TECH

Scientists want to make broadband more resilient

Eleven researchers from the Faculties of Science and Technology (FCTUC) and Economics (FEUC) of the University of Coimbra (UC) and the Aveiro Institute of Telecommunications are developing "new mathematical models and algorithms", based on an idea of ​​the scientist David Tipper, reveals the FO project aims to "increase the resilience of communications networks that support critical services (hospitals, stock exchange, banking, emergency services, etc.)", states the FCTUC, stressing that "a communications that support essential services can do incalculable damage. "
Networks must therefore be 'resilient', ie they must be able to react and continue to function in the event of undesired events such as cable cutting, or they should be able to mitigate the effects in the event of natural disasters or of attacks of human origin, "he adds.
The new models that the experts are studying are based on an idea by David Tipper, a scientist and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, who argues that "to increase the robustness and reliability of a communication network it is not necessary that all elements constitute high availability ".
It is important to "choose the backbone" (physical substructure) of the network and work on differentiated availability, "says David Tipper.
This approach is "very interesting, because, due to the enormous complexity of the structures that make up the networks, improving all its elements would be excessively costly for the clients", says Teresa Gomes, coordinator of the project, entitled 'ResNeD ( Resilient Network Design - enhancing availability for critical services. '. CTUC in a note sent today to the agency Lusa. "Thus, our challenge is to select the elements of the network to improve, in order to achieve the availability objectives required by critical services at a reduced cost," adds the professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computers of FCTUC and researcher of the Institute of Systems and Computer Engineering of Coimbra (INESCC), considering that, however, the idea of ​​David Tipper alone is not enough.
Therefore, "in addition to using classic protection mechanisms, we will also follow another approach, focused on the establishment of alternative routes that are geographically distant and / or that circumvent high risk areas".
Most often, "when a disaster strikes, this event affects a particular area of ​​the network and theoretically the surrounding areas that remain operational should be able to communicate with each other," but "this may not actually happen because the operation and architecture of network were not planned to react quickly and adequately to these events. "It is necessary to exploit this potential", explains Teresa Gomes.
To implement the proposed strategies within the scope of the project, the team of researchers uses the flexibility of network management provided by the current paradigm, called Software Defined Networking (SDN), allowing to take advantage of the introduction of elements with differentiated availability and optimize the multilayer operation of communications networks, refers to FCTUC.
At the end of the project, scientists hope to provide a set of tools to make "networks of the future more resistant to anomalies by ensuring that services that are critical to the country are not affected," concludes Teresa Gomes, who researches in the area of ​​networks more than two decades. The ResNeD project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE 2020 Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Program and by national funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). Lusa Agency