Ahmed Helmy

Bio: Ahmed Helmy is an academic researcher from University of Florida. The author has contributed to research in topics: Routing protocol & Wireless ad hoc network. The author has an hindex of 45, co-authored 263 publications receiving 11486 citations. Previous affiliations of Ahmed Helmy include General Motors & University of Southern California.

Protocol Independent Multicast-Sparse Mode (PIM-SM): Protocol Specification

Abstract: This document specifies Protocol Independent Multicast - Sparse Mode (PIM-SM). PIM-SM is a multicast routing protocol that can use the underlying unicast routing information base or a separate multicast- capable routing information base. It builds unidirectional shared trees rooted at a Rendezvous Point (RP) per group, and optionally creates shortest-path trees per source. This document obsoletes RFC 2362, an Experimental version of PIM-SM. [STANDARDS-TRACK]

IMPORTANT: a framework to systematically analyze the Impact of Mobility on Performance of Routing Protocols for Adhoc Networks

Abstract: A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a collection of wireless mobile nodes forming a temporary network without using any existing infrastructure. Since not many MANETs are currently deployed, research in this area is mostly simulation based. Random waypoint is the commonly used mobility model in these simulations. Random waypoint is a simple model that may be applicable to some scenarios. However, we believe that it is not sufficient to capture some important mobility characteristics of scenarios in which MANETs may be deployed. Our framework aims to evaluate the impact of different mobility models on the performance of MANET routing protocols. We propose various protocol independent metrics to capture interesting mobility characteristics, including spatial and temporal dependence and geographic restrictions. In addition, a rich set of parameterized mobility models is introduced including random waypoint, group mobility, freeway and Manhattan models. Based on these models several 'test-suite' scenarios are chosen carefully to span the metric space. We demonstrate the utility of our test-suite by evaluating various MANET routing protocols, including DSR, AODV and DSDV. Our results show that the protocol performance may vary drastically across mobility models and performance rankings of protocols may vary with the mobility models used. This effect can be explained by the interaction of the mobility characteristics with the connectivity graph properties. Finally, we attempt to decompose the routing protocols into mechanistic "building blocks" to gain a deeper insight into the performance variations across protocols in the face of mobility.

Advances in network simulation

Abstract: Network researchers must test Internet protocols under varied conditions to determine whether they are robust and reliable. The paper discusses the Virtual Inter Network Testbed (VINT) project which has enhanced its network simulator and related software to provide several practical innovations that broaden the conditions under which researchers can evaluate network protocols.

The IMPORTANT framework for analyzing the Impact of Mobility on Performance Of RouTing protocols for Adhoc NeTworks

Abstract: A Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of wireless mobile nodes forming a temporary network without using any existing infrastructure. Since not many MANETs are currently deployed, research in this area is mostly simulation based. Random Waypoint is the commonly used mobility model in these simulations. Random Waypoint is a simple model that may be applicable to some scenarios. However, we believe that it is not sufficient to capture some important mobility characteristics of scenarios in which MANETs may be deployed. Our framework aims to evaluate the impact of different mobility models on the performance of MANET routing protocols. We propose various protocol independent metrics to capture interesting mobility characteristics, including spatial and temporal dependence and geographic restrictions. In addition, a rich set of parameterized mobility models is introduced including Random Waypoint, Group Mobility, Freeway and Manhattan models. Based on these models several test-suite scenarios are chosen carefully to span the metric space. We demonstrate the utility of our test-suite by evaluating various MANET routing protocols, including DSR, AODV and DSDV. Our results show that the protocol performance may vary drastically across mobility models and performance rankings of protocols may vary with the mobility models used. This effect can be explained by the interaction of the mobility characteristics with the connectivity graph properties. Finally, we attempt to decompose the reactive routing protocols into mechanistic ‘‘building blocks’’ to gain a deeper insight into the performance variations across protocols in the face of mobility. � 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Energy-efficient forwarding strategies for geographic routing in lossy wireless sensor networks

Abstract: Recent experimental studies have shown that wireless links in real sensor networks can be extremely unreliable, deviating to a large extent from the idealized perfect-reception-within-range models used in common network simulation tools. Previously proposed geographic routing protocols commonly employ a maximum-distance greedy forwarding technique that works well in ideal conditions. However, such a forwarding technique performs poorly in realistic conditions as it tends to forward packets on lossy links. We identify and illustrate this weak-link problem and the related distance-hop trade-off, whereby energy efficient geographic forwarding must strike a balance between shorter, high-quality links, and longer lossy links. The study is done for scenarios with and without automatic repeat request (ARQ).Based on an analytical link loss model, we study the distance-hop trade-off via mathematical analysis and extensive simulations of a wide array of blacklisting/link-selection strategies; we also validate some strategies using a set of real experiments on motes. Our analysis, simulations and experiments all show that the product of the packet reception rate (PRR) and the distance traversed towards destination is the optimal forwarding metric for the ARQ case, and is a good metric even without ARQ. Nodes using this metric often take advantage of neighbors in the transitional region (high-variance links). Our results also show that reception-based forwarding strategies are more efficient than purely distance-based strategies; relative blacklisting schemes reduce disconnections and achieve higher delivery rates than absolute blacklisting schemes; and that ARQ schemes become more important in larger networks.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

Machine learning

Abstract: Machine Learning is the study of methods for programming computers to learn. Computers are applied to a wide range of tasks, and for most of these it is relatively easy for programmers to design and implement the necessary software. However, there are many tasks for which this is difficult or impossible. These can be divided into four general categories. First, there are problems for which there exist no human experts. For example, in modern automated manufacturing facilities, there is a need to predict machine failures before they occur by analyzing sensor readings. Because the machines are new, there are no human experts who can be interviewed by a programmer to provide the knowledge necessary to build a computer system. A machine learning system can study recorded data and subsequent machine failures and learn prediction rules. Second, there are problems where human experts exist, but where they are unable to explain their expertise. This is the case in many perceptual tasks, such as speech recognition, hand-writing recognition, and natural language understanding. Virtually all humans exhibit expert-level abilities on these tasks, but none of them can describe the detailed steps that they follow as they perform them. Fortunately, humans can provide machines with examples of the inputs and correct outputs for these tasks, so machine learning algorithms can learn to map the inputs to the outputs. Third, there are problems where phenomena are changing rapidly. In finance, for example, people would like to predict the future behavior of the stock market, of consumer purchases, or of exchange rates. These behaviors change frequently, so that even if a programmer could construct a good predictive computer program, it would need to be rewritten frequently. A learning program can relieve the programmer of this burden by constantly modifying and tuning a set of learned prediction rules. Fourth, there are applications that need to be customized for each computer user separately. Consider, for example, a program to filter unwanted electronic mail messages. Different users will need different filters. It is unreasonable to expect each user to program his or her own rules, and it is infeasible to provide every user with a software engineer to keep the rules up-to-date. A machine learning system can learn which mail messages the user rejects and maintain the filtering rules automatically. Machine learning addresses many of the same research questions as the fields of statistics, data mining, and psychology, but with differences of emphasis. Statistics focuses on understanding the phenomena that have generated the data, often with the goal of testing different hypotheses about those phenomena. Data mining seeks to find patterns in the data that are understandable by people. Psychological studies of human learning aspire to understand the mechanisms underlying the various learning behaviors exhibited by people (concept learning, skill acquisition, strategy change, etc.).

Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning

Abstract: Probability Distributions.- Linear Models for Regression.- Linear Models for Classification.- Neural Networks.- Kernel Methods.- Sparse Kernel Machines.- Graphical Models.- Mixture Models and EM.- Approximate Inference.- Sampling Methods.- Continuous Latent Variables.- Sequential Data.- Combining Models.

Directed diffusion: a scalable and robust communication paradigm for sensor networks

Abstract: Advances in processor, memory and radio technology will enable small and cheap nodes capable of sensing, communication and computation. Networks of such nodes can coordinate to perform distributed sensing of environmental phenomena. In this paper, we explore the directed diffusion paradigm for such coordination. Directed diffusion is datacentric in that all communication is for named data. All nodes in a directed diffusion-based network are application-aware. This enables diffusion to achieve energy savings by selecting empirically good paths and by caching and processing data in-network. We explore and evaluate the use of directed diffusion for a simple remote-surveillance sensor network.