Super-router from AGH UST (scientific blog)

The innovativeness of the device consists in the fact that it will allow to use the information and data available on the Web more efficiently. In other words, the router will enable the transmission of larger amounts of data in a shorter time, which will be reflected directly in the quality and cost of transmitting information.

In the first place, the new solution is meant for the owners of backbone networks of large-scale i.e. ones that cover the area of the whole region or the whole country. However, the router designed by the scientists from AGH UST can also be used in LAN networks, i.e. local networks which cover a single building. The router can be used when the network owner or network holder has several lines at their disposal. “We have invented a method to make Internet traffic more efficient. At the moment, when you need to send data from Krakow to Gdańsk, and on our provider’s network the route is set to be Krakow-Warsaw-Gdańsk, all the traffic will follow the route. We can imagine a situation where one of the points on the route is overloaded and cannot easily transmit the required amount of data. Our router will «notice» that the transfer capacity is getting smaller, and then it will find an alternative route, for example, via Wrocław or Poznań,” explains Dr Jerzy Domżał.

Research into the coefficient of using network resources, which has been conducted for some time, shows the level up to which network connections and links are used. Today, it is about 50 per cent. “Our device will allow the coefficient of using network resources to be much higher, closer to 80 per cent, or even 90 per cent. Consequently, this will have an impact on the cost of Internet traffic, as unnecessary connections or links will not be needed anymore,” adds Dr Domżał.

How does the prototype work? The router has a few outputs for connecting cables for data transmission on the network. At the moment, Internet providers program their devices in a fixed way and determine the line with the use of which they will send data in a given direction. It follows from a routing table, i.e. a protocol working in a network in real time, which determines routes by means of calculating the metrics of links. It is done automatically but the result is always the same – we obtain one route to a given destination. The router of our scientists solves the problem by “observing” links in real time and reacting instantly when one of them becomes overloaded; if this is the case, the routes are recalculated and changes in a routing table are made, and the traffic which has not taken place because of the overloading is redirected via a different route.

So far, the scientists have submitted patent applications in Poland and some other countries, for example, in the USA, Japan and China. “We hope to obtain the patent and, in the meantime, we are planning to show our router to the most important producers of network devices, such as Cisco and Juniper. If they get interested and buy the patent rights from us, they will be able to develop the device further and produce it. And only then it will find its way to Internet providers,” explains Dr Wójcik. Currently, none of the devices available on the market offers this kind of functionality, and that is why it is highly probable that the router constructed at AGH UST will be of interest to the tycoons of the computer industry. “This is even more likely bearing in mind the fact that our invention does not entirely change the device that is currently in use, hence the companies will not need to build anything from scratch. For them, it is a matter of adding new functions to the equipment that already exists,” believes Dr Wójcik.

The idea of the engineers from AGH UST and the Jagiellonian University has been worked on for three years. The fundamental research has been financed within the framework of the SONATA project of the National Science Centre, and the application research, which enabled the building of the prototype – from the funds of the National Centre for Research and Development. The scientists also obtained funds from the Operational Programme Innovative Economy, which made it possible to cover the costs associated with patent applications.

What follows from the research into the optimisation of network traffic is that there is a high demand for the solutions designed by the three Krakow scientists – not only for the reason of making data transmission more efficient, but also for the reason of lowering its costs. We can only hope that the savings made in this way by Internet providers will be significant enough to lead to the lowering of bills for end users…  

 Source: AGH