Context-Aware Software-Defined Wireless Networks: An AI-Based Approach to Deal with QoS

Abstract

Many IoT systems require real-time communication, which imposes strict timing constraints on data transmission and stresses network propagation models. These systems need to address these communication requirements using wireless networks and also manage quality of service. While Software-Defined Wireless Networks (SDWNs) offer a compelling alternative for these scenarios, they lack dynamic mechanisms to autonomously adapt network behavior to fluctuating operational conditions. In order to do that, this paper builds on the authors’ previous work and shows how to implement Context-Aware Software-Defined Wireless Networks (CA-SDWNs) that use a self-adapting traffic management strategy to deal with dynamic real-time requirements. In particular, it adapts the medium access protocol parameters to changes in the operational context using an intelligent agent in the control loop of the network. We implement the CA-SDWN model using the NS-3 simulator, and that implementation is made available for researchers and developers through an open-source library. The model is evaluated using several SDWNs that operate under dynamic conditions. The experimental results show how incorporating artificial intelligence into the control loop enables the use of the context information to enhance the predictability of the medium access protocol parameters, thus handling different traffic QoS according to the demand of IoT applications. It represents a clear contribution for researchers and developers of these systems when they have to deal with QoS and real-time constrained communication in SDWNs implemented on WiFi.