Resilient Multiuser Session Control in Softwarized Fog-Supported Internet of Moving Thing Systems

Sensors (Basel). 2019 Jun 20;19(12):2766. doi: 10.3390/s19122766.

Abstract

The combination of IoT and mobility promises to open a new frontier of innovations in smart environments, through the advent of the Internet of Moving Things (IoMT) paradigm. In IoMT, an array of IoT devices leverage IP-based mobile connectivity to provide a vast range of data ubiquitously. The IoMT realization will foster smart environments at unprecedented levels, by efficiently affording services and applications whereby today's technologies make their efficiency unfeasible, such as autonomous driving and in-ambulance remotely-assisted patient. IoMT-supported mission-critical applications push computing and networking requirements to totally new levels that must be met, raising the need for refined approaches that advance beyond existing technologies. In light of this, this paper proposes the Resilient MultiUser Session Control (ReMUSiC) framework, which deploys emerging softwarization and cloudification technologies to afford flexible, optimized and self-organized control plane perspectives. ReMUSiC extends our previous work through the following innovations. A quality-oriented resilience mechanism is capable of responding to network dynamics events (failure and mobility) by readapting IoMT multiuser mobile sessions. A softwarized networking control plane that allows to, at runtime, both fetch current network state and set up resources in the attempt to always keep affected IoMT multiuser mobile sessions best-connected and best-served. A cloudification approach allows a robust environment, through which cloud- and fog-systems interwork to cater to performance-enhanced capabilities. The IoMT's suitability and performance impacts by ReMUSiC framework use are assessed through real testbed prototyping. Impact analysis in Quality of Service (QoS) performance and perceived Quality of Experience (QoE), demonstrate the remarkable abilities of the ReMUSiC framework, over a related approach, in keeping IoMT multiuser mobile sessions always best-connected and best-served.

Keywords: Internet of Moving Things; IoT applications; mission-critical; resilient quality-oriented multiuser control; softwarized network control plane.