Advanced Topics in Computer Networks

  • Time/Place: Sun/Wed 10:00-11:30, B9, Room 3135
  • Required textbook: None
  • Reference Materials: Research papers.
  • Course description: The course aims to train students in conducting major research in relevant aspects of software defined networking. In particular, scalability, openFlow, data plane, control plane, technologies,
    standards, and protocols for various communication technologies, edge vs. fabirc, virtualization, dynamic networks , PHY-layer, and MAC-layer.
  • Prerequisites: Solid computer networks background, excellent skills in C/C++, Mininet, Ripcord, Python, Linux programming.
  • Topic: None-Terrestrial Networks

 Student must obtain the passing grade (70%) in each task and the final project to pass the course.
The course will include a major research project component that requires performing several paper reviews, presentations, and implementation. 

  • Grading: 
    • Class participation (attendance, paper reviews, and interaction in discussions): 10%
    • Presentations: 10%
    • Homework: 30%
    • Final Project: 50%
  • Homework policy: all assignments, including contributions to discussion, submitted by students in the course of this class should be work written by themselves specifically for this class. Students must clearly cite and reference each and every source that was used in their development. Where students use the actual words of a source, they must put those words inside quotation marks.
  • Calendar: 

25/08 Couse Introduction 

28/08 Overview of Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) 

28/08 Assignment 1 Assignment 1 Due 18/09 

01/09 Overview of Non-Terrestrial Networks in 5G 

  • M. Vaezi et al., "Cellular, Wide-Area, and Non-Terrestrial IoT: A Survey on 5G Advances and the Road Toward 6G," in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 1117-1174, Second quarter 2022. doi: 10.1109/COMST.2022.3151028.
  • F. Rinaldi et al., "Non-Terrestrial Networks in 5G & Beyond: A Survey," in IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 165178-165200, 2020.doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3022981.

08/09 Above 6 GHz: millimeter-wave, Terahertz-band, optical wireless communication for Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • H. Kaushal and G. Kaddoum, "Optical Communication in Space: Challenges and Mitigation Techniques," in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 57-96, First quarter 2017. doi: 10.1109/COMST.2016.2603518
  • J. Ye, J. Qiao, A. Kammoun and M. -S. Alouini, "Non-Terrestrial Communications Assisted by Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces," in Proceedings of the IEEE. doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2022.3169690.

15/09 Smart Radio Resource Management Techniques for Non-Terrestrial Networks

  • L. Zhang, A. Celik, S. Dang, and B. Shihada, "Energy-Efficient Trajectory Optimization for UAV-Assisted IoT Networks", IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Accepted, 2021.

  • H. El-Hammouti, D. Hamza, B. Shihada, M.-S. Alouini, and J. Shamma, "The Optimal and the Greedy: Drone Association and Positioning Schemes for Internet of UAVs", IEEE Internet of Things Journal, Vol. 8, No. 18, pp. 14066-14079, 2021.

18/09 Assignment 1 Results

  • Each to present 5-8 slides on the assignment results

18/09 Assignment 2 Assignment 2  Due 02/10

25/09 Integration of Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • W. Abderrahim, O. Amin, M. -S. Alouini and B. Shihada, "Latency-Aware Offloading in Integrated Satellite Terrestrial Networks," in IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, vol. 1, pp. 490-500, 2020, doi: 10.1109/OJCOMS.2020.2988787.
  • W. Abderrahim, O. Amin, M.-S. Alouini, and B. Shihada, "Proactive Traffic Offloading in Dynamic Integrated Multi-Satellite Terrestrial Networks", IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 70, No. 7, pp. 4671 - 4686, 2022.

28/09 Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning-based approaches in Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • H. Cheng, L. Bertizzolo, S. D’oro, J. Buczek, T. Melodia and E. S. Bentley, "Learning to Fly: A Distributed Deep Reinforcement Learning Framework for Software-Defined UAV Network Control," in IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, vol. 2, pp. 1486-1504, 2021. doi: 10.1109/OJCOMS.2021.3092690
  • J. Zhang, X. Zhang, P. Wang, L. Liu and Y. Wang, "Double-edge intelligent integrated satellite terrestrial networks," in China Communications, vol. 17, no. 9, pp. 128-146, Sept. 2020. doi: 10.23919/JCC.2020.09.011.

02/10 Assignment 2 Results 

  • Each to present 5-8 slides on the assignment results

02/10 Assignment 3 Assignment 3  Due 23/10

02/10 Project Proposal Potential Projects

06/10 Data Center-Enabled High Altitude Platforms 

  • Nieto GI. Study of cloud radio access network and edge computing in High-Altitude Platforms and nanosatellites (thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya).
  • W. Abderrahim, O. Amin and B. Shihada, “How to Leverage High Altitude Platforms in Green Computing?,” submitted to IEEE Network Magazine.

16/10 Network Management & Control Issues for Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • Y. Cao, S. -Y. Lien and Y. -C. Liang, "Deep Reinforcement Learning For Multi-User Access Control in Non-Terrestrial Networks," in IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 1605-1619, March 2021, doi: 10.1109/TCOMM.2020.3041347.
  • R. Shrestha, R. Bajracharya and S. Kim, "6G Enabled Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Traffic Management: A Perspective," in IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 91119-91136, 2021, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3092039.

20/10 Standardization and evolution of Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • R. Ding et al., "5G Integrated Satellite Communication Systems: Architectures, Air Interface, and Standardization," 2020 International Conference on Wireless Communications and Signal Processing (WCSP), 2020, pp. 702-707, doi: 10.1109/WCSP49889.2020.9299757.
  • J. Puttonen, L. Sormunen, H. Martikainen, S. Rantanen and J. Kurjenniemi, "A System Simulator for 5G Non-Terrestrial Network Evaluations," 2021 IEEE 22nd International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks (WoWMoM), 2021, pp. 292-297, doi: 10.1109/WoWMoM51794.2021.00054. 

23/10 Assignment 3 Results

  • Each to present 5-8 slides on the assignment results

27/10 Novel IoT application and use-cases enabled by Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • T. Kellermann, R. P. Centelles, D. Camps-Mur, R. Ferrús, M. Guadalupi and A. C. Augé, "Novel Architecture for Cellular IoT in Future Non-Terrestrial Networks: Store and Forward Adaptations for Enabling Discontinuous Feeder Link Operation," in IEEE Access, vol. 10, pp. 68922-68936, 2022, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3184720.
  • T. A. Khan et al., "The Internet of Things from Space: Transforming LTE Machine Type Communications for Non-Terrestrial Networks," in IEEE Communications Standards Magazine, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 57-63, June 2022, doi: 10.1109/MCOMSTD.0001.2100054.

03/11 Broadcast/Multicast services over Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • O. BenYahia, E. Erdogan and G. K. Kurt, "HAPS-assisted Hybrid RF-FSO Multicast Communications: Error and Outage Analysis," in IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, 2022, doi: 10.1109/TAES.2022.3186296.
  • M. Hu, J. Li, C. Cai, T. Deng, W. Xu and Y. Dong, "Software Defined Multicast for Large-scale Multi-layer LEO Satellite Networks," in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, doi: 10.1109/TNSM.2022.3151552.

10/11 SDN and NFV solutions for Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • N. Zhang, S. Zhang, P. Yang, O. Alhussein, W. Zhuang and X. S. Shen, "Software Defined Space-Air-Ground Integrated Vehicular Networks: Challenges and Solutions," in IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 55, no. 7, pp. 101-109, July 2017, doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2017.1601156.
  • S. Xu, X. -W. Wang and M. Huang, "Software-Defined Next-Generation Satellite Networks: Architecture, Challenges, and Solutions," in IEEE Access, vol. 6, pp. 4027-4041, 2018, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2793237.

17/11 Device and network virtualization in Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • I. Maity, T. X. Vu, S. Chatzinotas and M. Minardi, "D-ViNE: Dynamic Virtual Network Embedding in Non-Terrestrial Networks," 2022 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), 2022, pp. 166-171, doi: 10.1109/WCNC51071.2022.9771560.
  • N. Torkzaban and J. S. Baras, "Controller Placement in SDN-enabled 5G Satellite-Terrestrial Networks," 2021 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), Madrid, Spain, 2021, pp. 1-6. doi: 10.1109/GLOBECOM46510.2021.9685039.

24/11 Edge, Fog, and Cloud computing architectures for Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • M. Ke et al., "An Edge Computing Paradigm for Massive IoT Connectivity Over High-Altitude Platform Networks," in IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 102-109, October 2021, doi: 10.1109/MWC.221.2100092.
  • K. Mershad, H. Dahrouj, H. Sarieddeen, B. Shihada, T. Al-Naffouri, and M.-S. Alouini, "Cloud-Enabled High-Altitude Platform Systems: Challenges and Opportunities", Frontiers in Communications and Networks: Wireless Communications, Vol. 2, pp. 30-51, 2021

27/11 Security, privacy, and trust management in Non-Terrestrial Networks 

  • A. Petrosino, G. Piro, L. A. Grieco and G. Boggia, "An Optimal Allocation Framework of Security Virtual Network Functions in 6G Satellite Deployments," 2022 IEEE 19th Annual Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC), 2022, pp. 917-920, doi: 10.1109/CCNC49033.2022.9700728.
  • O. B. Yahia, E. Erdogan, G. K. Kurt, I. Altunbas and H. Yanikomeroglu, "Physical Layer Security Framework for Optical Non-Terrestrial Networks," 2021 28th International Conference on Telecommunications (ICT), 2021, pp. 162-166, doi: 10.1109/ICT52184.2021.9511459.

01/12 Final Project Results