AiroLAB: Leveraging on virtualization to introduce controlled experimentation in operational multi-hop wireless networks

Abstract

Network Virtualization represents one of the most promising approach to unlock innovation in current network technologies. This paper presents AiroLAB, a wireless network virtualization solution aimed at providing Wireless Internet Service Providers with an effective tool to support experimental testing of novel network-level solutions on production networks. In the paper, the design choices which lie at the basis of AiroLAB are presented and discussed together with a prototype implementation. The outcomes of measurement activities performed on a small-scale testbed demonstrate the strength of the proposed framework in preserving guaranteed performance for production traffic while allowing several experimental instances to run on a network in operation. © Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2011.