SimulaMets research projects are both internally and externally financed. We collaborate with universities both in Norway and in other countries, as well as with industry.
Raksha: 5G Security for Critical Communications
The 5G networks can act as a vehicle to drive the digitalization phase for realizing a gigabit networked society. They use Service-Based Architecture to enable different use-case scenarios for example future critical communications services, such as Next Generation Nodnett (NGN) in Norway will be moving towards 5G networks. The complex 5G networks are vulnerable to cyber-attacks due to the increasing level of network softwarization approach, a requirement to support less secure legacy networks, and the adoption of web-centric protocols for the core network signaling. In addition, the security requirements of NGN are different than of 5G networks, hence it is crucial to understand their threat landscape from the attacker's perspective.
There is also a need for threat modeling methods and tools to effectively identify and address emerging risks in multi-generational 5G networks. Existing threat modeling approaches have limited scope to accommodate new security paradigms and varying degrees of trust assumptions of 5G networks. Moreover, it is almost impossible to validate threat modeling approaches by performing cyber security exercises and assess vulnerabilities on operational 5G as this could lead to unacceptable risk. Therefore, one of the best approaches to address the above issues is to combine threat modeling science together with a cyber range concept to enhance the cyber-resiliency of 5G-enabled critical communications and eventually other use-cases as well.
The project delivers a 5G cyber range platform empowered with tools for risk and threat assessment, cyber-attack simulation, evaluation and demonstration of defensive solutions for NGN. The project includes a Norwegian mobile operator, authorities responsible for cellular networks and security, research institutes, and universities. The proposed approach could be a future best practice for the Norwegian telecom industry to address cyber security challenges.
Coordinator:
Partners:
SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab
Research objectives
The SimulaMet Interoperability lab (SMIL) support a wide range of research activities at SimulaMet, and will in particular address the following research areas:
- Benchmark and improve time-sensitive networking technologies for 5G networks between base stations and edge computing for 5G.
- Study and improve mechanisms for network slicing to ensure successful co-use of 5G networks for critical applications.
- Study how legacy computers can be used to realize Cloud Radio Access Networks by using software defined radio and lower cost of deployment by moving functionality from hardware to software. Of particular interest is real-time scheduling of Cloud RAN workloads in edge data centres.
- Study new 5G and IoT applications enabled by edge computing using features such as low latency, high throughput and quality of service guarantees combined with edge computing capabilities available in 5G cellular networks.
- Develop and improve self-driving networks for fast recovery with technologies such as SDN, P4 and Network Function Virtualization in combination with machine learning of large-scale data analytics of the entire networked system.
- Understand and improve mechanisms required to establish Robust cellular networks for reliable infrastructure for new user groups which relies on dependable networks.
Time sensitive networking
Traditionally, dedicated point-to-point connections using Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) have been used to interconnect smart cellular antennas to base stations. In 5G, the main infrastructure vendors have proposed e-CPRI, based on the Ethernet standard. With Ethernet, one would expect to leverage traditional switches for aggregation and simultaneous data transport in addition to e-CPRI, but Ethernet and legacy switches are not built for the timing requirements of 5G. To overcome this problem, different technologies have been suggested to enable Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) with Ethernet as the transport technology. In this research activity, we study how TSN can be realized in 5G front haul networks, combining the requirements of synchronization, bound latency in combination with traditional best-effort packet transport. In the laboratory we collaborate with TransPacket for access to FPGA-based implementations of TSN using the Fusion network technology implemented in Xilinx FPGAs enabling 100 Gbit/s Ethernet transport aggregating 5G base stations using 10Gbit/s ethernet with guaranteed transport service.
Network slicing
In 5G networks, the concept of Network slicing enables different classes of applications to share the same physical network. 5G is expected to be able to handle applications like emergency networks, real-time industry applications in combination with supporting demanding multimedia applications for consumers. These requirements require ability to express and enforce Quality of Service requirements ranging from frequency resource allocation, 5G base station resource allocation, network quality of service and allocation of processing resources in edge computers.
Initial work has focused on SDN-based implementations using the opensource Open Air interface, and future work will extend this to network slicing in 5G-NR and 5G front-haul and back-haul network guarantees for network slicing.
Cloud Radio Access Networks (Cloud RAN)
Cloud RAN enable the use of general purpose computers placed in edge data centres for realizing virtualized radio functions by using software defined radio techniques to lower cost of deployment by moving functionality from hardware to software. Of a particular interest to our research group is real-time scheduling of Cloud RAN workloads, how to partition between real-time and non-real-time workloads in the Cloud RAN, and how to handle the strict requirements to enable services like Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) which can enable new applications previously not possible in cellular networks. Vendors are already introducing Cloud RAN solutions, such as the Nokia AirScale CloudRAN , the 4G/5G C-RAN architecture from Ericsson and 5G oriented C-RAN solutions from Huawei. It is of a particular interest to study if such network architectures can be realized in a multi-vendor environment. At what level should interoperability be ensured? Can Virtual Network Functions from different vendors run in the same edge computer environment?
New 5G and IoT applications enabled by edge computing
With edge computing deployed in the distributed 5G networks, new 5G and IoT applications can be made possible since response times can be guaranteed, and computing resources can be made available close to the application. An example is the real-time application of collision avoidance for cars sharing their sensor data with a local edge data center which can execute collision avoidance algorithms within specified time deadlines to provide drivers or self-driving vehicles with time-critical information to avoid collision. Other applications like games using augmented reality and real-time collaboration in industrial applications can be enabled by low latency and high throughput communication service with processing in edge data centres. Finally, IoT sensors with very low power consumption can leverage high sensitivity 5G NR capabilities to provide very long battery life for embedded applications. In SMIL, we will collaborate with other research groups and the 5G industry to investigate applications previously not possible in cellular networks and suggest improvements to applications and networks.
Self-driving Networks
The complexity of configuration and adjustment of telecommunication networks to respond to rapid changes in demand has led to the vision of Self-driving networks which measure, analyze and control themselves in an automated manner. Self-driving networks can react to changes in the environment (e.g., demand), while exploiting existing flexibilities to optimize themselves. Furthermore, the advent of large-scale machine learning can also benefit self-driving networks and over time develop to faster reconfiguration and more reliable operation compared to manual configuration by human operators, see for example the paper Why (and How) Networks Should Run Themselves for an in-depth discussion.
This method is of particular interest in 5G to ensure rapid reconfiguration in case of failure which requires automated response to demand, changes in geographic load in the network, change in network capacity and loss of connectivity with minimal impact for critical applications. The requirement for reconfiguration can also be used for business purposes, for example optimized use of software licenses, where an operator can install hardware at all relevant locations but deploy software licenses only for operation of a subset of this hardware based on actual demand and moved with users. This research area is closely related to Software Defined Networking which until recently has focused mostly on the data plane with technologies such as OpenFlow and Netconf/Yang.
Recent developments such as the Programming Protocol-independent Packet Processors language (P4) has enabled software control also of the data plane which opens for software defined processing in the actual packet flow. In SMIL, we plan to leverage these advances together from SDN controllers such as OpenDaylight to enable Self-driving networks for access and transport networks for 5G. In the laboratory, we will use the latest MX-series routers from Juniper Networks with P4 capabilites to explore self-driving networks for 5G.
Robust cellular networks
New user groups are encouraged to share a common infrastructure to save cost and leverage state of the art technologies. This trend increases the requirements of robustness of the underlying architecture since our society relies not only on critical consumer services like communication services, banking, shopping and logistics, but also applications traditionally served by dedicated networks such as military, emergency (e.g. TETRA) and railroad signalling networks (e.g. GSM-R) which all consider 5G as their network infrastructure in the future.
We believe Heterogeneous infrastructure has several benefits to ensure interoperability and open standards in 5G but this requirement also adds to the complexity of the network since different vendors may rely on different network structures, and different communication protocols even if they are defined by standard bodies such as 3GPP. When the goal of heterogenous infrastructure is added to requirements from new users, we can see that 5G represents very demanding requirements for the cellular operators and the network infrastructure vendors.
SimulaMet Centre for Resilient Networks and Applications have studied this topic over many years in fixed networks, in 4G cellular networks and for IoT applications. With the new laboratory, we will extend our studies to 5G New Radio and will also address how to provide robustness of the 5G core network by reducing the dependency for a centralized 5G infrastructure by virtualization.
Publications for SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab
Proceedings, refereed
Reliable Server Pooling Based Workload Offloading with Mobile Edge Computing: A Proof-of-Concept
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Recent Advances for Multi-Clouds and Mobile Edge Computing (M2EC) in conjunction with the 35th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA). Toronto, Ontario/Canada: Springer, 2021.Status: Published
Reliable Server Pooling Based Workload Offloading with Mobile Edge Computing: A Proof-of-Concept
In recent times, mobile broadband devices have become almost ubiquitous. However, battery-powered devices (such as smartphones), have limitations on energy consumption, computation power and storage space. Cloud computing, and in particular with the upcoming 5G networks, Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) can provide compute and storage services at the vicinity of the user (with a low communication latency). However, the complexity lies in how to simply and efficiently realise MEC services, with the auxiliary public (multi-)cloud resources? In this paper, we propose a proof-of-concept of using Reliable Server Pooling (RSerPool) as a light-weight layer of managing resource pools and handling application sessions with these pools. Our approach is simple, efficient, has low overhead and is available as open-source. Here, we demonstrate the usefulness of our approach by measuring in a test setup, with a 4G testbed connected to MEC and public multi-cloud resources.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | NorNet, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, MELODIC: Multi-cloud Execution-ware for Large-scale Optimised Data-Intensive Computing |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Conference Name | Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Recent Advances for Multi-Clouds and Mobile Edge Computing (M2EC) in conjunction with the 35th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA) |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Place Published | Toronto, Ontario/Canada |
| Keywords | 5G, Evolved Packet Core (EPC), Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), Multi-Cloud Computing, Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), Reliable Server Pooling (RSerPool) |
Talk, keynote
NorNet at Hainan University in 2021: From Simulations to Real-World Internet Measurements for Multi-Path Transport Research — A Remote Presentation
In Haikou, Hainan/People's Republic of China. Haikou, Hainan/People's Republic of China, 2021.Status: Published
NorNet at Hainan University in 2021: From Simulations to Real-World Internet Measurements for Multi-Path Transport Research — A Remote Presentation
A large fraction of the communication in the Internet is handled by the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Since the first deployments of this protocol more than 30 years ago, the spectrum of applications as well as the structure of the network have developed at a fast pace. For example, today's network devices, like smartphones and laptops — i.e. particularly many devices in the area of mobile computing — frequently have an interesting property: the existence of multiple IP addresses (IPv4 and/or IPv6). The addresses may even change due to mobility. This property, denoted as multi-homing, can be utilised for multi-path transport, i.e. the simultaneous usage of multiple paths in the network to improve performance. Multi-path transport is a hot topic in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which is the standardisation organisation for the Internet. This talk provides an overview of the work in the areas of multi-homing and multi-path transport, with focus on the area of the protocols TCP and Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) with their experimental extensions Multi-Path TCP (MPTCP) and Concurrent Multi-Path Transfer for SCTP (CMT-SCTP). It particularly shows the sequence of research and selected results, beginning from a simple simulation model, via lab setups and small Internet scenarios, up to the large-scale, international testbed project NorNet. NorNet, and particularly its landline network part NorNet Core, is furthermore described in some detail. Based on NorNet, it is finally possible to validate simulation results in real-world, multi-homed networks, in order to provide valuable input to the ongoing IETF standardisation processes of MPTCP and CMT-SCTP. Particularly, it will also show how the NorNet testbed can be utilised for research at Hainan University in 2021.
| 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 | Talk, keynote |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Location of Talk | Haikou, Hainan/People's Republic of China |
| Date Published | 01/2021 |
| Place Published | Haikou, Hainan/People's Republic of China |
| Keywords | Introduction, Multi-Homing, NorNet, NorNet Core, NorNet Edge, Status, Testbed |
Talks, invited
NorNet at Hainan University in 2021: Getting Started with NorNet Core — A Remote Tutorial
In Haikou, Hainan/People's Republic of China. Haikou, Hainan/People's Republic of China, 2021.Status: Published
NorNet at Hainan University in 2021: Getting Started with NorNet Core — A Remote Tutorial
This tutorial — presented for students at the College of Information Science and Technology (CIST) at Hainan University — provides an introduction on how to get access to the NorNet Core testbed as well as how to run experiments in the testbed in 2021.
| 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 | Talks, invited |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Location of Talk | Haikou, Hainan/People's Republic of China |
| Place Published | Haikou, Hainan/People's Republic of China |
| Keywords | Multi-Homing, Multi-Path Transport, NorNet, NorNet Core, Testbed, Tutorial |
Proceedings, refereed
Integrating Cloud-RAN with Packet Core as VNF Using Open Source MANO and OpenAirInterface
In Proceedings of the 45th IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN). Sydney, New South Wales/Australia: IEEE Computer Society, 2020.Status: Published
Integrating Cloud-RAN with Packet Core as VNF Using Open Source MANO and OpenAirInterface
The Cloud-based Radio Access Network (Cloud-RAN) architecture and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are key enablers to building future mobile networks in a flexible and cost-efficient way. With early deployments of the fifth generation of mobile technologies - 5G - around the world, setting up 4G/5G experimental infrastructures is necessary to optimally design 5G networks. In this demo, we present a custom small-scale 4G/5G testbed based on OpenAirInterface and Open Source MANO. The testbed integrates a Cloud-RAN based on switched Ethernet Xhaul and functional splitting, with an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) deployed as a Virtual Network Function (VNF) in a cloud infrastructure. Using Open Source MANO, this demo shows the administration and monitoring of the EPC VNF components. Moreover, as proof of concept, collection and visualization of telemetry will be shown for two smart-phones connected to the network through the Cloud-RAN.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, NorNet, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | Proceedings of the 45th IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN) |
| Date Published | 11/2020 |
| Publisher | IEEE Computer Society |
| Place Published | Sydney, New South Wales/Australia |
| Keywords | Cloud Radio Access Network (Cloud-RAN), Ethernet Xhaul, Fronthaul, Functional Splits, Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), Open Source MANO (OSM) |
Talks, invited
Custom-Made Enhanced Packet Cores as Network Services for 4G/5G Testbeds managed with Open Source MANO
In M5G-2020-Workshop (Online), 2020.Status: Published
Custom-Made Enhanced Packet Cores as Network Services for 4G/5G Testbeds managed with Open Source MANO
Setting up Enhanced Packet Cores (EPC) – like the Mosaic5G OpenAirInterface-based EPC – for 4G/5G Testbeds is a complicated and error-prone task. Therefore, we developed the SimulaMet OpenAirInterface VNF, a complex 4-VDU VNF, which upon instantiation builds the components of the EPC from scratch from given source Git repositories. That is, based on the parametrisation, users can easily create tailor-made EPCs for their projects, particularly EPCs based on the Mosaic5G FlexRAN sources. In this presentation, we would like to shortly highlight the solutions chosen to efficiently use OSM for handling the instantiation process, performing telemetry, and debugging issues. That is, we particularly would like to present to the Mosaic5G audience some lessons learned during the ongoing development.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | NorNet, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering |
| Publication Type | Talks, invited |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Location of Talk | M5G-2020-Workshop (Online) |
| Keywords | 5G, Evolved Packet Core, Network Function Virtualisation, Open Source MANO, OpenAirInterface |
Managing Tailor-Made Enhanced Packet Cores for 4G/5G Testbeds in OSM with the SimulaMet OpenAirInterface VNF
In OSM Hackfest (Online), 2020.Status: Published
Managing Tailor-Made Enhanced Packet Cores for 4G/5G Testbeds in OSM with the SimulaMet OpenAirInterface VNF
The SimulaMet OpenAirInterface VNF is a complex 4-VDU VNF, allowing its users to instantiate and maintain a tailor-made Enhanced Packet Core (EPC) for 4G/5G mobile broadband testbeds. The EPC components are directly built from their sources during instantiation, allowing to use customised versions according to the users' needs. A general overview has already been presented during the OSM Hackfest in March 2020. In this presentation and live demonstration, we would like to highlight the solutions chosen to efficiently use OSM for handling the instantiation process, provide telemetry, and to debug issues. That is, we particularly would like to present to the audience the lessons learned during the ongoing development. Finally, we would also like to show the audience a live demo of an OSM-managed 4G testbed setup with telemetry collection.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | NorNet, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering |
| Publication Type | Talks, invited |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Location of Talk | OSM Hackfest (Online) |
| Keywords | 5G, Evolved Packet Core, Network Function Virtualisation, Open Source MANO, OpenAirInterface |
| URL | http://osm-download.etsi.org/ftp/osm-8.0-eight/OSM10-hackfest/EcosystemD... |
GAIA
Background
Recent advances in cloud computing and higher network capacities have led to online services being hosted at diverse geographic locations. Outsourcing of services for commercial reasons have become common. The growth of the internet infrastructure has happened dynamically and has been based on trust. Therefore, many countries now rely on services that are not contained within their respective national borders. These may be general services, such as Google, WhatsApp and Facebook as well as the DNS infrastructure and microservices critical to national services like health and online banking.
This development has led to our society becoming increasingly vulnerable to cyber-attacks and major disruptions. Recent increases in cyber attacks and their potential harmful ramifications have made combating cyber vulnerabilities a national security priority. Consequently, an increasing number of states are calling for tighter controls on service placement and Internet connectivity in order to maintain national autonomy. While these fears could be warranted, a premature push in this direction may undermine the very fabric of openness and trust that binds the Internet together.
In this respect, GAIA aims to fill an important gap in our current knowledge, which is the lack of maps that describe the geographic distribution of online services. Such maps will provide an understanding of how Internet traffic travels between different countries and allow us to explore how internet connectivity interplays with geopolitics. GAIA will achieve that through an interdisciplinary effort that combines technological and political aspects of the problem. To this end, the project consortium comprises a unique set of stakeholders, including computer scientists, social and political scientists, regulatory bodies and network operators.
See GAIA's webpages here.
Partner
SimulaMet is partnering with The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) to deliver this project.
Outcomes
The insights gained by the GAIA project will help reducing the vulnerability of our society to potential harmful attacks on communication infrastructures which in worse case could harm our economy, endager our democracy and even result in loss of
The envisioned results of GAIA will thus contribute to improve our understanding of the complex interplay between digital vulnerabilities and national autonomy, which will be of relevance to policy makers, technologists and end users.
And just as important, GAIA's findings will provide regulators and policy makers with expert opinions that will help navigating the intricate conflict of interest between national autonomy and the trust-based openness on which the current Internet is based.
Consortium and methods
The project consortium comprises a unique set of stakeholders, including computer scientists, social and political scientists, regulatory bodies and network operators. GAIA will be using a combination of methods; measurement and data analytics, testbed experimentations as well as interviews and case studies.
Publications for GAIA
Proceedings, refereed
On the Accuracy of Country-Level IP Geolocation
In Applied Networking Research Workshop (ANRW). Madrid/Spain: ACM, 2020.Status: Published
On the Accuracy of Country-Level IP Geolocation
The proliferation of online services comprised of globally spread microservices has security and performance implications. Understanding the underlying physical paths connecting end points has become important. This paper investigates the accuracy of commonly used IP geolocation approaches in geolocating end-to-end IP paths. To this end, we perform a controlled measurement study to collect IP level paths. We find that existing databases tend to geolocate IPs that belong to networks with global presence and those move between networks erroneously. A small percentage of IP geolocation disagreement between databases results in a significant disagreement when geolocating end-to-end paths. Geolocating one week of RIPE traceroute data validates our observations.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | GAIA, NorNet, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | Applied Networking Research Workshop (ANRW) |
| Date Published | 07/2020 |
| Publisher | ACM |
| Place Published | Madrid/Spain |
| ISBN Number | 978-1-4503-8039-3 |
| Keywords | Geolocation Approaches, Geolocation Databases, IP Geolocation |
| DOI | 10.1145/3404868.3406664 |
Optical Fibre as a Sensor for Network Anomaly Detection
In ACM SIGCOMM 2020 Workshop on Optical Systems Design, 2020.Status: Accepted
Optical Fibre as a Sensor for Network Anomaly Detection
Optical fibres are the backbone of modern Information Technology infrastructure connecting billions of users through high-speed networks. With a drastic increase in the number of internet users, vulnerability and security issues in the optical fibre network become increasingly important. In this paper, we propose a detection method for early warning of anomalies in optical networks. The method is based on monitoring and analyzing changes in the state of polarization of the optical signal targeting differentiating between different physical impacts and movements of the fibre caused by e.g. eavesdropping, cut by digging and thunderstorms.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | GAIA |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | ACM SIGCOMM 2020 Workshop on Optical Systems Design |
HiPerConTracer - A Versatile Tool for IP Connectivity Tracing in Multi-Path Setups
In Proceedings of the 28th IEEE International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks (SoftCOM). Hvar, Dalmacija/Croatia: IEEE, 2020.Status: Published
HiPerConTracer - A Versatile Tool for IP Connectivity Tracing in Multi-Path Setups
Nowadays, we see a steadily increasing number of Internet devices with connections to multiple networks. For example, every smartphone provides mobile broadband and Wi-Fi connectivity. Multi-path transport protocols, like MPTCP, CMT-SCTP or Multipath-QUIC, allow for utilising all connected networks simultaneously. However, while there is a lot of research on the Transport Layer aspects of multi-path transport, there is not much work on the Network Layer perspective, yet.
In this paper, we introduce our Open Source tool HiPerConTracer (High-Performance Connectivity Tracer) for efficient, parallelised, long-term measurements of the path connectivity characteristics among multi-homed Internet systems. HiPerConTracer is now running as a permanent feature in the NorNet Core infrastructure, which is used for research on multi-homed systems, and in particular for research on multi-path transport. Based on the HiPerConTracer data collected in NorNet Core so far, we finally present some interesting results from the analysis of the inter-continental site connectivity between China and Norway in January 2020.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | NorNet, GAIA, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | Proceedings of the 28th IEEE International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks (SoftCOM) |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| Place Published | Hvar, Dalmacija/Croatia |
| Keywords | HiPerConTracer, Multi-Path Transport, NorNet, NorNet Core, Ping, Traceroute |
5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure
5G-VINNI will accelerate the uptake of 5G in Europe by providing an end-to-end (E2E) facility that validates the performance of new 5G technologies by operating trials of advanced vertical sector services. The 5G-VINNI strategy to achieve this involves:
- Designing the most advanced 5G facility to demonstrate that technical and business 5G KPIs can be met,
- Building and operating 7 interworking instances of the E2E facility to prove the capabilities and openness of the system,
- Creating user friendly zero-touch orchestration, operations and management systems for the 5G-VINNI facilities to ensure operational efficiencies and optimal resource use,
- Proving the 5G-VINNI capabilities through extensive experiments and measurements of performance against the 5G KPIs,
- Developing a viable 5G ecosystem model to support the NaaS infrastructure provision as a sustainable business beyond the project, and
- Promoting the value of 5G-VINNI results to the relevant standards bodies and open source communities.
The 5G-VINNI E2E facility will demonstrate the achievement of 5G KPIs across a range of combinations and permutations of new 5G access technologies and end-user equipment types interconnected by the most advanced 5G core network technologies available. For this 5G-VINNI will leverage the latest 5G technologies, including results from previous 5G PPP projects. This approach employs Network Function Virtualization, Network Slicing and a rigorous automated testing campaign to validate the 5G KPIs under various combinations of technologies and network loads.
To ensure realistic load scenarios 5G-VINNI will create and make available an openness framework to give verticals and peer projects easy access to the 5G-VINNI facilities, both legally and technically, e.g. via open APIs. The 5G-VINNI facilities include 7 infrastructure instances in nationally supported 5G nodes across Europe; this number may be expanded as the ICT-19 projects come on-line in 2019.
Funding source
This project has received funding from the European Horizon 2020 Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement n° 815279 - 5G VINNI
All partners
Simula Metropolitan Centre for Digital Engineering (Norway)
Telenor ASA (Norway)
British Telecommunications Public Limited Company (UK)
Telefonica Investigacion y Desarollo SA TID (Spain)
Samsung Electronics (UK)
Limited SAMS (UK)
Huawei Technologies Duesseldorf GMBH (Germany)
Huawei Technologies Norway AS (Norway)
Ericsson AS (Norway)
Nokia Solutions and Networks (Finland)
Software Radio Systems Limited SRS 9Ireland)
Lime Microsystems LTD (UK)
EANTC Aktiengesellschaft (Germany)
Keysight Technologies (Denmark)
APS KEYS (Denmark)
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V. FHG (Germany)
EURESCOM-European Institute for Research and Strategic Studies in Telecommunications GMBH EUR (Germany)
Altice Labs SA (Portugal)
Panepistimio Patron UOP (Greece)
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain)
Athens University of Economics and Business – Research Center AUEB (Greece)
Intracom SA Telecom Solutions ICOM (Greece)
SES Techcom SA SES (Luxembourg)
Cisco Norway AS (Norway)
Engineering-Ingegneria Informatica SPA (Italy)
Social media presence
Publications for 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure
Journal Article
Optimising Performance for NB-IoT UE Devices through Data Driven Models
Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks 10 (2021).Status: Published
Optimising Performance for NB-IoT UE Devices through Data Driven Models
This paper presents a data driven framework for performance optimisation of Narrow-Band IoT user equipment. The proposed framework is an edge micro-service that suggests one-time configurations to user equipment communicating with a base station. Suggested configurations are delivered from a Configuration Advocate, to improve energy consumption, delay, throughput or a combination of those metrics, depending on the user-end device and the application. Reinforcement learning utilising gradient descent and genetic algorithm is adopted synchronously with machine and deep learning algorithms to predict the environmental states and suggest an optimal configuration. The results highlight the adaptability of the Deep Neural Network in the prediction of intermediary environmental states, additionally the results present superior performance of the genetic reinforcement learning algorithm regarding its performance optimisation.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Journal | Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks |
| Volume | 10 |
| Number | 1 |
| Publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| ISSN | 2224-2708 |
| URL | https://www.mdpi.com/2224-2708/10/1/21 |
| DOI | 10.3390/jsan10010021 |
Proceedings, refereed
Reliable Server Pooling Based Workload Offloading with Mobile Edge Computing: A Proof-of-Concept
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Recent Advances for Multi-Clouds and Mobile Edge Computing (M2EC) in conjunction with the 35th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA). Toronto, Ontario/Canada: Springer, 2021.Status: Published
Reliable Server Pooling Based Workload Offloading with Mobile Edge Computing: A Proof-of-Concept
In recent times, mobile broadband devices have become almost ubiquitous. However, battery-powered devices (such as smartphones), have limitations on energy consumption, computation power and storage space. Cloud computing, and in particular with the upcoming 5G networks, Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) can provide compute and storage services at the vicinity of the user (with a low communication latency). However, the complexity lies in how to simply and efficiently realise MEC services, with the auxiliary public (multi-)cloud resources? In this paper, we propose a proof-of-concept of using Reliable Server Pooling (RSerPool) as a light-weight layer of managing resource pools and handling application sessions with these pools. Our approach is simple, efficient, has low overhead and is available as open-source. Here, we demonstrate the usefulness of our approach by measuring in a test setup, with a 4G testbed connected to MEC and public multi-cloud resources.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | NorNet, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, MELODIC: Multi-cloud Execution-ware for Large-scale Optimised Data-Intensive Computing |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Conference Name | Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Recent Advances for Multi-Clouds and Mobile Edge Computing (M2EC) in conjunction with the 35th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA) |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Place Published | Toronto, Ontario/Canada |
| Keywords | 5G, Evolved Packet Core (EPC), Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), Multi-Cloud Computing, Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), Reliable Server Pooling (RSerPool) |
Journal Article
Dissecting Energy Consumption of NB-IoT Devices Empirically
IEEE Internet of Things Journal 8, no. 2 (2020): 1224-1242.Status: Published
Dissecting Energy Consumption of NB-IoT Devices Empirically
3GPP has recently introduced NB-IoT, a new mobile communication standard offering a robust and energy efficient connectivity option to the rapidly expanding market of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. To unleash its full potential, end-devices are expected to work in a plug and play fashion, with zero or minimal configuration of parameters, still exhibiting excellent energy efficiency. We performed the most comprehensive set of empirical measurements with commercial IoT devices and different operators to date, quantifying the impact of several parameters to energy consumption. Our findings prove that parameters’ settings does impact energy consumption, so proper configuration is necessary. We shed light on this aspect by first illustrating how the nominal standard operational modes map into real current consumption patterns of NB-IoT devices. Further, we investigated which device-reported metadata metrics better reflected performance and implemented an algorithm to automatically identify device state in current time series logs. We worked with two major western European operators to provide a measurement-driven analysis of the energy consumption and network performance of two popular NB-IoT boards under different parameter configurations. We observed that energy consumption is mostly affected by the paging interval in Connected state, set by the base station. However, not all operators correctly implement such settings. Furthermore, under the default configuration, energy consumption in not strongly affected by packet size nor by signal quality, unless it is extremely bad. Our observations indicate that simple modifications to the default parameters’ settings can yield great energy savings.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Journal | IEEE Internet of Things Journal |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pagination | 1224 - 1242 |
| Date Published | 08/2020 |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| ISSN | 2327-4662 |
| Keywords | energy consumption, Internet of things, LTE, NB-IoT |
| DOI | 10.1109/JIOT.2020.3013949 |
Proceedings, refereed
Integrating Cloud-RAN with Packet Core as VNF Using Open Source MANO and OpenAirInterface
In Proceedings of the 45th IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN). Sydney, New South Wales/Australia: IEEE Computer Society, 2020.Status: Published
Integrating Cloud-RAN with Packet Core as VNF Using Open Source MANO and OpenAirInterface
The Cloud-based Radio Access Network (Cloud-RAN) architecture and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are key enablers to building future mobile networks in a flexible and cost-efficient way. With early deployments of the fifth generation of mobile technologies - 5G - around the world, setting up 4G/5G experimental infrastructures is necessary to optimally design 5G networks. In this demo, we present a custom small-scale 4G/5G testbed based on OpenAirInterface and Open Source MANO. The testbed integrates a Cloud-RAN based on switched Ethernet Xhaul and functional splitting, with an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) deployed as a Virtual Network Function (VNF) in a cloud infrastructure. Using Open Source MANO, this demo shows the administration and monitoring of the EPC VNF components. Moreover, as proof of concept, collection and visualization of telemetry will be shown for two smart-phones connected to the network through the Cloud-RAN.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, NorNet, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | Proceedings of the 45th IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN) |
| Date Published | 11/2020 |
| Publisher | IEEE Computer Society |
| Place Published | Sydney, New South Wales/Australia |
| Keywords | Cloud Radio Access Network (Cloud-RAN), Ethernet Xhaul, Fronthaul, Functional Splits, Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), Open Source MANO (OSM) |
AI-Driven Closed-Loop Service Assurance with Service Exposures
In Proceedings of the 29th IEEE European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC). Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik-Neretva/Croatia: IEEE Computer Society, 2020.Status: Published
AI-Driven Closed-Loop Service Assurance with Service Exposures
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is widely applied in mobile and wireless networks to enhance network operation and service management. Advanced AI mechanisms often require high level of network service exposure in order to access data from as many network elements as possible and execute the AI recommended outcomes into the networks. However, in practice, it is not always feasible to expose the network services to 3rd parties or customers with AI ambitions. Considering that service assurance (SA) is a major area to which AI is applied, this paper describes how a closed-loop SA architecture is associated with the service exposure model in the 5G networks with network slicing. Then we investigate the impact and implication of service exposure on SA. Finally, a set of experiment results are provided to demonstrate the trade-off relationship between the AI ambition and the exposure level in SA.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , NorNet, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | Proceedings of the 29th IEEE European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC) |
| Pagination | 265-270 |
| Date Published | 06/2020 |
| Publisher | IEEE Computer Society |
| Place Published | Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik-Neretva/Croatia |
| Keywords | AI, Service Assurance, Service Exposure |
A 4G/5G Packet Core as VNF with Open Source MANO and OpenAirInterface
In Proceedings of the 28th IEEE International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks (SoftCOM). Hvar, Dalmacija/Croatia: IEEE, 2020.Status: Published
A 4G/5G Packet Core as VNF with Open Source MANO and OpenAirInterface
5G, the fifth generation of mobile broadband networks, is going to make a large range of new applications possible. However, further research is necessary, and the basic step, i.e. setting up a 4G/5G testbed infrastructure, is a complicated and error-prone task. In this abstract and poster, we introduce our open source SimulaMet EPC Virtual Network Function (VNF), as an easy way to set up a 4G/5G testbed based on Open Source MANO and OpenAirInterface. We would like to showcase how a researcher can use our VNF as part of his own research testbed setup. Therefore, the focus is particularly on the user interface details and features of the SimulaMet EPC VNF.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , NorNet |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | Proceedings of the 28th IEEE International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks (SoftCOM) |
| Date Published | 09/2020 |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| Place Published | Hvar, Dalmacija/Croatia |
| Keywords | Evolved Packet Core (EPC), Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), Open Source MANO (OSM), OpenAirInterface, Testbed, Virtual Network Function (VNF) |
Flexible 4G/5G Testbed Setup for Mobile Edge Computing using OpenAirInterface and Open Source MANO
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Recent Advances for Multi-Clouds and Mobile Edge Computing (M2EC) in conjunction with the 34th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA). Caserta, Campania/Italy: Springer, 2020.Status: Published
Flexible 4G/5G Testbed Setup for Mobile Edge Computing using OpenAirInterface and Open Source MANO
Setting up a working 4G/5G mobile network development testbed can be a highly complicated and error-prone task. In this paper, we therefore introduce our open source Virtual Network Function (VNF) for an OpenAirInterface-based Evolved Packet Core (EPC) for deployment with the Open Source Management and Orchestration (Open Source MANO, OSM) framework. By using our VNF as basis, it will be easily possible to create own testbeds and extend them with further functionality, particularly – but not limited to – Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) setups. In a simple proof of concept, we demonstrate a basic transport protocol performance evaluation in a deployed test network.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | NorNet, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , MELODIC: Multi-cloud Execution-ware for Large-scale Optimised Data-Intensive Computing, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Recent Advances for Multi-Clouds and Mobile Edge Computing (M2EC) in conjunction with the 34th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA) |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Place Published | Caserta, Campania/Italy |
| Keywords | 5G, Evolved Packet Core, Mobile edge computing, Network Function Virtualisation, Open Source MANO, OpenAirInterface |
Talks, contributed
Easily Setting up 4G/5G Testbeds with OpenAirInterface using OSM
In OSM Hackfest, Madrid/Spain. Madrid/Spain: ETSI, 2020.Status: Published
Easily Setting up 4G/5G Testbeds with OpenAirInterface using OSM
Setting up 4G/5G testbeds can be a highly complicated and error-prone task. In this presentation, we introduce our Open Source VNF and tool-chain for an OpenAirInterface-based EPC to be deployed with the OSM framework. Using our VNF and tool-chain as basis, it will be easily possible to create own testbeds, customise them and extend them with further functionalities.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , NorNet, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications |
| Publication Type | Talks, contributed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Location of Talk | OSM Hackfest, Madrid/Spain |
| Publisher | ETSI |
| Place Published | Madrid/Spain |
| Keywords | 5G, Evolved Packet Core, Network Function Virtualisation, Open Source MANO, OpenAirInterface |
| URL | https://osm-download.etsi.org/ftp/osm-7.0-seven/MR8-hackfest/Ecosystem-D... |
Talks, invited
Custom-Made Enhanced Packet Cores as Network Services for 4G/5G Testbeds managed with Open Source MANO
In M5G-2020-Workshop (Online), 2020.Status: Published
Custom-Made Enhanced Packet Cores as Network Services for 4G/5G Testbeds managed with Open Source MANO
Setting up Enhanced Packet Cores (EPC) – like the Mosaic5G OpenAirInterface-based EPC – for 4G/5G Testbeds is a complicated and error-prone task. Therefore, we developed the SimulaMet OpenAirInterface VNF, a complex 4-VDU VNF, which upon instantiation builds the components of the EPC from scratch from given source Git repositories. That is, based on the parametrisation, users can easily create tailor-made EPCs for their projects, particularly EPCs based on the Mosaic5G FlexRAN sources. In this presentation, we would like to shortly highlight the solutions chosen to efficiently use OSM for handling the instantiation process, performing telemetry, and debugging issues. That is, we particularly would like to present to the Mosaic5G audience some lessons learned during the ongoing development.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | NorNet, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering |
| Publication Type | Talks, invited |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Location of Talk | M5G-2020-Workshop (Online) |
| Keywords | 5G, Evolved Packet Core, Network Function Virtualisation, Open Source MANO, OpenAirInterface |
Managing Tailor-Made Enhanced Packet Cores for 4G/5G Testbeds in OSM with the SimulaMet OpenAirInterface VNF
In OSM Hackfest (Online), 2020.Status: Published
Managing Tailor-Made Enhanced Packet Cores for 4G/5G Testbeds in OSM with the SimulaMet OpenAirInterface VNF
The SimulaMet OpenAirInterface VNF is a complex 4-VDU VNF, allowing its users to instantiate and maintain a tailor-made Enhanced Packet Core (EPC) for 4G/5G mobile broadband testbeds. The EPC components are directly built from their sources during instantiation, allowing to use customised versions according to the users' needs. A general overview has already been presented during the OSM Hackfest in March 2020. In this presentation and live demonstration, we would like to highlight the solutions chosen to efficiently use OSM for handling the instantiation process, provide telemetry, and to debug issues. That is, we particularly would like to present to the audience the lessons learned during the ongoing development. Finally, we would also like to show the audience a live demo of an OSM-managed 4G testbed setup with telemetry collection.
| Afilliation | Communication Systems |
| Project(s) | NorNet, 5G-VINNI: 5G Verticals INNovation Infrastructure , The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, SMIL: SimulaMet Interoperability Lab, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering |
| Publication Type | Talks, invited |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Location of Talk | OSM Hackfest (Online) |
| Keywords | 5G, Evolved Packet Core, Network Function Virtualisation, Open Source MANO, OpenAirInterface |
| URL | http://osm-download.etsi.org/ftp/osm-8.0-eight/OSM10-hackfest/EcosystemD... |
LUCS: Learning to Understand and Control nation-wide Smart grids of energy prosumers
The educational objective of LUCS is to provide knowledge and experience that will assist Masters and early doctoral students with experiment design and performance analyses of smart grid systems. The research-related objectives of LUCS are to facilitate interaction of researchers for the purpose of:
- Integrating and developing a communication-smart grid testbed,
- Use this testbed to investigate the performance bounds of today's smart grid systems, and
- Developing and implementing novel approaches to improve the performance and robustness of the smart grid systems.
Final goal
LUCS will conduct four main activities:
- Organize 3 summer schools
- Develop a common smart grid curriculum at University of Oslo and Technical University of Berlin
- Organize yearly research workshops
- Sponsor the mobility of researchers to strengthen the group collaboration
All of these activities rely on the development of an integrated testbed based on the partners' existing testbeds.
Funding source
The Research Council of Norway
All partners
- Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Norway
- Simula Research Laboratory, Norway
- University of Oslo, Norway
- Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Germany
- German Turkish Advanced Research Center for ICT (GT-ARC) Germany
Project leader
Sabita Maharjan, Center for Digital Engineering, Simula@OsloMet, Norway