@InProceedings{ CSET2025,
	author = "Azza Hassan Mohamed Ahmed and Thomas Dreibholz and Foivos Ioannis Michelinakis and Tarik Čičić",
	title = "{Open 5G Testbed: A Cyber Range Platform for Security Research}",
	booktitle = "{Proceedings of the 18th Workshop on Cyber Security Experimentation and Test~(CSET) in conjunction with the 41st Annual Computer Security Applications Conference~(ACSAC)}",
	pages = "579--586",
	numpages = "8",
	day = "8",
	month = dec,
	year = "2025",
	address = "Honolulu, Hawaii/U.S.A.",
	language = "english",
	isbn = "979-8-3315-4536-9",
	doi = "10.1109/ACSACW69556.2025.00067",
	keywords = "5G Testbed, Cyber Range, Security, Experimentation, Virtualization, Open-Source",
	abstract = "{The fifth generation (5G) of wireless communication offers gigabit-per-second speeds, ultra-low latency, and massive device connectivity. However, the introduction of network function virtualization (NFV), software-defined networking (SDN), network slicing, and mobile edge computing (MEC) has also created a complex security frontier. Addressing these challenges requires continuous and realistic validation of defenses in controlled experimentation environments. In this paper, we present an open-source, low-cost, fully software-based 5G testbed designed as a cyber range platform for security research and education. Built upon the OpenAirInterface (OAI) framework and commercial off-the-shelf hardware, the testbed supports an end-to-end 5G Stand-Alone (SA) deployment with gNodeB, core network, and user equipment (UE). It enables reproducible experimentation that may demonstrate a broad range of security scenarios, including privacy and tracking-based vulnerabilities (e.g., capturing user identifiers) as well as availability attacks such as DoS attacks targeting core network functions.
The paper outlines our reproducible implementation and shares our experiences in building and operating the platform as a cyber range.}",
	url = "https://web-backend.simula.no/sites/default/files/2025-12/CSET2025.pdf",
	url.size = "817146",
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	url.pagesize = "612 x 792 pts (letter)",
	url.checked = "2025-12-11 10:29:34 CET"
}

@PhDThesis{ Dre2012,
	author = "Thomas Dreibholz",
	title = "{Evaluation and Optimisation of Multi-Path Transport using the Stream Control Transmission Protocol}",
	type = "Habilitation Treatise",
	numpages = "264",
	day = "13",
	month = mar,
	year = "2012",
	school = "University of Duisburg-Essen, Faculty of Economics, Institute for Computer Science and Business Information Systems",
	language = "english",
	urn = "urn:nbn:de:hbz:464-20120315-103208-1",
	keywords = "Stream Control Transmission Protocol~(SCTP), Multi-Path Transport, Dissimilar Paths, Fairness, Evaluation, Optimisation",
	abstract = "{The Stream Control Transmission Protocol~(SCTP) as defined in RFC~4960 is an advanced Transport Layer protocol that provides support for multi-homing. That is, SCTP endpoints may simultaneously use multiple Network Layer addresses, which allows to connect the endpoints to multiple networks for redundancy purposes. However, for the transfer of user data, only one of the possible paths is currently used at a time. All other paths remain as backup and are only used for retransmissions.
Clearly, the existence of multiple paths has led to the idea of applying load sharing among the paths. An extension to SCTP -- denoted as Concurrent Multipath Transfer~(CMT) -- realises this load sharing functionality. While this approach works well for similar paths, i.e.\ paths having similar characteristics regarding bandwidths, bit error rates and delays, the use of dissimilar paths does not work that neatly.
In this thesis, the issues of dissimilar paths for CMT-based load sharing will be demonstrated first. The reasons for these issues will be identified and solutions proposed. These solutions will be evaluated in simulations, as well as partially also in a real-world Internet testbed setup, in order to show their effectiveness. In particular, it will be shown that a combination of multiple mechanisms is necessary to make CMT work as expected under a wide range of network and system parameters.
Furthermore, the fairness of CMT-based transport -- in concurrency to classic non-CMT flows -- will be analysed. The usage of plain CMT leads to an overly aggressive bandwidth occupation on so-called shared bottlenecks. As a countermeasure, the idea of Resource Pooling will be utilised. For this purpose, two new and one adapted congestion control approach -- all based on the Resource Pooling principle -- will be introduced and examined in similar as well as dissimilar path setups, in order to show how to fairly deploy CMT transport in the Internet.
The results of this work have also been contributed to the ongoing IETF~standardisation process of SCTP and its extensions.}",
	url = "https://www.nntb.no/~dreibh/habilitation/Dre2012.pdf",
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}

@InProceedings{ HPCC2022,
	author = "Somnath Mazumdar and Thomas Dreibholz",
	title = "{Towards a Privacy Preserving Data Flow Control via Packet Header Marking}",
	booktitle = "{Proceedings of the 24th IEEE International Conference on High Performance Computing, Data, and Analytics~(HPCC)}",
	pages = "1509--1516",
	numpages = "8",
	day = "18",
	month = dec,
	year = "2022",
	address = "Chengdu, Sichuan/People's Republic of China",
	language = "english",
	isbn = "979-8-3503-1993-4",
	doi = "10.1109/HPCC-DSS-SmartCity-DependSys57074.2022.00232",
	keywords = "Cloud, Data, Fog, P4, Packets, Privacy, Routing",
	abstract = "{Computing infrastructure is becoming ubiquitous thanks to the advancement in computing and the network domain. Reliable network communication is essential to offer good quality services, but it is not trivial. There are privacy concerns. Metadata may leak user information even if traffic is encrypted. Some countries have data privacy preserving-related regulations, but end-users cannot control through which path, networks, and hardware their data packets should travel. Even worse, the user cannot declare their privacy preferences. This paper presents an approach to tackle such privacy issues through data privacy-aware routing. The user can specify their preferences for packet routing using marking and filtering. Routing can work according to such specifications. It is implemented by P4, allowing a vendor-independent realisation with standard off-the-shelf hardware and open-source software components. We presented the initial experimental results of a proof-of-concept run on a unified cloud/fog research testbed.}",
	url = "https://web-backend.simula.no/sites/default/files/publications/files/hpcc2022.pdf",
	url.size = "2056774",
	url.md5 = "e4736c18f80bee8084c75a587f6c7e0a",
	url.mime = "application/pdf",
	url.pagesize = "595.276 x 841.89 pts (A4)",
	url.checked = "2024-06-30 12:15:48 CEST"
}

@Article{ MPTCPBlog2015,
	author = "Thomas Dreibholz",
	title = "{NetPerfMeter: A Network Performance Metering Tool}",
	journal = "{Multipath TCP Blog}",
	day = "7",
	month = sep,
	year = "2015",
	language = "english",
	keywords = "Software, NetPerfMeter, Multi-Path Transfer, Multi-Path TCP~(MPTCP)",
	abstract = "{A common problem for evaluating multiple transport protocols in a multi-platform environment is to have a test tool that is capable to run in all these environments, and – of course – to support all necessary protocols. Using different evaluation tools is not a good solution, since each tool may introduce its own – and possibly incompatible – parametrisation scheme. In order to overcome this problem, originally for the use case of evaluating the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and compare it to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), NetPerfMeter has been designed and developed. This blog article provides an introduction to NetPerfMeter.}",
	url = "https://web.archive.org/web/20230518084721/http://blog.multipath-tcp.org/blog/html/2015/09/07/netperfmeter.html",
	url.size = "42947",
	url.md5 = "84d5a41e4357d7cc69c508a44c1d8aa0",
	url.mime = "text/html",
	url.checked = "2023-12-18 16:01:41 CET"
}

@InProceedings{ OMNeT++Workshop2008,
	author = "Thomas Dreibholz and Erwin Paul Rathgeb",
	title = "{A Powerful Tool-Chain for Setup, Distributed Processing, Analysis and Debugging of OMNeT++ Simulations}",
	booktitle = "{Proceedings of the 1st ACM/ICST International Workshop on OMNeT++}",
	numpages = "8",
	day = "7",
	month = mar,
	year = "2008",
	address = "Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône/France",
	language = "english",
	isbn = "978-963-9799-20-2",
	doi = "10.4108/ICST.SIMUTOOLS2008.2990",
	keywords = "SimProcTC, Simulation Model, Parametrization, Simulation Run Distribution, Plotting, Analysis",
	abstract = "{In this paper, we introduce our Open Source tool-chain providing the parametrization, distributed execution, results post-processing and debugging for
OMNeT++-based simulations. While the initial motivation of these tools has been the support of our simulation model of the Reliable Server Pooling~(RSerPool) framework, it has been particularly designed with model-independence in mind. That is, it can be easily adapted to other simulation models and therefore may be useful for other users of
OMNeT++-based simulation models as well.}",
	url = "https://web.archive.org/web/20260420112909/https://www.wiwi.uni-due.de/fileadmin/fileupload/I-TDR/ReliableServer/Publications/OMNeTWorkshop2008.pdf",
	url.size = "570674",
	url.md5 = "23f563d708ab1eb3f55d6dd21ef4eee4",
	url.mime = "application/pdf",
	url.pagesize = "595.276 x 841.89 pts (A4)",
	url.checked = "2014-04-02 17:08:19 CEST"
}

@InProceedings{ OMNeT++Workshop2009,
	author = "Thomas Dreibholz and Xing Zhou and Erwin Paul Rathgeb",
	title = "{SimProcTC -- The Design and Realization of a Powerful Tool-Chain for OMNeT++ Simulations}",
	booktitle = "{Proceedings of the 2nd ACM/ICST International Workshop on OMNeT++}",
	pages = "1--8",
	numpages = "8",
	day = "6",
	month = mar,
	year = "2009",
	address = "Rome/Italy",
	language = "english",
	isbn = "978-963-9799-45-5",
	doi = "10.4108/ICST.SIMUTOOLS2009.5517",
	keywords = "SimProcTC, Simulation, Parametrization, Run Distribution, Results Visualization",
	abstract = "{In this paper, we introduce our Open Source simulation tool-chain for OMNeT++ simulations: SimProcTC. This model-independent tool-chain has been designed to perform the common and frequently recurring tasks of simulation work -- which are the parametrization of runs, the distributed run processing and the results visualization -- in an efficient and easy to use manner. It is already successfully deployed for several OMNeT++-based research projects.}",
	url = "https://web.archive.org/web/20260420112909/https://www.wiwi.uni-due.de/fileadmin/fileupload/I-TDR/ReliableServer/Publications/OMNeT__Workshop2009.pdf",
	url.size = "564894",
	url.md5 = "1ec4aec2824e6f4d11f1e1af9a8d3991",
	url.mime = "application/pdf",
	url.pagesize = "595.276 x 841.89 pts (A4)",
	url.checked = "2014-04-02 17:08:20 CEST"
}

@InProceedings{ OMNeT++Workshop2010-SCTP,
	author = "Thomas Dreibholz and Martin Becke and Jobin Pulinthanath and Erwin Paul Rathgeb",
	title = "{Implementation and Evaluation of Concurrent Multipath Transfer for SCTP in the INET Framework}",
	booktitle = "{Proceedings of the 3rd ACM/ICST International Workshop on OMNeT++}",
	numpages = "8",
	day = "19",
	month = mar,
	year = "2010",
	address = "Torremolinos, M{\'a}laga/Spain",
	language = "english",
	isbn = "978-963-9799-87-5",
	doi = "10.4108/ICST.SIMUTOOLS2010.8673",
	keywords = "INET Framework, SCTP, Concurrent Multipath Transfer, Model, Evaluation",
	abstract = "{The steadily growing importance of resilience-critical Internet applications leads to a rising number of multi-homed sites and systems. But since the protocols of the classical Internet -- particularly TCP -- assume a single access path only, the number of programs supporting multiple network paths is still small. The Stream Control Transport Protocol~(SCTP), which is an advanced general-purpose transport protocol and the possible successor of TCP, brings the support of multi-homing into the applications.
For technical reasons, SCTP uses one network path for data transmission and utilizes the other paths for backup only. An extension to support the load balancing of user data onto multiple paths in order to increase the payload throughput is Concurrent Multipath Transfer for SCTP, denoted as CMT-SCTP. In this paper, we describe our CMT-SCTP extension for the SCTP~model provided by the INET framework. By using proof-of-concept simulations, we furthermore demonstrate its usability and configuration parameters.}",
	url = "https://web.archive.org/web/20260420112909/https://www.wiwi.uni-due.de/fileadmin/fileupload/I-TDR/SCTP/Paper/OMNeT__Workshop2010-SCTP.pdf",
	url.size = "600864",
	url.md5 = "910129c4f8742f16aa603347276bcf90",
	url.mime = "application/pdf",
	url.pagesize = "612 x 792 pts (letter)",
	url.checked = "2014-04-02 17:08:22 CEST"
}

@InProceedings{ PAMS2012,
	author = "Thomas Dreibholz and Hakim Adhari and Martin Becke and Erwin Paul Rathgeb",
	title = "{Simulation and Experimental Evaluation of Multipath Congestion Control Strategies}",
	booktitle = "{Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Protocols and Applications with Multi-Homing Support~(PAMS)}",
	numpages = "6",
	day = "29",
	month = mar,
	year = "2012",
	address = "Fukuoka/Japan",
	language = "english",
	isbn = "978-0-7695-4652-0",
	doi = "10.1109/WAINA.2012.186",
	keywords = "Multipath Transfer, Congestion Control, Performance Analysis, Simulation, Measurement",
	abstract = "{The need for service resilience is leading to a steadily growing number of multi-homed Internet sites. In consequence, this results in a growing demand for utilising multiple Internet accesses simultaneously, in order to improve application payload throughput during normal operation. Multi-path Transport Layer protocol extensions -- like Multi-Path~TCP~(MPTCP) for TCP and Concurrent Multipath Transfer for SCTP~(CMT-SCTP) -- allow applications to make use of such network topologies.
However, since TCP -- which constitutes the basis of most Internet applications -- and its congestion control procedures have been designed under the assumption of single-homed sites, fairness issues may arise by the usage of multipath transport. These issues are addressed by advanced congestion control approaches, which have already been examined by simulations. However, real-life network measurements are missing. In this paper, we perform an experimental proof-of-concept evaluation of several multipath congestion control strategies, which are currently under discussion within the IETF in the context of MPTCP as well as CMT-SCTP. Particularly, we validate effects that have been observed in simulations, in order to trigger further discussions on multipath congestion control. Also, our goal is to provide insight into the different approaches to support the ongoing IETF standardisation activities on multipath transport protocols.}",
	url = "https://web.archive.org/web/20260420112909/https://www.wiwi.uni-due.de/fileadmin/fileupload/I-TDR/SCTP/Paper/PAMS2012.pdf",
	url.size = "412422",
	url.md5 = "9f0ed4e466615996b4e65ccb10ec3c7d",
	url.mime = "application/pdf",
	url.pagesize = "595.276 x 841.89 pts (A4)",
	url.checked = "2014-04-02 17:08:25 CEST"
}

@InProceedings{ PAMS2015-MPTCP,
	author = "Thomas Dreibholz and Xing Zhou and Fa Fu",
	title = "{Multi-Path TCP in Real-World Setups -- An Evaluation in the NorNet Core Testbed}",
	booktitle = "{5th International Workshop on Protocols and Applications with Multi-Homing Support~(PAMS)}",
	pages = "617--622",
	numpages = "6",
	day = "25",
	month = mar,
	year = "2015",
	address = "Gwangju/South Korea",
	language = "english",
	isbn = "978-1-4799-1775-4",
	doi = "10.1109/WAINA.2015.74",
	keywords = "NorNet, Multi-Path TCP (MPTCP), Multi-Homing, Multi-Path Transport, Evaluation",
	abstract = "{Nowadays, cloud applications are becoming more and more popular. However, in order for such applications to work, they need a stable Internet connectivity. To avoid the Internet access becoming a single point of failure, redundancy by multi-homing -- i.e.\ simultaneous access to multiple Internet service providers~(ISP) -- is becoming increasingly common as well. Multi-homing leads to the desire to utilise all network attachment points simultaneously, which is e.g.\ provided by the Multi-Path TCP~(MPTCP) extension for TCP. MPTCP is still under development by researchers and standardisation in the IETF. Particularly, it is necessary to evaluate MPTCP under realistic Internet conditions.
NorNet Core is the world's first, large-scale Internet testbed for multi-homed systems and applications. It is therefore a useful platform for evaluating MPTCP. In this paper, we therefore present our NorNet Core extension that adds MPTCP support to the testbed. Particularly, our extension is now available to all users of NorNet Core as well, which significantly reduces the effort of MPTCP researchers to evaluate MPTCP and its improvements. In a proof of concept, we furthermore show the strengths and weaknesses of state-of-the-art MPTCP in NorNet Core, in a configuration covering 29~ISP connections at 14~sites in 5~different countries.}",
	url = "https://web-backend.simula.no/sites/default/files/publications/files/pams2015-mptcp-web.pdf",
	url.size = "215245",
	url.md5 = "1d87843d61fd55880aa7aa25fba51e19",
	url.mime = "application/pdf",
	url.pagesize = "595.276 x 841.89 pts (A4)",
	url.checked = "2024-06-30 11:25:03 CEST"
}

@InProceedings{ SoftCOM2011,
	author = "Thomas Dreibholz and Martin Becke and Hakim Adhari and Erwin Paul Rathgeb",
	title = "{Evaluation of A New Multipath Congestion Control Scheme using the NetPerfMeter Tool-Chain}",
	booktitle = "{Proceedings of the 19th IEEE International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks~(SoftCOM)}",
	pages = "1--6",
	numpages = "6",
	day = "16",
	month = sep,
	year = "2011",
	address = "Hvar, Dalmacija/Croatia",
	language = "english",
	isbn = "978-953-290-027-9",
	keywords = "NetPerfMeter Tool-Chain, Concurrent Multipath Transfer, Congestion Control, Dissimilar Paths, Performance Analysis",
	abstract = "{Multi-homed Internet sites become more and more widespread, due to the rising dispersal of inexpensive Internet access technologies combined with the growing deployment of resilience-critical applications. Concurrent Multipath Transfer~(CMT) denotes the Transport Layer approach to utilise multiple network paths simultaneously, in order to improve application payload throughput. Currently, CMT is a quite hot topic in the IETF -- in form of the Multipath~TCP~(MPTCP) and CMT-SCTP protocol extensions for TCP and SCTP. However, an important issue is still not fully solved: multipath congestion control.
In order to support the IETF activities, we have set up a distributed Internet testbed for CMT evaluation. An important tool -- which we have developed for multi-protocol Transport Layer performance analysis -- is the Open Source
NetPerfMeter tool-chain. It supports the parametrisation and processing of measurement runs as well as results collection, post-processing and plotting. However, its key feature is to support multiple Transport Layer protocols, which makes a quantitative comparison of different protocols -- including state-of-the-art features like CMT -- possible. In this paper, we first introduce
NetPerfMeter and then show a proof-of-concept performance evaluation of CMT congestion controls which are currently discussed in the IETF standardisation process of CMT-SCTP.}",
	url = "https://web.archive.org/web/20260420112909/https://www.wiwi.uni-due.de/fileadmin/fileupload/I-TDR/SCTP/Paper/SoftCOM2011.pdf",
	url.size = "367773",
	url.md5 = "23b808c6caa72f0cfb5213d8b6cf7b31",
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}