Automatic Construction of Name-Bound Virtual Networks for IoT

In this paper, we propose a mechanism for autoconfiguration of name-bound virtual networks (NBVNs) for Internet of Things (IoT). Some IoT standardization groups have defined APIs for IoT device communications, in which they indicate the correspondent nodes and resources by names. However, current technologies for the construction of Virtual Networks (VNs) rely on VLANs, IP routing, and OpenFlow control, thus they do not provide a name-based solution. Our proposal fills this gap. We first define business players that construct and use the NBVNs. They are Application Service Provider (ASP), Virtual Network Operator (VNO), and Infrastructure Provider (InP). We then specify the roles of ASP/VNO/InP, including the tasks that must be performed by their managers, and the required interactions for the purpose of autoconfiguration. Subsequently, we describe the system we developed to implement the operations of ASP/VNO/InP and thus construct NBVNs automatically. For each NBVN, the required IPv6 addresses are automatically allocated and assigned to the network nodes, including the IoT devices. Moreover, data forwarding and name resolution mechanisms are also configured automatically. Thus, the proposed system constructs area-and/or time-bound VNs for offering network services to event-centric IoT applications, such as outdoor concerts and sporting events. Finally, we demonstrate that the constructed NBVNs are capable to configure thousands of addresses and name entries within a minute, thus IoT devices can communicate among them by using their correspondent node names instead of their addresses. Moreover, both ASP and VNO can operate the servers, switches, and routers pertaining to the NBVNs by also using their names.