Communication Networks

Dr. rer. nat. Daniel Merling

Oct 2017 - Mai 2023

Dissertation: "Resilient and Scalable Forwarding for Software-Defined Networks with P4-Programmable Switches"

Contact: merlingspam prevention@dmerling.de
Personal website: https://dmerling.de

I'm a former researcher and PhD student (Oct. 2017 - Mai 2023) at the Chair of Communication Networks at the University of Tübingen. Prior, I studied Cognitive Science (B.Sc.) from 2012 to 2015 and graduated in November 2017 with a Master's degree in Informatics.

My research areas included:

Software-Defined Networking

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a networking paradigm with decoupled control plane and data plane of the networking devices. It enables devices to be directly programmable by the end user by abstracting network-application and -services from the underlying hardware infrastructure.

 

P4

P4 is a novel high-level programming language to describe the data plane of networking devices such as routers and switches. It enables network operators to implement novel packet processing mechanisms independently of the device manufacturers.

Multicast

Efficient multicast forwarding, that is, from a source to multiple receivers, is a much discussed topic in the IETF. Open challanges include scalability mechanisms and highly efficient hardware-based implementations.

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Teaching

Courses

 

Supervised Theses

  1. Master thesis: P4-Based Implementation of Loop-Free Alternates with Loop Detection and Termination for Resilient Software-Defined Networking
  2. Bachelor thesis: Entwicklung und Implementierung eines Frameworks zur Optimierung von Netzwerk-Segmentierung für BIER und BIER-TE mit Hilfe von Evolutionären Algorithmen
  3. Bachelor thesis: Design und Vergleich von Clustering-Algorithmen zur Verbesserung der Skalierbarkeit von BIER-basiertem Multicast in Kommunikationsnetzen
  4. Bachelor thesis: Strategien zur preis- und kostenabhängigen Gestaltung von Lastplänen in einem virtuellen Kraftwerk mit Leistungsgrenzen
  5. Master thesis: Design and P4-Based Implementation of Scalable and Resilient BIER and BIER-TE for Large IP Multicast Networks
  6. Bachelor thesis: Topologiepartitionierung durch maschinellem Lernen für skalierbares IP-Multicast basierend auf Bit Index Explicit Replication

Publications

Journal Paper

  1. Daniel Merling, Thomas Stüber, and Michael Menth: Efficiency of BIER Multicast in Large Networks (preprint), IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Managment, 2023
  2. Steffen Lindner, Daniel Merling, and Michael Menth: Learning Multicast Patterns for Efficient BIER Forwarding with P4 (preprint), IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Managment, 2023
  3. Daniel Merling, Steffen Lindner, and Michael Menth: Robust LFA Protection for Software-Defined Networks (RoLPS) (preprint), IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Managment, vol. 18, no. 3, Sept. 2021
  4. Daniel Merling, Steffen Lindner, and Michael Menth: Hardware-Based Evaluation of Scalable and Resilient Multicast with BIER in P4, (open access), in IEEE Access, vol. 9, Feb. 2021
  5. Frederik Hauser, Marco Häberle, Daniel Merling, Steffen Lindner, Vladimir Gurevich, Florian Zeiger, Reinhard Frank, and Michael Menth: A Survey on Data Plane Programming with P4: Fundamentals, Advances, and Applied Research, (preprint), Journal of Network and Computer Applications (JNCA), vol. 212, Mar. 2023
  6. Daniel Merling, Steffen Lindner, and Michael Menth: P4-Based Implementation of BIER and BIER-FRR for Scalable and Resilient Multicast, (preprint), in Journal of Network and Computer Applications (JNCA), vol. 196, Nov. 2020
  7. Daniel Merling, Michael Menth, Nils Warnke and Toerless Eckert: An Overview of Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER), IETF Journal, Mar. 2018
  8. Michael Menth, Habib Mostafaei, Daniel Merling, and Marco Haeberle: Implementation and Evaluation of Activity-Based Congestion Management Using P4 (P4-ABC), (open access) in Future Internet, vol. 11, no. 7, Jul. 2019

Conference Paper

  1. Daniel Merling, Steffen Lindner, and Michael Menth: Comparison of Fast-Reroute Mechanisms for BIER-Based IP Multicast, (preprint), 7th Conference on Software Defined Systems (SDS) 2020, Paris, France
  2. Florian Heimgaertner, Sascha Heider, Thomas Stueber, Daniel Merling, and Michael Menth: Load Profile Negotiation in Day-Ahead Planning for Compliance with Power Limits, (preprint), ETG Congress 2019, Esslingen, Germany
  3. Daniel Merling, Wolfgang Braun, and Michael Menth: Efficient Data Plane Protection for SDN, (preprint), in Proceedings of the 4th IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), June 2018, Montreal, Canada

Workshop Paper

  1. Steffen Lindner, Daniel Merling, Marco Häberle, and Michael Menth: P4-Protect: 1+1 Path Protection for P4, (preprint), in Proceedings of the 3rd P4 Workshop in Europe in conjunction with ACM CoNEXT 2020, Dec. 2020, Barcelona, Spain

Posters, Talks, etc.

Posters

  1. Daniel Merling, Wolfgang Braun, and Michael Menth: eLFA-LA: a Protection Method for Software-Defined Networking, PhD Day of the Department of Computer Science, Tuebingen, Germany, November 2017

Talks

  1. Daniel Merling, Steffen Lindner, and Michael Menth: Hardware-Based Evaluation of Scalableand Resilient Multicast with BIER in P4, IETF 108, BIER Working Group (Slides, Video)
  2. Daniel Merling: Tutorial on Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER), (slides), 2. KuVS Fachgespräch "Network Softwarization", Tuebingen, Germany, March 2020.

Review Activities

Reviewer for the following international journals, magazines, conferences, and workshops:

Internet Drafts

D. Merling and M. Menth: BIER Fast Reroute, March 2019

Theses

  1. Scalable Resilience for Software-Defined Networking using Remote Loop-Free Alternates with Loop Detection, Master-thesis, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Chair of Communication Networks, September 2017
  2. Precise navigation of flying robots with GPS, Bachelor-thesis, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Cognitive Systems, August 2015

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