VirtueMAN: A software-defined network architecture for WiFi-based metropolitan applications

Metropolitan scale WiFi deployments face several challenges including controllability and management, which prohibit the provision of Seamless Access, Quality of Service (QoS) and Security to mobile users. Thus, they remain largely an untapped networking resource. In this work, a SDN-based network architecture is proposed; it is comprised of a distributed network-wide controller and a novel datapath for wireless access points. Virtualization of network functions is employed for configurable user access control as well as for supporting an IP-independent forwarding scheme. The proposed architecture is a flat network across the deployment area, providing seamless connectivity and reachability without the need of intermediary servers over the Internet, enabling thus a wide variety of localized applications, like for instance video surveillance. Also, the provided interface allows for transparent implementation of intra-network distributed cross-layer traffic control protocols that can optimize the multihop performance of the wireless network.