m@ANGEL: Autonomic management platform for seamless cognitive connectivity to the mobile internet

B3G wireless access infrastructures can be realized through the concept of cognitive networks. In a B3G context, a network operator will rely on various alternate wireless access technologies, for realizing the appropriate business goals, such as capacity and QoS levels. Cognitive wireless access networks dynamically change their configuration, and in this respect the radio access technologies and spectrum used at the physical and MAC layers, in order to adapt to environment conditions. A cognitive infrastructure consists of reconfigurale elements and intelligent management functionality. This article focuses on the management part. We present a platform, called m@ANGEL, which adheres to autonomic computing principles, and aims at the provision of seamless cognitive connectivity to the mobile Internet. Our work starts from a business level view of cognitive wireless access networks. Technical requirements for m@ANGEL are identified, and the architecture of the platform is described. Moreover, the article describes the functionality and engineering challenges of the m@ANGEL components, which provide the means for monitoring, discovery, context acquisition, description of profiles/goals/agreements, resource and service brokerage, configuration negotiation, selection, and implementation. Finally, concluding remarks are drawn, and issues for the next phases of our work are identified.