To enhance fuel efficiency and lower manufacturing and maintenance costs, in-vehicle wireless networks can facilitate the weight reduction of vehicle wire harnesses. In this paper, we utilize the Impulse Radio-Ultra Wideband (IR-UWB) of IEEE 802.15.4a/z for in-vehicle wireless networks because of its excellent signal penetration and robustness in multipath environments. Since clear channel assessment is optional in this standard, we employ polling control as a multiple access control to prevent interference within the system. Therein, the preamble overhead is large in IR-UWB of IEEE 802.15.4a/z. Hence, aggregating as much sensor data as possible within each frame is more efficient. In this paper, we assume that reading out data from sensors and sending data to actuators is periodical and that their respective phases can be adjusted. Therefore, this paper proposes an integer linear programming-based scheduling algorithm that minimizes the number of transmitted frames by adjusting the read and write phases. Furthermore, we provide a heuristic algorithm that computes a sub-optimal but acceptable solution in a shorter time. Experimental validation shows that the data aggregation of the proposed algorithms is robust against interference.

In this paper, we investigate the evolution of an optical network architecture and discuss the future direction of research on optical network design and control. We review existing research on optical network design and control and present some open challenges. One of the important open challenges lies in multilayer resource optimization including IT and optical network resources. We propose an adaptive joint optimization method of IT resources and optical spectrum under time-varying traffic demand in optical networks while avoiding an increase in operation cost. We formulate the problem as mixed integer linear programming and then quantitatively evaluate the trade-off relationship between the optimality of reconfiguration and operation cost. We demonstrate that we can achieve sufficient network performance through the adaptive joint optimization while suppressing an increase in operation cost.

Recently, the controllability of complex networks has become a hot topic in the field of network science, where the driver nodes play a key and central role. Therefore, studying their structural characteristics is of great significance to understand the underlying mechanism of network controllability. In this paper, we systematically investigate the nodal centrality of driver nodes in controlling complex networks, we find that the driver nodes tend to be low in-degree but high out-degree nodes, and most of driver nodes tend to have low betweenness centrality but relatively high closeness centrality. We also find that the tendencies of driver nodes towards eigenvector centrality and Katz centrality show very similar behaviors, both high eigenvector centrality and high Katz centrality are avoided by driver nodes. Finally, we find that the driver nodes towards PageRank centrality demonstrate a polarized distribution, i.e., the vast majority of driver nodes tend to be low PageRank nodes whereas only few driver nodes tend to be high PageRank nodes.

Network functions virtualization (NFV) enables telecommunications service providers to realize various network services by flexibly combining multiple virtual network functions (VNFs). To provide such services, an NFV control method should optimally allocate such VNFs into physical networks and servers by taking account of the combination(s) of objective functions and constraints for each metric defined for each VNF type, e.g., VNF placements and routes between the VNFs. The NFV control method should also be extendable for adding new metrics or changing the combination of metrics. One approach for NFV control to optimize allocations is to construct an algorithm that simultaneously solves the combined optimization problem. However, this approach is not extendable because the problem needs to be reformulated every time a new metric is added or a combination of metrics is changed. Another approach involves using an extendable network-control architecture that coordinates multiple control algorithms specified for individual metrics. However, to the best of our knowledge, no method has been developed that can optimize allocations through this kind of coordination. In this paper, we propose an extendable NFV-integrated control method by coordinating multiple control algorithms. We also propose an efficient coordination algorithm based on reinforcement learning. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method through simulations.

Adaptive and flexible network control technology is considered essential for efficient network resource utilization. Moreover, such technology is becoming a key to cost-effectively meet diverse service requirements and accommodate heavier traffic with limited network resources; demands that conventional static operation cannot satisfy. To address this issue, we previously studied dynamic network control technology for large-capacity network services including on-demand broad bandwidth provisioning services and layer-one VPN. Our previous study introduced a simple weighting function for achieving fairness in terms of path length and proposed two dynamic Make Before Break Routing algorithms for reducing blocking probability. These algorithms enhance network utilization by rerouting existing paths to alternative routes while completely avoiding disruption for highly reliable services. However, the impact of this avoidance of service disruption on blocking probability has not been clarified. In this paper, we propose modified versions of the algorithms that enhance network utilization while slightly increasing disruption by rerouting, which enable us to elucidate the effectiveness of hitless rerouting. We also provide extensive evaluations including a comparison of original and modified algorithms. Numerical examples demonstrate that they achieve not only a high degree of fairness but also low service blocking probability. Hitless rerouting is achieved with a small increase in blocking probability.

We propose a flexible and scalable architecture for a network controller platform used for OpenFlow. The OpenFlow technology was proposed as a means for researchers, network service creators, and others to easily design, test, and virtually deploy their innovative ideas in a large network infrastructure, which will accelerate research activities on Future Internet architectures. The technology enables the independent evolution of the network control plane and the data plane. Rather than having programmability within each network node, the separated OpenFlow controller provides network control through pluggable software. Our proposed network controller architecture will enable researchers to use their own software to control their own virtual networks. Flexibility and scalability were achieved by designing the network controller as a modularized and distributed system on a cluster of servers. Testing showed that a group of servers can efficiently cooperate to serve as a scalable OpenFlow controller. Testing using the nationwide JGN2plus network demonstrated that high-definition video can be delivered through OpenFlow-based point-to-point and point-to-multipoint paths.

This paper introduces a methodology for engineering best-effort P2P algorithms into dependable P2P-based network control mechanism. The proposed method is built upon an iterative approach consisting of improving the original P2P algorithm by appropriate mechanisms and of thorough performance assessment with respect to dependability measures. The potential of the methodology is outlined by the example of timely routing control for vertical handover in B3G wireless networks. In detail, the well-known Pastry and CAN algorithms are enhanced to include locality. By showing how to combine algorithmic enhancements with performance indicators, this case study paves the way for future engineering of dependable network control mechanisms through P2P algorithms.

Broadband fixed wireless access (BFWA) systems with multi-hop mesh topologies have attracted considerable attention as a promising technology for next generation, high quality, high capacity, and high density access infrastructures. The primary advantages of mesh network topologies are an improvement of availability in connectivity between pairs of nodes by means of diversity routes. This paper discusses wireless node architecture that enables the integrated control of route diversity and traffic engineering together with the control of wireless links whose quality and performance could be affected by radio propagation conditions. Taking into account the functional requirements for multi-hop mesh BFWA networks, such as adaptive link configuration with multiple channels, distributed network management, and traffic engineering in mesh networks, the entity called network control unit (NCU) is designed and developed on a common UNIX based server computer. Implemented functions and their performance are demonstrated using the experimental environments with wired networks.

This paper describes the requirements for fault recovery on photonic networks and proposes a fast restoration scheme for recovering optical networks. The proposed scheme is a type of pre-assignment restoration. The features of the scheme are that it is suitable for multi-recovery classes aimed at fine control of the optical paths and that it establishes harmonization between restoration control and distributed network control such as in IP networks. The scheme is implemented on Photonic multi protocol label switching (MPLS) routers. A restoration demonstration was performed and recovery was achieved within 500ms in the optical layer.

Recent studies on traffic measurement analysis in the various networks (LAN, MAN, WAN) have shown that packet traffic exhibits Self-Similarity. The packet traffic represents some behavior quite different from what it has been assumed. Some papers reported that Self-Similarity degrades the network performance, such as buffer overflow and network congestion. Thus, we need new network control scheme considering Self-Similar properties. The control scheme requires high-speed calculation method of Hurst Parameter. In this paper, we propose high-speed calculation method of Hurst Parameter based on the Variance-Time Plot method, and show its performance. Furthermore, we try to apply this method to the simple network control, in order to show effectiveness of the network control with Self-Similarity.

We investigated performance of routing schemes in B-ISDN, for heterogeneous traffic flows under various bandwidths. In particular, we compared the simulated performance of these schemes by evaluating their blocking probabilities. To achieve high performance, these schemes use special kinds of routing algorithm, one which is pre-selection algorithm and one which is cyclic algorithm. We investigated the efficiency of the pre-selection algorithm and the robustness of the cyclic algorithm for nonuniform traffic and network resources. We found that these routing algorithm schemes can compensate for errors in resource design.