Skip to main content

Adaptive Ant Colony Optimization for Service Function Chaining in a Dynamic 5G Network

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
  • 1165 Accesses

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 12861))

Abstract

5G Networks are strongly dependent on software-based management and processing. Services offered inside this environment are composed of several Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) that must be executed in a (normally) strict order. This is known as Service Function Chaining (SFC) and, given that those VNFs could be placed in different nodes along the network together with the expected low latency in the processing of 5G services, makes SFC a tough optimization problem. In a previous work, the authors presented an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm for the minimization of the routing cost of service chain composition, but it was a preliminary approach able to solve simple and ‘static’ instances (i.e. network topology is invariable). Thus, in this work we describe an evolution of our previous proposal, which consider a dynamic model of the problem, closer to the real scenario. So, in the instances nodes and links can be removed suddenly or, on the contrary, they could arise. The ACO algorithm will be able to adapt to these changes and still yield optimal solutions. The Adaptive Ant-SFC method has been tested in three dynamic instances with different sizes, obtaining very promising results.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Eramo, V., Miucci, E., Ammar, M., Lavacca, F.G.: An approach for service function chain routing and virtual function network instance migration in network function virtualization architectures. ACM Trans. Networking 25(4), 2008–2025 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Moreno, S., Mora, A.M., Padilla, P., Carmona-Murillo, J., Castillo, P.A.: Applying ant colony optimization for service function chaining in a 5g network. In: Alsmirat, M.A., Jararweh, Y. (eds.) Sixth International Conference on Internet of Things: Systems, Management and Security, IOTSMS 2019, Granada, Spain, 22–25 October 2019, pp. 567–574. IEEE (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Dorigo, M., Stützle, T.: The ant colony optimization metaheuristic: algorithms, applications, and advances. In: Glover, F., Kochenberger , G.K. (ed.) Handbook of Metaheuristics, pp. 251–285. Springer, Boston (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48056-5_9

  4. Medhat, A.M., Taleb, T., Elmangoush, A., Carella, G.A., Covaci, S., Magedanz, T.: Service function chaining in next generation networks: state of the art and research challenges. IEEE Commun. Mag. 55(2), 216–223 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Allybokus, Z., Perrot, N., Leguay, J., Maggi, L., Gourdin, E.: Virtual function placement for service chaining with partial orders and anti-affinity rules. Networks 71(2), 97–106 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Nguyen, T.M., Minoux, M., Fdida, S.: Optimizing resource utilization in NFV dynamic systems: new exact and heuristic approaches. Comput. Netw. 148, 129–141 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Gil-Herrera, J., Botero, J.F.: A scalable metaheuristic for service function chain composition. In: 2017 IEEE 9th Latin-American Conference on Communications, LATINCOM 2017. Volume 2017-Janua., pp. 1–6. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Laaziz, L., Kara, N., Rabipour, R., Edstrom, C., Lemieux, Y.: FASTSCALE: a fast and scalable evolutionary algorithm for the joint placement and chaining of virtualized services. J. Network Comput. Appl. 148, 102429 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Sim, K.M., Sun, W.H.: Multiple ant-colony optimization for network routing. In: First International Symposium on Cyber Worlds, 2002. Proceedings, pp. 277–281 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bhaskaran, K., Triay, J., Vokkarane, V.M.: Dynamic anycast routing and wavelength assignment in WDM networks using ant colony optimization (ACO). In: 2011 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), pp. 1–6 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work has been partially funded by projects RTI2018-102002-A-I00 (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades), TIN2017-85727-C4-2-P (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad), B-TIC-402-UGR18 (FEDER and Junta de Andalucía), and project P18-RT-4830 (Junta de Andalucía).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonio M. Mora .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Moreno, S., Mora, A.M. (2021). Adaptive Ant Colony Optimization for Service Function Chaining in a Dynamic 5G Network. In: Rojas, I., Joya, G., Català, A. (eds) Advances in Computational Intelligence. IWANN 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12861. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85030-2_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85030-2_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-85029-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-85030-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics