An Implementation of Layer 2 Overlay Mesh Network and Edge Computing Platform for IoT

Abstract

In this study, we develop a regional area information distribution network platform that includes distributed server functions and the mesh network system called NerveNet. NerveNet is a network system comprising a Layer 2 Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) switch hardware and a CPU board with Linux based operating system. Conventional NerveNets only run on dedicated switching hardware, and interconnect base stations with dedicated links because various unexpected tag VLAN frames are exchanged over the links. We developed a new NerveNet Base Station (BS) software called “NerveNet OS,” that can run on a variety of personal computers (PC) especially single-board computers using software switching technologies. In addition, we developed an Layer 2 SSL-VPN over TCP/UDP functions to interconnect BSs over non-dedicated links such as a commercial network, mobile operator network or the Internet. We installed the NerveNet OS on a Raspberry pi 3 Model B hardware and examined the switching performance.