Projects
Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering
Simula Metropolitan is a new research unit that is jointly owned by Simula Research Laboratory and Oslo Metropolitan University, formerly Oslo and Akershus University College (HiOA). It is the home of Simula’s research activities on networks and communications, machine learning and IT management, and it is OsloMet’s strategic partner in research, PhD- and MSc- education in digital engineering. Simula Metropolitan is organized as a limited company and it is part of the Simula lab.
Brief overview of activities
The mission of Simula Metropolitan is to do research in digital engineering at the highest international level, to educate and supervise PhD- and master students at OsloMet and to contribute to innovation in society through collaboration, startup-companies and licensing of research results.
Machine Intelligence Department
Machine Intelligence Department (MIND) aims at advancing frontiers of machine learning and data mining, while developing algorithmic and numerical solutions for the analysis of complex systems and high-dimensional data in science and industry, and use these to make intelligent decisions. This includes development of new and efficient methods for matrix and tensor factorisations, data fusion, development of faster and robust learning methods, deep learning, using techniques from statistics, optimization, regularization theory, signal processing, and statistical learning theory. The ultimate goal is to apply the developed techniques to address challenging problems in various real-life applications from biomedical signal and image analysis, systems biology, climate to social and communication networks.
IT Management
The department of IT management conducts research on how to better manage software development work. This includes empirical research on software development methods, benefit management, cost estimation, risk and uncertainty management, use of contracts and models for user involvements. The goal is to produce results that improve software development work and move the software industry towards more evidence-based practices.
Mobile Systems and Analytics
The Mobile Systems and Analytics (MOSAIC) department focuses on empirical characterization of mobile networks, design of new protocols and algorithms for future mobile networks. More specifically, the group’s research interests lie in the areas of experimental evaluation and characterization of mobile networks (e.g. 3G/4G/5G, Wifi and satellite), design of novel protocols and services over mobile networks. The group is actively involved in EU (H2020 MONROE, H2020 MAMI, FP7 RITE, and more) and ESA (HENCSAT) projects as well as national projects (RCN MEMBRANE, RCN NIMBUS).
Center for Resilient Networks and Applications
The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications (CRNA) was established in 2014 as a response to modern society’s massive and increasing dependability on applications running on top of the Internet. CRNA focuses on the robustness and security of ICT infrastructures, by which we mean that applications should continue to function at the best possible level of quality and security, even in the presence of technical failures, unplanned excessive load, design and implementation flaws in specific components, human error and malicious intent.
The Center receives base funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications. The Ministry has given the Center specific responsibilities through a mandate that includes operating an infrastructure for monitoring the state of the Norwegian telecommunications infrastructure, in particular the mobile broadband networks, and publishing an annual report on that. There is a tight integration between CRNA and Simula@UiB. Whereas CRNA concentrates on safety aspects of digital infrastructures, Simula@UiB has deep expertise in security. CRNA has also established partnerships with mobile operators and relevant stakeholders.
During the past four years CRNA has made a number of key scientific and societal contributions. These include contributions to education and science through the education of master and PhD students and the publication of numerous articles in high impact and respected venues. CRNA has also contributed to informing policy makers and network operators on issues related to digital vulnerability and network performance.
Publications for Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering
Talk, keynote
Robust ICT infrastructure during Hybrid Warfare
In Teknologirådet, Stortinget, Oslo, Norway. Teknologirådet, Stortinget: Simula Metropolitan Centre for Digital Engineering, 2022.Status: Published
Robust ICT infrastructure during Hybrid Warfare
The talk "Robust ICT infrastructure during Hybrid Warfare" discussed how to achieve more robust network connectivity in the light of hybrid warfare.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, GAIA, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications |
| Publication Type | Talk, keynote |
| Year of Publication | 2022 |
| Location of Talk | Teknologirådet, Stortinget, Oslo, Norway |
| Date Published | 11/2022 |
| Publisher | Simula Metropolitan Centre for Digital Engineering |
| Place Published | Teknologirådet, Stortinget |
| Type of Talk | Keynote |
| Keywords | 5G, Cloud services, Robustness, Seacables |
Talks, contributed
Detecting Issues with In-Band Telemetry in OSM-Orchestrated Core Networks
In ETSI, Virtual. Virtual: ETSI, 2022.Status: Published
Detecting Issues with In-Band Telemetry in OSM-Orchestrated Core Networks
Open Source MANO is a helpful tool to manage and orchestrate the instantiation of core network setups, like Network Service (NS) instances of our SimulaMet OpenAirInterface Virtual Network Function (VNF) for Enhanced Packet Cores (EPC). We furthermore extended our NS with VNF instances of Programming Protocol-independent Packet Processors (P4) switches, in order to allow for in-band telemetry. With in-band telemetry, it is possible to flexibly add, process, and remove telemetry information to traffic within the packet core, in order to allow for fine-granular evaluation of the system performance and the users' experienced quality of service. In our presentation and demo, we would like to provide an overview of our ongoing work on P4-based in-band telemetry in an OSM-orchestrated 4G core, which is used for detecting performance problems and anomalies in the network based on machine learning. We would furthermore like to demonstrate the details of our setup to the audience in a live demo.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, NorNet, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure |
| Publication Type | Talks, contributed |
| Year of Publication | 2022 |
| Location of Talk | ETSI, Virtual |
| Publisher | ETSI |
| Place Published | Virtual |
| Type of Talk | Demo presentation |
| Keywords | Anomaly detection, Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), Open Source MANO (OSM), P4, Telemetry |
| URL | http://osm-download.etsi.org/ftp/osm-11.0-eleven/OSM13_Ecosystem_Day/OSM... |
NorNet – A Linux- and Open-Source-Software-based International Platform for Networking Research
In Linux Conference Australia, Virtual. Melbourne, Australia: Linux Conference Australia, 2022.Status: Published
NorNet – A Linux- and Open-Source-Software-based International Platform for Networking Research
The NorNet testbed (https://www.nntb.no) is an Internet testbed platform for research on multi-homed systems. The particular property of multi-homed systems is to be connected to multiple Internet Service Providers (ISP) simultaneously. Its initial purpose is of course to still provide connectivity in case of ISP/network failures. But does it really work that well, also with current protocols and applications? And redundancy does not come for free. A user connected to multiple ISPs will also receive multiple Internet bills each month. So, is there a possibility to make further use of multi-homing in the usual case where nothing goes wrong? Obviously, there are a lot of interesting research questions, which need to be examined in realistic Internet setups! Therefore, we are building up the NorNet open Internet testbed platform as a Linux- and Open-Source-software-based infrastructure, which currently spreads over multiple sites in different countries.
NorNet makes extensive use of advanced Linux features like Kernel-based Virtualisation (KVM), Linux Containers (LXC), BTRFS file system features, IP routing rules, Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), Multi-Path TCP (MPTCP), and many more. The goal of this talk is therefore to present an overview of the testbed, its underlying Linux features, and how they are combined to provide the multi-homing features to the various testbed users. This particularly includes an overview of how to make use of multi-path transport with MPTCP – based on the Linux MPTCP implementation – in multi-homed environments. The idea is to provide guidelines for also utilising multi-homing features in own projects.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | NorNet, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , GAIA |
| Publication Type | Talks, contributed |
| Year of Publication | 2022 |
| Location of Talk | Linux Conference Australia, Virtual |
| Publisher | Linux Conference Australia |
| Place Published | Melbourne, Australia |
| Keywords | Linux, Multi-Homing, Multi-Path Transport, NorNet, Open Source, Testbed |
| URL | https://lca2022.linux.org.au/schedule/presentation/52/ |
Talks, invited
Reliability and security in future telecommunication networks
In Inside Telecom conference, Scandic hotel, Fornebu, Norway. Inside Telecom conference: Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Centre for Resilient Networks and Applications (CRNA), 2022.Status: Published
Reliability and security in future telecommunication networks
The talk address Reliability and security in future telecommunication networks reporting work from SimulaMet SMIL laboratory and the GAIA-project, explaining dependencies and vulnerabilities of current telecommunication networks and applications and how to address these to form robust and reliable networks and services.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, GAIA, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab |
| Publication Type | Talks, invited |
| Year of Publication | 2022 |
| Location of Talk | Inside Telecom conference, Scandic hotel, Fornebu, Norway |
| Publisher | Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Centre for Resilient Networks and Applications (CRNA) |
| Place Published | Inside Telecom conference |
| Type of Talk | Invited talk |
| Keywords | 5G, Applications, Cloud services, geographical dependencies, network measurements, Resilience, Robustness |
Technical reports
Norske mobilnett i 2021 – Tilstandsrapport fra Centre for Resilient Networks and Applications
Oslo/Norway: Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Centre for Resilient Networks and Applications (CRNA), 2022.Status: Published
Norske mobilnett i 2021 – Tilstandsrapport fra Centre for Resilient Networks and Applications
Denne rapporten er utarbeidet av Center for Resilient Networks and Applications (CRNA), som er en del av Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering. CRNA driver grunn- leggende forskning innen robusthet og sikker- het i nettverk med mandat og finansiering fra Kommunal- og moderniseringsdepartementet. Senteret produserer en årlig rapport om tilstan- den i norske mobilnett. Årets rapport er den niende i rekken.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | NorNet, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab |
| Publication Type | Technical reports |
| Year of Publication | 2022 |
| Publisher | Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Centre for Resilient Networks and Applications (CRNA) |
| Place Published | Oslo/Norway |
| ISBN Number | 82-92593-36-5 |
| URL | https://www.simula.no/sites/default/files/norske_mobilnett_i_2021.pdf |
Book
AI and ML – Enablers for Beyond 5G Networks
Online: 5G PPP Technology Board, 2021.Status: Published
AI and ML – Enablers for Beyond 5G Networks
This white paper on AI and ML as enablers of beyond 5G (B5G) networks is based on contributions from almost 20 5G PPP projects, coordinated through the 5G PPP Technology Board, that research, implement and validate 5G and B5G network systems. The paper introduces the main relevant mechanisms in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), currently investigated and exploited for enhancing 5G and B5G networks.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , NorNet, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications |
| Publication Type | Book |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Date Published | 05/2021 |
| Publisher | 5G PPP Technology Board |
| Place Published | Online |
| URL | https://5g-ppp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AI-MLforNetworks-v1-0.pdf |
| DOI | 10.5281/zenodo.429989 |
Journal Article
A Multi-Perspective Study of Internet Performance during the COVID-19 Outbreak
Arxiv (2021).Status: Published
A Multi-Perspective Study of Internet Performance during the COVID-19 Outbreak
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, GAIA |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Journal | Arxiv |
| Publisher | Arxiv |
| Place Published | Arrxiv.org |
| Keywords | COVID, Internet, network |
| DOI | 10.48550/arXiv.2101.05030 |
Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for Computation Offloading and Interference Coordination in Small Cell Networks
IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology 70, no. 9 (2021): 9282-9293.Status: Published
Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for Computation Offloading and Interference Coordination in Small Cell Networks
Integrating mobile edge computing (MEC) with small cell networks has been conceived as a promising solution to provide pervasive computing services. However, the interactions among small cells due to inter-cell interference, the diverse application-specific requirements, as well as the highly dynamic wireless environment make it challenging to design an optimal computation offloading scheme. In this paper, we focus on the joint design of computation offloading and interference coordination for edge intelligence empowered small cell networks. To this end, we propose a distributed multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (DRL) scheme with the objective of minimizing the overall energy consumption while ensuring the latency requirements. Specifically, we exploit the collaboration among small cell base station (SBS) agents to adaptively adjust their strategies, considering computation offloading, channel allocation, power control, and computation resource allocation. Further, to decrease the computation complexity and signaling overhead of the training process, we design a federated DRL scheme which only requires SBS agents to share their model parameters instead of local training data. Numerical results demonstrate that our proposed schemes can significantly reduce the energy consumption and effectively guarantee the latency requirements compared with the benchmark schemes.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Journal | IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology |
| Volume | 70 |
| Issue | 9 |
| Pagination | 9282-9293 |
| Date Published | 09/2021 |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| DOI | 10.1109/TVT.2021.3096928 |
Adaptive Edge Association for Wireless Digital Twin Networks in 6G
IEEE Internet of Things Journal 8, no. 22 (2021): 16219-16230.Status: Published
Adaptive Edge Association for Wireless Digital Twin Networks in 6G
6G is envisioned to be characterized by ubiquitous connectivity, extremely low latency, and enhanced edge intelligence. However, enriching 6G with these features requires addressing new, unique and complex challenges specifically at the edge of the network. In this paper, we propose a wireless digital twin edge network model by integrating digital twin with edge networks to enable new functionalities such as hyper-connected experience and low-latency edge computing. To efficiently construct and maintain digital twins in the wireless digital twin network, we formulate the edge association problem with respect to the dynamic network states and varying network topology. Furthermore, according to the different running stages, we decompose the problem into two sub-problems, including digital twin placement and digital twin migration. Moreover, we develop a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) based algorithm to find the optimal solution to the digital twin placement problem, and then use transfer learning to solve the digital twin migration problem. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme provides reduced system cost and enhanced convergence rate for dynamic network states.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Journal | IEEE Internet of Things Journal |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 22 |
| Pagination | 16219-16230 |
| Date Published | 07/2021 |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| DOI | 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3098508 |
Digital Twin Empowered Content Caching in Social-aware Vehicular Edge Networks
IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems 9, no. 1 (2021): 239-251.Status: Published
Digital Twin Empowered Content Caching in Social-aware Vehicular Edge Networks
The rapid proliferation of smart vehicles along with the advent of powerful applications bring stringent requirements on massive content delivery. Although vehicular edge caching can facilitate delay-bounded content transmission, constrained storage capacity and limited serving range of an individual cache server as well as highly dynamic topology of vehicular networks may degrade the efficiency of content delivery. To address the problem, in this article, we propose a social-aware vehicular edge caching mechanism that dynamically orchestrates the cache capability of roadside units (RSUs) and smart vehicles according to user preference similarity and service availability. Furthermore, catering to the complexity and variability of vehicular social characteristics, we leverage the digital twin technology to map the edge caching system into virtual space, which facilitates constructing the social relation model. Based on the social model, a new concept of vehicular cache cloud is developed to incorporate the correlation of content storing between multiple cache-enabled vehicles in diverse traffic environments. Then, we propose deep learning empowered optimal caching schemes, jointly considering the social model construction, cache cloud formation, and cache resource allocation. We evaluate the proposed schemes based on real traffic data. Numerical results demonstrate that our edge caching schemes have great advantages in optimizing caching utility.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Journal | IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pagination | 239-251 |
| Date Published | 04/2021 |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| DOI | 10.1109/TCSS.2021.3068369 |
Publications
Technical reports
Simula Graduate School of Computing - a Proposal From Simula Research Laboratory for an Educational Collaboration With UiO and UCSD
Simula Research Laboratory, 2010.Status: Published
Simula Graduate School of Computing - a Proposal From Simula Research Laboratory for an Educational Collaboration With UiO and UCSD
| Publication Type | Technical reports |
| Year of Publication | 2010 |
| Publisher | Simula Research Laboratory |
Book Chapter
Bridging the Gap Between Industry and Research
In Simula Research Laboratory - by thinking constantly about it, 533-540. Springer, 2009.Status: Published
Bridging the Gap Between Industry and Research
| Publication Type | Book Chapter |
| Year of Publication | 2009 |
| Book Title | Simula Research Laboratory - by thinking constantly about it |
| Chapter | 38 |
| Pagination | 533-540 |
| Publisher | Springer |
| ISBN Number | 978-3-642-01155-9 |
Proceedings, refereed
Development of a National Workshop to Teach Norwegian Ph.D. Students in Engineering and Science How to Communicate Research
In 2009 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. American Society of Engineering Education, 2009.Status: Published
Development of a National Workshop to Teach Norwegian Ph.D. Students in Engineering and Science How to Communicate Research
| Afilliation | Scientific Computing |
| Project(s) | Center for Biomedical Computing (SFF) |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2009 |
| Conference Name | 2009 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition |
| Publisher | American Society of Engineering Education |
Teaching PhD Students Effective Communication of Scientific Research
In ICERI2009 Proceedings CD. International Association for Technology, Education and Development, 2009.Status: Published
Teaching PhD Students Effective Communication of Scientific Research
| Afilliation | , Scientific Computing |
| Project(s) | Center for Biomedical Computing (SFF) |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2009 |
| Conference Name | ICERI2009 Proceedings CD |
| Publisher | International Association for Technology, Education and Development |
| ISBN Number | 978-84-613-2955-7 |