Open-Source Software Defined Networking Controllers:State-of-the-Art,Challenges and Solutions for Future Network Providers

Software Defined Networking(SDN)is programmable by separation of forwarding control through the centralization of the controller.The controller plays the role of the‘brain’that dictates the intelligent part of SDN technology.Various versions of SDN controllers exist as a response to the diverse demands and functions expected of them.There are several SDN controllers available in the open market besides a large number of commercial controllers;some are developed tomeet carrier-grade service levels and one of the recent trends in open-source SDN controllers is the Open Network Operating System(ONOS).This paper presents a comparative study between open source SDN controllers,which are known as Network Controller Platform(NOX),Python-based Network Controller(POX),component-based SDN framework(Ryu),Java-based OpenFlow controller(Floodlight),OpenDayLight(ODL)and ONOS.The discussion is further extended into ONOS architecture,as well as,the evolution of ONOS controllers.This article will review use cases based on ONOS controllers in several application deployments.Moreover,the opportunities and challenges of open source SDN controllers will be discussed,exploring carriergrade ONOS for future real-world deployments,ONOS unique features and identifying the suitable choice of SDN controller for service providers.In addition,we attempt to provide answers to several critical questions relating to the implications of the open-source nature of SDN controllers regarding vendor lock-in,interoperability,and standards compliance,Similarly,real-world use cases of organizations using open-source SDN are highlighted and how the open-source community contributes to the development of SDN controllers.Furthermore,challenges faced by open-source projects,and considerations when choosing an open-source SDN controller are underscored.Then the role of Artificial Intelligence(AI)and Machine Learning(ML)in the evolution of open-source SDN controllers in light of recent research is indicated.In addition,the challenges and limitations associated with deploying open-source SDN controllers in production networks,how can they be mitigated,and finally how opensource SDN controllers handle network security and ensure that network configurations and policies are robust and resilient are presented.Potential opportunities and challenges for future Open SDN deployment are outlined to conclude the article.

Prescribed finite-time stabilization of fuzzy neural networks with time-varying controller

This paper investigates the exponential and prescribed finite-time stabilization with time-varying controller.First,the constraints of boundedness and differentiability on time delays are simultaneously relaxed,the Lipschitz condition for activation function is also relaxed.Second,different from the traditional Lyapunov function,two different time-varying Lyapunov functions are respectively constructed to achieve the exponential and prescribed finite-time stabilization.Significantly,the exponential convergence rate and the settling time are constants that can be given in advance and are not affected by system parameters and initial states.In addition,the time-varying controllers have good tolerance for disturbance caused by discontinuous functions and the disturbance is perfectly resolved and does not affect the control performance.Especially,the form of controllers is relatively simple and there is not necessary to design the fractional-order controllers for prescribed finite-time stabilization.Furthermore,the exponential and prescribed finite-time stabilization for FNNs without delay are respectively established via continuous time-varying state feedback control.Finally,examples show the effectiveness of the proposed control methods.

IoT Enabled Microgrid Framework Using a Novel Dispersal Diffusion Artificial Neural Network Controller for PV Systems and Wind Energy to Minimize Electrical Faults

A system based on a PV-Wind will ensure better efficiency and flexibility using lower energy production.Today,plenty of work is being focussed on Doubly Fed Induction Generators(DFIG)utilized in wind energy systems.DFIG is found to be the best option in the Wind Energy Conversion Systems(WECS)to mitigate the issues caused by power converters.In this work,a new Artificial Neural Network(ANN)is proposed with the Diffusion and Dispersal strategy that works on Maximum Power Point Tracking(MPPT)along with Wind Energy Conversion System(WECS)to minimize electrical faults.The controller focus was not just to increase performance but also to reduce damage owing to any phase to phase fault or Phase to phase to ground fault.To ensure optimal MPPT for the proposed WECS,ANN achieves the optimal PI controller parameters for the indirect control of active and reactive power of DFIG.The optimal allocation and size of the DGs within the distributed system and for MPPT control are obtained using a population of agents.The generated solutions are evaluated and on being successful,the agents test their hypothesis again to create a positive feedback mechanism.Simulations are carried out,and the proposed IoT framework efficiency indicates performance improvement and faster recovery against faults by 9 percent for phase to ground fault and by 7.35 percent for phase to phase fault.

Finite-time Prescribed Performance Time-Varying Formation Control for Second-Order Multi-Agent Systems With Non-Strict Feedback Based on a Neural Network Observer

This paper studies the problem of time-varying formation control with finite-time prescribed performance for nonstrict feedback second-order multi-agent systems with unmeasured states and unknown nonlinearities.To eliminate nonlinearities,neural networks are applied to approximate the inherent dynamics of the system.In addition,due to the limitations of the actual working conditions,each follower agent can only obtain the locally measurable partial state information of the leader agent.To address this problem,a neural network state observer based on the leader state information is designed.Then,a finite-time prescribed performance adaptive output feedback control strategy is proposed by restricting the sliding mode surface to a prescribed region,which ensures that the closed-loop system has practical finite-time stability and that formation errors of the multi-agent systems converge to the prescribed performance bound in finite time.Finally,a numerical simulation is provided to demonstrate the practicality and effectiveness of the developed algorithm.

Exponential stabilization of networked control systems and design of switching controller

This paper deals with the problem of switching between an open-loop estimator and a close-loop estimator for compensating transmission error and packet dropout of networked control systems. Switching impulse is considered in order to reduce the error between theory and application, a sufficient condition for exponential stabilization of networked control systems under a given switching rule is presented by multiple Lyapunov-like functions. These results are presented for both continuous-time and discrete-time domains. Controllers are designed by means of linear matrix inequalities. Sim- ulation results show the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method.

Co-design for an SoC embedded network controller

With the development of Ethernet systems and the growing capacity of modem silicon technology, embedded communication networks are playing an increasingly important role in embedded and safety critical systems. Hardware/software co-design is a methodology for solving design problems in processor based embedded systems. In this work, we implemented a new 1-cycle pipeline microprocessor and a fast Ethemet transceiver and established a low cost, high performance embedded network controller, and designed a TCP/IP stack to access the Intemet. We discussed the hardware/software architecture in the forepart, and then the whole system-on-a-chip on Altera Stratix EP1S25F780C6 device. Using the FPGA environment and SmartBit tester, we tested the system＇s throughput. Our simulation results showed that the maximum throughput of Ethemet packets is up to 7 Mbps, that of UDP packets is up to 5.8 Mbps, and that of TCP packets is up to 3.4 Mbps, which showed that this embedded system can easily transmit basic voice and video signals through Ethemet, and that using only one chip can realize that many electronic devices access to the Intemet directly and get high performance.

Self-Triggered Set Stabilization of Boolean Control Networks and Its Applications

Set stabilization is one of the essential problems in engineering systems, and self-triggered control(STC) can save the storage space for interactive information, and can be successfully applied in networked control systems with limited communication resources. In this study, the set stabilization problem and STC design of Boolean control networks are investigated via the semi-tensor product technique. On the one hand, the largest control invariant subset is calculated in terms of the strongly connected components of the state transition graph, by which a graph-theoretical condition for set stabilization is derived. On the other hand, a characteristic function is exploited to determine the triggering mechanism and feasible controls. Based on this, the minimum-time and minimum-triggering open-loop, state-feedback and output-feedback STCs for set stabilization are designed,respectively. As classic applications of self-triggered set stabilization, self-triggered synchronization, self-triggered output tracking and self-triggered output regulation are discussed as well. Additionally, several practical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of theoretical results.

Cluster DetectionMethod of Endogenous Security Abnormal Attack Behavior in Air Traffic Control Network

In order to enhance the accuracy of Air Traffic Control(ATC)cybersecurity attack detection,in this paper,a new clustering detection method is designed for air traffic control network security attacks.The feature set for ATC cybersecurity attacks is constructed by setting the feature states,adding recursive features,and determining the feature criticality.The expected information gain and entropy of the feature data are computed to determine the information gain of the feature data and reduce the interference of similar feature data.An autoencoder is introduced into the AI(artificial intelligence)algorithm to encode and decode the characteristics of ATC network security attack behavior to reduce the dimensionality of the ATC network security attack behavior data.Based on the above processing,an unsupervised learning algorithm for clustering detection of ATC network security attacks is designed.First,determine the distance between the clustering clusters of ATC network security attack behavior characteristics,calculate the clustering threshold,and construct the initial clustering center.Then,the new average value of all feature objects in each cluster is recalculated as the new cluster center.Second,it traverses all objects in a cluster of ATC network security attack behavior feature data.Finally,the cluster detection of ATC network security attack behavior is completed by the computation of objective functions.The experiment took three groups of experimental attack behavior data sets as the test object,and took the detection rate,false detection rate and recall rate as the test indicators,and selected three similar methods for comparative test.The experimental results show that the detection rate of this method is about 98%,the false positive rate is below 1%,and the recall rate is above 97%.Research shows that this method can improve the detection performance of security attacks in air traffic control network.

The Effect of Key Nodes on theMalware Dynamics in the Industrial Control Network

As industrialization and informatization becomemore deeply intertwined,industrial control networks have entered an era of intelligence.The connection between industrial control networks and the external internet is becoming increasingly close,which leads to frequent security accidents.This paper proposes a model for the industrial control network.It includes a malware containment strategy that integrates intrusion detection,quarantine,and monitoring.Basedonthismodel,the role of keynodes in the spreadofmalware is studied,a comparisonexperiment is conducted to validate the impact of the containment strategy.In addition,the dynamic behavior of the model is analyzed,the basic reproduction number is computed,and the disease-free and endemic equilibrium of the model is also obtained by the basic reproduction number.Moreover,through simulation experiments,the effectiveness of the containment strategy is validated,the influence of the relevant parameters is analyzed,and the containment strategy is optimized.In otherwords,selective immunity to key nodes can effectively suppress the spread ofmalware andmaintain the stability of industrial control systems.The earlier the immunization of key nodes,the better.Once the time exceeds the threshold,immunizing key nodes is almost ineffective.The analysis provides a better way to contain the malware in the industrial control network.

Quantization and Event-Triggered Policy Design for Encrypted Networked Control

This paper proposes a novel event-driven encrypted control framework for linear networked control systems(NCSs),which relies on two modified uniform quantization policies,the Paillier cryptosystem,and an event-triggered strategy.Due to the fact that only integers can work in the Pailler cryptosystem,both the real-valued control gain and system state need to be first quantized before encryption.This is dramatically different from the existing quantized control methods,where only the quantization of a single value,e.g.,the control input or the system state,is considered.To handle this issue,static and dynamic quantization policies are presented,which achieve the desired integer conversions and guarantee asymptotic convergence of the quantized system state to the equilibrium.Then,the quantized system state is encrypted and sent to the controller when the triggering condition,specified by a state-based event-triggered strategy,is satisfied.By doing so,not only the security and confidentiality of data transmitted over the communication network are protected,but also the ciphertext expansion phenomenon can be relieved.Additionally,by tactfully designing the quantization sensitivities and triggering error,the proposed event-driven encrypted control framework ensures the asymptotic stability of the overall closedloop system.Finally,a simulation example of the secure motion control for an inverted pendulum cart system is presented to evaluate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Stability analysis and controller design for a class of delay systems via observer based on network

This paper focuses on the problem of stability analysis and controller design for a class of delay systems based on networked control systems. By introducing some free matrix variables, some criteria for stability analysis and observer-based control law design can be obtained by the solving of linear matrix inequalities. A numerical example is also offered to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Controller design for networked control system with data packet dropout and transmission delays

In this paper, the stabilization problem for a class of networked control systems （NCSs） with data packet dropouts and transmission time delays is considered, where the delays are time-varying and uncertain, the data packet dropout is modeled as a two-state Markov chain. To compensate the lost packet, a data packet dropout compensator is established. Thus a more realistic model for such NCSs is presented. Sufficient conditions for the stabilization of the new resulting system are derived in the form of linear matrix inequalities （LMIs）. Numerical example illustrates the solvability and effectiveness of the results.

On Reliability-optimized Controller Placement for Software-Defined Networks

By decoupling control plane and data plane,Software-Defined Networking(SDN) approach simplifies network management and speeds up network innovations.These benefits have led not only to prototypes,but also real SDN deployments.For wide-area SDN deployments,multiple controllers are often required,and the placement of these controllers becomes a particularly important task in the SDN context.This paper studies the problem of placing controllers in SDNs,so as to maximize the reliability of SDN control networks.We present a novel metric,called expected percentage of control path loss,to characterize the reliability of SDN control networks.We formulate the reliability-aware control placement problem,prove its NP-hardness,and examine several placement algorithms that can solve this problem.Through extensive simulations using real topologies,we show how the number of controllers and their placement influence the reliability of SDN control networks.Besides,we also found that,through strategic controller placement,the reliability of SDN control networks can be significantly improved without introducing unacceptable switch-to-controller latencies.

Neural Network Based Robust Controller for Trajectory Tracking of Underwater Vehicles

A robust neural network controller （NNC） is presented for tracking control of underwater vehicles with uncertainties. The controller is obtained by using backstepping technique and Lyapunov function design in combination with neural network identification. Modeling errors and environmental disturbances are considered in the mathematical model. A twolayer neural network is introduced to compensate the modeling errors, while H∞ control strategy is used to achieve the L2-gain performance. The uniformly ultimately bounded （UUB） stabilities of tracking errors and NN weights are guaran- teed through the proposed controller. An on-line NN weights tuning algorithm is also propesed. Good performances of the tracking control system are illustrated bv the results of numerical simulations.

Impulsive controller design for nonlinear networked control systems with time delay and packet dropouts

The globally exponential stability of nonlinear impul- sive networked control systems （NINCS） with time delay and packet dropouts is investigated. By applying Lyapunov function theory, sufficient conditions on the global exponential stability are derived by introducing a comparison system and estimating the corresponding Cauchy matrix. An impulsive controller is explicitly designed to achieve exponential stability and ensure state con- verge with a given decay rate for the system. The Lorenz oscillator system is presented as a numerical example to illustrate the theo- retical results and effectiveness of the proposed controller design procedure.

Application of PID Controller Based on BP Neural Network in Export Steam’s Temperature Control System

By combining the Back-Propagation （BP） neural network with conventional proportional Integral Derivative （PID） controller, a new temperature control strategy of the export steam in supercritical electric power plant is put forward. This scheme can effectively overcome the large time delay, inertia of the export steam and the influencee of object in varying operational parameters. Thus excellent control quality is obtaitud. The present paper describes the development and application of neural network based controller to control the temperature of the boiler＇s export steam. Through simulation in various situations, it validates that the control quality of this control system is apparently superior to the conventional PID control system.

Designing Discrete Predictor-Based Controllers for Networked Control Systems with Time-varying Delays:Application to A Visual Servo Inverted Pendulum System

A discrete predictor-based control method is developed for a class of linear time-invariant networked control systems with a sensor-to-controller time-varying delay and a controller-to-actuator uncertain constant delay,which can be potentially applied to vision-based control systems.The control scheme is composed of a state prediction and a discrete predictor-based controller.The state prediction is used to compensate for the effect of the sensor-to-controller delay,and the system can be stabilized by the discrete predictor-based controller.Moreover,it is shown that the control scheme is also robust with respect to slight message rejections.Finally,the main theoretical results are illustrated by simulation results and experimental results based on a networked visual servo inverted pendulum system.

Quality of Service Improvement with Optimal Software-Defined Networking Controller and Control Plane Clustering

The controller is indispensable in software-defined networking(SDN).With several features,controllers monitor the network and respond promptly to dynamic changes.Their performance affects the quality-of-service(QoS)in SDN.Every controller supports a set of features.However,the support of the features may be more prominent in one controller.Moreover,a single controller leads to performance,single-point-of-failure(SPOF),and scalability problems.To overcome this,a controller with an optimum feature set must be available for SDN.Furthermore,a cluster of optimum feature set controllers will overcome an SPOF and improve the QoS in SDN.Herein,leveraging an analytical network process(ANP),we rank SDN controllers regarding their supporting features and create a hierarchical control plane based cluster(HCPC)of the highly ranked controller computed using the ANP,evaluating their performance for the OS3E topology.The results demonstrated in Mininet reveal that a HCPC environment with an optimum controller achieves an improved QoS.Moreover,the experimental results validated in Mininet show that our proposed approach surpasses the existing distributed controller clustering(DCC)schemes in terms of several performance metrics i.e.,delay,jitter,throughput,load balancing,scalability and CPU(central processing unit)utilization.

Fuzzy controller design for networked control system with time-variant delays

Networked control system is new hot-point in control engineering. A new delayed model for networked control systems is presented, based on which an LQR controller is designed. A method of delays estimation online is also given. For the difficulty on implementation of LQR in NCSs with time-variant delays, the Mamdani intelligent logic with LQR controller is addressed. The stability of the networked control system is also given. Simulation results prove that the novel controller can make the system stable and robustly preserve the performance in terms of time-variant delays.

Newapproach to stochastic stability and controller design for networked control systems

This paper addresses the random time-delays and packet losses issues of networked control systems （NCS） within the framework of jump linear systems with mode-dependent time-delays. A new delay-dependent condition on the stochastic stability is proposed by a new stochastic Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional. The condition is formulated as a set of coupled linear matrix inequalities （LMIs）. As an example to verify the proposed method, an inverted-pendulum system with network is considered. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.