SDN-Oriented 6G Industrial IoT Architecture Design and Application to Optimal RIS Placement and Selection
Francesco Chiti, Matteo Lotti, Sara Picchioni, Laura Pierucci · Sensors · 2026
This paper presents a high-level system architecture that integrates the Software Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm in 5G/6G networks with the aim of supporting the requirements expected for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices and services. To this purpose, we include multiple Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) systems and provide for them an abstract representation consistent with the OpenFlow interface and messaging framework. The main contribution of this is firstly focused on designing a comprehensive framework that specifies the modules, components, interfaces, protocols, and message exchanges across the typical three layers SDN architecture. In addition, we characterize the Network Discovery (ND) and Host Discovery (HD) protocols that enable the SDN Controller to achieve a global and updated view of the network. Then, the RIS Placement and Selection Problem (RPSP) is formulated by using two graph-theory approaches, i.e., Set Covering (SC) and Minimum Spanning Tree (MST). Finally, we conduct an extensive simulation campaign that evaluates the performance of the discovery phases and the RIS placement/selection algorithms in realistic industrial environments. The results highlight the advantages achieved in terms of coverage and complexity.