Robust and Intelligent Management and Orchestration of Next-Generation Networks and Systems
Abstract
The advent of next-generation networks has ushered in an era of enhanced performance requirements for our networks. As such, Network Service Providers are tasked with improving their networks to adhere to these performance requirements while aligning their operations with internal objectives. To this end, the Management and Orchestration of next-generation networks becomes an increasingly important topic to accomplish both of these goals. The work presented in this thesis targets several areas of modern networks, including Virtualised Networks, Multi-Access Edge Computing Networks, Optical Transport Networks, and 5G Core Networks. The methods employed in this thesis span the fields of operations research and intelligence and include optimization problem formulation (deterministic and robust), machine learning techniques (supervised, unsupervised, deep, federated), dimensionality reduction (PCA), and low-complexity heuristic solutions. These methods are used to address problems such as Vehicular and Next-Generation Service Placement, Virtualised Network Function Placement, Multi-layer Traffic Grooming and Infrastructure Placement, Core Network Traffic Analysis and Characterization, Core Network Intelligence Integration, Slice-Level Performance Metric Monitoring and Forecasting, and Model Drift Detection and Adaptation. By addressing the aforementioned problems from all aspects of the network, the end-to-end Quality of Service delivered to the end user can be improved. At the same time, the operational costs of the Network Operator can be reduced through proactive measures used to reduce the Operational Expenditures, specifically reactive maintenance. By focusing on aspects such as robustness, reliability, and resilience, the overall health of the network increases and its ability to survive adverse and unexpected conditions while maintaining consistent performance increases. The work presented in this thesis aims to help Network Operators revolutionize their practices to adapt to the changing networking landscape and position themselves in such a way that they can capitalize on the opportunities and potential of next-generation networks, services, systems, and applications.