A Software Defined Network Based Research on Fairness in Multimedia

Ahmed Osama Basil, Mu Mu, Ali Al-Sherbaz

Abstract

The demand for online distribution of high quality and high throughput content has led to non-cooperative competition of network resources between a growing number of media applications. This causes a significant impact on network efficiency, the quality of user experience (QoE) as well as a discrepancy of QoE across user devices. Within a multi-user multi-device environment, measuring and maintaining perceivable fairness becomes as critical as achieving the QoE on individual user applications. This paper discusses application- and humanlevel fairness over networked multimedia applications and how such fairness can be managed through novel network designs using programmable networks such as software-defined networks (SDN).

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency in MultiMedia
Publisher	ACM Press
Pages	11-18
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Print)	9781450369152
Publication status	Published - 25 Oct 2019
Event	FAT/MM: Fairness Accountability and Transparency in Multimedia : An ACM MM 2019 Workshop - Nice, France Duration: 21 Oct 2019 → 25 Oct 2019 https://acmmm.org/workshops/

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency in MultiMedia

Internet address	https://acmmm.org/workshops/

DOI: 10.1145/3347447.3356750

Paper available at: http://www.mendeley.com/research/software-defined-network-based-research-fairness-multimedia


All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with. Twitter: @scottturneruon

Software defined cognitive networking: supporting intelligent online video streaming

Mu, M. (2018). Software defined cognitive networking: supporting intelligent online video streaming. 2018 15th IEEE Annual Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC). https://doi.org/10.1109/CCNC.2018.8319167

Abstract
Adaptive media such as HTTP adaptive streaming (HAS) is becoming a standard tool for online video distribution. The non-cooperative competition of network resources between a growing number of adaptive video applications has a significant detrimental impact on user experience and network efficiency. Existing network infrastructures often prioritise fast packet forwarding, which do not always contribute to the improved user experience. Future network management must leverage application and user-level cognitive factors to allocate scarce network resources effectively and intelligently. Our software defined cognitive networking (SDCN) project, supported by the Research Councils UK, aims at incorporating new developments in human cognition, media technology and communication networks to ensure the user experience, user-level fairness and network efficiency of online adaptive media using software defined networking-assisted and QoE-aware resource management.


To read goto: https://pure.northampton.ac.uk/en/publications/software-defined-cognitive-networking-supporting-intelligent-onli-2

All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with. Twitter: @scottturneruon

Technique to Evaluate the Performance of SDN networks

Al-Sadi A.M., Al-Sherbaz A., Xue J., Turner S. (2019) 
Developing an Asynchronous Technique to Evaluate the Performance of SDN HP Aruba Switch and OVS. 
In: Arai K., Kapoor S., Bhatia R. (eds) Intelligent Computing. SAI 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 857. Springer, Cham
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01177-2_41

Abstract
Developers of Software Defined Network (SDN) faces a lack of or difficulty in getting a physical environment to test their inventions and developments that drives them to use a virtual environment for their experiments. This work addresses the differences between the SDN virtual environment and physical SDN switches, which leads to equip a more realistic SDN virtual environment. Consequently, this paper presents a precise performance evaluation and comparison of off-the-shelf SDN devices, HP Aruba 3810M, with Open Virtual Switch (OVS) inside Mininet emulator. This work examines the variability of the path delay, throughput, packet losses and jitter of SDN in a different windows size of the packets and network background loads. Our conducted experiments consider a number of protocols, such as ICMP, TCP and UDP. In order to evaluate the network latency accurately, a new asynchronous latency measurement technique is proposed. The developed technique shows more precise results in comparison to other techniques. Furthermore, the work focuses on extracting the flow-setup latency, caused by the external SDN controller when setting flow rules into the switch. The comparison of results shows dissimilarity in the behaviour of SDN hardware and the Mininet emulator. The SDN hardware exposed higher latency and flow-setup time due to extra resources of delay, which the emulator does not possess.

To read full paper: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-01177-2_41

All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with. Twitter: @scottturneruon

Routing algorithm optimization for Software Defined Network WAN

Al-Sadi, A., Al-Sherbaz, A., Xue, J. and Turner, S. J. (2016) Routing algorithm optimization for Software Defined Network WAN.In: Al-Sadeq International Conference on Multidisciplinary in IT and Communication Science and Applications (AIC-MITCSA) - IRAQ (9-10) May. Baghdad, Iraq: IEEE

Abstract

Software Defined Network (SDN) provides a new fine-grained interface enables the routing algorithm to have a global view of the network throughputs, connectivity and flows at the data-path. This paper aims to provide a novel approach for dynamic routing algorithm for Software Defined Network in Wide Area Network (SDN-WAN); based on using a modified shortest-widest path algorithm with a fine-grained statistical method from the OpenFlow interface, called Shortest-Feasible OpenFlow Path (SFOP). This algorithm is designed to identify the optimal route from source to destination, providing efficient utilization of the SDN-WAN resources. It achieves this aim by considering both the flow requirements and the current state of the network. SFOP computes the optimal path which provides the feasible bandwidth with the lowest hop count (delay). That will present better stability in SDN communication, QoS, and usage of available resources. Moreover, this algorithm will be the base for an SDN controller because it extracts the widest available bandwidth from source to destination for a single path. It enables the controller to decide whether it is enough to use this simple algorithm only, or if a more complicated algorithm that provides larger bandwidth such as multiple-path algorithms is needed. Finally, a testbed has been implemented using MATLAB Simulator, Pox controller, and Mininet emulator will be discussed. The latency comparison of SFOP algorithm with three other algorithm’s latencies shows that this algorithm finds better latency for an optimal path. Evidence will be shown that demonstrates that SFOP has good stability in dynamic changes of SDN-WAN.

To read more go to Routing algorithm optimization for Software Defined Network WAN



If you'd like to find out more about Computing at the University of Northampton go to: www.computing.northampton.ac.uk. All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with

Computing students learn about the future of networking from Hewlett-Packard

Taken from: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/computing-students-learn-about-the-future-of-networking-from-hewlett-packard/

Computing students from the School of Science and Technology had the opportunity to hear from the Senior Product Manager of Hewlett-Packard about the future of computer networking.

In a two-hour lecture Bruno Hareng explained the limitation that IT professionals face with the current distributed architecture used by networks today and how Software Defined Networking (SDN) can make networks more agile and secure.  Defined as cutting edge technology, SDN allows network administrators to manage network services through abstraction of higher-level functionality. The School of Science and Technology has recently received HEFCE funding to purchase the latest Hewlett-Packard SDN lab equipment for teaching purposes and Northampton is one of only three universities to have such facilities.

Dr Ali Al-Sherbaz, Senior Lecturer in Computing at the University of Northampton, commented: “It was a great opportunity for both our students and staff to listen to Bruno Hareng talk about SDN, as some of our research students and staff are working in this area and we are planning to establish a larger research team in the future. They were able to discuss several technical issues regarding teaching and research, which will help to improve our students’ learning experience and employability too.”

Dr Mu Mu, Lecturer in Computing, said: “The talk covers the origins of SDN and OpenFlow (a widely adopted SDN specification), key research and development milestones in academia and industry in the last ten years, and the most recent use cases of SDN in education and enterprise networks. Bruno concluded the talk with a vision of the future networking research, a collaborative effort between academia, service providers, and vendors. Through this talk, students had a first-hand tutorial of emerging network technologies from one of the pioneers in this field. The post-talk Q&A was also centred around the education of future network designers, engineers and architects. We touched on plans to evolve our curriculum, emphasising topics such as: design and prototyping of distributed systems, a great knowledge of network virtualisation, the ability to think outside the box with a solid understanding of the software development process.”

Ameer Al-Sadi , a PhD student whose research focus is on utilising SDN in smart cities, commented:  “This was a great opportunity to meet Bruno Hareng personally and discuss several technical issues with him. Having an SDN lab will open the gate; not only for research, but for teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students this latest technology, which will have a huge impact on our future careers.”

If you'd like to find out more about Computing at the University of Northampton go to: www.computing.northampton.ac.uk. All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with

The management of the future internet

A recent presentation by Ameer Al-Sadi, a PhD student, discusses the use of Software-Defined Networks as part of the future of the internet.

Ameer Al-Sadi  Topic: Network management by help distributed system

The management of the future internet.

Al-Sadi, A., Al-Sherbaz, A., Xue, J. and Turner, S. J.

8th Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) Postgraduate Research Conference 2015: Innovation, Manchester Metropolitan University, 

05 November 2015.

Abstract
The future internet will include a cloud of assisted living and smart applications that serve a user by providing a remote communication and management for specific resources. It will contain a numerous number of fixed and movable devices, sensors, and actuators. This requires very fast and dynamic communication, which is performed by a novel paradigm of network that contains a forwarding device with a central management, called Software-Define Network (SDN). SDN provides a faster, cheaper and more efficient network. In addition, it strongly supports Network Function Virtualization (NFV), which enables the quicker development of the network by using the software programs for executing the network functions instead of physical devices. 
The aim of the research is to optimise the distribution and use of the SDN network resources through the following objectives: Develop the algorithm responsible for determining the initial number and the location of the elements of SDN network; The algorithm will extend to dynamically adapt this number and these locations according to the network changes; Model software platform to run SDN in wide Area Network and optimize its performance by applying the developed algorithms.
The implications of SDN will be pervasive because it is a powerful network paradigm, which carries the solutions for today's problems. The proposed algorithm will fill part of the gap of the SDN network management and enhance its performance. This work aims to be a helpful tool to design, test and manage any SDN network, starting from the campus network and extending to multiple campuses or the city.


Citation Al-Sadi, A., Al-Sherbaz, A., Xue, J. and Turner, S. J. (2015) The management of the future internet.Workshop presentation to: 8th Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) Postgraduate Research Conference 2015: Innovation, Manchester Metropolitan University, 05 November 2015.
...is now publicly visible in NECTAR

More details of the paper can be found at: The management of the future internet.

If you'd like to find out more about Computing at the University of Northampton go to: www.computing.northampton.ac.uk. All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with