MTech/PhD Seminar topics - Spring 2017

The following are seminar topics being offered in the coming semester. All topics are broadly in the area of networked systems, specifically around the recent trends of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN).

Background and context. This recent paper from our group will help you get an idea of what the terms NFV and SDN mean. You can also learn more about the current work in my group in these areas from here and here. Most of the seminars below will lead to MTPs in one of these projects. Most of this recent work is the result of the seminar and MTP work of my past students, so looking through the existing work and talking to my current students should give you an idea of the kind of work you will be doing if you work with me.

1. NFV data planes optimizations. NFV requires running packet processing networking applications in software, often inside VMs. This seminar topic will study various techniques that have been recently developed to improve the performance of I/O data transfer between the network card and the NFV application. Here is a sample paper.
   
   
2. Frameworks for managing NFV. Several frameworks exist to manage an NFV applications running as VMs on a cloud: one needs to worry about where to place the VMs, how to scale them, how to wire them together and so on. Several frameworks for managing NFV have been proposed recently. This seminar will study such frameworks for the placement and orchestration of NFV applications. Here is a sample paper.
   
   
3. Design of software switches. Recent research has some up with several software switches to connect up VMs on the same machine (that are running NFV applications, or doing other things) in a manner that minimizes performance overheads. This seminar will explore the architectures of several such recent switches. Here is a sample paper.

Prequisites for all topics: You must have done well in CS695 and/or CS641. Good grades in other courses, and demonstration of good coding/systems skills is desirable.

Future MTPs. Note that I expect most of my seminar students to continue on to an MTP on a similar topic. That is, the seminar will serve as an introduction to the area/topic, on which you will work further in your MTP. So, when you pick a topic, please see if you'd like to work on the topic for an MTP also, and don't just think about reading papers on that topic. A lot of the future MTP topics based on these seminars will require significant coding skills, and the ability to work with large pieces of code. A good understanding of operating systems and networking is required (or must be picked up along the way by self-study). And more importantly, you must have the aptitude and interest to learn and explore such topics. So, please understand that you are not just choosing a seminar topic but also your future MTP.