Annual meeting of GTTI - June 24-26, 2013 - Ancona, Italy

The STEM-Net Project

• A network element is called a “STEM-Node” when it is able to autonomously acquire new functions, new capabilities for which it was not specifically devised.

• The concept of “stemness” of a wireless communication device is accomplished following 5 main relevant capabilities:

1. Learning: A set of cognitive and decision making techniques by which a STEM-Node can dynamically learn its optimal configuration.

2. Intra stack reconfiguration: “on-the-fly” reconfiguration of Physical and MAC, “on-the-fly” implementation of extensions/variants of the MAC protocol.

3. Inter stack reconfiguration: support of multiple protocol stack and possible “on-the fly switching” from one to another.

4. Cooperation/Coordination: capability to coordinate with other network elements and to share tasks with them.

5. Spontaneous mobility: capability to spontaneously move

Stemness property accomplished through: 1)intra-stack protocol reconfiguration, 2) multi-homing or inter-stack protocol reconfiguration, 3) learning, 4) cooperation, 5) controlled

mobility

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Technological issues: Today the Internet “only just works”; further evolution can be sustained through

the design of novel networking paradigms; there is no one-size-fits-all architecture for

the future Internet. Governance Issues:

fragmentation of network technologies, usually deployed by different operators;

no centralized governance; long time to deploy new services;

Some Facts

The Stemness Concept

The benefits

I. Introduce in to the network a strong attitude to Self-* :

• No need for a central governance;

• Fast reconfiguration, fast reaction, fast deployment of new services.

• Opex reduction.

II. Promote end-user devices from leafs to network elements:

• Increase the pervasiveness of the network

• Participated ownership.

• Capex Reduction.

III. Introduce/Leverage high level of configurability in the network devices:

• Fast deployment of new networking paradigm;

• Fast deployment of new services;

• Capex Reduction.

Results

How a STEM-node can learn?

• In the scope of the inter-stack reconfiguration is proposed an algorithm for the epidemic management of mutations;

• The implementation of a new protocol stack is embedded into software module (evolving module) which is passed from a node to another

Three concurrent process are carried out:i. The dissemination process, in which the

spreading of information;ii. The individual decision process, in which each

node individually decides whether to accept or not an evolution module;

iii. The infection process, in which the executable implementation of an evolution module is transmitted to the requesting nodes;

Infection Propagation

THE STEM-NODE ARCHITECTURE

Infection and learning speed

U8150, although performing suboptimal compared to a wireless router, can manage traffic in an access segment, and thus can undergo mutation to cover multiple roles (in the specifc, EUSN or leaf node) in a stem-network for disaster recovery.

Internet is continuously growing in terms of number of users, pervasiveness, and supported services.

A large plethora of devices are nowadays connected from the internet: PC’s, Smartphone, TVs, and “Things” …

Many actors have emerged: Telcos, City authorities and utilities just to name a few.

The Consequences

Enabling Technologies

Radio Device Re-configuration

Decision and Control methodologies

Knowledge Representation.

Meta-roles and mutation

Controlled Mobility

Cooperation & STEM-network creation.

Basics devices and their evolution line

I. Standalone/Fixed No mobility, high performances, no energy limitations (Node-B, Wireless AP o Desktop PCs);

II. End-User/Mobile: No controllable mobility, average performance, limited energy (Laptops, Tablets);

III. Autonomous/Swarm: high mobility, able to decide how to move, Battery/APU.

• Each stem-node is provided with a set of roles R={r1,r2,r3, … rM} denoting the network capabilities/functionalities that the device can provide.

• Besides these, a stem-node can also play some “meta-roles” “learnt” from other nodes by relying on cooperation with them.

STEM-NETWORK ARCHITECTURE AND USE-CASE SCENARIOS

Data forwarding ability in disaster scenario

Access network Disaster recovery

1) Access Network: stem-nodes and related functions can be leveraged to guarantee pervasive access, by promoting the spontaneous network extension;

2) Disaster recovery: survivors’ devices could be isolated due to the heterogeneity of protocols stacks, through Stem-Net these devices are able to create a spontaneous communication infrastructure, to aid diagnosis, or detect dangerous situations.

• 800m^2 area, node density in [1.44e-4, 3.44e-4] node/m^2;

• Infection probability F=0.5;

• Node lifetime G exponentially distributed with E{G} in [150s,∞];

• Ricean fading model;

• Each evolution module is 1 MB long.

http://stemnet.deis.unical.it/stemnet/