Towards Software-defined Automated Generation of Distributed Optimal Control Programs for Wireless Ad Hoc
Abstract
ABSTRACT Toward Software-defined Automated Generation of Distributed Optimal Control Programs for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks Dr. Tommaso Melodia Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115 Existing wireless networks are inherently hardware-based and rely on closed and inflexible architectural designs. Such inflexible hardware-based architectures impose significant challenges into adopting new wireless networking technologies to maximize network capacity, reliability, or coverage, and prevent the provision of a true networking-as-a-service vision able to adapt to commander’s intent. The notion of software defined networking (SDN) has been recently introduced to simplify network control and to make it easier to introduce and deploy new applications and services as compared to classical hardware-dependent approaches. So far, however, most work on SDNs has concentrated on commercial infrastructure-based wired networks, with some recent work addressing wireless networks. Applications of software-defined networking concepts to infrastructureless wireless networks (i.e., ad hoc, sensor networks) are substantially unexplored. This project proposes and explores a radically different approach to SDN for ad hoc wireless networks. It will study the core building principles of aWireless Network Operating System (WNOS), which will provide the network designer with an abstraction hiding the lower-level details of the network operations. The WNOS will hide the details of the distributed implementation of the network control operations, and provide the network designer with a centralized view abstracting the network functionalities at a high level. Based on this abstract representation, the WNOS will take network control programs written on a centralized, high-level view of the network and automatically generate distributed cross-layer control programs based on distributed optimization theory, which are then executed by each individual node on an abstract representation of the radio hardware. The objective of this three-year basic research project will be accomplished by executing five research tasks, i.e., WNOS Architecture Design,Wireless Network Abstraction, Automatic C/D Decomposition, Programmable Protocol Stack Design, and Prototyping Experimentations. The main outcomes will be (i) an understanding of basic design principles of software-defined networking for ad hoc networks, and (ii) a new approach to control for infrastructure-less wireless networks that can potentially change the way ad hoc and sensor networks are designed and controlled. 1
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jun 03, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612213
Entities
People
- Tommaso Melodia
Organizations
- Northeastern University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy