A QoS-Aware Routing Mechanism with Flow Classification for SDN-IoT Architechure

With the continuous expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology landscape, the proliferation of diverse devices and the resulting surge in data traffic demand a reassessment of our network infrastructure. Integrating Software Defined Networking (SDN) into IoT networks emerges as a viable solution. In practical scenarios of the SDN-IoT architecture, all users express a desire to subscribe to IoT services, each presenting unique Quality of Service (QoS) requirements based on their distinct business needs. This paper introduces a hierarchical routing mechanism with flow classification for SDN-IoT architecture. Initially, a method is developed to classify IoT traffic flow, considering user levels, standard classification models, and QoS relative priorities. Subsequently, customized routing strategies are proposed for the hierarchically classified flows. To optimize the utilization of transmission bandwidth, we present a congestion control mechanism based on Grey Wolf Algorithm (CCGWA), which can identify an alternative path for multipath transmission. Simulation analysis of the proposed routing solution indicates its effectiveness in addressing flows with different priorities, demonstrating reduced average end-to-end delay and improved overall throughput when compared to alternative routing schemes.