This thesis presents a novel approach to address the challenges of deploying and managing Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) in resource-constrained and multi-domain environments. The proposed solution leverages a Raspberry Pi clusterbased approach for NFV deployment in resource-constrained environments, combined with a deployable Sidecar VNF (S-VNF) coordinator for multi-domain NFV orchestration.

The thesis demonstrates the feasibility of integrating NFV into edge computing environments by successfully deploying and managing Network Services (NSs) on a Raspberry Pi cluster. The S-VNF coordinator facilitates efficient cross-cloud NFV deployment and management while ensuring security and interoperability.

While the obtained deployment and scaling delays in the testbed setup were significant due to the bare-metal deployment process used, the proposed solution remains valuable in environments where service maintenance time is a critical factor.

By automating deployment and scaling, organizations can minimize the impact of service maintenance time, improve customer satisfaction, and enhance system resilience. Moreover, the solution enables NFV to be deployed effectively in edge environments, providing benefits such as reduced latency and improved network performance.

Overall, this thesis contributes to the advancement of NFV by providing innovative solutions for deployment and management in challenging environments. The proposed framework has the potential to enable the widespread adoption of NFV and drive the development of new network services.

Directed by Prof. Laurent SCHUMACHER and Prof. Sokchenda SRENG.

In front of a jury composed of:

  • Prof. Wim VANHOOF, President, University of Namur
  • Prof. Laurent SCHUMACHER, Co-Promoter, University of Namur
  • Prof. Sokchenda SRENG, Co-Promoter, ITC Graduate School (Cambodia)
  • Prof. Florentin ROCHET, Internal Member, University of Namur
  • Prof. Johann MARQUEZ-BARJA, External Member, University of Antwerp
  • Prof. Bruno QUOITIN, External Member, University of Mons
  • Prof. Raveth HIN, External Member, ITC Graduate School (Cambodia)

You are cordially invited to a drink, which will follow the public defense.

For good organization, please give your answer by Thursday March 20 by means of this link.

Contact: Daelman Isabelle - isabelle.daelman@unamur.be