17 January. 2021
Cloud computing (or computing within distant data centres) has contributed much to the development of the Internet over the past twenty years or so. However, new applications in the area of IoT, but not only, are pushing the limits of cloud computing to the point where computing at far-away data-centres cannot cope with application requirements. Emerging trends in computing, communications and networking move towards fog computing and mobile edge computing (MEC). According to these trends computation moves to the edges of the network (hence from cloud to fog to edge) to serve newly emerging applications with strict response deadlines. The challenges pertaining to this move defy some of the most fundamental operations taking place in the Internet infrastructure today.
Throughout this PhD study we will investigate the changes that the Internet needs to undergo from the ground up. Starting from network layer protocols, we will explore issues related to routing and resolution of services to micro-data centres, or computation spots. Resource allocation in terms of which services run where through learning algorithms or market-driven approaches will need to be integrated into routing and transport layer protocols.