Solving MTU Mismatch and Broadcast Overhead of NDN over Link-layer Networks

Abstract

Named Data Networking (NDN) has been considered as a promising Internet architecture for the future data-centric communication. In particular, NDN over link-layer networks would cut off the overheads of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and enhance the efficiency of data distribution. However, there are two main unsolved issues for the NDN link-layer, namely broadcast overhead and Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) mismatch. In this paper, we have therefore designed and implemented an NDN Neighborhood Discovery Protocol, named NDN-NDP, to enable a unicast data transmission over the link-layer. Furthermore, our NDN-NDP has included a negotiation mechanism to fix the MTU mismatch issue. In comparison to previously proposed NDN link-layer technologies, we can fix both MTU mismatch and broadcast overhead problems. Through emulation and experiments on a test-bed, we have also compared our NDN-NDP with the Link-layer Protocol for NDN (NDNLP), which is the most widely deployed NDNLP. From our experiments, NDN-NDP can efficiently fix MTU mismatch and broadcast overhead issue.