In the last few years, the research community has witnessed the rapid development of the Information-Centric Networking (ICN) approach aiming at evolving the Internet from today's host based packet delivery towards directly retrieving information in a secure, reliable, scalable, and efficient way. The Internet of Things (IoT) concept envisions scenarios in which “smart objects” can be interconnected to enable a whole new class of applications and services, positively increasing the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Although ICN tested scenarios have been mainly limited to multimedia and data, quoted advantages of ICN make from this architectural design a valuable approach in addressing the challenges that arise from the increasing deployment of IoT. In general, IoT applications impose stringent requirements in terms of information freshness, which can be highly impacted by the intrinsic caching mechanisms existing in ICN approaches. In the present work, the available freshness mechanism conceived as part of the Content-Centric Networking (CCN) protocol is assessed and a novel consumer driven information freshness approach is proposed to satisfy the consumers' needs while mitigating the negative effect of the freshness requirements in the overall network performance. The new mechanism was evaluated through simulation, with obtained results showing that the proposed approach leads to better performance, as compared with the available CCN freshness mechanism.

The next generation of mobile broadband communication, 5G, is seen as a driver for the industrial Internet of things (IIoT). The expected 5G-increased performance spanning across different indicators, flexibility to tailor the network to the needs of specific use cases, and the inherent security that offers guarantees both in terms of performance and data isolation have triggered the emergence of the concept of public network integrated non-public network (PNI-NPN) 5G networks. These networks might be a flexible alternative for the well-known (albeit mostly proprietary) Ethernet wired connections and protocols commonly used in the industry setting. With that in mind, this paper presents a practical implementation of IIoT over 5G composed of different infrastructure and application components. From the infrastructure perspective, the implementation includes a 5G Internet of things (IoT) end device that collects sensing data from shop floor assets and the surrounding environment and makes these data available over an industrial 5G Network. Application-wise, the implementation includes an intelligent assistant that consumes such data to generate valuable insights that allow for the sustainable operation of assets. These components have been tested and validated in a real shop floor environment at Bosch Termotecnologia (Bosch TT). Results show the potential of 5G as an enhancer of IIoT towards smarter, more sustainable, green, and environmentally friendly factories.

Multiaccess edge computing (MEC) service migration is a technology whose key objective is to support ultralow-latency access to services. However, the complex ultralarge-scale edge service migration problem requires extensive research efforts, regarding the foreseen ultradensified edge nodes in 5G and beyond. In this article, we propose a novel dynamic service migration optimization architecture for ultralarge-scale MEC networks. We develop a new multicriteria decision-making algorithm: Technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution with attribute-based Niche count, named TOPANSIS, which showcases its strength to provide an optimal solution for service migration in large-scale deployments towards optimal data rate, latency, and load balancing. We further decentralize the operation of TOPANSIS to release the traffic burden from central datacenters by leveraging local decision making by edge nodes, while relying on central cloud coordination to account for the overall network information. Simulation results showcase that the proposed architecture outperforms the selected benchmarks with an average improvement of 39.41% for latency, 2.92% for data rate, as well as 10.53% and 6.26% for RAM and CPU load balancing, respectively. Moreover, the feasibility of the proposed solution is validated by means of a proof-of-concept implementation and experimental assessments.

5G has been heralded as a critical, decisive technology for verticals’ digital transformation. It targets innovative technical capabilities, allowing dedicated and improved communication mechanisms, going beyond the mere performance increase experienced by past generations’ evolution. Despite the literature already envisaging the application of 5G-enabled solutions in vertical-based deployments, there is still a lack of experimental insights shedding light on the actual feasibility of 5G capabilities in specific vertical deployments. This gap is particularly evident in verticals that did not traditionally rely on mobile network solutions for their communication needs, such as safety-related control signals in railway operations. This paper aims to fill this gap by delivering an extensive empirical analysis performed through a 5G-enabled railway deployment. We designed and implemented a joint testbed, which allows us to faithfully reproduce two important transportation railway use cases that leverage 5G communications involving the vertical, communication service solutions operator, and integration actors. There, we expose the necessary integration engineering behind the enablement of 5G capabilities in such scenarios, considering the highly safety-certified and standardized environment of railway vertical sector regulations (which never considered the utilization of mobile networks in their development). We empirically demonstrate the performance capability achieved by the 5G-enabled network using two different systems, a carrier-grade one and an open-development one, in light of the required key performance indicators. To the best of our knowledge, this is the very first field trial and empirical evaluation of the suitability of 5G with the implementation of a 5G-enabled railway cross-level scenario within the transportation context.