SYNC-NDN: A Synergistic Caching Strategy for Lookup Optimization in Named Data Networks
Matta Krishna Kumari, Nikhil Tripathi, Rangachary Kommanduri, Raju Imandi · IEEE Access · 2026
Named Data Networking (NDN) is a promising future generation Internet architecture that addresses critical limitations of the current IP-based model, including scalability bottlenecks, high content retrieval latency, and reliance on single points of failure. By integrating in-network caching, NDN enables efficient content dissemination and improved network performance. However, existing caching strategies often suffer from inefficient cache utilization, redundant content storage, and excessive lookup overhead, limiting their effectiveness. To overcome these challenges, we propose SYNC-NDN, a hybrid caching strategy that optimizes both content lookup and placement by dynamically coordinating on-path and off-path routers. During content discovery, SYNC-NDN minimizes latency by avoiding redundant queries across intermediate routers. For content placement, it intelligently selects the most suitable router (either on-path or off-path) to maximize Cache Hit Ratio (CHR) while minimizing redundancy. Designed for low overhead, SYNC-NDN is particularly suited for resource-constrained environments such as IoT and edge networks. We evaluate SYNC-NDN across diverse real-world topologies, demonstrating its superiority over state-of-the-art NDN caching schemes in terms of CHR, latency reduction, and operational efficiency. The experimental results confirm its robustness in optimizing content delivery without introducing significant overhead.