International audienceIn this paper, we address virtual network embedding problem. Indeed, our objective is to map virtual networks in the substrate network with minimum physical resources while satisfying its required QoS in terms of bandwidth, power processing and memory. In doing so, we minimize the reject rate of requests and maximize returns for the substrate network provider. Since the problem is NP-hard and to deal with its computational hardness, we propound a new scalable embedding strategy named VNE-AC based on the Ant Colony metaheuristic. The intensive simulations and evaluation results show that our proposal enhances the substrate provider's revenue and outperforms the related strategies found in current literature

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Over the past couple of decades, wireless communication technologies have become immensely adopted in various fields, appearing in a plethora of applications ranging from tracking victims, responders, and equipment in disaster scenarios to machine health monitoring in networked manufacturing systems, etc. Most of these applications are highly dependent on the performance of the underlying wireless communication technology. In most cases, these systems are required to have dependable timeliness requirements since data communication must be conducted within predefined temporal bounds along with fulfilling other requirements such as reliability and security. This is mainly because the unfulfillment of these requirements may compromise the expected behavior of the system and cause economic losses or endanger human lives. In addition, the broadcast nature of wireless communications in an open environment makes it more vulnerable to unwanted external entities compared to the wired communications. This makes the support of dependable wireless communications in open environments, where multiple devices are contending for the resources, a challenging task. As a consequence, future wireless communications must tackle these challenging issues such as low communication reliability, real-time support, security, reachability, and fault-tolerance. Therefore, we decided to organize a special issue focusing on this topic and to invite researchers to contribute to this research area. Overall, the response was very good. We received a total of 36 submissions among which 7 were selected for publication.

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