Keywords: Next-Generation Networks, traffic handling, Quality of Experience, Service Level Agreements, transport layer, cross-layer designs, 5G, simulations, experiments.

 

       

 

How networks should cooperate with end-hosts in Next-Generation Networks

 

Ericsson Hungary would like to explore ways to enhance Quality of Experience and support flexible services in Next-Generation Networks, by relying on cooperation between the network and the end hosts. This would come as an alternative to the traditional solution where traffic was regulated just based on end-to-end communication. The EIT Digital Doctoral School announces thus an open position for an industrial doctorate in Budapest on this specific topic of cooperative traffic handling. The proposed new concepts will be prototyped and analyzed in comprehensive simulators interfacing with Ericsson’s 5G simulators, but also in real next-generation networks of an operator. A 6-month mobility at KTH in Sweden, one of the best European research institutions in this field, is also part of the program.

Challenge

Communication mechanisms in today’s networks are far from being optimal. One of the best examples to underline this statement is the way how transport protocols handle congestion control, mainly just by adjusting sending rates. Many alternative transport layer protocols were proposed in the last decades to make the Internet faster, but they were very slow to be accepted and deployed. The challenge of this thesis work would be thus to provide enhancements to current transport layer solutions by supporting the cooperation between the network and the endpoints, while equally considering the interest of all actors involved: users, application developers, network operators, equipment and operating system vendors.

 Approach

After a review of state-of-the-art related work, the proposed new concepts will be prototyped and studied in comprehensive simulation scenarios and potentially in real networks. The results of this evaluation will provide at their turn valuable feedback to the design of the concepts and algorithms. The scenarios will be based on real industry use-cases, with a special emphasis on deployability. The proposed solutions shouldn’t require client side modifications, achieving thus compatibility with the current Internet while also enabling future innovation. 

Expected outcome          

The expected results of this industrial PhD are new solutions to enable and leverage cooperative traffic handling in next-generation networks, and thus improve performance and efficiency. The results shall include a working and verified prototype of the new concepts, a detailed analysis of their impact on network performance, and deployment considerations. The results should be published in high-quality academic journals, but potential patents should be also investigated, in close cooperation with Ericsson Hungary.

Location

The doctoral student involved in this program will share its time between the Co-Location Center of the EIT Digital Budapest Node, the premises of Ericsson Hungary, and the Budapest university of Technology and Economics. A 6-month mobility to KTH in Sweden, one of the best known European research groups in this field, will be also part of the program.   

Facts

  • Industrial partner: Ericsson Hungary Ltd.
  • Academic/research partner: Budapest University of Technology and Economics
  • Number of available PhD positions: 1 
  • Duration: 4 years  
  • This PhD will be funded by EIT Digital, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and Ericsson Hungary Ltd.

 

Apply

Those interested in applying should send an e-mail to zoltan.istenes@eitdigital.eu, including a CV, a motivation letter, and documents showing their academic track records.

Please apply before December 12, 2017.

 

READ HERE THE FULL POSITION PAPER