CARMEN - CARrier grade MEsh Networks
CARMEN, CARrier grade MEsh Networks, studies and specifies a wireless mesh network supporting carrier grade triple-play services for mobile/fixed network operators. Future operator networks will be comprised of a common core network and several access networks, and the CARMEN access network will complement other access technologies by providing a low cost and fast deployment mesh network access technology. The project proposes the integration of heterogeneous wireless technologies in a multi-hop fashion to provide scalable and efficient ubiquitous quad-play carrier services.
To address the integration complexity of heterogeneous radio technologies, CARMEN introduces a layer 2.5 located between the subnet layer and the routing layer (the abstract interface in the architecture figure below), in order to abstract technology specific issues into a common set of events and commands. Upper layers will use the abstract interface of layer 2.5 to dynamically adapt functions such as routing, mobility and monitoring. One relevant issue is that CARMEN will provide capacity handling algorithms to exploit specific features of the mesh networks such as the availability of multiple links between two peers (i.e. multipath) or the use of radio broadcast instead of unicast to alleviate the load of broadcast services (e.g. video) in the mesh network. CARMEN will focus on three planes: technology, message transfer, and self-configuration and management, to provide a complete solution for setting up and maintaining a cost-effective carrier grade wireless mesh access network.
CARMEN functionality architecture
Soundness of the obtained results is guaranteed by the strong operator involvement, and by performing a use-case implementation. One of the main outcomes of the project will be an Economical Analysis of the feasibility and cost-efficiency of mesh networks as compared to traditional mobile deployments. This ongoing economical analysis has already identify some designs for mesh clusters that can outperform single-hop based deployments, depending on key parameters such as, e.g., user density, backhaul costs or propagation loss.
CARMEN economical analysis result: deployment cost vs. environment (rural - urban) and cluster design
The experience of the consortium guarantees that the developed solutions will produce significant advance with respect to the current state of the art, which will be reflected in IPR creation, proposals of standards (with focus on IETF and IEEE), and dissemination of the results in high impact conferences and journals. The project will also develop different prototypes of wireless mesh networks, in order to test and validate the required functionality of the different CARMEN modules. Some of these testbeds will be showed as well in conferences and workshops.
CARMEN prototype consisting of multi-interface nodes
UNIVERSIDAD CARLOS III DE MADRID
AGH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ALCATEL-LUCENT DEUTSCHLAND AG
BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PLC
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM AG
FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.
NEC EUROPE LTD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
To realize the CARMEN’s vision, the following three main objectives are proposed:
While carrier grade, in general, has many aspects, including equipment reliability, security, AAA, QoS, management, standard’s compliance, mobility support, service integration, etc; addressing all of these issues in the context of a single project is a major challenge. Ultimately, a carrier grade mesh network should be flexible, reliable and able to provide fixed and mobile wireless users with high quality triple or quadplay services. To this end, specific tasks of the project will look into the design and validation of various interdependent functions covering admission control/resource management, routing, dynamic self-configuration, mobility and monitoring.
The design of routing and mobility schemes for both unicast and broadcast services over CARMEN requires the following functionalities to be validated: A multipath routing solution taking into account the multi-radio aspect by employing an interface that abstracts from specific radio technologies to media-independent functionalities, a broadcast/multicast routing protocol, and an algorithm/protocol to provide network based mobility management.
A number of radio interface technologies exist which offer diverse characteristics in terms of range, capacity, cost, etc. It is therefore natural to envisage that an operator’s network would comprise of some mixture of these technologies. Two of the most compelling technologies for which standardised multi-hop mesh/relay variants are currently based on are WiFi and WiMAX. The following figure illustrates the envisioned CARMEN heterogeneous mesh backhaul solution.
More specifically, the aforementioned interfaces are to be abstracted from the radio technology dependent media access control (MAC) layer to upper layers, which are radio technology independent. The main objective here is hence to define an interface to provide an abstraction of radio based MAC layers technology dependent functions in mesh environments. This abstract interface will be used by upper layers to interact with radio based MAC layers in a technology independent way. Also, it is envisaged that the current MAC layers of the current IEEE 802.11 and 802.16 standards need to be extended to support multi-hop/mesh environment.
In addition, a unique radio planning technique will also be developed to support distinct CARMEN requirements under permanent and temporary scenarios. Along this, the aspect on easy extension of existing networks will also be considered. At the same time, the network needs to be cost-effective in order to compete with existing non-mesh solutions. CARMEN solutions should therefore result in reduced CAPEX and OPEX costs.
In line with the objectives above, a list of measurable or tangible outputs in terms of scientific publications, IPRs, prototype and testbed developments are expected.
Project Co-ordinator
Albert Banchs
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Avda. Universidad, 30
28911 Leganés
Spain
Phone: +34 91 624 8802
E-mail: banchs at it.uc3m.es
Deliverables
Articles in Journals and Magazines
Bayer, N.; Xu, B.; Rakocevic, V. & Habermann, J. (2010), ‘Application-aware scheduling for VoIP in Wireless Mesh Networks’, Computer Networks Special Issue on Multi-Hop Wireless Access Networks 54(2), 257—277.
Bernardos, C. J.; Calderon, M.; Soto, I.; Solana, A. B. & Weniger, K. (2010), ‘Building an IPbased Community Wireless Mesh Network: Assessment of PACMAN as an IP Address Autoconfiguration Protocol’, Computer Networks, Special Issue on Multi-Hop Wireless Access Network, 54(2), 291—303.
Serrano, P.; Banchs, A.; Targon, V. & Kukielka, J. F. (2010), ‘Detecting Selfish Configurations in 802.11 WLANs’, IEEE Communication Letters, 14(2), 3.
Boutaba, R.; Murphy, S. & Banchs, A. (2010), ‘Special Issue on Wireless Multi-Hop Networking for Infrastructure Access [Editorial]‘, 54(2), 175—177.
Serrano, P.; Banchs, A.; Patras, P.; Azcorra, A. (accepted), ‘Optimal Configuration of 802.11e EDCA for Real-Time and Data Traffic’ IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.
Banchs, A.; Serrano, P. & Vollero, L. (accepted), ‘Providing service guarantees in 802.11e EDCA WLANs with legacy stations’, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing.
Serrano, P.; Bernardos, Carlos abd de la Oliva, A.; Banchs, A.; Soto, I. & Zink, M. (accepted), ‘FloorNet: Deployment and Evaluation of a Multihop Wireless 802.11 Testbed’, EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking.
de la Oliva, A.; Soto, I.; Garcia Martinez, A.; Bagnulo, M. & Azcorra, A. (2010), ‘Analytical Characterization of Failure Recovery in REAP’, Computer Communications 33(4), 485—499.
Azcorra, A.; Banniza, T.; Chieng, D.; Fitzpatrick, J.; Von-Hugo, D.; Natkaniec, M.; Robitzsch, S. & Zdarsky, F. (2009), ‘Supporting Carrier Grade Services over Wireless Mesh Networks - The Approach of the European FP-7 STREP CARMEN’, IEEE Communications Magazine, 47(4), 14—16.
Kassler, A.; Zdarsky, F.; Azcorra, A. & Banchs, A. (2009), ‘Workshop on Carrier Grade Mesh Networks’, IEEE Communications Magazine, 47(10), 1—4.
Patras, P.; Banchs, A. & Serrano, P. (2009), ‘A Control Theoretic Approach for Throughput Optimization in IEEE 802.11e EDCA WLANs’, Mobile Networks and Applications, 14(6), 697 –708.
Soto, I; Bernardos, C.J.; Calderon, M; Banchs, A & Azcorra, A. (2009), ‘NEMO-enabled Localised Mobility Support for Internet Access in Automotive Scenarios’, IEEE Communications Magazine, 47(5), 152—159.
Genc, V.; Murphy, S.; Yu, Y. & Murphy, J. (2008), ‘IEEE 802.16j Relay-based Wireless Access Networks: An Overview’, IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, Special Issue on Recent Advances and Evolution of WLAN and WMAN Standards, 15(5), 56—63.
A.Banchs; D. Qiao & D. Westhoff, ed., (2008) ‘Special issue on Dependability Issues with Ubiquitous Wireless Access [Guest Editorial]‘, in IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, 15(5).
Conferences and Workshops
Chieng, D., von Hugo, D. & Banchs, A. (2010), ‘A Cost Sensitiviy Analysis for CARrier Grade MEsh Networks (CARMEN) with Tabu Optimization’, in ‘Proceedings of 2nd International Workshop on Carrier Grade Wireless Mesh Networks’.
Maurina, S.; Fitzpatrick, J.; Trifan, L. & Murphy, L. (2010), An Enhanced Bridged- Based Multi-hop Wireless Network Implementation, in ‘Proceedings of the 5th Annual International Wireless Internet Conference (WiCon)’.
Pérez-Costa, X.; Mezzavilla, M.; de Marca, J. & Arauz, J. (2010), E-Diophantine: An Admission Control Algorithm for WiMAX Networks, paper accepted in IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC 2010).’
Serrano, P.; García, A.; Höllick, M. & Banchs, A. (2010), ‘On the Energy Efficiency of IEEE 802.11 WLANs’, paper accepted in European Wireless 2010 - Invited Session on Greening of the Wireless Internet, April 12-15 2010, Lucca, Italy.
Serrano, P.; Bernardos, C. J.; de la Oliva, A. & Soto, I. (2010), ‘Lessons Learned from the Deployment of a Multihop IEEE 802.11g Testbed Using COTS Devices’, paper accepted in European Wireless 2010 - Invited Session on Greening of the Wireless Internet, April 12-15 2010, Lucca, Italy.
Bayer, N. & von Hugo, D. (2009), ‘Challenges for Wireless Mesh Networks to provide reliable carrier-grade services’, tbd, Abstract in Tagungsprogramm.
Banchs, A.; Serano, P.; Hollick, M. & Vollero, L. (2009), Throughput and Energy Efficiency in IEEE 802.11 WLANs: Friends or Foes?, in ‘Proceedings of ICST QShine 2009′.
Hadjadj-Aoul, Y.; Murphy, S. & Murphy, L. (2009), A bridging-based solution for efficient multicast support in wireless mesh networks, in ‘Local Computer Networks, 2009. LCN 2009. IEEE 34th Conference on’, pp. 971–976.
Kretschmer, M. & Ghinea, G. (2009), Seamless Integration of Unidirectional Broadcast Links into QoS-constrained Broadband Wireless Mesh Access Networks, in ‘The 4th International Conference for Internet Technology and Secured Transactions, Proceedings of’.
Kretschmer, M.; Niephaus, C. & Ghinea, G. (2009), Towards QoS Provisioning in a Heterogeneous Carrier-Grade Wireless Mesh Access Networks Using Unidirectional Overlay Cells, in Prasun Sinha Valeria Cardellini Novella Bartolini, Sotiris Nikoletseas & Anirban Mahanti, ed., ‘Quality of Service in Heterogeneous Networks’, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, , pp. 530-544.
Kretschmer, M.; Niephaus, C. & Ghinea, G. (2009), QoS-aware Flow Monitoring and Event Creation in Heterogeneous MPLS-based Wireless Mesh Networks supporting Unidirectional Links, in ‘9th IEEE Malaysia International Conference on Communications 2009′.
Lee, J. I. E.; Chieng, D. & Gruber, M. (2009), ‘Deployment Analysis of Carrier Grade Urban Wireless Mesh Networks”9th IEEE Malaysia International Conference on Communications’. Natkaniec, M. & Pach, A. (2009), Bezprzewodowe sieci typu mesh klasy operatorskiej, in ‘Przeglad Telekomunikacyjny: Proceedings of National Conference KKRRiT ‘09′, SIGMANOT, Warsaw, Poland, pp. 203—210.
Portoles, M.; Cabellos, A.; Mangues, J.; Banchs, A. & Domingo, J. (2009), Impact of transient CSMA/CA access delays on Active Bandwidth Measurements, in ‘Proceedings of ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) 2010′.
Robitzsch, S.; Niephaus, C.; Fitzpatrick, J. & Kretschmer, M. (2009), Measurements and Evaluations for an IEEE 802.11a Based Carrier-Grade Multi-radio Wireless Mesh Network Deployment, in ‘Proc. Fifth International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Communications ICWMC ‘09′, pp. 272—278.
Serrano, P.; de la Oliva, A.; Bernardos, C. J.; Soto, I.; Banchs, A. & Azcorra, A. (2009), A CARMEN Mesh Experience: Deployment and Results, in ‘1st IEEE WoWMoM Workshop on Hot Topics in Mesh Networkings’.
Serrano, P.; Patras, P.; Perez-Costa, X.; Gloss, B. & Chieng, D. (2009), A MAC Layer Abstraction for Heterogeneous Carrier Grade Mesh Networks, in ‘ICT Mobile Summit ‘09′.
Serrano, P.; Zink, M. & Kurose, J. (2009), Assessing the fidelity of COTS 802.11 sniffers, in ‘Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2009′.
Szott, S.; Natkaniec, M. & Banchs, A. (2009), Impact of Misbehaviour on QoS in Wireless Mesh Networks, in ‘NETWORKING ‘09: Proceedings of the 8th International IFIP-TC 6 Networking Conference’, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 639–650.
Simsek, B.; Chen, J. Y.; Chieng, D.; Natkaniec, M. & Loziak, K. (2009), Self-Configuration Archtitecture for Carrier-grade Mesh Network (CARMEN), in ‘ICT Mobile Summit ‘09′.
Banchs, A.; Bayer, N.; Chieng, D.; de la Oliva, A.; Gloss, B.; Kretschmer, M.; Murphy, S.; Natkaniec, M. & Zdarsky, F. (2008), CARMEN: Delivering Carrier Grade Services over Wireless Mesh Networks, in ‘IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC’08)’.
Kretschmer, M.; Robitzsch, S.; Niephaus, C.; Jonas, K. & Ghinea, G. (2008), Wireless Mesh Network Coverage with QoS Differentiation for Rural Areas, in ‘First International Workshop on Wireless Broadband Access for Communities and Rural Developing Regions’.
Ting, A. & Chieng, D. (2008), Design and Capacity Performance Analysis of Wireless Mesh Network, in ‘Proceedigns of International Conference on Mobile Technology, Applications and Systems (Mobility 2008)’.
Gloss, B.; Banniza, T. R.; Bayer, N. & von Hugo, D. (2008), ‘CARMEN, CARrier-grade MEsh Networks’, Presentation at the Workshop on “`The Future of Broadband Wireless”‘, ITG Working Group 5.2.4 “`Mobility in IP-based Networks”‘.
Robitzsch, S. (2008), ‘Wireless Multitechnology Mesh Approach of the CARMEN project’, Presentation at Daidalos Public Workshop: Exchange of ideas and results with FP7 projects, Heidelberg, Germany.
Ting, A.; Chieng, D.; Hodgkinson, T. & Kawade, S. (2008), Design and Capacity Performance Analysis of Wireless Mesh Network, in ‘Industry Workshop on Wireless Community Networks’.
Serrano, P.; Banchs, A.; Kukielka, J. F.; d’Agostino, G. & Murphy, S. (2008), Configuration of IEEE 802.11e EDCA for Voice and Data traffic: An Experimental Study, in ‘ICTMobileSummit 2008 Conference Proceedings’.
Thorpe, C.; Murphy, S. & Murphy, L. (2008), Analysis of Variation in IEEE802.11k Channel Load Measurements for Neighbouring WLAN Systems, in ‘Procedings of ICT-MobileSummit 2008′.
Contributions to Standardisation
Lessmann, J. (2010), ‘Current Status of 802.21 SG “Heterogeneous Wireless Networks”’, IEEE 802.21 Task Group, Task Group IEEE 802.21 MEDIA INDEPENDENT HANDOVER.
Lessmann, J. (2010), ‘HWN SG Jan 2010 Closing Plenary Remarks’, Task Group IEEE 802.21 MEDIA INDEPENDENT HANDOVER.
Lessmann, J.; Niephaus, C. & de la Oliva, A. (2010), ‘Discussion of HWN SG Scope’, IEEE 802.21 Task Group, Task Group IEEE 802.21 MEDIA INDEPENDENT HANDOVER.
Bernardos, C. & in ‘t Velt, R. (2009), ‘Addressing Model for Router Interfaces in Ad Hoc Networks’, draft-bernardos-autoconf-addressing-model-01, IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Bernardos, C. J.; Calderon, M. & Soto, I. (2009), ‘PMIPv6 and Network Mobility Problem Statement’, draft-bernardos-netext-pmipv6-nemo-ps-01, IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Bernardos, C. J.; Melia, T. & Seite, P. (2009), ‘Multihoming extensions for Proxy Mobile IPv6′, draft-bernardos-mif-pmip-01, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Bernardos, C. J.; de la Oliva, A.; Zuniga, J.; Melia, T. & Das, S. (2009), ‘PMIPv6 operation with IEEE 802.21′, draft-bernardos-netext-pmipv6-mih-01, IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Contreras, L. M. & Bernardos, C. J. (2009), ‘Multicast service delivery in PMIPv6 domains’, Technical report, IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Feder, P. & Lessmann, J. (2009), ‘Liaison Report 802.21 - Session No.64′.
Krishnan, S.; Yokota, H.; Melia, T. & Bernardos, C. J. (2009), ‘Issues with network based inter-technology handovers’, draft-krishnan-netext-intertech-ps-02, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Lessmann, J. & Simsek, B. (2009), ‘Mesh Networks with IEEE802.21′, Presented at IEEE 802.21 session No.32 in Montreal.
Lessmann, J.; Simsek, B. & Niephaus, C. (2009), ‘Wireless Backhauls with 802.21′.
Lessmann, J.; Simsek, B.; Niephaus, C. & de la Oliva, A. (2009), ‘Heterogeneous Wireless Networks and IEEE 802.21′.
Melia, T.; Bernardos, C. J. & Zuniga, J. C. (2009), ‘3GPP MN-AR interface’, draft-melia-netext-3gpp-mn-ar-if-00, IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Simsek, B. & Lessmann, J. (2009), ‘Issues in Heterogeneous Mesh Networks’.
Simsek, B.; Lessmann, J. & de la Oliva, A. (2009), ‘IEEE 802.21 Mesh Ad-Hoc Discussion Document: Heterogeneous Wireless Multi-hop Backhaul Networks’.
Zuniga, J. C.; Perras, M.; Melia, T. & Bernardos, C. (2009), ‘Support of Proxy MIP in the context of WiMAX Networks’, draft-zuniga-netext-wimax-mn-ar-if-00, IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Burak Simsek (Fraunhofer Institute), Albert Vidal (U2CAT). Albert Banchs(Universidad Carlos III de Madrid). Antonio de la Oliva (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid), F. Z. (2008), ‘Independent Mesh Networks 2008′.
Vidal, A.; Banchs, A.; de la Oliva, A.; Simsek, B. & Zdarsky, F. (2008), ‘Media Independent Mesh Networks’, Presentation at IEEE 802.21 MEDIA INDEPENDENT HANDOVER, session 29 in Dallas.
Baccelli, E. (2008), ‘Address Autoconfiguration for MANET: Terminology and Problem Statement’, draft-ietf-autoconf-statement-04, IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Bernardos, C. J.; Calderon, M. & Moustafa, H. (2008), ‘Ad-Hoc IP Autoconfiguration Solution Space Analysis’, draft-bernardos-autoconf-solution-space-02, IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Bernardos, C. J.; Calderon, M. & Moustafa, H. (2008), ‘Survey of IP address autoconfiguration mechanisms for MANETs’, draft-bernardos-manet-autoconf-survey-04 IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Bernardos, C. J.; Calderon, M. & Soto, I. (2008), ‘Requirements for IP Autoconfiguration Mechanisms in Backbone Wireless Mesh Network scenarios’, draft-bernardos-autoconf-backbone-mesh-reqs-01, IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
Moustafa, H.; Bernardos, C. J. & Calderon, M. (2008), ‘Evaluation Considerations for IP Autoconfiguration Mechanisms in MANETs’, draft-bernardos-autoconf-evaluation-considerations-03, IETF, Internet Draft, work in progress.
In the following we provide a list of research activities related to those of CARMEN: