Software Defined Cellular Wireless Networking

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Software Defined Cellular Wireless NetworkingSoftware Defined Networking (SDN) is a new technology advancement aimed at physically separating the control plane from the data plane which forwards packets, in order to improve programmability, scalability and performance of the network, as well as ease of management of the system. It has become necessary to adopt SDN which brings about the concept of logical centralization of network management and control in order to better support rapid growth in volume of data generated and transmitted in mobile cellular system. The needs of users has also changed from basic voice and short message services to high quality audio and video streaming. Evolution of Internet of Things is expected to increase the strain on the cellular systems as well. Adoption of proposed SDN architecture will not only increase throughput but also reduce latency in the system.This research program examines the effect of advancement in architecture introduced by SDN as it applies to cellular systems, and explores the reliability and security of this development. Major components in the current cellular model such as the packet data network gateway (P-GW) are too specialized and expensive, and offer little room for addition of new services. Proposed cellular SDN offers a lot of flexibility as application programming interfaces can be deployed to add new services quicker and at much lower cost. The generic SDN architecture is not implementable in cellular systems as there is no clear separation between data and control planes in P-GW. SDN architecture consists of three basic layers: the infrastructure layer which encompasses the data planes of network elements, the control layer and the application layer. OpenFlow is the most popular protocol used for communication between the control and data planes.Our research will scrutinize the generic SDN model with aim of developing the framework to make it more specific and implementable in mobile cellular systems. We are considering different deployment models for the SDN controller and their effects on the quality of service experienced at the end nodes. Reliability and security of the system are key aspects of the system but it has not received much attention. This research will analyze the security implications of logical centralization and programmability introduced by SDN. Several experts will be trained in this research program which will become cellular SDN leaders in Canadian industry. The results of this research will be an important tool in improving scalability, performance and ease of management of the system, as well as eliminating vendor lock-in associated with today's cellular systems. System developers and industry operators will leverage on the outcome of the research to improve responsiveness of their systems. Canadian operators will benefit from scalability, improved performance and ease of management offered by cellular SDN.