5G is enabling different services over the same physical infrastructure through the concepts and technologies of virtualization, softwarization, slicing and cloud computing. Virtual Mobile Networks (VMNs), using these concepts, provide an opportunity to share the same physical infrastructure among multiple operators. Each VMN Operator (VMNO) can have own distinct operating and support systems. However, the technologies used to enable VMNs have their own explicit security challenges and solutions. The integrated environment built upon virtualization, softwarization, and cloudification, thus, will have complex security requirements and implications. In this vain, this article provides an overview of the security challenges and potential solutions for VMNs.
Due to the rapidly increasing usage of personal mobile devices and the need of executing CVE applications in environments that have no previous network infrastructure, Mobile Collaborative Virtual Environments (MCVEs) systems will become ubiquitous in the future. In such systems, we enable users to act and interact in three dimensional world shared through their mobile devices in an ad-hoc network (MANET). A handful of interesting MCVE applications have been developed in a variety of domains, ranging from multiplayer games to virtual cities, virtual shopping malls, and various training simulat…
In this demo, we exhibit the negotiation based on the TM Forum framework (Customer Facing Service and Resource Facing Service) and the deployment of a fully virtualized end-to-end mobile network (including a RAN desegregated into Remote Unit, Distributed Unit and Centralized Unit) by using ONAP, an open-source network automation platform. The various components of mobile network are containerized and deployed by ONAP on top of Kubernetes. The demo is the first illustration of an end-to-end mobile network, which is fully virtualized up to the remote unit, whose architecture is compatible with t…
With the proliferation of mobile demands and increasingly multifarious services and applications, mobile Internet has been an irreversible trend. Unfortunately, the current mobile and wireless network (MWN) faces a series of pressing challenges caused by the inherent design. In this paper, we extend two latest and promising innovations of Internet, software-defined networking and network virtualization, to mobile and wireless scenarios. We first describe the challenges and expectations of MWN, and analyze the opportunities provided by the software-defined wireless network (SDWN) and wireless n…
The last years have witnessed a dramatic growth in the number as well as the variety of graphics intensive mobile applications, which allow users to interact and navigate through large scenes such as ancient places, museums and even virtual cities. These applications support many clients and impose a heavy requirement on network resources and computational resources. One key issue in the design of cost efficient mobile walkthrough applications is the data transmission between servers and mobile client devices. In this paper, we propose an effective progressive mesh transmission framework that …
Traditional highly-centralized mobile core networks (e.g., Evolved Packet Core (EPC)) need to be constantly upgraded both in their network functions and backhaul links, to meet increasing traffic demands. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is being investigated as a potential cost-effective solution for this upgrade. A virtual mobile core (here, virtual EPC, vEPC) provides deployment flexibility and scalability while reducing costs, network-resource consumption and application delay. Moreover, a distributed deployment of vEPC is essential for emerging paradigms like Multi-Access Edge Comput…
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm provides many features including hardware abstraction, programmable networking and centralized policy control. One of the main benefits used along with these features is core/backhaul network virtualization which ensures sharing of mobile core and backhaul networks among Mobile Operators (MOs). In this paper, we propose a virtualized SDN-based Evolved Packet System (EPS) cellular network architecture including design of network virtualization controller. After virtualization of core/backhaul network elements, eNodeBs associated with MOs become a part …
Many of the key enabling technologies of the fifth-generation (5G), such as network slicing, spectrum sharing, and federated learning, rely on a centralized authority. This may lead to pitfalls in terms of security or single point of failure. Distributed ledger technology, specifically blockchain, is currently employed by different applications related to the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G to address the drawbacks of centralized systems. For this reason, mobile blockchain networks (MBNs) have recently attracted a great deal of attention. To add a transaction to the blockchain in MBNs, mobile …
We study the profit maximization problem of a cognitive virtual network operator in a dynamic network environment. We consider a downlink OFDM communication system with various network dynamics, including dynamic user demands, uncertain sensing spectrum resources, dynamic spectrum prices, and time-varying channel conditions. In addition, heterogenous users and imperfect sensing technology are incorporated to make the network model more realistic. By exploring the special structural of the problem, we develop a low-complexity on-line control policies that determine pricing and resource scheduli…
This research concentrates on the design and analysis of an algorithm referred to as Virtual Network Configuration (VNC) which uses predicted future states of a system for faster network configuration and management. VNC is applied to the configuration of a wireless mobile ATM network. VNC is built on techniques from parallel discrete event simulation merged with constraints from real-time systems and applied to mobile ATM configuration and handoff. Configuration in a mobile network is a dynamic and continuous process. Factors such as load, distance, capacity and topology are all constantly ch…
As 5th Generation research reaches the twilight, the research community must go beyond 5G and look towards the 2030 connectivity landscape, namely 6G. In this context, this work takes a step towards the 6G vision by proposing a next generation communication platform, which aims to extend the rigid coverage area of fixed deployment networks by considering virtual mobile small cells (MSC) that are created on demand. Relying on emerging computing paradigms such as NFV (Network Function Virtualization) and SDN (Software Defined Networking), these cells can harness radio and networking capability l…
Wireless network virtualization and information-centric networking (ICN) are two promising technologies for next generation wireless networks. Although some excellent works have focused on these two technologies, device-to-device (D2D) communications have not beeen investigated in information-centric virtualized cellular networks. Meanwhile, content caching in mobile devices has attracted great attentions due to the saved backhaul consumption or reduced transmission latency in D2D-assisted cellular networks. However, when it comes to the multi-operator scenario, the direct content sharing betw…
As mobile network users look forward to the connectivity speeds of 5G networks, service providers are facing challenges in complying with connectivity demands without substantial financial investments. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is introduced as a new methodology that offers a way out of this bottleneck. NFV is poised to change the core structure of telecommunications infrastructure to be more cost-efficient. In this paper, we introduce a Network Function Virtualization framework, and discuss the challenges and requirements of its use in mobile networks. In particular, an NFV framew…
With the increasing demand for openness, flexibility, and monetization the Network Function Virtualization (NFV) of mobile network functions has become the embracing factor for most mobile network operators. Early reported field deployments of virtualized Evolved Packet Core (EPC) - the core network component of 4G LTE and 5G non-standalone mobile networks - reflect this growing trend. To best meet the requirements of power management, load balancing, and fault tolerance in the cloud environment, the need for live migration for these virtualized components cannot be shunned. Virtualization pla…
Network Virtualization is one of the key technologies for developing the future mobile networks. However, the performance of virtual mobile entities may not be sufficient for delivering the service required for future networks in terms of throughput or service time. In addition, to take advantage of the virtualization capabilities, a criterion to decide when to scale out the number of instances is a must. In this paper we propose an LTE virtualized Mobility Management Entity queue model to evaluate its service time for a given signaling workload. The estimation of this latency can serve to dec…
With wireless network virtualization, Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) can develop new services on a low-cost platform by leasing virtual resources from mobile network owners. In this paper, we investigate a two-stage spectrum leasing framework, where an MVNO acquires radio spectrum through both advance reservation and on-demand request. To maximize its surplus, the MVNO jointly optimizes the amount of spectrum to lease in the two stages by taking into account the traffic distribution, random user locations, wireless channel statistics, Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, and the pr…
Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of two or more devices or nodes or terminals with wireless communications and networking capability that communicate with each other without the aid of any centralized administrator also the wireless nodes that can dynamically form a network to exchange information without using any existing fixed network infrastructure. And it's an autonomous system in which mobile hosts connected by wireless links are free to be dynamically and some time act as routers at the same time, and we discuss in this paper the distinct characteristics of traditional wire…
In order to better accommodate the dramatically increasing demand for data caching and computing services, storage and computation capabilities should be endowed to some of the intermediate nodes within the network. In this paper, we design a novel virtualized heterogeneous networks framework aiming at enabling content caching and computing. With the virtualization of the whole system, the communication, computing and caching resources can be shared among all users associated with different virtual service providers. We formulate the virtual resource allocation strategy as a joint optimization…
Network Function Virtualization is considered one of the key technologies for developing the future mobile networks. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework to evaluate the performance of an LTE virtualized Mobility Management Entity (vMME) hosted in a data center. This theoretical framework consists of i) a queuing network to model the vMME in a data center, and ii) analytic expressions to estimate the overall mean system delay and the signaling workload to be processed by the vMME. We validate our mathematical model by simulation. One direct use of the proposed model is vMME dimens…
Contemporary Virtual Reality (VR) setups commonly consist of a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) tethered to a content-generating server. "Cutting the wire" in such setups and going truly wireless will require a wireless network capable of delivering enormous amounts of video data at an extremely low latency. Higher frequencies, such as the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band, can support these requirements. Due to high attenuation and path loss in the mmWave frequencies, beamforming is essential. For VR setups, beamforming must adapt in real-time to the user's head rotations, but can rely on the HMD's bui…
M2M devices are ubiquitous, and there is a growing tendency to connect such devices to mobile networks. Network operators are investigating new solutions to lower their costs and to address usability issues. Embedded SIM cards with remote provisioning capability are one of the most promising solutions. GSMA, the leading consortium on mobile network standards, has proposed a specification for such an embedded SIM card, called eUICC. The specification describes eUICC architecture and a remote provisioning mechanism. Embodiments of this specification have the potential to disrupt the telecommunic…
Mobile edge computing (MEC) is expected to be an effective solution to deliver 360-degree virtual reality (VR) videos over wireless networks. In contrast to previous computation-constrained MEC framework, which reduces the computation-resource consumption at the mobile VR device by increasing the communication-resource consumption, we develop a communications-constrained MEC framework to reduce communication-resource consumption by increasing the computation-resource consumption and exploiting the caching resources at the mobile VR device in this paper. Specifically, according to the task modu…
The ongoing research and industrial exploitation of SDN and NFV technologies promise higher flexibility on network automation and infrastructure optimization. Choosing the location of Virtual Network Functions is a central problem in the automation and optimization of the software-defined, virtualization-based next generation of networks such as 5G and beyond. Network services provided for autonomous vehicles, factory automation, e-health and cloud robotics often require strict delay bounds and reliability constraints, which are influenced by the location of its composing Virtual Network Funct…
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) enables mobile operators to virtualize their network entities as Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs), offering fine-grained on-demand network capabilities. VNFs can be dynamically scale-in/out to meet the performance requirements for future 5G networks. However, designing an auto-scaling algorithm with low operation cost and low latency while considering the capacity of legacy network equipment is a challenge. In this paper, we propose a VNF Dynamic Auto Scaling Algorithm (DASA) considering the tradeoff between performance and operation cost. We also deve…
New Radio (NR) is a new radio air interface developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) for the fifth generation (5G) mobile communications system. With great flexibility, scalability, and efficiency, 5G is expected to address a wide range of use-cases including enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), and massive machine type communications (mMTC). The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in NR carries Downlink Control Information (DCI). Understanding how PDCCH operates is key to developing a good understanding of how information…
When evolved NodeB (eNB) flexible functional split is implemented in Virtualized Radio Access Network (V-RAN) 5G systems, fronthaul connectivity between the virtualized network functions (VNFs) must be seamlessly guaranteed. This study proposes the utilization of Software Defined Networking (SDN) to control the mobile fronthaul. In particular, this study investigates the ability of the SDN-based control of reconfiguring the fronthaul to maintain VNF connectivity when cell and optical access turn into sleep mode (off mode) for energy efficiency purposes. The evaluation of the proposed scheme is…
Experimentation is important when designing communication protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks. Lower-layers have a major impact on upper-layer performance, and the complexity of the phenomena can not be entirely captured by analysis or simulation. In this report, we go through the complete process, from designing an energy-efficient self-organizing communication architecture (MAC, routing and application layers) to real-life experimentation roll-outs. The presented communication architecture includes a MAC protocol which avoids building and maintaining neighborhood tables, and a geographica…
This Article presents a thorough overview of QoS routing metrics, resources and factors affecting performance of QoS routing protocols. The relative strength, weakness, and applicability of existing QoS routing protocols are also studied and compared. QoS routing protocols are classified according to the QoS metrics used type of QoS guarantee assured.
In this paper, we propose an architecture for Network of Information mobile node (NetInf MN). It bears characteristics and features of basic NetInf node architecture with features introduced in the LISP MN architecture. We also introduce a virtual node layer for mobility management in the Network of Information. Therefore, by adopting this architecture no major changes in the contemporary network topologies is required. Thus, making our approach more practical.
We propose a virtual-PON based Mobile Fronthaul (MFH) architecture that allows direct communications between edge points (enabling EAST-WEST communication). Dynamic slicing improves service multiplexing while supporting ultra-low latency under 100$μ$s between cells and MEC nodes.
Since multimedia streaming has become very popular research topic in the recent years, this paper surveys the state of art techniques introduced for multimedia multicasting over mobile networks. In this paper, we give an overview of multimedia multicasting mechanisms in respect to cloud mobile communications, and we present some proposed solutions in perspective. We focus on the algorithms designed specifically for the video-on-demand applications. Our study on video-on-demand applications will eventually cover a wide range of applications such as cloud gaming without violating the limited sco…
Malicious co-residency in virtualized networks poses a real threat. The next-generation mobile networks heavily rely on virtualized infrastructure, and network slicing has emerged as a key enabler to support different virtualized services and applications in the 5G network. However, allocating network slices efficiently while providing a minimum guaranteed level of service as well as providing defense against the threat of malicious co-residency in a mobile core is challenging. To address this question, in our previous work, we proposed an optimization model to allocate slices. In this work, w…
Network virtualization and SDN-based routing allow carriers to flexibly configure their networks in response to demand and unexpected network disruptions. However, cellular networks, by nature, pose some unique challenges because of user mobility and control/data plane partitioning, which calls for new architectures and provisioning paradigms. In this paper, we address the latter part by devising algorithms that can provision the data plane to create a distributed Mobile Edge Cloud (MEC), which provides opportunities for lower latencies and increased resilience (through placement of network fu…
The 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) is the cellular technology expected to outperform the previous generations and to some extent revolutionize the experience of the users by taking advantage of the most advanced radio access techniques (i.e. OFDMA, SC-FDMA, MIMO). However, the strong dependencies between user equipments (UEs), base stations (eNBs) and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) limit the flexibility, manageability and resiliency in such networks. In case the communication links between UEs-eNB or eNB-EPC are disrupted, UEs are in fact unable to communicate. In this article, we reshape the 4G …
In the area of full duplex (FD)-enabled small cell networks, limited works have been done on consideration of cache and mobile edge communication (MEC). In this paper, a virtual FD-enabled small cell network with cache and MEC is investigated for two heterogeneous services, high-data-rate service and computation-sensitive service. In our proposed scheme, content caching and FD communication are closely combined to offer high-data-rate services without the cost of backhaul resource. Computing offloading is conducted to guarantee the delay requirement of users. Then we formulate a virtual resour…
In cloud computing paradigm, virtual resource autoscaling approaches have been intensively studied recent years. Those approaches dynamically scale in/out virtual resources to adjust system performance for saving operation cost. However, designing the autoscaling algorithm for desired performance with limited budget, while considering the existing capacity of legacy network equipment, is not a trivial task. In this paper, we propose a Deadline and Budget Constrained Autoscaling (DBCA) algorithm for addressing the budget-performance tradeoff. We develop an analytical model to quantify the trade…
This paper proposes and evaluates a new position-based Parallel Routing Protocol (PRP) for simultaneously routing multiple data packets over disjoint paths in a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) for higher reliability and reduced communication delays. PRP views the geographical region where the MANET is located as a virtual 2-dimensional grid of cells. Cell-disjoint (parallel) paths between grid cells are constructed and used for building pre-computed routing tables. A single gateway node in each grid cell handles routing through that grid cell reducing routing overheads. Each node maintains updat…
Improving the interactivity and interconnectivity between people is one of the highlights of the Metaverse. The Metaverse relies on a core approach, digital twinning, which is a means to replicate physical world objects, people, actions and scenes onto the virtual world. Being able to access scenes and information associated with the physical world, in the Metaverse in real-time and under mobility, is essential in developing a highly accessible, interactive and interconnective experience for all users. This development allows users from other locations to access high-quality real-world and up-…
Immersive computing (IC) technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality are gaining tremendous popularity. In this poster, we present CoIC, a Cooperative framework for mobile Immersive Computing. The design of CoIC is based on a key insight that IC tasks among different applications or users might be similar or redundant. CoIC enhances the performance of mobile IC applications by caching and sharing computation-intensive IC results on the edge. Our preliminary evaluation results on an AR application show that CoIC can reduce the recognition and rendering latency by up to 52.28% and…
Immersive social interactions of mobile users are soon to be enabled within a virtual space, by means of virtual reality (VR) technologies and wireless cellular systems. In a VR mobile social network, the states of all interacting users should be updated synchronously and with low latency via two-way communications with edge computing servers. The resulting end-to-end latency depends on the relationship between the virtual and physical locations of the wireless VR users and of the edge servers. In this work, the problem of analyzing and optimizing the end-to-end latency is investigated for a s…
IEEE 802.16m amends the IEEE 802.16 Wireless MAN-OFDMA specification to provide an advanced air interface for operation in licenced bands. It will meet the cellular layer requirements of IMT-Advanced next generation mobile networks. It will be designed to provide significantly improved performance compared to other high rate broadband cellular network systems. For the next generation mobile networks, it is important to consider increasing peak, sustained data reates, corresponding spectral efficiencies, system capacity and cell coverage as well as decreasing latency and providing QoS while car…
Device-to-device (D2D) communication will likely be added to LTE in 3GPP Release 12. In principle, exploiting direct communication between nearby mobile devices will improve spectrum utilization, overall throughput, and energy consumption, while enabling new peer-to-peer and location-based applications and services. D2D-enabled LTE devices can also become competitive for fallback public safety networks, that must function when cellular networks are not available, or fail. Introducing D2D poses many challenges and risks to the long-standing cellular architecture, which is centered around the ba…
University College Dublin（都柏林大学学院）；Ulster University（阿尔斯特大学）；University of Cagliari（卡利亚里大学）；University of Science and Technology Beijing（北京科技大学）
The Metaverse is a virtual environment where users are represented by avatars to navigate a virtual world, which has strong links with the physical one. State-of-the-art Metaverse architectures rely on a cloud-based approach for avatar physics emulation and graphics rendering computation. Such centralized design is unfavorable as it suffers from several drawbacks caused by the long latency required for cloud access, such as low quality visualization. To solve this issue, in this paper, we propose a Fog-Edge hybrid computing architecture for Metaverse applications that leverage an edge-enabled …
CTTC/CERCA（加泰罗尼亚电信技术中心）；Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院）
To meet the growing quest for enhanced network capacity, mobile network operators (MNOs) are deploying dense infrastructures of small cells. This, in turn, increases the power consumption of mobile networks, thus impacting the environment. As a result, we have seen a recent trend of powering mobile networks with harvested ambient energy to achieve both environmental and cost benefits. In this paper, we consider a network of virtualized small cells (vSCs) powered by energy harvesters and equipped with rechargeable batteries, which can opportunistically offload baseband (BB) functions to a grid-…
