Conventional networks are based on layered protocols with intensive cross-layer interactions and complex signal processing at every node, making it difficult to meet the ultra-low latency requirement of mission critical applications in future communication systems. In this paper, we address this issue by proposing the concept of network template, which allows data to flow through it at the transmission symbol level, with minimal node processing. This is achieved by carefully calibrating the inter-connecting links among the nodes and pre-calculating the routing/network coding actions for each node, according to a set of preconfigured flows. In this paper, we focus on the minimum cost network template design to minimize the connections within the template, while ensuring that all the pre-defined configurations are feasible with the guaranteed throughput, latency and reliability. We show that the minimum cost network template design problem is difficult to solve optimally in general. We thus propose an efficient greedy algorithm to find a close-to-optimal solution. Simulation results show that the construction cost of the templates obtained by the proposed algorithm is very close to a lower bound. Furthermore, the construction cost increases only slightly with the number of pre-defined configurations, which confirms the flexibility of the network template design.

中文翻译：

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具有保证 QoS 的最低成本可重构网络模板设计

传统网络基于分层协议，每个节点都有密集的跨层交互和复杂的信号处理，难以满足未来通信系统中关键任务应用的超低延迟要求。在本文中，我们通过提出网络模板的概念来解决这个问题，该概念允许数据在传输符号级别流过它，并进行最少的节点处理。这是通过根据一组预先配置的流程仔细校准节点之间的互连链路并预先计算每个节点的路由/网络编码操作来实现的。在本文中，我们专注于最小成本网络模板设计，以最小化模板内的连接，同时确保所有预定义的配置在保证吞吐量、延迟和可靠性的情况下都是可行的。我们表明，最小成本网络模板设计问题通常难以最优解决。因此，我们提出了一种有效的贪心算法来寻找接近最优的解决方案。仿真结果表明，该算法得到的模板构建成本非常接近下界。此外，随着预定义配置的数量增加，构建成本仅略有增加，这证实了网络模板设计的灵活性。仿真结果表明，该算法得到的模板构建成本非常接近下界。此外，随着预定义配置的数量增加，构建成本仅略有增加，这证实了网络模板设计的灵活性。仿真结果表明，该算法得到的模板构建成本非常接近下界。此外，随着预定义配置的数量增加，构建成本仅略有增加，这证实了网络模板设计的灵活性。