SDN-Oriented 6G Industrial IoT Architecture Design and Application to Optimal RIS Placement and Selection.

Area of Science:

• Telecommunications Engineering
• Computer Networking
• Wireless Communication Systems

Background:

• The increasing demand for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) services in 5G/6G networks necessitates advanced network management solutions.
• Integrating Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) presents challenges in network discovery and resource allocation.
• Existing network architectures may not fully support the dynamic and demanding requirements of IIoT environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a high-level system architecture integrating Software Defined Networking (SDN) with RISs for 5G/6G IIoT networks.
• To design a comprehensive framework detailing modules, interfaces, and protocols for SDN-based RIS management.
• To formulate and evaluate algorithms for the RIS Placement and Selection Problem (RPSP).

Main Methods:

• Development of an SDN architecture incorporating RISs with an OpenFlow-compatible interface.
• Characterization of Network Discovery (ND) and Host Discovery (HD) protocols for controller awareness.
• Formulation of the RIS Placement and Selection Problem (RPSP) using Set Covering (SC) and Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) graph-theory approaches.
• Extensive simulation campaign in realistic industrial environments.

Main Results:

• The proposed framework effectively integrates SDN and RISs for IIoT requirements.
• Network and Host Discovery protocols enable the SDN controller to maintain a global network view.
• Simulation results demonstrate significant advantages in coverage and complexity reduction for RIS placement and selection.

Conclusions:

• The developed SDN architecture provides a robust solution for managing RISs in 5G/6G IIoT networks.
• The proposed discovery protocols and RPSP algorithms enhance network efficiency and performance.
• This research contributes to the advancement of intelligent and adaptable industrial communication systems.