In-network caching in information-centric networks for different applications: A survey

Abstract

Information-Centric Networks (ICNs) have become a promising paradigm for the future Internet instead of host-based communication. In this network, content-oriented data and in-network caching are two key properties, which have brought tremendous benefits to many challenging networks by improving the distribution and retrieval of content. The content is cached along the reversed delivery path, on-path caching and off-path caching. Generally, the existing caching approaches in Information-Centric Networks mainly consider the key characteristics of the content (to decide which content is to be cached), the network (to determine the appropriate time for caching), the nodes (to determine where content should reside), etc. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of in-network caching of ICN schemes (also known as ICN-based caching) in many network applications. Thus, a detailed analysis of the existing caching approaches in several network applications, such as MANET, VANET, IoT, and WSN, is given. This survey also provides a taxonomy for caching policies according to some feature-based approaches and highlights the trends and evaluation problems in these areas. Finally, the challenging research directions in different applications are also pointed out in this subject.

Keywords:

• ICN
• CCN
• NDN
• SCN
• MANET
• VANET
• WSN
• IoT

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dong Doan Van

Dong Doan Van received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in information and communication engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wuhan University of Technology, respectively. He worked at Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport as the Dean of Electrical and Electronic Engineering from 2019 until recently. He is currently the Head of the Training Department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport. His research interests include content-centric networking, vehicle ad hoc networks, sensor networks, telecommunications, urban and environmental remote sensing, Internet of Things, and image processing.

Qingsong Ai

Qingsong Ai received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in information engineering from the Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2006 and 2008, respectively. He is currently a Professor at Hubei University. He has authored over 50 technical publications and editorials. He has directed over 10 research projects. His research interests include signal processing, rehabilitation robots, and advanced manufacturing technology.