The purpose of the CATARO project (a coordinated project for the evaluation o optical
networks technologies and architectures) is to continue the studies carried out in two previous
projects, namely TRIPODE (IP traffic transport over Optical networks: Designing and
Evaluation, Ref.: TIC2002-04344-C02) and CARISMA (Connection and access to RedIRIS2
through a multi-channel optical ring, CICYT TIC2000-0304-P4-04). Thereby, the CATARO
project consists of two subprojects, namely SENDERO (Designing and Evaluation of optical
network architectures Ref.: TEC2005-08051-C3-01) and RINGING (GMPLS/ASON Intelligent
Network: Integration of reconfigurable nodes, Ref.: TEC2005-08051-C3-02), which are
summarized next.
The SENDERO subproject basically concerns the analysis aspects, design and performance
evaluation of the network architectures based on optical technology having as objectives, on
the one hand completing the subjects opened after finalization the TRIPODE project and on the
other hand opening new topics, which interest is growing. Particularly, with respect to optical
network architectures that could potentially be implemented in a short-term, it will continue
working on control plane and routing algorithms for ASON (Automatically Switched Optical
Networks) as well as will begin new topics like provisioning of new telecommunication services,
which is required by emerging applications like “Grid Computing” and “Storage Area Networks
and inter-working the RPR (Resilience Packet Rings) with ASON networks. Regarding mediumterm
architectures, the subproject will continue the subject of metropolitan area optical
networks taking into consideration possible implementations of the first prototypes in public
infrastructures and evaluation of the architectures more sophisticated. However, the principal
objective of this block will be centred on the optical burst switching networks (OBS), the
architecture which is gaining interest thanks to its both foreseeable strong benefits and future
technological affordability. Finally, in the context of long-term network architectures, the
subproject will continue the study on OPS (Optical Packet Switching) nodes functionality with a
focus on QoS provisioning, moreover it will approach a study in scope of the whole network,
particularly, focusing on a design of the control plane for OMPLS (Optical MPLS) networks, as
well as in evaluation of the routing algorithms. At last, we will begin a new topic that consists
of an adaptation the technique of optical packets commutation for designing the architectures
for high performance computers.
The RINGING subproject concerns the design and building of a reconfigurable optical node with
an advanced design, and its further integration into a real network to develop a field trial. The
main objective of this subproject is the integration of reconfigurable optical nodes in the
GMPL/ASON network, which has been obtained as a result of the CARISMA project. Thanks to
the participation in TRIPODE, CARISMA, and FIRM (Field trial with Integrated ROADMs and
GMPLS compliance, the CELTIC-EUREKA-2004 project, www.celtic-iniciative.org) projects, the know-how necessary for the implementation of the reconfigurable optical nodes is ready. The
subproject is divided in two main blocks. The first one will be dedicated to building
reconfigurable optical nodes, while in the other, the aspects of the integration of these nodes
in an optical network which was constructed during the CARISMA project, will be treated.
Introduction of the traffic engineering (TE) techniques into GMPLS/ASON networks, which will
result in a network able to provide optical virtual private networks (OVPN) as well as suitable
for working in a GRID environment of great importance in the next future, should be
highlighted among the most important general objectives of this subproject. For the
development of these last objectives also the participation in PROMISE (Provisioning and
monitoring of optical services, CELTIC-EUREKA-2004 project) project will be useful.
Duration
1/2006 - 12/2008
Participants
Advanced Broadband Communications Center (CCABA), Depts. of Computer Architecture (AC)
and Signal Theory and Communications (TSC), UPC.
Description
As networks get faster and network-centric applications get more complex, our understanding of the Internet continues to diminish. New aspects of Internet behaviour emerge that are either unknown or poorly understood. Denial-of-service attacks, malicious self-replicating programs (worms) and viruses plague the Internet. All these indicate the need for better Internet traffic monitoring.
Network monitoring and measurement is increasingly regarded as an essential function for developing and supporting high-quality network services, building and improving innovative networking technologies, analyzing infrastracture trends and user behavior and improving the security of our cyber-infrastracture.
LOBSTER is a step towards providing an advanced pilot European passive Internet traffic monitoring infrastracture that will improve our understanding of the Internet and will contribute towards solving difficult performance and security problems. Based on appropriate abstractions and willing cooperation among points of presence, this proposal will contribute towards effectively monitoring the underlying network, providing early warning for security incidents, and providing accurate and meaningful measurements of performance.
The main goal of LOBSTER is to deploy an advanced pilot European Internet Traffic Monitoring Infrastracture based on passive monitoring sensors at speeds starting from 2.5 Gbps and possibly up to 10 Gbps. It also aims to develop appropriate data anonymising tools to prohibit unauthorised tampering with the original traffic data, and to develop novel applications to improve monitoring (such as traffic characterisation and zero-day worm spread detection). Another aspect will be to provide anonymised traffic data to interested network researchers and security analysts.
Monitoring and mining real-time network data streams is
crucial for managing and operating data networks. The
information that network operators desire to extract from
the network traffic is of different size, granularity and
accuracy depending on the measurement task (e.g., relevant
data for capacity planning and intrusion detection
are very different). To satisfy these different demands, a
new class of monitoring systems is emerging to handle
multiple arbitrary and continuous traffic queries. Such
systems must cope with the effects of overload situations
due to the large volumes, high data rates and bursty nature
of the network traffic.
This project presents the design and evaluation of
a system that can shed excess load in the presence of
extreme traffic conditions, while maintaining the accuracy
of the traffic queries within acceptable levels. The
main novelty of our approach is that it is able to operate
without explicit knowledge of the traffic queries. Instead,
it extracts a set of features from the traffic streams
to build an on-line predictionmodel of the query resource
requirements. This way the monitoring system preserves
a high degree of flexibility, increasing the range of applications
and network scenarios where it can be used.
We implemented our scheme in an existing network
monitoring system and deployed it in a research ISP network.
Our results show that the system predicts the resources
required to run each traffic query with errors below
5%, and that it can efficiently handle extreme load
situations, preventing uncontrolled packet losses, with
minimum impact on the accuracy of the queries’ results.
SMARTxAC is a project carried out under a collaboration agreement between the Advanced Broadband Communications Center (CCABA) of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) and the Supercomputing Center of Catalonia (CESCA). SMARTxAC aims to develop and deploy a passive measurement infrastructure and a real-time analysis system for high-speed links. Currently, SMARTxAC is being used for capturing and analyzing the traffic of the Anella CientÃfica (Scientific Ring). The Anella CientÃfica is the name of the Catalan R&D Network, which is managed by CESCA and connects about 50 Universities and Research Centers in Catalonia. The tapped link is built from a pair of GigE links (one for each traffic direction) that connect the Anella CientÃfica to RedIRIS (Spanish R&D network) and to the global Internet. Current traffic volume on this link is about 600 Mbps and it is increasing day after day, so that data collection is facilitated by an Endace DAG 4.3GE measurement card. Full-traffic analysis at full-line rate is performed in real-time using the SMARTxAC analysis software developed at the Advanced Broadband Communications Center (CCABA) of the UPC. A three hours GPS-synchronized and anonymized IP header trace was captured for the NLANR/PMA project in February 2004 using the capture point and collection platform in the Anella CientÃfica. This data set was published and can be downloaded at CESCA-I section of NLANR/PMA website.
The CONTENT Network of Excellence targets a key area of Information Society Technologies, namely Content Delivery Networks for Home Users, as an integral part of Networked Audio-Visual Systems and Home Platforms.
CONTENT aims to build the European Research Area in this important communication topic by integrating a group of experts with the purpose of taking forward the state of the art and increasing European leadership in Content Networks. The overall goal of the CONTENT Network-of-Excellence is to integrate the research efforts of the members to address the technical challenges at the different system levels to enable easy-to-install and easy-to-use AV services in and between homes. In particular, the main technical objective will be to boost the potential of European Community Networking by improving Content Distribution infrastructures for the delivery of live (streaming) content and interactive stored content, and by integrating, in an open way, tools and mechanisms that would enable the curation of multimedia assets and their subsequent access for the benefit of the communities of users, producing a set of appropriate services for them, both in the context of the “long tail” or applied to (re-purposed) assets created by traditional broadcasters.
Duration
1/7/2006 – 30/6/2009
Participants
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (coordinator)
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - CCABA
Lancaster University
Université Pierre et Marie Curie
Universidade de Coimbra
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Technische Universität Darmstadt
AGH University of Science and Technology
Universitet i Oslo
Delft University of Technology
Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per l'Informatica - University of Napoli
Associate Partners
Microsoft Research Cambridge
Philips Research
Telefonica Publicidad e Información
Danet GmbH
Agilent Laboratories UK
Alcatel-Lucent
Nokia Research Center
TECMATH / Blue Order
TANDBERG ASA
Google Switzerland GmbH
NAVSHP Visionary Expert Group
The FEDERICA project will create a European wide “technology agnostic” infrastructure made of Gigabit circuits, transmission equipment and computing nodes capable of virtualization to host experimental activities on new Internet architectures and protocols.
The FEDERICA network is based on the Research & Education multi-gigabit networks footprint. Circuits are terminated in Points of Presence (PoPs) of NRENs and GÉANT2, hosting FEDERICA nodes capable of virtualising hosts e.g. open source routers and end nodes. Virtual slices of FEDERICA’s infrastructure may be allocated to network researchers for testing even with disruptive experiments within a large production substrate. The researchers will have full control on the allocated virtual nodes and network slice and access network monitoring information.
Internal project research is focused on understanding and producing initial solutions for monitoring, management and control of parallel virtual networks.
Duration
1/1/2008 - 30/6/2010
Participants
Consortium GARR (Italy); CESNET (Czech Republic); DANTE (based in UK); DFN (Germany); FCCN (Portugal); GRNET (Greece); HEAnet (Ireland); HUNGARNET (Hungary); Fundaci� i2CAT (Spain); ICCS (Greece); Juniper Networks (USA); KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden); Martel Consulting (Switzerland); NORDUnet (based in Denmark); Politecnico di Torino (Italy); PSNC (Poland); Red.es/RedIRIS (Spain); Siemens AG; SWITCH (Switzerland); TERENA (based in Netherlands); UPC (Spain).
The BONE-proposal builds on the foundations laid out by the e-Photon/ONe projects in the previous Framework Programme. This Network of Excellence has successfully brought together over several years the research activities within Europe in the field of Optical Networks. The BONE-project intends to validate this effort by stimulating a more intensified collaboration, exchange of researchers and building on Virtual Centres of Excellence that can serve to European industry with education & training, research tools & testlabs and pave the way to new technologies & architectures.
The Network of the Future, which is the central theme of this Call, will have to cope with a wide variety of applications running on a wide variety of terminals and with an increasing number of connected devices and increasing speed and data-loads. Within this context, issues as convergence between mobile and fixed networks, or issues regarding the optimised broadband access in the last mile using a wide variety of technologies such as DSL, cable, WiMAX, WiFi, PLC,… are currently under investigation to adapt the current network to these increasing requirements for better performance.
The BONE-proposal looks further into the future and builds the final “Network of the Future”:
- a high capacity, flexible, reconfigurable and self-healing optical Core & Metro network which supports the transport of massive amounts of data
- a FTTx solution in which the “x” is as close as possible to the home, at the home, or even in the home. From this point the user is connected using terminal-specific technologies (wireless to handheld devices, fiber to home cinema, wireless to laptop, fixed connection to desktop,…)
- BONE clearly identifies the existence of the current technologies and also recognizes the fact that users also require the mobility of wireless access, but this mobile connection ends at a gateway or access points and from there a fixed connection is required and this fixed connection will finally be an optical link.
Current Projects 
The BONE-proposal builds on the foundations laid out by the e-Photon/ONe projects in the previous Framework Programme. This Network of Excellence has successfully brought together over several years the research activities within Europe in the field of Optical Networks. The BONE-project intends to validate this effort by stimulating a more intensified collaboration, exchange of researchers and building on Virtual Centres of Excellence that can serve to European industry with education & training, research tools & testlabs and pave the way to new technologies & architectures.
The Network of the Future, which is the central theme of this Call, will have to cope with a wide variety of applications running on a wide variety of terminals and with an increasing number of connected devices and increasing speed and data-loads. Within this context, issues as convergence between mobile and fixed networks, or issues regarding the optimised broadband access in the last mile using a wide variety of technologies such as DSL, cable, WiMAX, WiFi, PLC,… are currently under investigation to adapt the current network to these increasing requirements for better performance.
The BONE-proposal looks further into the future and builds the final “Network of the Future”:
- a high capacity, flexible, reconfigurable and self-healing optical Core & Metro network which supports the transport of massive amounts of data
- a FTTx solution in which the “x” is as close as possible to the home, at the home, or even in the home. From this point the user is connected using terminal-specific technologies (wireless to handheld devices, fiber to home cinema, wireless to laptop, fixed connection to desktop,…)
- BONE clearly identifies the existence of the current technologies and also recognizes the fact that users also require the mobility of wireless access, but this mobile connection ends at a gateway or access points and from there a fixed connection is required and this fixed connection will finally be an optical link.