Network Slicing for Internet of Heterogeneous Things
Heterogeneous network is an environment where different types of network technologies, services, and terminals co-‐exist. We can name some technologies like Cellular technologies, VANET, Wi-‐Fi, IoT, etc. In addition, various services within these networks also have different requirements in terms of mobility, cost, security, latency, reliability, energy, quality of service, or quality of experience. Generally, we can classify traffics into categories such as mobile broadband (communication, entertainment, internet), massive IoT (long-‐range coverage, retail, shipping, manufacturing), mission critical IoT (ultra low latency communication, automotive, medical), Internet of Multimedia Things (IoMT), VANET (autonomous driving &co.), etc. In order to manage this complex environment, virtualization is a promising solution. It is becoming a key technology thanks to its flexibility that can adapt to real-‐time demands. Various virtualization technologies contribute in different ways: Virtual Machine (VM) enables dynamic ways to manage physical servers; Software Defined Networking (SDN) provides the adaptability to manage network services while separating the control and data planes. Moreover, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) enables software-‐based and elastic network functions. The particular focus will be on network slicing, which is a form of virtual network architecture using the same principles as in software-‐defined networking (SDN). Network slicing allows multiple virtual networks to be created on top of a common shared physical infrastructure. The virtual networks are then customized to meet the specific needs of applications, services, devices, customers or operators.
In this internship, we will concentrate on the context of Internet of Heterogeneous Things (IoHT) using this network slicing for managing services. This architecture decouples the software that controls and routes traffic on a network from the physical infrastructure that provides computing and storage resources. In this way, it can greatly reduce the time needed to deploy a service. As mentioned earlier, virtualization will give operators the ability to instantly create a new service in case of a hardware failure, minimizing any potential disruption in quality of service. This makes use of automatic resource allocation to create an elastic IoT capable of adjusting capacity to both planned and unexpected changes in demand, for example during a popular sporting event or due to a viral video. After the peak, computing resource can be released for other applications. Hence, one of the targets is to study management issues of video service (IoMT) since it is the most bandwidth consuming, by considering improvement of Quality of Experience (QoE) as ultimate objective. Different QoS-‐based management solutions have been proposed for this context but as of our knowledge very few solutions are proposed based on QoE. Besides QoE, there are other parameters to consider such as user bandwidths, resources, costs, etc. Network providers need to adaptively manage these complex demands and adapt infrastructures in a seamless fashion for varying applications and user constraints.
The objectives of this internship are multiple. First, the student will have to investigate on different techniques deployed for managing heterogeneous network, especially existing works on network slicing. The student will provide a state of the art on existing network slicing techniques in the literature. Then the final goal is to propose a novel mechanism to handle IoHT using this concept. He/she will propose a new technique including and considering the various requirements of today and future services. Finally, he/she will implement the proposed mechanism in a network simulator (ns3, QualNet, Mininet, etc.) in order to validate the proposition in realistic scenario.
The student will have to work on variety of recent technologies and architectures in order to contribute to the IoHT; therefore, we need a student who is highly motivated and with good backgrounds on both networking and programming. Maths skills will be a plus. Please note that the student may be proposed to pursue a PhD study (depending on funding).
Keywords: Virtualization, Network Slicing, Quality of Experience, Internet of Things, Heterogeneous Environment.
Reference:
[1] Sezer, S.; Scott-‐Hayward, S.; Chouhan, P.K.; Fraser, B.; Lake, D.; Finnegan, J.; Viljoen, N.; Miller, M.; Rao, N., "Are we ready for SDN? Implementation challenges for software-‐defined networks," IEEE Communications Magazine, vol.51, no.7, pp.36-‐43, July 2013
[2] "Network Functions Virtualisation— Introductory White Paper". ETSI. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
[3] ITU-‐T SG12, “Definition of Quality of Experience”, COM12 – LS 62 – E, TD 109rev2 (PLEN/12), Geneva, Switzerland, Jan. 2007.
[4] X. Foukas, G. Patounas, A. Elmokashfi and M. K. Marina, "Network Slicing in 5G:
Survey and Challenges," in IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 55, no. 5, pp. 94-‐100, May 2017.
[5] M. Richart, J. Baliosian, J. Serrat and J. L. Gorricho, "Resource Slicing in Virtual Wireless Networks: A Survey," in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 462-‐476, Sept. 2016.
Supervisor: Kandaraj PIAMRAT and Salima HAMMA Place: LS2N/RIO, University of Nantes
Stipend: ~550 euros/month Duration: 5-‐6 months
Contact: kandaraj.piamrat@univ-‐nantes.fr, salima.hamma@univ-‐nantes.fr with CV, transcript, and motivation letter.
