Automatic Construction of Name-Bound Virtual Networks for IoT and its Management

抄録

In this paper, we propose a mechanism for automatic configuration of name-bound virtual networks (NBVNs) for Internet of Things (IoT). Generally, IoT devices indicate their correspondent nodes by names. However, current technologies for the construction of virtual networks (VNs) rely on VLANs, IP routing, and OpenFlow control, thus they do not provide a name-based solution. Our proposal fills this gap. We first define business players and their roles for constructing and using the NBVNs. The players are application service provider (ASP), virtual network operator (VNO), and infrastructure provider (InP). Subsequently, we propose a system to automatically construct NBVN. It automatically allocates and assigns the IPv6 addresses required by the network nodes, including IoT devices, of each NBVN. Moreover, it auto-configures the mechanisms for data forwarding and name resolution. Thus, the proposed system constructs area- and/or time-bound VNs for offering network services to event-centric IoT applications, such as outdoor concerts and sporting events. Furthermore, we apply our proposed system to automatically construct wide-area management networks. Finally, we demonstrate that the constructed NBVNs are capable of configuring thousands of addresses and name entries within a minute, thus IoT devices can communicate with each other by using names instead of addresses.