Marica Amadeo

Enhancing content-centric networking for vehicular environments

Content-Centric Networking (CCN) is a new popular communication paradigm that achieves information retrieval and distribution by using named data instead of end-to-end host-centric communications. This innovative model particularly fits mobile wireless environments characterized by dynamic topologies, unreliable broadcast channels, short-lived and intermittent connectivity, as proven by preliminary works in the literature. In this paper we extend the CCN framework to efficiently and reliably support content delivery on top of IEEE 802.11p vehicular technology. Achieved results show that the proposed solution, by leveraging distributed broadcast storm mitigation techniques, simple transport routines, and lightweight soft-state forwarding procedures, brings significant improvements w.r.t. a plain CCN model, confirming the effectiveness and efficiency of our design choices.

E-CHANET: Routing, forwarding and transport in Information-Centric multihop wireless networks

Information-Centric Networking (ICN) is a promising architecture for the future Internet that focuses on content rather than IP addresses. By leveraging named-data instead of named-hosts, ICN does not need the set up and maintenance of stable paths between end-nodes. This makes ICN particularly convenient in networks characterized by intermittent connectivity and hostile propagation conditions, such as wireless multihop networks like ad hoc and mesh networks. In this paper, we present an information-centric architecture for IEEE 802.11 wireless ad hoc networks, named E-CHANET, which performs routing, forwarding and reliable transport functions, specifically tailored to cope with the limitations and requirements of wireless distributed environments. E-CHANET performance is evaluated through simulations and a comparison with the legacy TCP/IP architecture and the basic CCN model is provided. Achieved results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution in mobile wireless environments.

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.

Forwarding strategies in named data wireless ad hoc networks

Named Data Networking (NDN) is a promising information-centric architecture for the future Internet that is also gaining momentum in wireless ad hoc networks as an alternative paradigm to traditional IP networking. NDN shares with other information-centric proposals the same innovative concepts, such as named content, name-based routing, and in-network content caching. These principles and the simple and robust communication model, based on Interest and Data packets exchange, make NDN especially appealing for deployment in wireless ad hoc environments, characterized by a broadcast error-prone channel and time-varying topologies.Nevertheless, making NDN-based solutions really effective in ad hoc networks requires rethinking some of the basic NDN forwarding principles to cope with wireless links and node mobility. In this paper, we analyze two classes of forwarding approaches: (i) a minimalist, provider-blind forwarding strategy, only aimed at keeping packet redundancy on the broadcast wireless medium under control, without any knowledge about the neighborhood and the identity of the content sources; and (ii) a provider-aware strategy, which leverages soft state information about the content sources, piggybacked in Interest and Data packets and locally kept by nodes, to facilitate content retrieval.Performance evaluation is carried by means of ndnSIM, the official NDN simulator, that is overhauled for use in realistic wireless ad hoc environments. Results collected under variable traffic loads and topologies provide insights into the behavior of both forwarding approaches and help to derive a set of recommendations that are crucial to the successful design of a forwarding strategy for named data ad hoc wireless networking.

CRoWN: Content-Centric Networking in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Content-centric networking is a new paradigm conceived for future Internet architectures, where communications are driven by contents instead of host addresses. This paradigm has key potentialities to enable effective and efficient communications in the challenging vehicular environment characterized by short-lived connectivity and highly dynamic network topologies. We design CRoWN, a content-centric framework for vehicular ad-hoc networks, which is implemented on top of the IEEE 802.11p standard layers and is fully compliant with them. Performance comparison against the legacy IP-based approach demonstrates the superiority of CRoWN, thus paving the way for content-centric vehicular networking.

Content-centric wireless networking: A survey

Abstract Content-Centric Networking (CCN) is a candidate future Internet architecture that gives favourable promises in distributed wireless environments. The latter ones seriously call into question the capability of TCP/IP to support stable end-to-end communications, due to lack of centralized control, node mobility, dynamic topologies, intermittent connectivity, and harsh signal propagation conditions. The CCN paradigm, relying on name-based forwarding and in-network data caching , has great potential to solve some of the problems encountered by IP-based protocols in wireless networks. In this paper, we examine the applicability of CCN principles to wireless networks with distributed access control, different degrees of node mobility and resource constraints. We provide some guidelines for readers approaching research on CCN, by highlighting points of strength and weaknesses and reviewing the current state of the art. The final discussion aims to identify the main open research challenges and some future trends for CCN deployment on a large scale.

Named data networking for IoT: An architectural perspective

The Named Data Networking (NDN) project is emerging as one of the most promising information-centric future Internet architectures. Besides NDN recognized potential as a content retrieval solution in wired and wireless domains, its innovative concepts, such as named content, name-based routing and in-network caching, particularly suit the requirements of Internet of Things (IoT) interconnecting billions of heterogeneous objects. IoT highly differs from todays Internet due to resource-constrained devices, massive volumes of small exchanged data, and traffic type diversity. The study in this paper addresses the design of a high-level NDN architecture, whose main components are overhauled to specifically meet the IoT challenges.

Content-centric networking: is that a solution for upcoming vehicular networks?

In this paper we propose an innovative networking architecture for content retrieval and distribution in Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs), that leverages the recently proposed Content-Centric Networking (CCN) paradigm. It is based on named contents instead of IP addresses, and seems an attractive opportunity to handle the dynamic, short-lived and intermittent connectivity typical of VANETs. Achieved results show that the proposed architecture significantly outperforms the legacy TCP/IP protocol suite, thus confirming the potentialities of content-centric as a promising networking solution for upcoming VANETs.

Multi-source data retrieval in IoT via named data networking

The new era of Internet of Things (IoT) is driving the revolution in computing and communication technologies spanning every aspect of our lives. Thanks to its innovative concepts, such as named content, name-based routing and in-network caching, Named Data Networking (NDN) appears as a key enabling paradigm for IoT. Despite its potential, the support of IoT applications often requires some modifications in the NDN engine for a more efficient and effective exchange of packets. In this paper, we propose a baseline NDN framework for the support of reliable retrieval of data from different wireless producers which can answer to the same Interest packet (e.g., a monitoring application collecting environmental data from sensors in a target area). The solution is evaluated through simulations in ndnSIM and achieved results show that, by leveraging the concept of exclude field and ad hoc defined schemes for Data suppression and collision avoidance, it leads to improved performance in terms of data collection time and network overhead.

Information-centric networking for connected vehicles: a survey and future perspectives

In the connected vehicle ecosystem, a high volume of information-rich and safety-critical data will be exchanged by roadside units and onboard transceivers to improve the driving and traveling experience. However, poor-quality wireless links and the mobility of vehicles highly challenge data delivery. The IP address-centric model of the current Internet barely works in such extremely dynamic environments and poorly matches the localized nature of the majority of vehicular communications, which typically target specific road areas (e.g., in the proximity of a hazard or a point of interest) regardless of the identity/address of a single vehicle passing by. Therefore, a paradigm shift is advocated from traditional IP-based networking toward the groundbreaking information- centric networking. In this article, we scrutinize the applicability of this paradigm in vehicular environments by reviewing its core functionalities and the related work. The analysis shows that, thanks to features like named content retrieval, innate multicast support, and in-network data caching, information-centric networking is positioned to meet the challenging demands of vehicular networks and their evolution. Interoperability with the standard architectures for vehicular applications along with synergies with emerging computing and networking paradigms are debated as future research perspectives.