# Application-Aware Network Traffic Management in MEC-Integrated Industrial Environments
###### Abstract  
The industrial Internet of things (IIoT) has radically modified industrial environments, not only enabling novel industrial applications but also significantly increasing the amount of generated network traffic. Nowadays, a major concern is to support network-intensive industrial applications while ensuring the prompt and reliable delivery of mission-critical traffic flows concurrently traversing the industrial network. To this end, we propose application-aware network traffic management. The goal is to satisfy the requirements of industrial applications through a form of traffic management, the decision making of which is also based on what is carried within packet payloads (application data) in an efficient and flexible way. Our proposed solution targets multi-access edge computing (MEC)-integrated industrial environments, where on-premises and off-premises edge computing resources are used in a coordinated way, as it is expected to be in future Internet scenarios. The technical pillars of our solution are edge-powered in-network processing (eINP) and software-defined networking (SDN). The concept of eINP differs from INP because the latter is directly performed on network devices (NDs), whereas the former is performed on edge nodes connected via high-speed links to NDs. The rationale of eINP is to provide the network with additional capabilities for packet payload inspection and processing through edge computing, either on-premises or in the MEC-enabled cellular network. The reported in-the-field experimental results show the proposal feasibility and its primary tradeoffs in terms of performance and confidentiality. application-aware network traffic management; edge computing; industrial Internet of things; in-network processing; multiaccess edge computing; software-defined networking 2023  
[PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON] Network Traffic Management in MEC-Integrated Industrial Environments 202315420233315420233154202331  
rely on complex chains of software dependencies (e.g., third-party libraries), which make integrity mechanisms difficult to be guaranteed from both an operational and a security perspective [3]. It is worth noting that the deluge of messages sent out by IIoT devices may clog up the network infrastructure. In addition, modern industrial equipment, e.g., Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) moving spare parts among the plant and the warehouse [4], may abruptly migrate traffic flows across different Network Devices (NDs), e.g., switches, routers, and access points, in relation to their physical position. As a result, it is paramount to manage non-mission-critical and mission-critical traffic dynamically. Otherwise, the non-mission-critical traffic could take the network resources at the expense of the mission-critical one. This leads to the following capabilities. First, traffic flows should be properly prioritized: mission-critical flows go first, then non-mission-critical ones (flow prioritization). Secondly, traffic flows should be steered across the network according to their priority: mission-critical flows preempt the fastest routes whenever necessary (flow steering). Thirdly, information should be aggregated whenever possible while not infringing application-specific constraints, e.g., on update latency (data aggregation). Fourth, information should be discarded when carrying useless or not-so-relevant information (data filtering). Fifth, confidentiality should also be ensured for the traffic flows steered outside the trust boundaries of the industrial domain (data encryption). Flow prioritization and steering are networking capabilities typically enforced by NDs against flows. Instead, data aggregation, filtering, and encryption are typically associated with more powerful computing capabilities. Although some rudimentary data aggregation and filtering forms could also be provided directly within NDs, such capabilities are usually provided at a decent level of expressiveness by general-purpose servers.