The recent advances in the automotive industries and telecommunication technologies brought focus on Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), of which Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs) gain much more attention. The distinctive features of Software-Defined Networking (SDN), such as its flexibility, programmability, network abstraction and other extensive advancements to vehicular networks, has set the stage for a novel networking paradigm termed as Software-Defined Vehicular Networks (SDVNs). This solution is quite distinguishable from the old ones (e.g. Mobile IP, NEMO, PMIP and N-PMIP) known by the lack of flexibility and abstraction level and highly dependent on a centralized point of control.

The MH-SDVanet project will propose and implement an SDN-based architecture to enable rapid network innovation for multihoming 5G vehicular communications. The proposed architecture will consider heterogeneous wireless devices with multiple communication technologies, including On-Board Units (OBUs), equipped in the vehicles, and Road Side Units (RSUs), to be abstracted as SDN switches, where network resources, such as bandwidth and spectrum, can be allocated and assigned by the logical control plane, providing a far more agile configuration capability, and an approach for fast mobility and multihoming between the available interfaces while vehicles are moving. The SDN-based architecture will also include the support to optimize the placement and migration of service(s)/function(s) between OBUs, RSUs and Cloud elements. The optimization mechanisms will consider fairness on the network access with the specified requirements, velocity of vehicles, and the dynamics of VANETs like intermittent connectivity and the possibility of cooperation between vehicles.

After the definition of the SDVN architecture, the project will run in three parallel main tasks. The first one, more focused on the network coordination and control plane, will be responsible for the mechanisms for the management of the SDN controller and associated traffic flows. The second task, more focused on the edge connectivity and data plane, will be responsible for the mechanisms for the management of the wireless communication interface between the mobile elements and the infrastructure. Finally, the third task will cover the service chaining, migration and location of services inside the SDVN, a critical task in such a dynamic and heterogeneous environment, not only regarding the communication technologies available, but also due to the different services that can be provided by vehicular networks. Several use cases, presenting different communication paradigms, and therefore distinct specifications, will be detailed and used as a research driving force, resulting in contrasting and challenging requirements to be addressed by the SDVN. Although specified as parallel tasks they are far from independent. The communication between both ends will be of critical importance so the SDN controller can have a clear view of the network topology. To that end, SDN switches and the SDN controller will have to keep constant interaction, considering the intermittent communication in the vehicular network, and act preemptively to avoid outdated forwarding tables, and be able to assure very fast handover between the available interfaces. For the same reason, the service migration process and the SDN controller will have to find points-of-contact in order to assure the full end-to-end connectivity inside the SDVN, but also with the Internet.

In the end, the project will evaluate and demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed solutions by means of a real demonstrator. In addition, the city-scale 5G testbed under deployment in the city of Aveiro [Aveiro, 2020] will be used for the several stages of evaluation and large scale demonstrator. In a different plane, the outcomes of the project with respect to the qualification and training of young researchers, and the successful conclusion of M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses, will contribute to the increase of the competitiveness of the national research cluster. The progress towards an efficient vehicular network will enable effective transportation systems, therefore contributing for the development of a resilient transportation infrastructure, as targeted by the United Nations Sustainable Goal number 9.

Finally, the research team behind the MH-SDVanet, involving two of the most important national research and educational entities, the Instituto de Telecomunicações and the University of Coimbra, has proven and complementary experience in the area of mobility management and softwarized networks, which will guarantee the good execution of this project with a high level of innovation.