage/indication, data/status transmission up to the third level sensor (TLS), data/status transmission between IS, and command transmission down to the OPU motor; and (3) our developed software-defined (SD) control centers with an embedded database, i.e., the TLS, are designed for hundreds of oilwells data storage/management, data processing, malfunction detection, malfunction alarm/indication, stroke-adjustment command transmission down to a specific IS for power economy and the malfunction report to the maintenance staff via global system for mobile communications (GSM) short message service (SMS). Experiment results at the Chinese Petroleum's Changqing Oilfield demonstrate our proposed sensor network based system.

A Distributed Wireless Sensor Network for Radio Scene Analysis

In this paper, a distributed approach to radio scene analysis is considered. A Wireless Sensor Network, composed by Software Defined and Cognitive terminals, is used to classify air interfaces present in the radio scene. Two modes, namely Frequency Hopping Code Division Multiple Access and Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access, are identified, employing a signal processing technique. Time Frequency analysis, and a distributed decision theory. Advantages given by distributed detection are used to improve the performance of a Mode Identification module. Results in terms of error probability are obtained by modelling the probability density function of considered features as Asymmetric Generalized and Generalized Gaussian functions.