Research

Computer Sciences and Information Technology

Title :

Unified Software-Defined Architecture for Industrial Internet of Things

Area of research :

Computer Sciences and Information Technology

Focus area :

Internet of Things

Principal Investigator :

Prof. Sudip Misra, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur

Timeline Start Year :

2019

Contact info :

Details

Executive Summary :

Software-defined network (SDN) introduces programmability and flexibility in the network by separating the data and control planes, which is particularly useful to address the heterogeneity and complexity present in the industrial internet of things (IIoT). Software-defined IIoT (SDIIoT) network would be capable of routing the network traffic intelligently while utilizing underutilized network resources. The flexibility of SDN would simplify network management in terms of information acquisition, decision-making, and policy implementation. However, SDN-based IIoT systems are still in their infancy and face significant challenges such as seamless mobility of users, reliability, and QoS-guaranteed data delivery. To address these challenges, investigators intend to propose a unified software-defined architecture, in order to have end-to-end orchestration of IIoT services over wired/wireless networks. Methodology: • Studying the state-of-the-art software-defined networking system to identify potential gaps • Proposing networking abstractions to enable software-defined architecture for IIoT in sensors, devices present at the edge and core networks. • Integration of different software-defined components, such as sensors, edge, and core devices, to enable unified end-to-end network management. • Setting up a test-bed of the entire system • Conducting field-trial of the developed prototype in different network automation industries. Utility: • Unified architecture and model for SDIIoT. • A communication protocol for managing and controlling the end-devices of the above system in a unified manner. • Abstraction mechanisms for various IIoT functions to meet the requirements such as, real-time, delay/packet loss, robustness, fault-tolerance, and quality of service (QoS). • A prototype implementation as a proof-of-concept. Justification and Impact: • Joint collaboration between academia and industry-leading to improved technology transfer. • The existing approaches are not suitable to meet the diverse QoS requirements of IIoT such as throughput, delay, jitter, and reliability (packet-loss). • Fault-tolerance issues in IoT-devices have not been addressed so far both at the system and the component level. • The proposed scheme would enable a unified network management capable of end-to-end orchestration of IIoT services over wired/wireless networks using the concept of software-defined networking while considering the issues and challenges present in the existing IIoT.

Co-PI:

Prof. Bhargab B. Bhattacharya, Indian Statistical Institute(ISI), West Bengal, Dr Subhas Chandra Misra, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur

Total Budget (INR):

1,35,93,800

Achievements :

1. Software-Defined Wireless Sensor Network (SDWSN): With respect to the edge IIoT network, an initial SDWSN architecture with a custom controller with basic GUI features was designed and validated previously. Since then, major emphasis was given on the configuration of the individual sensor nodes. Arduino development boards and Texas Instruments (TI) devices have been used as the edge sensor nodes.

Publications :

 
6

Organizations involved