An SDN-Based Approach to Support Dynamic Operations of Multi-Domain Heterogeneous MANETs

In this paper, we introduce an Software Defined Networking (SDN)-based approach to support the network operations of heterogeneous hierarchical multi-domain MANETs. Our approach can seamlessly interconnect heterogeneous MANETs and reduce routing decision loads of gateway routers by decentralizing the SDN Controllers in the mid-tier level of the network between the Network Operation Center (NOC). To assess the feasibility of our proposed approach, we setup an emulation environment using the Common Open Research Emulator (CORE), and implement our designed system via the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), additionally integrating OLSRv2, OSPF - MDR, Babel, and others. Designing a set of test scenarios, we then carry out an extensive performance evaluation of our approach. Our experimental results show significant network performance improvements at the gateway routers with respect to overhead, packet loss ratio, and Round-Trip Time (RTT).