The deliverable D2.2 Draft Architectural Framework is available for review and comment.
This particular document presents a first stage and intermediate summary of WP2 work with respect to an Architecture Framework, and attempts to model new Network Architectures, highlighting 4WARD defined concepts, terms and the basic constructs in this arena.
In the context of the Future Internet it is envisioned that different network architectures can coexist and share a common infrastructure. These network architectures can be specifically tailored to particular user or application requirements and, furthermore, can take into account the characteristics of the available networking resources.
The 4WARD Architecture Framework provides two views on network architectures and its resources:
(i) the macroscopic view mainly focuses on structuring the network at a higher level of abstraction and introduces the concept of Strata as a flexible way to layer the services of the network; and
(ii) the microscopic view concentrates more on the functions needed in the network, their
selection and composition to Netlets that are instantiated in the physical nodes of the
network.
The Design Process represents the workflow ranging from a business idea as a starting point to the design of network architecture models (NAM) and software architecture models (SAM). This is followed by the instantiation and operation of a network architecture fulfilling the detailed technical requirements derived from the business idea. At this point in time, the Component Based Architecture (CBA) comes into play. It represents the link between the modelling of the network architecture to its deployment in a platform specific implementation.
Even though the main phase’s goals of the Design Process have been specified, it however needs more work on specific details including, for example, the transition steps between the three major phases of detailed technical requirements analyses, NAM design and SAM design. Moreover, aspects related to the interoperability and composition of functions will be more detailed in the second year of the project. This also holds for the specification of the Design Repository. Although the described Design Process is seen as an off-line process (it is not applied during the run-time), the network architecture that are designed during this Design Process may be highly adaptable during run-time allowing the easier introduction of networks services during networks run-time.
The composition of functionalities has focused on the way functions needed to fulfil a detailed technical requirement derived from the initial business idea can be composed. This forms the basis for the definition of protocols to be applied in order to meet the specific requirements. Some first examples on how to efficiently combine very basic functionalities to build new protocols and Netlets have been also described.
In order to evaluate the applicability of the Architecture Framework, three use cases were defined and utilized as application examples. The use cases were selected in a way that they reflect challenging requirements that are foreseen in the Future Internet, mainly with focus on the integrated support of QoS, security and mobility. They were applied to the macroscopic view as well as to the microscopic view. They will be used for further re-fined evaluations. In this context more precise evaluation criteria will be formulated based on what has been reported in D2.1
The task of WP2 is to derive an Architecture Framework that allows for an efficient and effective design of tailored network architectures. In order to evaluate this, the Framework has to be applied to different challenges. In this respect, the developments of other WPs of 4WARD were explored in some detail. Note, however, that the developments within WP2 and those of the other WPs reflect work in progress. As a first conclusion, most of the solutions being developed in other WPs of 4WARD are well represented within the Architecture Framework being defined in WP2. More details need to be derived in the following period of the 4WARD project.