SDNizing the Wireless LAN - A Practical Approach

Abstract

The emerging Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm and a plethora of diverse applications provision more flexible network management. Software Defined Networking (SDN) occupies the pivotal role in realizing such flexible network management. However, the gain of this potential panacea is still unmeasurable in a real sense especially when wireless medium is part of the equation, as the validation frameworks mostly skip capturing realistic system dynamics. In this paper, we study the performance gain of SDN control implemented in a physical testbed comprising of a virtualized core and a WLAN access network. With this contribution, we aim at realizing a more realistic environment where the impact of system dynamics on the stakeholders (users and operators) may be studied. We developed a mechanism to map the logical wireless channels over the physical wireless interface of the access point. SDN (OpenDaylight) control application for mobility management, the mapper tool, a visualization and control GUI, and Android applications are amongst the main contribution of this work.