This project is aimed at the design and experimental validation of a comprehensive clean-slate future Internet architecture. The proposed MobilityFirst architecture is motivated by the ongoing paradigm shift of Internet usage from today?s fixed PC/host (client)?server model to emerging mobile data services and pervasive computing applications. The major design goals of the architecture are: mobility as the norm with dynamic host and network mobility at scale; robustness with respect to intrinsic properties of the wireless medium; trustworthiness in the form of enhanced security and privacy; usability features such as support for context-aware services, evolvability, manageability and economic viability. The key components of the MobilityFirst network design are: (1) separation of naming and addressing, implemented via a fast global dynamic name resolution service; (2) self-certifying public key network addresses to support strong authentication and security; (3) generalized delay-tolerant routing with in-network storage for packets in transit; (4) flat-label internetwork routing with public key addresses; (5) hop-by-hop transport protocols operating over segments rather than an end-to-end path; (6) a separate network management plane that provides enhanced visibility; (7) optional privacy features for user and location data; and (8) an integrated computing and storage layer to support programmability. The project?s scope includes architectural design, validation of key protocol components, testbed prototyping of the MobilityFirst architecture as a whole, and real-world protocol deployment on the GENI experimental infrastructure. The results of this project will provide architectural guidance for cellular-Internet convergence, and are expected to influence future technical standards in the networking industry.
The MobilityFirst project started in Sept 2010 as a collaborative, multi-institutional research initiative under the NSF FIA (Future Internet Architecture) program. The overall goal of the project was to design and validate a clean-slate mobility-centric and trustworthy architecture for the future Internet. The scope of research included specification of the proposed new network architecture, detailed design and verification of key protocol components, analysis of economic and policy aspects, evaluation of network security and privacy, system-level prototyping and validation of the network as a whole, and "real-world" testbed deployments for evaluation by application developers and end-users. The project has largely achieved the original goals, producing a full MobilityFirst protocol specification and proof-of-concept implementation centered around the following key concepts: (1) separation of the names of network objects from network addresses; (2) public-key-based GUIDs (globally unique identifiers) for all Internet-attached objects, assigned by multiple independent name certification providers; (3) name (i.e. GUID) based protocol layer as the "narrow waist" of the protocol with support for advanced services such as dynamic mobility, disconnection tolerance, multicast, multi-homing, content retrieval and context-aware message delivery; (4) Global name resolution service (GNS) for dynamic binding of names to network addresses; (5) New inter-domain and intra-domain routing protocols with in-network storage, hop-by-hop transport, edge-awareness and late binding capabilities; (5) Separate management plane instrumented for visibility of network performance and resource usage; and (6) Computing layer for optional in-network service features. Results from the project include detailed design and evaluation of the above mentioned core protocol components, including the global name service (GNS), the intra- and inter-domain routing (GSTAR and EIR), hop-by-hop transport layer protocol, in-network compute layer and service API. The global name service has been identified as the critical new component of the architecture, motivating two complementary GNS designs (Auspice at UMass and DMap at Rutgers) and both these alternatives have been successfully prototyped and validated at a reasonably large scale. The storage-aware routing protocol proposed for MobilityFirst is the other core technology component which has been evaluated in depth during the course of this project, resulting in a baseline intra-domain routing protocol (GSTAR) and two alternative inter-domain routing approaches (EIR and hierarchical routing). An optional in-network compute layer service has also been developed and validated at the initial proof-of-concept level. A key outcome that has emerged from this effort is a simple but deep architectural insight, namely, that a logically centralized global name service (GNS) can significantly enhance mobility, security, and transform network-layer functionality. In addition to architecture and core protocol design, the team has worked on validating the MobilityFirst protocol stack over a set of representative mobile Internet use cases including: (a) mobile data services over heterogeneous WiFi/cellular networks; (b) content retrieval and delivery to/from both fixed and mobile users; (c) context-aware message delivery services; and (d) machine-to-machine (M2M), sensor network and Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications; (e) vehicular networking applications. These use cases have been mapped to service features in the MobilityFirst protocol stack and are being used as reference models for evaluating protocol performance. Demonstration systems for some of these use cases have also been built. In parallel to the above design and analysis activities, the project team engaged in a significant experimental validation and proof-of-concept effort for the MobilityFirst network as a whole. This effort has led to a series of successful demonstrations on the ORBIT outdoor WiFi/WiMAX network, and the national GENI network (most recently at the GEC-20 plenary, Davis, CA, June 2014). We have also worked on planning and design of three external "field trials" involving real-world end users and applications to be carried out in the next phase of the FIA project. Experimental work has also been conducted on porting of the MobilityFirst protocol to emerging networking platforms including SDN (software defined network) switches and FPGA-assisted routers. Progress has been made on the MobilityFirst service API running on Android and Linux platforms, enabling mobile application development that takes advantage of new protocol features such as content addressability, multi-homing or late binding. The project team has also been active with education and outreach activities with highlights including summer internship programs for undergraduates in 2012, 2013 and 2014 working on Android mobile applications, routing protocol validation, context-aware applications and other related topics. In terms of industry outreach, the project hosted a full-day Future Internet Architecture workshop in May 2012 with ~100 attendees many from industry, leading to multiple research collaborations with industry research labs. The project team has also engaged with US government/DoD agencies through presentations at forums such as LSN (Large Scale Networking) and the US Army ITA (International Technology Alliance). A number of papers and invited keynote talks (a total of ~100 o) have also been published or presented over the course of the project, and approximately 15 MS and PhD students have graduated with thesis projects related to MobilityFirst.
