A Survey on Software Defined Network-Enabled Edge Cloud Networks: Challenges and Future Research Directions

The explosion of connected devices and data transmission in the Internet of Things (IoT) era brings substantial burden on the capability of cloud computing. Moreover, these IoT devices are mostly positioned at the edge of a network and limited in resources. To address these challenges, edge cloud-distributed computing networks emerge. Because of the distributed nature of edge cloud networks, many research works considering software defined networks (SDNs) and network–function–virtualization (NFV) could be key enablers for managing, orchestrating, and load balancing resources. This article provides a comprehensive survey of these emerging technologies, focusing on SDN controllers, orchestration, and the function of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing the capabilities of controllers within the edge cloud computing networks. More specifically, we present an extensive survey on the research proposals on the integration of SDN controllers and orchestration with the edge cloud networks. We further introduce a holistic overview of SDN-enabled edge cloud networks and an inclusive summary of edge cloud use cases and their key challenges. Finally, we address some challenges and potential research directions for further exploration in this vital research area.