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Table 4 Representative summary of important trends in wireless networking

From: Building programmable wireless networks: an architectural survey

Application/network settings

Representative references

Description/main idea

Trend 1: software-defined wireless networks (SWNs)

Applications

  

Programmable wireless data planes

OpenRadio[33]; OpenRoads[123]

Proposed wireless-specific programmable data planes supporting OpenFlow/ SDN

Real-time analytics/reconfiguration

Metsch et al.[124]

Proposed using real-time analytics for service operation and management in mobile networks

Distributed mobility management

[125];[126]; DMM RFC[127]

Proposes using SDN concepts for routing optimization to support DMM

Efficient resource utilization

OpenFlow Wireless[128]

Allows infrastructural sharing using SDN principles

Mobile traffic offloading

SoftOffload[129]

Proposed an SDN-based programmable framework, SoftOffload, for mobile traffic offloading.

Traffic engineering

Traffic Engineering Survey[130]

Presents a comprehensive survey of the state of the art of TE in SDNs

Optimized management

OpenFlow Wireless[128]

Allows optimized management of diverse wireless technologies using the OpenFlow protocol

Heterogeneous technology handover

Yi et al.[131]

SDN can facilitate handovers between heterogeneous technology and across service providers

Service orchestration

Odin-based LVAP abstraction[132]

Programmatic Orchestration of Wi-Fi Networks

Security enhancement

Ding et al.[133]

Proposed an SDN-based framework for security enhancement in wireless mobile networks

Network settings

WLAN-based SWNs

Odin[132, 134]

SDN benefits include flexible control, better management, rapid innovations, etc.

Cellular mobile SWNs

MobileFlow[135]

Proposed a software-defined mobile network (SDMN) architecture

 

SoftRAN[136]

Proposed a SDN-based RAN architecture based on virtualization for LTE

 

SoftCell[137]

Proposed a SDN-based flexible cellular core network architecture

WSN-based SWNs

Luo et al.[138]

Using SDN principles in WSNs to allow flexible and optimized resource utilization

LRPAN-based SWNs

Costanzo et al.[139]

Using SDN in LRPANs for flexible management along with efficient resource utilization

Trend 2: cognitive wireless networks (CWNs)

Applications

Cognitive networking

[64, 140–142]

Allows optimization/ decision making from the perspective of the overall network

Adaptive routing

Routing survey papers[61, 143]

AI-enabled routing techniques/ protocols for network-optimized routing are presented

Dynamic spectrum access

DSA Survey[144]

Allows a secondary network to coexist with incumbent users belonging to the primary net

Parameter optimization

Optimization survey[145]

Surveys self-organization paradigms and optimization approaches for CRNs

Optimized MAC

MAC Surveys[146, 147]

Presents a comprehensive survey of optimizing MAC protocols for CRNs

Enhanced reliability

Reliability tutorial[148]

Presents a tutorial of how CRNs can improve reliability of wireless networks

Improved security

Security Survey[149]

Surveys security threats in CRNs and how they can be addressed

Network settings

IEEE 802.11-based CWNs

[150, 151]; IEEE 802.11af[152]

These proposals address the issue of embedding cognition in IEEE 802.11 networks

IEEE 802.22-based CWNs

Cordeiro et al.[153]

Proposes a wireless regional area network (WRAN) to operate in TV-bands

Cognitive white space networks

Yuan et al.[37]

Proposes the use of white spaces in TV-band space for dynamic spectrum access

Cognitive sensor networks

Akan et al.[154]

Proposes a hybrid of CRNs and wireless sensor networks

Cognitive vehicular networks

Di et al.[155]

Proposes the use of cognitive technology to interconnections of vehicular systems

Trend 3: virtualizable wireless networks (VWNs)

Applications

Multi-tenancy support

MobileFlow[135]

Proposed a virtualized SDN-based framework suitable for multi tenant mobile networks

Multi-provider support (infrastructure sharing for MVNOs)

Virtualization of 4G/ 5G RAN[156], WiMAX BS[157], LTE[158]

Virtualization allows better support for multi-tenancy and multi-provider and infrastructure sharing, which is convenient both in terms of user experience and economics

Virtualized NIC abstraction

Commodity WLAN card[159]

TDM-based wireless virtualization to create a virtual WLAN using commodity hardware

Virtual-APs

Hamaguchi et al.[160]

Virtual AP that uses virtualization technology to optimize deployment of AP

Network settings

WLAN-based VWNs

Commodity WLAN card VWN[159]

Virtualization of commodity WLAN technology

 

Virtual Wi-Fi[161]

Virtual Wi-Fi to support fully functional wireless functionality inside VMs

 

multi-purpose AP (MPAP)[162]

Proposed MPAP for virtualizing heterogeneous technologies on a SDR

SDN-based VWNs

LVAP (based on Odin)[132]

Proposed Odin, based on SDN, to allow orchestration of programmable WLANs

 

OpenAPI[163]

Proposed virtualizing the access network via Open APIs

 

Virtual router as a service[120]

Proposed virtual-routers-as-a-service based on the RouteFlow architecture[119]

 

eNodeB virtualization[164]

Proposed using OpenFlow for eNodeB virtualization in 4G-LTE networks

Cellular mobile VWNs

Virtualization of RAN[156]

Proposed network virtualization substrate (NVS) to be used in LTE RANs

 

WiMAX BS[157]

Proposed virtualizing resources in a cellular WiMAX base station to enable MVNOs

 

LTE[158]; eNodeB virt.[164]

Proposed virtualization of LTE environments

CRN-based VWNs

Spectrum Virtualization Layer[165]

This work proposed a virtualized layer for supporting DSA in general wireless networks

Trend 4: cloud-based wireless networks (CbWNs)

Applications

Computation offloading

Yang et al.[166]; CloneCloud[167]

Utilized computation offloading through elastic execution between mobile device and cloud

Centralized (remote) management

RFC 5412[168]; Dalvi et al.[169]

Proposed centralized cloud-based approaches for managing WLAN

Real-time reconfiguration

Misra et al.[170]

QoS-guaranteed bandwidth redistribution among gateways in mobile cloud computing

Mobile cloud computing

Survey[171]

A comprehensive survey of mobile cloud computing technology and applications

 

Wireless network as a service[172]

Investigates the pragmatism of having wireless networking as a service

 

Wireless network cloud[173]

Proposed wireless network cloud (WNC) to operate a wireless access network in cloud mode

 

RAN as a service[174]

Proposed an architecture for offering cloud-based RAN-as-a-service

Cloud-based virtualized WNs

CloudMAC[175]

Proposed an OF-based architecture for cloud processing of 802.11 MAC

Network settings

Cloud-based cognitive WNs

TV white space and clouds[176]

CWNs can perform increasingly complex tasks by offloading these computations to the cloud

Cloud-based cellular WNs

Cloud-based 5G RAN[177]

Proposed using cloud technologies for flexible 5G radio access networks

 

Cloud-based LTE[178]

Investigated how cloud computing can be applied to LTE cellular systems. Also, evaluated OpenStack, Eucalyptus, and OpenNebula for this task