Elio Salvadori

Design and implementation of the OFELIA FP7 facility: The European OpenFlow testbed

The growth of the Internet in terms of number of devices, the number of networks associated to each device and the mobility of devices and users makes the operation and management of the Internet network infrastructure a very complex challenge. In order to address this challenge, innovative solutions and ideas must be tested and evaluated in real network environments and not only based on simulations or laboratory setups. OFELIA is an European FP7 project and its main objective is to address the aforementioned challenge by building and operating a multi-layer, multi-technology and geographically distributed Future Internet testbed facility, where the network itself is precisely controlled and programmed by the experimenter using the emerging OpenFlow technology. This paper reports on the work done during the first half of the project, the lessons learned as well as the key advantages of the OFELIA facility for developing and testing new networking ideas. An overview on the challenges that have been faced on the design and implementation of the testbed facility is described, including the OFELIA Control Framework testbed management software. In addition, early operational experience of the facility since it was opened to the general public, providing five different testbeds or islands, is described.

VeRTIGO: Network Virtualization and Beyond

In this paper we present Vertigo (Virtual Topologies Generalization in OpenFlow networks), a Software-defined networking platform designed for network virtualization. Based on the OpenFlow original network slicing system Flow Visor, the Vertigo platform aims at covering all flavors of network virtualization: in particular, it is able to expose a simple abstract node on one extreme, and to deliver a logically fully connected network at the very opposite end. In this work, we first introduce the Vertigo system architecture and its design choices, then we report on a prototypical implementation deployed over an OpenFlow-enabled test bed. Experimental results show that Vertigo can deliver flexible and reliable network virtualization services to a wide range of use cases in spite of failure and/or congestion at the underlying physical network.

Generalizing Virtual Network Topologies in OpenFlow-Based Networks

Network Virtualization (NV) is one of the most promising technique to enable innovation in todays network. A recent approach toward NV has been proposed through FlowVisor, whose aim is to leverage on the specific features of an OpenFlow-controlled network to share the same hardware forwarding plane among multiple logical networks. However, FlowVisor lacks some features to enable a full implementation of a NV architecture: the virtual topologies that can be established are restricted to subsets of the physical topology and it has no way for two slices to share flowspace and simultaneously prevent them from interfering with each others traffic. In this work, an innovative system called ADVisor (ADvanced FlowVisor) which enhances FlowVisor while overcoming its major constraints is presented and a set of experimental results discussed to demonstrate its capability to provide an effective support toward a Network Virtualization architecture.

A dynamic impairment-aware networking solution for transparent mesh optical networks

Core networks of the future will have a translucent and eventually transparent optical structure. Ultra-high-speed end-to-end connectivity with high quality of service and high reliability will be realized through the exploitation of optimized protocols and lightpath routing algorithms. These algorithms will complement a flexible control and management plane integrated in the proposed solution. Physical layer impairments and optical performance are monitored and incorporated in impairment-aware lightpath routing algorithms. These algorithms will be integrated into a novel dynamic network planning tool that will consider dynamic traffic characteristics, a reconfigurable optical layer, and varying physical impairment and component characteristics. The network planning tool along with extended control planes will make it possible to realize the vision of optical transparency. This article presents a novel framework that addresses dynamic cross-layer network planning and optimization while considering the development of a future transport network infrastructure.

Distributed Optical Control Plane Architectures for Handling Transmission Impairments in Transparent Optical Networks

Transmission impairments in wavelength-division- multiplexing (WDM) transparent optical networks accumulate along an optical path and determine the feasibility of lightpaths; hence, the impairments need to be managed efficiently by the control plane. This paper presents impairment-aware distributed optical control plane (OCP) based on enhancements to resource reservation protocol-traffic engineering (RSVP-TE) signaling protocol (S-OCP). In particular, four architectural options [K-sequential (K-SEQ), K-parallel (K-PAR), hop-by-hop (HbH), and full flooding (FF)] within the S-OCP approach are defined and compared. Simulation results show that a combination of HbH routing and feasibility check can be considered as a good compromise both in terms of blocking probability and control plane overhead. The feasibility of a signaling-based approach for the control plane is further demonstrated by comparing simulation results with the results obtained from the implementation of the proposed architectural options in a commercial generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) protocol emulator. Furthermore, we argue that the real networks will rarely be homogeneous concerning transponder types, creating the need for a transponder selection policy at the end nodes. We introduce and compare two policies: best-first and worst-first. The results obtained from our experiments show that a worst-first policy for selecting transponders can save up to 50% enhanced transponders thereby reducing the overall cost.

Path Loss Measurements at 3.5 GHz: A Trial Test WiMAX Based in Rural Environment

This paper addresses the dimensioning of the emerging wireless broadband networks operating in 3.5 GHz band by focusing on the key problem of propagation loss. The characteristics of the path loss in the 3.5 GHz band measured in a rural macro-cellular environment are presented. The existing empirical prediction models are compared with the measured data and a comparative analysis is carried out. The measurements are performed within the experimental activities developed on a WiMAX based platform located in an Italian rural area.

Comparison of Spectral and Spatial Super-Channel Allocation Schemes for SDM Networks

We evaluate the advantages of using the extra dimension introduced by space-division multiplexing (SDM) for dynamic bandwidth-allocation purposes in a flexible optical network. In that respect, we aim to compare spectral and spatial super-channel (Sp-Ch) allocation policies in an SDM network based on bundles of SMFs (to eliminate coupling between spatial dimensions from the study) and to investigate the role of modulation format selection in the blocking probability performance with an emphasis on the spectral efficiency (SE)/reach tradeoff for different multiline-rate scenarios, created either by changing the number of sub-channels (Sb-Ch), or by employing different modulation formats. Our network-performance results show that DP-8QAM -in a multichannel (MC) single-modulation-format system assuming ITU-T 50-GHz WDM Sb-Ch spectrum occupation-offers the best compromise between SE and optical reach for both spectral and spatial Sp-Ch allocation policies. They also reveal that an MC multimodulation-format system improves the network performance, particularly for spectral Sp-Ch allocation with Sb-Ch spectrum occupation of 37.5 GHz on the 12.5-GHz grid. Additionally, as another important contribution of the paper, we investigate, for spatial Sp-Ch allocation, the performance of several SDM switching options: independent switching (InS), which offers highest flexibility, joint-switching (JoS), which routes all spatial modes as a single entity, and fractional-joint switching, which separates out the spatial modes into sub-sets of spatial modes which are routed independently. JoS is proved to offer a similar performance to that of InS for particular network load profiles, while allowing a significant reduction in the number of wavelength-selective switches.

Cognitive dynamic optical networks [invited]

The use of cognition is a promising element for the control of heterogeneous optical networks. Not only are cognitive networks able to sense current network conditions and act according to them, but they also take into account the knowledge acquired through past experiences; that is, they include learning with the aim of improving performance. In this paper, we review the fundamentals of cognitive networks and focus on their application to the optical networking area. In particular, a number of cognitive network architectures proposed so far, as well as their associated supporting technologies, are reviewed. Moreover, several applications, mainly developed in the framework of the EU FP7 Cognitive Heterogeneous Reconfigurable Optical Network (CHRON) project, are also described.

Practical and deployment issues to be considered in regenerator placement and operation of translucent optical networks

In translucent optical networks, the signal will remain in the optical domain as long as possible and will be regenerated only when its quality falls below a threshold or a wavelength contention has to be resolved. In these networks a limited number of regenerators are placed at a selected set of nodes. As OEO regenerators are expensive, the problem of regenerator site selection is of paramount importance in the design of cost-efficient translucent optical networks. In this paper we discuss the practical and deployment issues and metrics that need to be considered in regenerator site selection/placement algorithms and control plane issues in the operation of translucent optical networks. We feel that unless the practical issues are considered by the algorithms and appropriate extensions to control plane protocols are developed and standardized, it is difficult to realize dynamically reconfigurable translucent optical networks.

Next generation flexible and cognitive heterogeneous optical networks

Optical networking is the cornerstone of the Future Internet as it provides the physical infrastructure of the core backbone networks. Recent developments have enabled much better quality of service/experience for the end users, enabled through the much higher capacities that can be supported. Furthermore, optical networking developments facilitate the reduction of complexity of operations at the IP layer and therefore reduce the latency of the connections and the expenditures to deploy and operate the networks. New research directions in optical networking promise to further advance the capabilities of the Future Internet. In this book chapter, we highlight the latest activities of the optical networking community and in particular what has been the focus of EU funded research. The concepts of flexible and cognitive optical networks are introduced and their key expected benefits are highlighted. The overall framework envisioned for the future cognitive flexible optical networks are introduced and recent developments are presented.