Future 6G use cases—such as AI, sensing, and immersive Extended Reality (XR)—will require stringent end-to-end communication performance. Optimizing only the network infrastructure is insufficient; coordination between network and computing resources is essential. In this paper, we propose a unified architecture that embeds a Layer 4 proxy into the User Plane Function (UPF) to control data flow and computing resources jointly. This design allows the flow to be dynamically managed based on network conditions, while simultaneously optimizing latency and throughput. The control interface is exposed via APIs, enabling applications to dynamically activate computing services and optimize data throughput for available network bandwidth. While the architecture targets future 6G networks, its feasibility is validated on a 5G Core-based prototype to emulate 6G in-network computing scenarios under realistic workloads. Our prototype evaluation demonstrates that the proposed architecture improves throughput, reduces latency and jitter, stabilizes data flow, and enhances AI-based video object detection performance.

Computing and networking platforms would become more decentralized toward B5G and 6G. Various functions and services will be deployed at the far edge, a site located physically closer to the user devices than the current edge-cloud design pattern in 5 G MEC. In such ultra-distributed environments, efficient use of those finite and limited computing and networking resources is one of the most important requirements for telecom operators. UPF, one component of 5GC, is a key function that links mobile and service domains. UPF is a typical example deployed in various platforms, from far edge to on-premise central data centers and clouds. DPUs are an advanced form of SmartNICs that are good at network, security, and storage communication processing and can be controlled as one of the in-network computing infrastructures. In this paper, we present the future telecom network architecture by offloading various network functions to DPUs and implementing UPF features as a first target. We also identify the feasibility of scalable UPF configurations from small to large scale leveraging DPUs and the DPU-dependent implementation issues for commercial applications by conducting essential functionality evaluation and carrier-grade large-scale performance tests.

Since cloud technology is rapidly advancing and spreading, is playing an increasingly important role in society, and will be widely used as the foundation for mobile network systems, innovative concepts called in-network computing (INC), in which computing functions are deployed, are widely considered for network and service functions. One of the benefits provided by INC is the optimization of computing and networking processing stacks. In this paper, we propose a system architecture for a mobile network equipped with computing capabilities called the Innetwork Service Acceleration Platform (ISAP). This enables end-to-end service performance acceleration, realizing processing optimization. We also present a prototype implementation of ISAP that integrates network and computing functions into a shared data plane on the basis of our proposed architecture, which includes a 3GPP standard-compliant 5G core network, server-less orchestration mechanisms, and multiple accelerator cards. Evaluations, including simulation and performance measurements, show ISAP has advantages over conventional designs, such as improved resource utilization efficiency, low latency, and deterministic service and network processing. These results validate our proposed scheme for realizing 6G INC.

Since cloud technology will permeate mobile networks in 6G, scenarios in which computing functions are deployed in the network are widely considered for not only network functions but also service functions. In this paper, we propose a system architecture, a mobile network equipped with computing capabilities, which enables end-to-end service performance acceleration. We evaluated our proposed architecture through evaluations and observed advantages over conventional designs, such as improved resource utilization efficiency and extremely low-latency service and network processing. The prototype implementation of integrating network and computing functions on the basis of our proposed architecture is also presented, which includes a 3GPP standard-compliant 5G core network, serverless orchestration mechanisms, and multiple accelerator cards. With the prototype above, we demonstrate how our proposed architecture federates network and service functions control and how it accelerates the application processing performance.

This paper proposes a link bandwidth design method considering failures in an IP network. When we design the link bandwidth, we need to consider rerouted traffic's bandwidth by failures in order to avoid the traffic congestion. If we knew the point-to-point traffic matrix, we could easily obtain the required link bandwidth after failures. However, the support in routers for measuring traffic matrices is poor and it is generally difficult to measure traffic matrices in a large network. The proposed method does not need traffic matrix measurement; instead, it uses link load measurement before failures which is generally easy to measure. Then, the proposed method calculates the logical least upper bound (in mathematical other words, supremum or sup) of the bandwidth variation at each link by failures by using Linear Programming (LP). Simulation results show that the link bandwidth amount designed by the proposed method is close to the real required amount, which needs traffic matrix measurement. That is, the proposed method provides little wasted bandwidth using link load measurement only. Compared with the simple method which also uses only link load measurement, the proposed method achieves 50% reduction in wasted bandwidth.

Understanding traffic matrices is useful for network design and so forth, but it is difficult to directly measure traffic matrices in IP networks. There is an existing method to estimate traffic matrices by link traffic information which is easy to measure, and routing information. However, this method requires significantly longer computation time as network size grows. This paper proposes large-scale traffic matrix estimation methods using a divide-and-conquer approach. The network is divided into multiple blocks, traffic matrices are estimated per block and estimation results are combined. In terms of division and combination, this paper proposes two detailed methods. By simulation, it is shown that both of the proposed methods can significantly improve computation time, while keeping estimation accuracy of the existing method. In particular, one of the proposed methods can perform traffic matrix estimation within practical computation time in a network of thousands of nodes.

This paper proposes a new scheme for diverse path setup in multi-domain optical networks, and presents its applicability along with other existing schemes. Ability to setup diverse paths is an important feature to improve resiliency. Currently, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is standardizing tools for automating optical path provisioning across multiple domains, such as Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) signaling to instantiate optical paths, and Path Computation Element (PCE) to perform path computation. However, details on diverse path setup schemes require further analysis. There are several existing schemes for diverse path setup, but they have deficiencies. An enhanced scheme is proposed to overcome such deficiencies. Applicability of the proposed scheme is presented along with existing schemes by considering various aspects. This includes quantifying the ability to find diverse paths by simulations. Furthermore, this paper presents challenges for further study, including specific issues in multi-domain transparent optical networks and inter-carrier considerations.

This paper proposes a network design method based on adaptive selection of "facility-adding" and "path-routing" policies under the condition that traffic keeps increasing. In a network where a path is provided as a service, when a new path demand is generated and if it is impossible to accommodate the path along the shortest route with only existing facilities (links and nodes, etc.), there are two policies to accommodate this new path demand. One is a facility-adding policy, which accommodates the path along the shortest route by adding facilities. The other is a path-routing policy, which finds the detour route that meets the bandwidth demand of the path and accommodates it along this detour route without adding facilities. The proposed network design method adaptively selects which policy to be applied per path according to the holding time of the path. Therefore, it is expected that the total facility cost are reduced compared to the conventional network design method, which uses only either one of two policies. Simulation results show that the proposed method contributes to the total facility cost reduction for an arbitrary design period and achieves 10% total facility cost reduction compared to the conventional method.

In a service provider (SP) network, routes for external destinations are distributed on iBGP sessions. This traditionally required the establishment of a full-mesh of iBGP sessions in the network. A common practice is now to make use of route reflectors (RR). Such a practice is more scalable in the number of iBGP sessions to be configured in a SP network. However, it has been shown that RRs have a negative impact on the diversity of routes available in the network. This is an important issue as routers may not be able to quickly use an alternate route in case of a route failure. In this paper we tackle the problem of route diversity in a service provider network composed of RRs. We propose an algorithm to design iBGP session topologies with improved route diversity. We rely on an initial route reflection topology. Our algorithm proposes the addition of a few iBGP sessions to some border routers of the domain. These border routers receive a large number of external routes for which routers lack diversity. We show by means of simulations that our algorithm meets its goals. In the resulting topologies, each BGP router knows at least two different ways to reach distant destinations. This is ensured as long as a prefix advertisement is received at different nodes at the border of the AS. Secondly, we observe that the number of iBGP sessions required to achieve this goal is significantly below the number of sessions required in the case of a full-mesh. Finally, the remaining lack of route diversity after the use of our design algorithm indicates that new external peering sessions should be established. In this case, our algorithm shows that diversity cannot be reached for some prefixes independently of the iBGP topology, with the current external peering sessions.

This paper describes brand-new layer-1 bandwidth on demand (BoD) services implemented in the new Japanese academic backbone network, called SINET3. SINET3 is an advanced converged network that provides multi-layer transfer, enriched VPN, enhanced QoS, and layer-1 BoD services. The layer-1 BoD services are dynamic layer-1 resource allocation services directly triggered by users and artfully achieved on the multi-service platform by using a layer-1 BoD server. This paper first explains how the network accommodates a wide variety of network services by effectively combining leading-edge technologies. The paper next describes the overall mechanism for the dynamic layer-1 path setup on the multi-service platform and details the functions of the BoD server in many aspects. The designs focus on the tangible achievement of these services over a nationwide network composed of 75 layer-1 switches and 12 IP/MPLS routers.

This paper proposes a network design scheme for emerging Layer 1 Virtual Private Network (L1VPN) services. In L1VPN services, customers can request connection setup/deletion within their own VPNs. L1VPN services require a new network design scheme to comply with this customers' ability to reconfigure their VPNs. In order to achieve this, by defining a resource demand model considering flexibility, and designing the network based on this model, amount of resources required can be computed. This paper proposes a new resource demand model by extending conventional resource demand models, and a new network design algorithm. Simulations are conducted to evaluate performance of the proposed network design scheme.