Edge-ICN and its application to the Internet of Things

TL;DR

Edge-ICN is a practical approach to deploying Information-Centric Networking within large networks like ISPs, using SDN and edge nodes to enable scalable IoT applications without extensive infrastructure changes.

Contribution

The paper introduces Edge-ICN, a novel SDN-based architecture that simplifies ICN deployment at the network edge, supporting legacy traffic and enhancing IoT application capabilities.

Findings

Edge-ICN achieves similar control plane overhead as centralized solutions.

Supports native anycast, multicast, and multi-source forwarding for IoT.

Enables seamless operation of existing applications with ICN benefits.

Abstract

While research on Information-Centric Networking (ICN) flourishes, its adoption seems to be an elusive goal. In this paper we propose Edge-ICN: a novel approach for deploying ICN in a single large network, such as the network of an Internet Service Provider. Although Edge-ICN requires nothing beyond an SDN-based network supporting the OpenFlow protocol, with ICN-aware nodes only at the edges of the network, it still offers the same benefits as a clean-slate ICN architecture but without the deployment hassles. Moreover, by proxying legacy traffic and transparently forwarding it through the Edge-ICN nodes, all existing applications can operate smoothly, while offering significant advantages to applications such as native support for scalable anycast, multicast, and multi-source forwarding. In this context, we show how the proposed functionality at the edge of the network can specifically benefit CoAP-based IoT applications. Our measurements show that Edge-ICN induces on average the same control plane overhead for name resolution as a centralized approach, while also enabling IoT applications to build on anycast, multicast, and multi-source forwarding primitives.