{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,11]],"date-time":"2026-07-11T17:24:10Z","timestamp":1783790650912,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,9]],"date-time":"2024-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1725840000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"European Union","award":["PE00000001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PE00000001"]}]},{"name":"European Union","award":["2014\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2014\/2020"]}]},{"name":"Regione Toscana","award":["PE00000001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PE00000001"]}]},{"name":"Regione Toscana","award":["2014\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2014\/2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Computers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Internet of Things (IoT), namely, the set of intelligent devices equipped with sensors and actuators and capable of connecting to the Internet, has now become an integral part of the most competitive industries, as it enables optimization of production processes and reduction in operating costs and maintenance time, together with improving the quality of products and services. More specifically, the term Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) identifies the system which consists of advanced Internet-connected equipment and analytics platforms specialized for industrial activities, where IIoT devices range from small environmental sensors to complex industrial robots. This paper presents an integrated high-level SDN-NFV architecture enabling clusters of smart devices to interconnect and manage the exchange of data with distributed control processes and databases. In particular, it is focused on 5G RAN-MEC slice management in the IIoT context. The proposed system is emulated by means of two distinct real-time frameworks, demonstrating improvements in connectivity, energy efficiency, end-to-end latency and throughput. In addition, its scalability, modularity and flexibility are assessed, making this framework suitable to test advanced and more applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/computers13090226","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,9]],"date-time":"2024-09-09T03:04:18Z","timestamp":1725851058000},"page":"226","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["An Integrated Software-Defined Networking\u2013Network Function Virtualization Architecture for 5G RAN\u2013Multi-Access Edge Computing Slice Management in the Internet of Industrial Things"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0267-4733","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesco","family":"Chiti","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, Via di S. Marta 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0145-8406","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Simone","family":"Morosi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, Via di S. Marta 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Claudio","family":"Bartoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, Via di S. Marta 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1109\/MNET.008.2100484","article-title":"The Road to Industry 4.0 and Beyond: A Communications-, Information-, and Operation Technology Collaboration Perspective","volume":"36","author":"Wan","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Network"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1109\/MIE.2017.2649104","article-title":"The Future of Industrial Communication: Automation Networks in the Era of the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0","volume":"11","author":"Wollschlaeger","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Ind. Electron. 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