Emerging Trends and Challenges of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Technologies

A special issue of Computers (ISSN 2073-431X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 4553

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Liberal Arts, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Interests: cloud computing; software-defined networking; serverless computing; high performance computing; big data; learning analytics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are excited to announce a Special Issue of Computers on the topic of "Emerging Trends and Challenges of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Technologies". Software-defined networking (SDN) has been an emerging trend in the world of computer networking for some time. In simple terms, ‘SDN’ describes an approach to networking where the control plane is separated from the data plane. This separation allows for greater flexibility and scalability, as well as improved automation and programmability. Using SDN, the network administrators have the ability to manage network traffic and reconfigure network devices dynamically. The recent trends in SDN are network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined wide-area network (SDN-WAN). The network function virtualization transforms the complex network functions embedded in the hardware into software instances running in the virtual infrastructure. SDN-WAN expands the centralized control across the wide-area network (WAN) to the cloud providers. The proper allocation of those network functions (NFs) and intelligent routing in SDN-WAN efficiently improves the quality of service (QoS).

This Special Issue aims to bring together the latest research on recent developments in SDN. We welcome novel research articles, comprehensive reviews and survey articles. Extended conference papers are also welcome, but they should contain at least 50% of new material, e.g., in the form of technical extensions, more in-depth evaluations, or additional use cases.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • SDN–IoT;
  • Security in SDN;
  • IoT cloud platform based on SDN;
  • SDN-NFV;
  • SDN-WAN.

Dr. Kannan Govindarajan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • software-defined networks
  • mobile networks
  • 5G, 6G
  • big data
  • mobile edge computing
  • energy efficiency
  • security and privacy
  • blockchain
  • network resources allocation
  • Internet of things
  • cloud computing
  • network function virtualization (NFV)
  • SDN-WAN

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 3329 KiB  
Article
Intelligent Traffic Engineering for 6G Heterogeneous Transport Networks
by Hibatul Azizi Hisyam Ng and Toktam Mahmoodi
Computers 2024, 13(3), 74; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers13030074 - 10 Mar 2024
Viewed by 948
Abstract
Novel architectures incorporating transport networks and artificial intelligence (AI) are currently being developed for beyond 5G and 6G technologies. Given that the interfacing mobile and transport network nodes deliver high transactional packet volume in downlink and uplink streams, 6G networks envision adopting diverse [...] Read more.
Novel architectures incorporating transport networks and artificial intelligence (AI) are currently being developed for beyond 5G and 6G technologies. Given that the interfacing mobile and transport network nodes deliver high transactional packet volume in downlink and uplink streams, 6G networks envision adopting diverse transport networks, including non-terrestrial types of transport networks such as the satellite network, High-Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS), and DOCSIS cable TV. Hence, there is a need to match the traffic to the transport network. This paper focuses on such a matching problem and defines a method that leverages machine learning and mixed-integer linear programming. Consequently, the proposed scheme in this paper is to develop a traffic steering capability based on types of transport networks, namely, optical, satellite, and DOCSIS cable. Novel findings demonstrate a more than 90% accuracy of steered traffic to respective types of transport networks for dedicated transport network resources. Full article
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34 pages, 1269 KiB  
Article
Stochastic Modeling for Intelligent Software-Defined Vehicular Networks: A Survey
by Banoth Ravi, Blesson Varghese, Ilir Murturi, Praveen Kumar Donta, Schahram Dustdar, Chinmaya Kumar Dehury and Satish Narayana Srirama
Computers 2023, 12(8), 162; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers12080162 - 12 Aug 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1898
Abstract
Digital twins and the Internet of Things (IoT) have gained significant research attention in recent years due to their potential advantages in various domains, and vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are one such application. VANETs can provide a wide range of services for [...] Read more.
Digital twins and the Internet of Things (IoT) have gained significant research attention in recent years due to their potential advantages in various domains, and vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are one such application. VANETs can provide a wide range of services for passengers and drivers, including safety, convenience, and information. The dynamic nature of these environments poses several challenges, including intermittent connectivity, quality of service (QoS), and heterogeneous applications. Combining intelligent technologies and software-defined networking (SDN) with VANETs (termed intelligent software-defined vehicular networks (iSDVNs)) meets these challenges. In this context, several types of research have been published, and we summarize their benefits and limitations. We also aim to survey stochastic modeling and performance analysis for iSDVNs and the uses of machine-learning algorithms through digital twin networks (DTNs), which are also part of iSDVNs. We first present a taxonomy of SDVN architectures based on their modes of operation. Next, we survey and classify the state-of-the-art iSDVN routing protocols, stochastic computations, and resource allocations. The evolution of SDN causes its complexity to increase, posing a significant challenge to efficient network management. Digital twins offer a promising solution to address these challenges. This paper explores the relationship between digital twins and SDN and also proposes a novel approach to improve network management in SDN environments by increasing digital twin capabilities. We analyze the pitfalls of these state-of-the-art iSDVN protocols and compare them using tables. Finally, we summarize several challenges faced by current iSDVNs and possible future directions to make iSDVNs autonomous. Full article
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Review

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28 pages, 3424 KiB  
Review
A Qualitative and Comparative Performance Assessment of Logically Centralized SDN Controllers via Mininet Emulator
by Mohammad Nowsin Amin Sheikh, I-Shyan Hwang, Muhammad Saibtain Raza and Mohammad Syuhaimi Ab-Rahman
Computers 2024, 13(4), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers13040085 - 25 Mar 2024
Viewed by 720
Abstract
An alternative networking approach called Software Defined Networking (SDN) enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network construction, hence enhancing network performance. It splits a traditional network into a centralized control plane and a configurable data plane. Because the core component overseeing every data plane action [...] Read more.
An alternative networking approach called Software Defined Networking (SDN) enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network construction, hence enhancing network performance. It splits a traditional network into a centralized control plane and a configurable data plane. Because the core component overseeing every data plane action is the controller in the control plane, which may contain one or more controllers and is thought of as the brains of the SDN network, controller functionality and performance are crucial to achieve optimal performances. There is much controller research available in the existing literature. Nevertheless, no qualitative comparison study of OpenFlow-enabled distributed but logically centralized controllers exists. This paper includes a quantitative investigation of the performance of several distributed but logically centralized SDN controllers in custom network scenarios using Mininet, as well as a thorough qualitative comparison of them. More precisely, we give a qualitative evaluation of their attributes and classify and categorize 13 distributed but logically centralized SDN controllers according to their capabilities. Additionally, we offer a comprehensive SDN emulation tool, called Mininet-based SDN controller performance assessment, in this study. Using six performance metrics—bandwidth, round-trip time, delay, jitter, packet loss, and throughput—this work also assesses five distributed but logically centralized controllers within two custom network scenarios (uniform and non-uniform host distribution). Our analysis reveals that the Ryu controller outperforms the OpenDayLight controller in terms of latency, packet loss, and round-trip time, while the OpenDayLight controller performs well in terms of throughput, bandwidth, and jitter. Throughout the entire experiment, the HyperFlow and ONOS controllers performed worst in all performance metrics. Finally, we discuss detailed research findings on performance. These experimental results provide decision-making guidelines when selecting a controller. Full article
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