Emulating the SDN-Enabled Computing Continuum through Lightweight Virtualization

Abstract

In recent years, the number of Internet-connected devices has increased notably, leading to a significant rise in data traffic. This increase has been fostered by the Internet of Things paradigm, the use of microservices architectures in application development, and the ability to deploy these applications across various layers in the Computing Continuum (including Fog, Edge, and Cloud layers). Consequently, choosing the right deployment strategy has become essential for network operators and developers, especially in intensive domains such as smart cities. In this work, we introduce an emulation framework that allows developers and operators to decide how to deploy networks, computing devices, and applications in a Computing Continuum environment, ensuring compliance with established Quality of Service standards. This framework supports both IP and SDN network paradigms and is highly adaptable to different scenarios due to its use of container-based virtualization. Furthermore, the SDN paradigm provides flexibility, enabling the implementation of a service discovery feature that simplifies communication between end devices and services. Evaluations conducted in a realistic smart city scenario show that this framework can be extended and applied to a wide range of situations and configurations, meeting the needs of the research community in the Computing Continuum domain.