Analisys of modular bridge platform for heterogeneous software defined networking in smart city applications

The Smart City (SC) approach involves the integration and correlation of information coming from different areas (e.g. power grid management, water distribution, and more) for the optimization of asset management. The SC is like a pervasive sensors and actuator network, where the nodes exchange information, exploiting the power of Internet of Things technologies. A performing and dynamic communication infrastructure is a key requirement in this scenario. One of the main obstacles to the deployment of SC in real scenario is the lack of an efficient communication infrastructure that can be easily maintained and extended when new services are required. The use a heterogeneous network, which employs various technologies, appears to be the most promising solution. In this paper, a low-cost modular bridge platform for heterogeneous Software Defined Networking (SDN) has been characterized. The results highlight that the considered low cost platform is able to handle, without affecting the performance of the system, more than 600 kp/s (coming from three Gigabit Ethernet ports and one IEEE 802.11n port) and to properly forward more than one hundred of different data streams.