Level of Education of Students Involved

Undergraduate

Faculty Sponsor

Haydar Cukurtepe

College

College of Arts & Sciences (CAS)

Discipline(s)

Networking

ORCID Identifier(s)

Gregory Freeman, 0009-0000-6490-6352; Shaun Hicks, 0009-0001-6498-9650

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Symposium Date

Spring 4-30-2026

Abstract

Software-defined networking (SDN) is an efficient approach to handling the flow of network traffic. While traditionally each network acts individually in order to control the flow of network traffic, SDN instead centralizes network management, resulting in overall quicker speeds. The aim of this project is to dynamically steer network paths in order to avoid congested traffic. This will allow for network traffic to be optimized during the flow of traffic, without the need to stick to a fixed path. This project will make use of the combination of a Mininet topology as well as a Ryu SDN controller to effectively steer a network’s route. With the use of the Ryu controller a network will be able to autonomously detect changes in traffic congestion, allowing the route to change dynamically and proceed with the most efficient route. Although SDN networking provides positives to controlling the flow of network traffic, there are some problems that can arise while using it. While SDN centralizes network management to provide quicker speeds, it leaves large parts of networks vulnerable to being affected in the cases the SDN controller crashes, gets attacked, or loses connectivity. The problem it may have with Mininet is that Mininet is limited to simulating networks that fit on a single server, resulting in large scale, enterprise level networks not being able to be emulated. The workaround to this is to simply use the “Cluster” edition of Mininet, which allows distribution of a single emulated network across multiple devices.

Biographical Information about Author(s)

Gregory Freeman is a freshman college student born in Crown Point Indiana and currently attending Valparaiso University as a computer science major. He has some experience working with coding and networks and is using this project to hone his skills and experience. Meanwhile, Shaun Hicks is a freshman college student from Merrillville Indiana and is also attending Valparaiso University as a computer science major. He has prior experience with networking and coding and is using this project to increase his current skill level with the subjects.

Download

Share

COinS