KAIT to Demo 400 Gbps 8K Uncompressed Video via SRv6 In-Network Computing at SC26

ATSUGI, Japan - EntSun -- At the upcoming SC26 exhibition in Chicago, the Kanagawa Institute of Technology (KAIT), in close collaboration with the National Institute of Informatics (NII) and key international research partners, will showcase a groundbreaking live demonstration of 400 Gbps 8K uncompressed video processing utilizing SRv6-based in-network computing. Spanning a high-performance trans-Pacific network connecting Japan and the United States, this live exhibition highlights how tightly integrated networking and computing resources can support next-generation, ultra-high-bandwidth media applications without suffering from conventional traffic hairpinning or architectural bottlenecks.

Overcoming Hairpinning in Beyond 5G Media Infrastructure As the Beyond 5G (B5G) era rapidly approaches, the global demand for real-time creation, high-speed processing, and seamless distribution of ultra-high-quality media is projected to scale exponentially. Low-latency and ultra-high-bandwidth networks are essential to enhance the immediacy, interactivity, and absolute immersion of live events, laying a robust foundation for advanced digital cultures.

To support demanding high-definition video applications—specifically 8K uncompressed video streams, which inherently require a continuous bandwidth of approximately 24 to 48 Gbps per stream—KAIT has pioneered an advanced, high-speed inline computing architecture designed specifically for wide-area distributed environments.

Traditionally, processing such massive, continuous data streams via software relies heavily on frameworks like the Virtualized Video Handling Function (VVF) built on top of the Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK). However, conventional Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Service Function Chaining (SFC) deployments often suffer from severe traffic hairpinning, unnecessary latency overheads, and complex service reconfigurations due to their heavy reliance on intermediate Service Function Forwarders (SFFs) and SFC proxies.

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SRv6 End.AN and Open-Source Software Routing To overcome these architectural hurdles, KAIT's innovative approach leverages SRv6 End.AN, a novel data-plane behavior currently undergoing active standardization within the IETF SPRING Working Group (detailed extensively in the Internet-Draft "SRv6 SFC Architecture with SR-aware Functions").

By integrating packet forwarding and computational processing simultaneously within intermediate network routers, End.AN executes media processing directly along the optimized forwarding path. High-speed data-plane operations, efficient routing, and advanced SRv6 processing are fully supported by KAIT's custom-built, open-source, DPDK-based SRv6 software router. Consequently, this architecture eliminates redundant detours and drastically reduces end-to-end processing latency for massive media workflows.

Live 400 Gbps International Demonstration at SC26 At SC26, KAIT and its collaborative research teams will rigorously validate this network architecture across an international testbed linking Japan and the United States, exhibiting directly at the NII Booth (#1459). Key technical highlights of the live demonstration include:

• Trans-Pacific 400 Gbps Connectivity: Utilizing a high-bandwidth trans-Pacific path via SCinet and SINET6 to test the custom DPDK-based SRv6 software router at true line rate under heavy, real-world operational conditions.
• Dynamic Service Function Chaining (SFC): Multiple Virtualized Video Functions (VVFs) for 8K uncompressed streams—including real-time color conversion, video switching, format conversion, and dynamic caption insertion—are dynamically chained across distributed SRv6 End.AN nodes on demand.
• Diverse Real-World Video Sources: The setup aggregates live video streams from multiple geographical locations, featuring 8K camera streams captured in Ginoza (Okinawa), outdoor cameras at the Kanagawa Institute of Technology (Kanagawa) connected securely over a local 5G network, and high-resolution streams supplied by an NICT video server.
• Real-Time Visibility and Monitoring: A custom-developed network monitoring system capable of handling 400 Gbps traffic visualizes packet transmission conditions, path states, and compute resource utilization in real time.
• Dedicated Testbed VLAN Resource Allocation: The live experiment leverages four distinct L2VPNs over SINET6 connected via the NII booth: VLAN #1 (50 Gbps dedicated for SRv6 8K uncompressed video), VLAN #2 (50 Gbps dedicated for SMPTE ST-2110 8K uncompressed video), VLAN #3 (<=1 Gbps for Control & Management), and VLAN #4 (<=1 Gbps for real-time Monitoring).

Future Outlook and Open Ecosystem Following the SC26 demonstration, the research team plans to further refine the high-performance SRv6 End.AN platform, deepening the synergy between execution computing functions and high-speed SRv6 packet forwarding. Using demanding high-resolution video as a primary, mission-critical use case, KAIT will continue to investigate coordinated control mechanisms for distributed networking and computing resources, aiming to accelerate the practical deployment of next-generation network architectures in real-world data centers and wide-area testbeds.

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This work was partially supported by JST CRONOS (Grant No. JPMJCS24N9). The open-source implementations, including the DPDK-based SRv6 software router and extended routing tools, are available on the KAIT-CRONOS GitHub Repository (https://github.com/kait-cronos/).

References & Open-Source Resources:

• IETF Internet-Draft: "SRv6 SFC Architecture with SR-aware Functions" (Wataru Mishima, Yuta Fukagawa)
• Open-Source Software Repository: KAIT-CRONOS GitHub Repository
• Acknowledgment: This work was partially supported by JST CRONOS (Grant No. JPMJCS24N9).