Traditional BNG deployments often rely on proprietary and hardware-dependent solutions, leading to vendor lock-in, limited scalability, and challenges in adapting to evolving network requirements. The project addresses these issues by leveraging SONIC NOS and its open-source nature to develop a virtual BNG solution that is hardware-agnostic, scalable, and flexible.
The primary objective is to create a virtual BNG solution that decouples the software from hardware specifics, allowing it to run on various hardware platforms and switch ASICs supported by SONIC NOS. This hardware independence promotes vendor choice, scalability, and the ability to leverage new hardware innovations without disruption. Then design and develop a vBNG architecture that can scale seamlessly based on network demands. By leveraging the capabilities of SONIC NOS and its integration with the SAI interface, the vBNG solution can efficiently handle a large number of subscribers, adapt to changing network conditions, and support dynamic service provisioning.
integrate the vBNG software seamlessly with SONIC NOS, utilizing the SAI interface to interact with switch ASICs. This integration enables the vBNG to control and manage the underlying hardware components, including packet forwarding, QoS policies, and other hardware-specific operations.
The project seeks to implement robust subscriber management functionalities, including authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA), as well as service provisioning and policy enforcement. The vBNG solution will support various authentication methods, handle subscriber sessions, enforce policies, and provide network services to connected subscribers.
Performance Optimization and Efficiency: The objective is to optimize the performance and efficiency of the vBNG solution by leveraging hardware acceleration, intelligent traffic management, and QoS mechanisms. By efficiently utilizing the capabilities of switch ASICs and the SAI interface, the vBNG can deliver high throughput, low latency, and effective resource utilization.
The project promotes collaboration and community engagement within the SONIC ecosystem. It aims to contribute back to the SONIC open-source community by sharing enhancements, best practices, and experiences gained during the development of the vBNG solution. This collaboration fosters innovation, knowledge exchange, and community-driven improvements.
The project addresses a pressing issue on network security research and development, which is the lack of explainability in innovative ML-based solutions applied to identifying, preventing, and responding to attacks in the Internet infrastructure, especially considering the rise of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and zero-day malwares. While this issue is not unique to Latin America, the technical knowledge of the researchers in the region are uniquely suited to tackle this pressing matter.
The objectives for this project are to define a specific data quality metric for each of the following quality aspects of data: accuracy, timeliness, uniqueness, validity, consistency and completeness. Given the established metrics for data quality in networking, the project will develop a collaborative online platform to evaluate and rank publicly available dataset commonly used datasets for ML in networking. This platform is expected to serve as a guide for researchers to choose which dataset best suits the needs of the research they are developing. In addition, this rank will serve as a reference point for the development of new datasets in the future.
The expected results are a classification and categorization of the current approaches to measure the quality of data in ML in general, and for networking and network security in particular, providing recommendations to developers and researchers regarding increasing the quality of datasets used in networking, based on the observations produced through the data quality metrics. These recommendations will be based on classification and the evaluations performed so that they are supported by scientific evidence. The results of the project will be an open-source Python package that allows any developer or researcher to use the developed data quality metrics in any particular traffic capture; an open-source collaborative platform for ranking network-related datasets, and an open-source software to allow and facilitate the evaluation of private datasets locally.
LACTLD, together with the DNS Research Federation (DNSRF), proposes to develop a system of indicators to measure the evolution of the DNS ecosystem in Latin America and the Caribbean with a focus on ccTLDs. The project will seek to build a data matrix with the main variables for DNS analysis in the region, including data contributions from the ccTLD community in the region.
The objective of this measurement project is to advance the understanding of the DNS ecosystem, study achievements and development opportunities for the ccTLD community, and document its contribution to the digitization processes in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The data will be processed and analyzed through the DNSRF data analysis platform, and used to generate a set of indicators that allows the identification of trends and development opportunities in the DNS ecosystem. The indicators will be presented through an online platform that will be updated live, allowing continuous visualization and measurement over time. Indicators to be analyzed will include statistics on market players (registries, ICANN-accredited and non-ICANN-accredited registrars, resellers, hosting companies and other relevant service providers); statistics on domain registration and its evolution; domain usage trends (considering parked domains); and indicators of levels of abuse, among others to be determined between LACTLD and the DNSRF.
The launch of the indicators will be accompanied by the production of a diagnostic report that analyzes trends observed at the time of publication. The regional scope study will aim to address the main trends in the regional DNS ecosystem, the main indicators that explain these trends, and the challenges and opportunities for DNS development in the region.
With the mission of promoting scientific and academic initiatives of national interest, thus contributing to strengthening the Colombian ecosystem of research, science and education on Blockchain, this innovative initiative seeks to build an active community for the development of skills and an innovative laboratory for social applications. in Blockchain.
Create a link between advanced and developing technology centers by combining computing resources and infrastructures distributed throughout Colombia.
The Colombian Blockchain Network (RedCBC) seeks to face regional challenges in cybersecurity, access to advanced technology and knowledge generation. Developed in four phases, initially, a blockchain network is linked to RENATA to establish a secure and robust infrastructure for information verification. In the second phase, 300 people are trained in blockchain, promoting knowledge and projects with a social impact. Subsequently, an application for blockchain technology focused on areas such as cybersecurity and network operation is identified.
The identification and mitigation of DDos cyberattacks using technologies such as SDN and artificial intelligence has been studied in recent years, obtaining satisfactory and promising results by training machine learning or deep learning models that act as an IDS that is deployed on the controller. This research group has been working on it in recent years, creating a framework for security automation in an SDN network that allows the identification and mitigation of DDoS attacks. However, one of the big challenges that all AI-based IDS face is scalability, due to the overload experienced by the controller, when analyzing a large number of flows. The proposed solution for scalability in SDN attack detection is to avoid the controller having to capture the data streams, extract the features to send to the IDS, instead the switches will extract the features from the data streams directly using P4 and will send them directly to the IDS for validation, avoiding driver overload.
The objective of this research is to improve the scalability of the current framework, by mitigating DDoS attacks in the data plane through the use of IA and P4, in this way scalability could be improved for complex architectures with a high volume of traffic.
The use of software-defined networks is currently global, since they are present in the administration of large networks as well as in the creation of dynamic WANs with SD-WAN solutions, with which the benefit and impact of the research results they will be very large since their coverage is not only in our Latin American region but throughout the world, coupled with this the increase in cyberattacks globally makes a solution that helps reduce the number of DDoS attacks not only very useful but highly desirable because of the great impact it will have.
The project seeks the design, discussion and implementation of a digital literacy curriculum for young people from 13 to 20 years of age with an intercultural and gender approach.
It arises from the identification of needs and the evaluation of a critical context for education in Bolivia. According to a recent report prepared by UNICEF and the World Bank, due to the impacts of the pandemic, Latin America could go back 10 years in learning levels, with a 12% reduction in the future income of school-age generations, and the observation of greater difficulties in entering higher education and the labor market. The Bolivian educational system is among the most affected, with one of the highest rates of school closures in the region in the period of health measures due to COVID-19.
Likewise, it seeks to influence the design of an inclusion and digital talent program with an intercultural and gender approach for the population aged 13 to 35 that can be promoted and implemented by the Ministry of Education, municipalities, universities and civil society in Bolivia. . This program will be the result of joint work with these entities in three specific actions: The survey of quantitative and qualitative information on the levels of penetration and skills of digital technologies in urban, rural and indigenous municipalities; the elaboration of a standard for digital literacy and talent that can be applied by different state, educational and civil society entities. Lastly, the organization of multisectoral work groups and discussions for the socialization, validation and appropriation of the generated instruments.
The project seeks to develop a tool -online and automated- to guide and accompany the processes of appeal against censorship or content removal (takedown) by the large online platforms. This tool will provide step-by-step information for making the appeal on the main platforms, but fundamentally accompanying the steps with contextual information and strategic suggestions to increase the chances of success of the claims.
Throughout this process, the system records the characteristics of the appeal, and the user will be asked to share the claim number provided by the platform to monitor the process. This will allow monitoring and collection of data on complaints, including types, countries, etc. This monitoring extends to the results, through automated emails sent to users after specified periods, to request information on the results of the appeal.
Access to general data on complaints will allow research on them, but also identify significant issues and cases. This monitoring will also allow the selection of emblematic cases to which OBSERVACOM can provide personalized support with experts and lawyers, prioritizing those involving the media, journalists and their associations, as well as activists, social organizations and human rights defenders.
The main objective of the project is to use the advantages of the Internet to promote and enhance the development of productive activities carried out, mainly, by women and/or members of native peoples in rural areas with high vulnerability and limited or no access to electricity. in the Province of Mendoza, Argentina.
In the implementation of this project, towers, solar kits and Internet nodes will be installed at two strategic points in the rural area of Mendoza where there is currently no internet access and where there is a lack of electricity and/or it is unstable (Parajes de Lavalle, Malargüe and/or Santa Rosa), a situation that hinders, limits and/or deprives its use. From internet access, it is intended to automate different processes that facilitate daily productive work, have more information for decision making and make more efficient use of water resources (a scarce resource in the Province of Mendoza), in short ; improve the production process of small economic units, prioritizing those that involve women and/or members of native peoples in their process (both groups present in the areas identified for possible intervention).
This project faces the challenges of serving the digitally excluded population due to the precariousness or lack of connectivity supporting ISPs. It then considers the implementation of a broadband mobile network, with 4G LTE technology using free software, filling the accessibility gap in terms of the cost of accessing the connection. The main participants in this project are ISPs that already have a fiber optic backbone or high-speed radio communication to serve small villages, farms and remote areas with up to 1,000 (one thousand) users.
Internet access will be provided in the form of private networks. Access will be through an infrastructure (core and radio access network) and simcards for cell phone use, and also for the use of agricultural machinery on farms. The architecture considers elements of a 4G network with EPC (Evolved Packet Core), RAN (Radio Access Network) and is prepared for Edge Computing resources. The EPC solution consists of a network platform located at the ISP’s headquarters with local monitoring, high availability power supply and redundant connectivity. The software will be installed on a robust server operating in an air-conditioned environment with at least 8 GB of RAM, Intel celeron.
The Peru IX – Cusco and Chiclayo project seeks to decentralize the Internet in Peru, creating Neutral Interconnection Points in the cities of Cusco and Chiclayo, with which local and regional operators will be able to peer directly with each other, and with CDNs. The project consists of the development of the local infrastructure in said cities, as well as local personnel who provide support and spread knowledge in the local operators so that they begin to use BGP, obtain their own ASN and IP prefixes in LACNIC.
Currently, almost all ISPs in the cities of Cusco and Chiclayo face a paradigm of low bandwidth and high latency, since all content and traffic exchange with other networks takes place in Lima. Furthermore, bandwidth in these cities is priced at several dollars per Mbps, which causes these ISPs to offer very low speeds to the inhabitants of these areas, and in many cases users experience packet loss and high latency due to to the saturation of the WAN links of these providers.
The project seeks to change the paradigm by bringing abundance of bandwidth and low latency to content and access to other local networks by creating an ecosystem of local interconnection in these cities.
This also makes it possible to have an interconnection infrastructure with sub-millisecond latency for the new applications that are being developed and that will allow these cities to be on par with the capital in terms of access to interconnections.