A new safety mechanism of active networks

Security and safety are important factors that baffle the development and practicality of active networks. However, most research on active networks focuses on security. Based on the analysis of safety requirements of active networks and possibility of using the safety kernel that is a new concept of safety assurance, this paper presents a safety assurance mechanism SKAN for active networks. We design it from several important aspects of safety policy, practice of SKAN, reuse and effect. SKAN can address common problems found in active networks, such as lack of the effective support of application variety and expressiveness of safety policy, etc.