Semantically Aware, Mission-Oriented (SAMO) Networks: Fine-Grained, Network-Layer Services for Intelligent, Next Generation Networks

We introduce the Semantically Aware, Mission- Oriented (SAMO) framework, which enables fine-grained, host- application-to-network signaling. This signaling employs SAMO metadata, carried in an existing network-layer header, to inform the network of the application's desires. These meta data can invoke SAMO network-layer virtual network functions (VNFs) to provide sophisticated services for the packet. The framework could enable, for instance, a secure, application- and application- protocol independent, network-layer, publish/subscribe or situational awareness service. The SAMO framework is particularly beneficial in mobile edge or wireless networks, where the state of the network may change rapidly, and where quickly adapting to limited, and often variable, network resources is more important than, for example, maximizing router throughput. The framework is equally applicable in enterprise networks, industrial verticals, or other private networks, where the organization deploying or using the network needs the network to adapt to the specific semantics of the data being carried. SAMO signaling creates a disciplined, cross-layer interface, which can promote improved application/network integration or support other in-network computing architectures. Furthermore, the SAMO framework avoids embedding application knowledge in network devices and it functions even when user data are encrypted. Moreover, the framework permits new, sophisticated, network-layer extensions and services to be easily tested or deployed in exiting IPv4IIPv6 or 5GINextG networks. SAMO VNFs are ideally positioned to employ artificial in-telligence and machine learning (AIIML) technologies to enable networks to modify their behaviors in response to the semantics of the data streams. The SAMO framework ensures that AIIML- enhanced SAMO VNFs have available semantic information about the data, via the application-generated SAMO metadata! A proof-of-concept (PoC) SAMO-enabled host application and a simple SAMO VNF were implemented and used to evaluate the efficacy and performance of the framework.