Traffic-Based Validation of Virtualized Communication Networks

Nowadays, virtualization technologies such as SDN and NFV are widely used to emulate physical infrastructures, especially in the field of communication networks. One of the applications of significant interest is the virtual substation in the smart power grid. The similarity between the physical testbed and the virtual testbed is crucial for its validation. Therefore, this paper presents a new concept of traffic-based validation for virtualized communication networks and develops an approach for the validation of the physical testbed and the virtual testbed. The validation approach developed in this paper is proved to be effective and accurate. The results show the similarities of each feature. By analyzing the results, we know how we can improve the design of the virtual substation to make it more similar to the physical substation. In this paper, the approach is designed and demonstrated for the example of the virtual substation. However, the presented validation approach can also be generally applied to other areas by keeping the methodology but adapting the selection of features and methods.