The 5G ecosystem is comprised of the cellular 5G System, as well as a managed and orchestrated infrastructure providing virtualized network and service functions. The automotive industry with its stringent requirements for connected vehicles is a promising and yet challenging consumer of such 5G ecosystem. Deployment of service instances at distributed cloud resources of cellular network infrastructure edges enables localized low-latency access to these services from moving vehicles but comes along with challenges, such as the need for fast reconfiguration of the distributed deployment according to mobility pattern and associated service and resource demand. In this paper, we investigate a solution for the collaborative orchestration of services for Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) within such 5G ecosystem. A key objective is the service continuity for a highly dynamic automotive scenario, achieved by the associated management and orchestration of these services in distributed edge clouds. The proposed solution leverages a multi-tier orchestration system as well as localized management and protocol operations for collaborative edge resources. By means of both analytical and experimental evaluations, the paper draws conclusions on the gain in accelerating orchestration decisions and enforcements, while balancing associated protocol and computational load over the highly distributed and multi-layered orchestration system.

5G has opened up possibilities of introducing new use cases and business models that could not be perceived before. In the context of public safety, 5G offers immense opportunities towards enhancing mission success and situation awareness during emergency management. This paper introduces Back-Situation Awareness (BSA) application enabling early warning/notification to vehicles of an approaching emergency vehicle indicating its presence and the time it will arrive. Such an application is expected to give drivers enough time to create a safety corridor for the emergency vehicle to pass through safely and unhindered. We provide details on the system and application design of the BSA application leveraging Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) systems that complement the 5G mobile communication system. An evaluation of the application is provided by using data measurements and indicating the accuracy of the computation and notification of the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) based on the ETSI C-ITS protocol messages.

The deployment of applications and services at the edge of the mobile network under the Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) paradigm is an excellent option when strict latency requirements must be satisfied. In this work we introduce LightEdge, a lightweight, ETSI-compliant transparent MEC solution for 4G and 5G networks. LightEdge requires zero modifications to the operator’s environment During the demo we will demonstrate how a typical web application can be offloaded to a MEC-enabled 5G network without impairing the effectiveness of the application.

Autonomous management and orchestration (MANO) of virtualized resources and services, especially in large-scale network function virtualization (NFV) environments, is a big challenge owing to the stringent delay and performance requirements expected of a variety of network services. The quality-of-decisions (QoD) of a MANO system depends on the quality and timeliness of the information received from the underlying monitoring system. The data generated by monitoring systems is a significant contributor to the network and processing load of MANO systems, impacting thus their performance. This raises a unique challenge: how to jointly optimize the QoD of MANO systems while at the same minimizing their monitoring loads at runtime? This is the main focus of this paper. In this context, we propose a novel automated NFV orchestration solution, namely z-TORCH (zero Touch Orchestration) that jointly optimizes the orchestration and monitoring processes by exploiting machine-learning-based techniques. The objective is to enhance the QoD of MANO systems achieving a near-optimal placement of virtualized network functions at minimum monitoring costs.

Communication networks are undergoing their next evolutionary step toward 5G. The 5G networks are envisioned to provide a flexible, scalable, agile, and programmable network platform over which different services with varying requirements can be deployed and managed within strict performance bounds. In order to address these challenges, a paradigm shift is taking place in the technologies that drive the networks, and thus their architecture. Innovative concepts and techniques are being developed to power the next generation mobile networks. At the heart of this development lie Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networking technologies, which are now recognized as being two of the key technology enablers for realizing 5G networks, and which have introduced a major change in the way network services are deployed and operated. For interested readers that are new to the field of SDN and NFV, this paper provides an overview of both these technologies with reference to the 5G networks. Most importantly, it describes how the two technologies complement each other and how they are expected to drive the networks of near future.

Traffic congestion is not only a cause of nuisance for general commuters but also a factor that has a measurable impact on the economy if not handled proactively. When congestion increases, the waiting time for commuters increases which results in wasted fuel and wasted time. Wasted fuel adds to the import bill of a country and lost time results in loss of productivity. Traffic can be regulated at various points in order to reduce congestion and eliminate bottleneck areas. In this paper, we propose the use of conventional scheduling to regulate traffic at intersections in order to reduce congestion. We propose minimum destination distance first (MDDF) and minimum average destination distance first (MADDF) algorithms and compare them with some of the relevant existing scheduling algorithms. The proposed algorithms can not only be easily implemented on low cost hardware but also show better performance and outperform the existing algorithms that are considered, based on simulation results. Simulation results show that the MDDF and MADDF algorithms reduce the traffic congestion at intersections by up to 80% in some cases compared to static traffic lights.

In the last years we have experienced a growing industrial interest in Mobile Cloud Networking (MCN) as the opportunity to exploit the cloud computing paradigm through Network Function Virtualization (NFV), primarily with the goal to reduce CAPEX/OPEX for future mobile networks deployment and operation. The gain from the point of view of infrastructure costs reduction is almost clear and recognized, while many technical challenges are still to be solved, especially with industry-mature solutions, due to the complexity of managing such type of infrastructures. In particular, the dynamicity and flexibility introduced by the virtualization of network functions add novel requirements on the service management and orchestration layers. In this perspective, this paper originally presents the architecture and primary implementation guidelines of the Mobile Cloud Networking framework developed within a large EU FP7 project. More specifically, it focuses on the innovative technical elements of our solution for service management and orchestration, namely i) orchestration strategies based on resource unit affinity and ii) compliance with emerging Open Cloud Computing Interface (OCCI) standards. To practically demonstrate the suitability of the proposed approach, a specific real use case has been implemented, i.e., the cloudification of the 3GPP IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), by reporting and analyzing the related performance results.

The proliferation of new mobile- and machine-type devices with different traffic and resources utilization patterns and an increasing total number of devices raise demand for mobile communication network components that provide elasticity without incurring a high CAPEX/OPEX. Vendors of mobile infrastructure components are adopting technology for the virtualization of network functions and for Software Defined Networking to build suitable products that can render carriers' networks with the required resiliency and elasticity. Virtualized network functions can easily scale and provide additional resources to handle load associated with the incoming registrations during mobile devices' attachment to the network. This paper proposes a mechanism that extends traditional scaling of virtualized network function by scaling mobile communication gateways' Data-Plane functions during runtime. Already established mobile device context information and associated data traffic is offloaded from an instance of a network function component to avoid overload and failure of that component. The proposed mechanism for runtime offload enables fast Data-Plane scaling during unexpected peaks of Data-Plane traffic and provides seamless service continuity to the mobile subscribers. We used an experimental approach to validate the proposed mechanism. The results of selected test cases conclude this paper.

This paper presents the proof-of-concept evaluation of a Resource Aware VNF Agnostic (RAVA) NFV orchestration method that is designed to enhance the Quality of Decision (QoD) of a cloud controller by optimizing the life cycle management decisions that it takes in order to manage the resources in a cloud infrastructure (e.g., a data center). The RAVA method proposes a novel concept of deriving the affinity scores for the plurality of resource units with reference to a specific resource unit for each individual Virtual Machine (VM) instance hosting a Virtualized Network Function (VNF). This affinity score, referred to as Reference Resource Affinity Score (RRAS), will enable the cloud controller to perform precise and efficient resource tailoring or dimensioning; and hence will optimize its decisions and actions related to the management and orchestration of the virtualized resources inside the cloud infrastructure. The motivation behind proposing RAVA is to enhance the Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) Management and Orchestration (MANO) system capabilities towards the realization of a Carrier Cloud, an important vision for the future 5G architecture. The evaluation results presented in this paper are based on an OpenStack based proof-of-concept implementation of the RAVA method.

The delivery of video services in a controllable and resource efficient manner while meeting the various QoE/QoS requirements in mobile networks is a challenging task, especially in a multiclass wireless environment. This paper proposes an intelligent and context-aware application level fair scheduler based on reinforcement-learning, which can dynamically adjust relevant scheduling parameters in reaction to specific events or context information. The implemented Q-learning method is analyzed with reference to the delivery of progressive video streaming services. We first highlight the performance issues during progressive video streaming over TCP to multiple users under resource constrained environment. We then demonstrate the utilization of employing Q-learning method in our scheduler for intelligent orchestration between multiple concurrent flows to ensure against buffer starvation and thus enable smooth playback. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of our context-aware dynamic scheduler to provide service separation between the user classes and fairness within a user class.

Existing mobile network infrastructures, for example the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), are based on mission specific, specialized network nodes/entities that are interconnect via standardized interfaces in a static manner, each providing a specific service/function. One common practice adopted by many Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in order to cater to increasing traffic demand is the over provisioning of network and processing resources. However, this approach results in increased CAPEX and OPEX and in view of future load forecasts this approach is no longer considered feasible or economical. In this paper we address this specific issue and propose the concept of softEPC, which leverages the recent advances in cloud technology concept such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and virtualization techniques in the realm of mobile networks. A softEPC is considered as a virtual network of Evolved Packet Core (EPC) functions over a physical transport network topology. This will enable the on-demand and load-aware dynamic instantiation of network functions and services at appropriate locations in response to the actual traffic demand. The main objective of this approach is to increase the utilization of network resources by flexibly and dynamically placing the network functions/services where most appropriate to provide optimum service and where resources are available to increase the number of services provided to mobile users. The benefits and gains of this approach will be demonstrated by means of simulation results.

The recent proliferation of powerful smartphones have enabled an explosive increase in demand for mobile video (and other content) download services. In order to meet the users' demand and quality expectation, the mobile network operators tend to deploy and operate their own Content Delivery Network (CDN) within their existing network infrastructure. This situation has given rise to new set of research and standardization challenges to address this latest trend of expanding role/scope of network infrastructures and resource demands. New methods and strategies need to be devised for resource-efficient and costeffective delivery of such high volume content to mobile users. In this paper we motivate the enabling of runtime relocation of mobility gateways and CDN Serving Points for maintaining low costs for mobile content delivery. By means of a detailed simulative study, we evaluate the cost of delivering content to mobile users while taking into consideration different topologies, user mobility and content size. We demonstrate that the gain that is achieved in terms of cost saving justify taking additional protocol complexity to support runtime relocation of Mobile CDN serving points.

Fast and secure availability and retrieval of mission critical information for mobile emergency units over a public communication infrastructure is a key factor that determines the mission success during emergency situations. However, the uninterrupted and secure access to public authority databases by the emergency managers, while they are moving towards the scene of incidence in a highly heterogeneous network, is a challenging proposition with imposition of high technical and economical costs. To cater to such a high priority and specialized service application, there is a need to provide an independent IP mobility service framework that would meet the stringent communication requirements of the mobile emergency managers, without requiring any changes/modifications to the existing public communication network infrastructure. With this motivation, we present a novel secure mobility management solution framework called enhanced Client based Secure Handoff for Mobile Units (eCSH-MU), which extends our previously proposed CSH-MU solution. The eCSH-MU solution is a deployable solution, in which the entire mobility functions are managed by the client side, and hence is independent of the underlying network architecture. This paper will provide the operational and functional concept of the eCSH-MU solution and analyze its performance based on a real prototype implementation.

The success and efficiency of managing an emergency situation (such as rescue operation, fire fighting etc.) depends on enabling a system that would ensure the timely availability of high-quality and latest information to the emergency Mobile Units (MU). The system must ensure the provisioning of relevant information in a secure manner irrespective of the location and/or mobility of the MU. The enabling of secure and ubiquitous communication services, while the MUs are on the move, becomes more of a challenge in heterogeneous network environments due to the fact that the present public cellular network infrastructure does not support IP based mobility management functions (MIPv6, mSCTP etc.) and moreover, the interoperability between different access technologies is not well defined. In view of these restrictions, we present in this paper a novel client-based secure handoff management solution that is self-sufficient, does not require and/or rely on any changes on part of the underlying network infrastructure and enables the use of standard web browsers as well. We will present the operational details of our proposed approach and also analyze its performance based on the real implementation over the public network infrastructure. The performance will also be analyzed with respect to the influence of security mechanism such as authentication and encryption on the performance of the vertical handover process and compare the results with the standard mobility solutions such as MIPv6/NEMO and mSCTP based on experimental test beds.

The present day challenge during emergency response is the lack of availability of latest and detailed information to the emergency personnel about the incident scene. The success of the fire mission planning depends critically on the ubiquitous availability of high-quality information (e.g., building plans, aerial photos, hazardous material databases, medical patient data) while the fire fighters are on the move. The information in question is usually distributed over several public authorities offices and, as of today, is requested of them via the traditional time-consuming postal services. Thus to ensure a secure and reliable access to such distributed databases while on the move, we present a comprehensive mobile framework that enables the interoperability of diverse information providers by using a newly proposed emergency Role based Authentication/Authorization Protocol (eRAAP). Moreover, we extend and integrate some important services in the proposed framework; such as the RFID fOr emergencY (ROY) feature that will enhance the system usability for fire brigades during rescue missions. For enabling seamless mobility support to such a system, the Network Mobility (NEMO) protocol is integrated in our framework. Besides providing functional details of the proposed framework, we will also provide performance analysis in terms of the response time and handover process based on our experimental testbed.

IETF has proposed Fast Mobile IPv6 (FMIPv6) protocol, a seamless handover protocol, that reduces packet loss during the handover process by tunneling packets from the MN's previous IP subnet to the new IP subnet where they will get buffered. These buffered packets will get forwarded to the MN once it becomes IP capable in the new subnet. Although packet tunneling and buffering is an effective strategy to reduce packet loss during the handover process but it will not only incur a high tunneling load on the link between the previous and new subnets, especially for CBR traffic, but will also account towards increased processing load in the access routers due to successive tunneling and de-tunneling of packets. This tunneling load is also dependent on the timing of the FMIPv6 handover decision which in turn is directly dependent on the location and speed of the MN. In this paper we propose a mechanism called Proactive Bindings for FMIPv6 (PB-FMIPv6) which can remedy the above limitations. Simulation results have shown that our mechanism not only reduces the tunneling load during the handover process but it also decouples the handover decision from the location and/or speed of the MN.

To manage the mobility of mobile networks, IETF has proposed MIPv6 based network mobility (NEMO) Basic Support protocol. However the NEMO protocol has severe performance limitations and does not specify the route optimization method for mobile networks and does not take into account the operational and functional complexities involving nested mobile networks. The Next Generation Network (NGN) however warrants and demands optimized protocol operation capabilities in terms of supporting nested mobile networks that would meet the stringent quality of service requirements imposed by NGN. This paper presents NERON: NEst Route Optimization for NEMO, an efficient and scalable approach that aims at enabling nodes behind nested mobile networks to use optimized communication paths with zero tunneling overhead and end-to-end delay, irrespective of the depth of the nest, with minimum changes to the base MIPv6 protocol and without introducing any new network entities. The performance results are validated using an accurate simulation model.

Seamless IP mobility protocols like Fast Mobile IPv6 (FMIPv6) requires the knowledge of candidate access routers, to which the mobile node will hand over its connection to, well in advance while the mobile node is still connected to its current AR. The candidate access router discovery (CARD) protocol is one such protocol that provides the identity and capabilities information of the candidate access routers to the mobile node prior to the initiation of handover. The CARD protocol, however, specifies a very generic mechanism and it does not take into account the stringent requirements of fast moving mobile nodes and real time communication sessions. In this paper we present an enhanced mechanism that can enable a fast moving mobile node to discover the identity and capabilities of the candidate access routers which may be adjacent geographically but not topologically to its current access router.