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IoT-ANCSAT: Agile network configuration for 5G Internet-of-Things services over satellite

Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications exhibit immense diversity in traffic volume and statistical characteristics. Numerous industries have foreseen that the world will want and need more and more interconnected devices. This may be considered a more correct definition of the technical aspect of IoT: “connected devices”, as it refers to the fact that in all aspects of live more and more devices are “smart” (i.e. they gather data and need to send it to a central location -from where they also receive commands to be executed). This also brings a heavy need for a networked infrastructure that will allow real-time and medium-high throughput of data to/from the central points (servers / hubs / cloud) and the end-devices (sensors, actuators, displays etc.).

Towards agile network configuration for 5G Internet-of-Things services, one of the most promising architectures and implementations comes from Software Defined Networking (SDN) where networks can be dynamically programmed through centralized control points and from Network Function Virtualization (NFV) enabling the cost-efficient deployment and runtime of network functions (e.g. computing, storage) as software only. The 5G network will be based on NFV and SDN technologies and will be capable to support End-to-End services (and their management) across heterogeneous environments by means of a single (converged) common network. Network Slicing (NS) is a service-oriented construct providing “Network as a Service” to concurrent applications. The 5G Slices will deliver different SLAs based on a unified pool of resources. Through this paradigm, the specific services can be highly customized, enabling the seamless integration of heterogeneous networks in a 5G ecosystem, such as satellite networks.

Figure 1: IoT Network slicing

The IoT-ANCSAT project aims to identify the IoT technical requirements in various satellite network scenarios, for different traffics and not only limited to LEO, but also MEO and GEO scenarios, to define specific virtual network functions that could comprise a satellite network slice, to demonstrate the IoT satellite network slice in a testbed, and to contribute in 5G definition of network slicing architectures.

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