Location independent inter-process communication as software buses

Abstract: Telecommunication networks will transform and gradually migrate into virtualized cloud environments as a result of the potential for higher profitability through reduced costs and increased revenues. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate architectural mechanisms for location-independent communication between software components in a virtualized base station. Systems that provide such mechanisms are typically referred to as middleware and deployed as Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). The overall goal is to achieve desired characteristics in cloud deployment regarding ondemand self-service, rapid elasticity of capacity while upholding services and high availability. Four communication protocols are examined and evaluated based on a set of functional and nonfunctional requirements that are especially relevant for a virtualized base station. In comparison with the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP), Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and the eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard is found to have excellent performance characteristics. Its complexity might have implications for the development and deployment though, that will increase the time it takes to reap the benefits from its advantages.