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Data Centric Networking

Code: TBD · Credits: 4 · Hours: 60 · Type: ELECTIVE

Today's internet was designed to connect hosts, but most modern traffic asks for a specific piece of data — not a specific host. Information-Centric Networking (ICN) reorganises the network around named content. This elective covers ICN/NDN architecture, the security and caching model, and where it competes with (or complements) the IP stack.

Key topics​

  • Why ICN: end-host bottleneck of IPv6, mobility, multi-source delivery, CDN duplication.
  • Named Data Networking (NDN) and Content-Centric Networking (CCN) data plane.
  • Naming conventions, signing, interest/data packet flow.
  • In-network caching strategies (LRU, ARC, probabilistic).
  • Forwarding strategies and the Pending Interest Table (PIT).
  • ICN security: provenance via signatures, privacy and naming linkability.
  • Comparative analysis with IP, HTTP/3, and CDN overlays.

Learning outcomes​

By the end of this subject, a student should be able to:

  • Explain why an IP-centric web struggles with mobility and multi-source delivery.
  • Trace an NDN interest/data exchange end to end.
  • Reason about caching policy under different traffic mixes.
  • Evaluate the realistic deployment paths for ICN in the next 5–10 years.

Further reading​

  • Zhang et al., Named Data Networking (NSF FIA Project).
  • Jacobson et al., Networking Named Content (CCN paper).
  • IRTF ICN Research Group RFCs.
  • Open-source: NDN Forwarding Daemon (nfd-android), ndn-cxx.
Chapter notes

Detailed chapter-by-chapter notes for this subject are still being written. The topic outline above mirrors the published syllabus. If you'd like to help draft a chapter, see the contributing guide.

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