STITI Oussama

PhD student at Sorbonne University
Team : Phare
https://lip6.fr/Oussama.Stiti

Supervision : Guy PUJOLLE

Co-supervision : BRAHAM Othmen

Study of virtual access points urbanization and network metamorphosis strategies

Virtualization was originally introduced in networks to reduce maintenance and deployment costs. It has experienced tremendous growth and reshaped the landscape of IT and ITC networks. Virtualization permits the sharing of physical resources for instantiating isolated virtual machines despite the fact that it is drawing its resources from the same physical hardware. More recently NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) appeared, it allows to virtualize entire classes of network functions node in blocks that can connect to create communication services. In this thesis we virtualize the access network nodes, namely Wi-Fi access points. The Wi-Fi became one of the hot-topic technology for mobile operators, it allows them to offload some of the customers’ data traffic via hotspots. The problem that arises in such a mechanism is the existing wireless standards, and mobile devices connection management software have not been developed for this purpose. The Hotspot2.0 standard was created to overcome this limitation, by making the Wi-Fi experience similar to the cellular in terms of roaming, transparency and security. We have in our work, applied the concept of NFV by virtualizing these brand new Wi-Fi access points. One of the problems that we faced is the high security required by such standard, including the provisioning of client credentials in public areas. In our thesis we propose an innovative architecture for the repatriation of these credentials through NFC terminals. These same terminals will be used for access points’ urbanization by allowing users to create their own Wi-Fi virtual access point on the fly. The last aspect of this thesis is related to the management of virtualized entities changing communication patterns of legacy networks. In this context, SDN (Software Defined Network) emerged in data centers to redefine the way we think about networks, and is designed for virtualized environments. In this thesis we brought SDN to the edge of the network in our Wi-Fi virtual access points. More than a new paradigm of networks communications, we will see that NFV/SDN in Wi-Fi networks will in the near future make Wi-Fi networks more flexible, open and scalable.

Defence : 12/15/2015

Jury members :

M. Nadjib Achir, Université Paris 13, Villetaneuse, France [Rapporteur]
Mme. Lila Boukhatem, Université Paris Sud, Orsay, France [Rapporteur]
M. Otto Carlos Duarte, UFRJ, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
M. Pascal Urien, Telecom Paristech, Paris, France.
Mme. Anne Fladenmuller, UPMC, Paris, France.
M. Othmen Braham, VirtuOR, Paris, France.
M. Guy Pujolle, UPMC, Paris, France.

Departure date : 12/16/2015

2013-2015 Publications