In this paper, we describe our experience in implementing a non-IP routing protocol - Virtual Id Routing (VIRO) - using the OVS-SDN platform in GENI. As a novel, "plug-&-play", routing paradigm for future dynamic networks, VIRO decouples routing/forwarding from addressing by introducing a topology-aware, structured virtual id layer to encode the locations of switches and devices in the physical topology for scalable and resilient routing. Despite its general "match-action" forwarding function, the existing OVS-SDN platform is closely tied to the conventional Ethernet/IP/TCP header formats, and cannot be directly used to implement the new VIRO routing/forwarding paradigm. As a result, we repurpose the Ethernet MAC address to represent VIRO virtual id, modify and extend the OVS (both within the user space and the kernel space) to implement the VIRO forwarding functions. We also utilize a set of local POX controllers (one per VIRO switch) to emulate the VIRO distributed control plane and one global POX controller to realize the VIRO (centralized) management plane. We evaluate our prototype implementation through the Mininet emulation and GENI deployment test and discuss some lessons learned using the test-bed.

Neighbor Discovery (ND) is a basic and crucial step for initializing wireless ad hoc networks. A fast, precise, and energy-efficient ND protocol has significant importance to subsequent operations in wireless networks. However, many existing protocols have high probabilities to generate idle slots in their neighbor discovering processes, which extends the executing duration, and thus compromises their performance. In this paper, we propose a novel randomized protocol PHED, Pre-Handshaking Neighbor Discovery Protocol, to initialize synchronous full duplex wireless ad hoc networks. By introducing a pre-communication strategy to help each node be aware of activities of its neighborhood, we significantly reduce the probabilities of generating idle slots and collisions. Moreover, with the development of single channel full duplex communication technology [1, 2], we further decrease the processing time needed in PHED, and construct the first full duplex neighbor discovery protocol. Our theoretical analysis proves that PHED can increase the speed of ND by approximately 98% in comparison with the classical ALOHA-like protocols [3, 4]. In addition, we prove the effectiveness of PHED by simulations.

Neighbor Discovery (ND) plays an important role in the initialization phase of wireless sensor networks. In real deployments, sensor nodes may not always be awake due to limited power supply, which forms low-duty-cycle networks. Existing researches on the problem of ND in low-duty-cycle networks are all based on the assumption that a receiver can receive only one packet successfully at a time. k-Multipacket Reception (MPR) techniques (i.e., k (k ≥ 2) packets can be successfully received at a time.) have shown their significance in improving packet transmission. However, how can MPR benefit the problem of ND is still unknown. In this paper, we the first to discuss the problem of ND in low-duty-cycle networks with MPR. Specifically, we first present an ALOHA-like protocol, and show that the expected time to discover all n-1 neighbors is O(n log n log log n/k) by reducing the problem to a generalized form of the classic K Coupon Collector's Problem. Second, we show that when there is a feedback mechanism to inform a node whether its transmission is successful or not, ND can be finished in time O(n log log n/k). Third, we point out that lacking of knowledge of n results in a factor of two slowdown in two protocols above. Finally, we evaluate the ND protocols introduced in this paper, and compare their performance with the analysis results.