SoftAccess: Cloud-Based Software Defined Virtualized Wireless Mobile Access Networks

Mainly due to exponential growth in smart devices based mobile computing, the access networks are gaining tremendous momentum. Software defined networking (SDN), along with cloud computing and virtualization techniques, is considered as a major step forward from the conventional networking. Although SDN is being widely deployed in the data centers and enterprise networks, its adaptation in wireless mobile networks is still in an infancy stage. Unreliable channel and intermittent network connectivity limit the scope of SDN in the wireless context. However, by dealing with these issues, the benefits of the centralized control philosophy of SDN can be reaped for optimum spectrum sharing, QoS support and other services. In this paper, we propose SoftAccess, a cloud-based architecture for mobile wireless access networks that follows SDN principles and implements virtualization techniques. Seamless network connectivity and mobility management are the crucial aspects of wireless access networks. The proposed model addresses these challenges while making sure to achieve optimum performance and robustness against failures by harnessing capabilities of SDN and cloud computing. We deployed a testbed to evaluate the proposed architecture. The comparative experimental results are presented to corroborate the effectiveness of the proposal.