SURF Program Research Opportunities: P4 Programming for 5G QoS

We are looking for a student intern in summer 2024 to develop an application running on a physical P4 switch, for filtering and prioritizing 5G slicing network traffic. Prior experience in P4 programming is required.

This project seeks to develop an SDN based solution to classify and prioritize 5G network traffic, using the P4 programming language. We are deploying an experimental 5G network, using both open-source and proprietary components. A major benefit of 5G network is 5G slicing, which allows different types of traffic (e.g., general Internet browsing, remote driving, industrial sensing) to share the same physical network with minimal interference with each other. A requirement for 5G slicing is the enforcement of Quality-of-Service (QoS), so that high priority traffic does not suffer slowdowns due to higher volume of low priority traffic. Unfortunately, the current software 5G implementations do not natively support dataplane QoS. The goal of this project is to explore a potential solution based on using SDN switches to enforce 5G QoS. In particular, a P4 program installed on a physical SDN switch would recognize 5G packet headers, classify each packet into different traffic classes, and enforce QoS through egress queuing and advanced scheduling methods.

The applicant must have prior experience in P4 programming including how to write a protocol parser and how to perform QoS enforcements, a deep understanding of common network protocols such as IP and UDP, as well as prior knowledge in 5G network and its protocols. Note that packet traces for the relevant protocols will be provided, and the applicant is expected to learn about the protocol structure by reading these packet traces using tools such as Wireshark. [In-person or virtual opportunity]

You can apply for this opportunity at https://www.usajobs.gov/job/755666600 before deadline 2024-Jan-31. You can ask technical questions on this forum or by email.