Daniel Corujo

Information-centric networking for the internet of things: challenges and opportunities

In view of evolving the Internet infrastructure, ICN is promoting a communication model that is fundamentally different from the traditional IP address-centric model. The ICN approach consists of the retrieval of content by (unique) names, regardless of origin server location (i.e., IP address), application, and distribution channel, thus enabling in-network caching/replication and content-based security. The expected benefits in terms of improved data dissemination efficiency and robustness in challenging communication scenarios indicate the high potential of ICN as an innovative networking paradigm in the IoT domain. IoT is a challenging environment, mainly due to the high number of heterogeneous and potentially constrained networked devices, and unique and heavy traffic patterns. The application of ICN principles in such a context opens new opportunities, while requiring careful design choices. This article critically discusses potential ways toward this goal by surveying the current literature after presenting several possible motivations for the introduction of ICN in the context of IoT. Major challenges and opportunities are also highlighted, serving as guidelines for progress beyond the state of the art in this timely and increasingly relevant topic.

Using an open-source IEEE 802.21 implementation for network-based localized mobility management

Taking advantage of the multimode ability of modern mobile terminals, cellular operators are investing in alternate access networks (e.g., IEEE802.11 and IEEE802.16) to complement the increasingly overloaded cellular accesses. Complementing this, IP mobility support is gradually being introduced into network architectures, providing session continuity. To facilitate and optimize handover procedures between different access technologies in a seamless way, the IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover Services standard provides technology agnostic mechanisms to obtain information and control link layers. Implementations of the standard are appearing, but since support of IEEE 802.21 primitives directly at the link driver level is not yet realized, they have to revert to proprietary wrapping mechanisms or use specific operating system solutions to circumvent this issue. In this article we present ODTONE, an IEEE 802.21 implementation that is operating-system-independent and open source, and offers a novel approach to interfacing with different link layers that facilitates the deployment of IEEE 802.21 mobility mechanisms in multiple scenarios. We present a scenario where we integrate our middleware with an IP mobility management protocol, Proxy MIP IPv6, highlighting ODTONE¿s supporting features and impact while providing an open handover control architecture for network- based localized mobility management.

Empowering software defined wireless Networks through Media Independent Handover management

Internet access and service utilization has been exploding in mobile devices, through the leverage of WLAN, 3G and now LTE connections. It is this explosion as well that is stressing the underlying fabric of the Internet, and motivating new solutions, such as Software Defined Networking (SDN), to build the controlling support and extension capabilities of the Future Internet. However, SDN has yet to reach the necessary traction to be deployed, and has been more relayed towards experimentation supporting frameworks and away from wireless environments. This paper explores SDN mechanisms and increments them with Media Independent Handover services from the IEEE 802.21 standard, coupling them in a single framework for the dynamic optimized support of OpenFlow path establishment and wireless connectivity establishment. The framework was implemented over open-source software in a physical testbed, with results showing the benefits that this solution brings in terms of performance and signaling overhead, when compared with more basic approaches.

Impact of Heterogeneous Network Controlled Handovers on Multi-Mode Mobile Device Design

The availability of multiple technologies, with micro and macro wireless cells, for network access combined with terminals capable of exploiting such diversity in wireless access requires the development of new mechanisms for optimized handover procedures. Appealing solutions should support network controlled handovers through heterogeneous technologies, preferably combined with a cross-layers two/three design. The IEEE 802.21 working group is currently standardizing the methods and the protocol potentially able to provide such a solution. In this paper we analyze the impact of signaling timing on network controlled handovers execution and performance in this environment. Through an extensive simulation study, we obtain results, that can be exploited in both terminal and handover procedure designs.

Toward IP converged heterogeneous mobility: A network controlled approach

Envisioning a future where mobile terminals equipped with one or more network devices are able to roam across wireless or wired networks, in a diverse macro and micro wireless cells environment, requires the development of enhanced methods to control IP-based mobility. These methods should consider traditional terminal mobility (mainly due to user movement) as well as mobility across heterogeneous networks in the presence of semi-static users. For this to become reality, a cross layer interaction is required starting from a potentially large diversity of layer two access technologies up to the common IP layer, allowing the exchange of messages between terminals and network components. Furthermore, traditional host mobility driven concepts need to evolve, and include more stringent mobile operator requirements in context of fully driven network controlled mobility. This paper presents and evaluates a novel framework design, based on the IEEE 802.21 future standard, encompassing network driven as well as host driven mobility. This paper evaluates signalling aspects, algorithm design and performance issues.

Hierarchical Neighbor Discovery Scheme for Handover Optimization

In the future mobile Internet, one of the most challenging aspects is to discover the available neighbor access networks and its characteristics as the user moves. Using the IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover (MIH) standard, this letter proposes a new neighbor network discovery mechanism, considering a hierarchical view of the network information. Through a NS-2 based simulation, it is shown that the proposed model can significantly improve the mobility user experience.

Mobility with QoS Support for Multi-Interface Terminals: Combined User and Network Approach

In the future, mobile terminals will be equipped with several interfaces to different technologies -such as UMTS, IEEE 802.11, DVB and WiMAX -and will be able to connect simultaneously to the most appropriate access networks. This paper presents a mobility and QoS architecture aiming at supporting intelligent handovers. We introduce the concept of Network-Assisted Mobile terminal Initiated HandOver (NAMIHO), where the handover decision is negotiated between the network and the user, taking into account inputs and decision algorithms running both on the terminal and network. We also present an instantiation of the architecture using IEEE 802.21 and concepts of local/global mobility. We further propose extensions to IEEE 802.21 standard.

The business of things architecture

A revolution is happening that is triggered by a brave new world made by interconnected devices. The internet of things is already a reality that is creating new business opportunities across different industrial sectors. Communication service providers have a major opportunity to shape this reality by leading this transformation. For that, they need to evolve their existing architectures to enable a flexible creation of advanced services over distributed networks, interconnecting heterogeneous sensors and actuators. This paper presents an approach for telecoms to take advantage of the upcoming machine-to-machine markets and defines an advanced architecture able to withstand the demands of a new plethora of evermore clever and useful services. Copyright

A secure IoT management architecture based on Information-Centric Networking

This paper explores the use of Information-Centric Networking (ICN) to support management operations in IoT deployments, presenting the design of a flexible architecture that allows the appropriate operation of IoT devices within a delimited ICN network domain. Our architecture has been designed with special consideration to naming, interoperation, security and energy-efficiency requirements. We theoretically assess the communication overhead introduced by the security procedures of our solution, both at IoT devices and clients. Additionally, we show the potential of our architecture to accommodate enhanced management applications, focusing on a specific use case, i.e. an information freshness service level agreement application. Finally, we present a proof-of-concept implementation of our architecture over an Arduino board, and we use it to carry out a set of experiments that validate the feasibility of our solution.

Enhancing openflow with Media Independent Management capabilities

The evergrowing availability of access technologies, on-line services and connected devices has been motivating the development of novel networking solutions, fostering new deployments of cloud computing, Network Function Virtualization and even mobile accesses. One of the core aspects supporting these innovative solutions is the Software Defined Networking (SDN) concept, which brings added configuration and management capabilities to the network fabric, aiding the support and introduction of new technologies and protocols. However, the base operations of SDN do not consider link conditions when employing their controlling mechanisms and mostly target fixed core links. These link conditions are important to optimizations involving wireless access links, which are paramount in todays plethora of wireless and mobile accesses. This paper enhances SDN mechanisms with Media Independent Management capabilities, deployable in both wired and wireless environments, optimizing link connectivity establishment and offering new perspectives to network developers for building new capabilities in the networks. The resulting framework was implemented over open-source software in a physical testbed, with results showing the benefits that this solution brings in terms of path optimization, featuring different monitoring schemes and allowing energy efficient scenarios.