Service function chaining for mission critical services

Services in critical missions, such as firefighting, have demanding service level agreements. The functions of such services must be deployed and managed according to the status and needs of the missions. The proposed Mission Critical Service Function Chaining (MSC-SFC) introduces an architecture relying on Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Service Function Chaining (SFC) and Multiaccess Edge Computing for efficient resource management in dynamic and stringent scenarios like mission critical services (e.g., combatting forest fires). With MSC-SFC, service functions currently assigned to vehicles equipped with computing resources that are leaving the mission can be transferred to nodes based on criteria such as location, latency, or mission duration. In addition to these resource management methods, MSC-SFC also suggests a framework for deploying functions in fire-combat scenarios, ensuring that functions are allocated based on the specific roles of vehicles and first responders in the field. The evaluation results demonstrate SDN and SFC as promising technologies towards the management of service functions in mission critical services, where resources associated with service functions need to be properly managed to reduce impact in performance and security.