Experimentation and evaluation activities were conducted throughout the duration of the Software-defined Intermittent Networking (SINet) project. These represent the main results achieved and included a trial experiment on board of the vessel Gunnerus, the analysis of real-world Internet of Things (IoT) equipment and other experiments based on both simulation and emulation.
The main focus of each of the performed experiments and evaluations can be summarised in 4 items:
- UAVs as Data-mules: The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has been widely discussed in the literature but very few real-world experiments have been conducted. This experiment analysed their potential in maritime settings for gathering large amounts of data.
- Small Satellites Communication: Emulation/Simulation study regarding the feasibility of a freely-drifting swarm of low-cost smallsats to support networking in the Arctic region, where infrastructures are non-existent or inadequate for a wide range of applications.
- Robustness & Interoperability: Interoperability experiments between Very High Frequency (VHF) and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) technologies using real-hardware, IPv6 over Low Rate Wireless Personal Area Network (6LoWPAN), IP version 6 (IPv6) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN).
- Resource-constrained IoT: An experimental study regarding solar-energy availability, complementing low-overhead networking protocols with resource-awareness and management.
Dissemination resulted both from presentations in different events and preliminary peer-reviewed publications. Another form of promotion has taken place through the publishing of bug reports in open-source software repositories. In particular, throughout SINet activities, bugs on the Linux kernel, two different CoAP implementations, Docker and Contiki have been reported. In this scope SINet has contributed with patches to fix the reported bugs, as well as improvements, which were later included in some of the main distributions (i.e. master branch).
Exploitation activities are focused on engaging industrial actors in order to adequately use SINet’s results. These have limited visibility but nonetheless interest and future possibilities have been registered by contacts established with the industry. In particular, a meeting at Ericsson Poland is taking place soon after the end of the project with the goal of exploiting obtained results and addressing customers’ pain-points. Additionally, exploitation of the acquired knowledge throughout the conducted research also targeted new research projects, with one successful outcome.
The following list contains the venues where SINet was presented, discussing its goals and results, as well as the importance of Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions in the promotion of mobility between researchers. These activities were mostly focused on academic audiences, but also included the presence of the industry in some workshops.
The exploitation of SINet results has been focused on ensuring the continuation of research activities related to networking in challenging and resource constrained environments. In order to achieve this goal, I have contacted different potential partners, presenting concepts related to SINet in face-to-face meetings, conference calls and dedicated events. The main outcome from these endeavours was the successful acceptance of the ART research project, involving colleagues from multi-disciplinary areas at NTNU.
