Nargis Khan

Bio: Nargis Khan is an academic researcher from Seneca College. The author has contributed to research in topics: Wireless sensor network & Overlay network. The author has an hindex of 6, co-authored 22 publications receiving 105 citations. Previous affiliations of Nargis Khan include Ryerson University.

Sharing It My Way: Efficient M2M Access in LTE/LTE-A Networks

Abstract: When a large number of machine-to-machine (M2M) terminals attempt to access the Long-Term Evolution (LTE)/LTE Advanced (LTE-A) cellular network using the physical random access channel (PRACH), congestion and overload may result, which can lead to serious degradation of performance for both M2M and human-to-human (H2H) terminals. The main cause for this is the inherent complexity of the four-way handshake used for random access, which is well suited for H2H terminal access but unsuitable for massive M2M access. In this paper, we describe an efficient scheme for concurrent M2M and H2H access on the PRACH, which separates the resources for M2M and H2H access at the level of preamble codes and avoids the use of the four-step handshake for M2M terminals by implementing a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) overlay network using the designated preamble codes. We analyze the performance of the scheme for both H2H and M2M traffic and show the values of the most important design parameters that enable this scheme to support concurrent access by H2H and M2M terminals with little performance degradation.

Localization in terrestrial and underwater sensor-based m2m communication networks: architecture,classification and challenges

Abstract: Summary Localizing machine-type communication (MTC) devices or sensors is becoming important because of the increasing popularity of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication networks for location-based applications. These include such as health monitoring, rescue operations, vehicle tracking, and wildfire monitoring. Moreover, efficient localization approaches for sensor-based MTC devices reduce the localization error and energy consumption of MTC devices. Because sensors are used as an integral part of M2M communication networks and have achieved popularity in underwater applications, research is being conducted on sensor localization in both underwater and terrestrial M2M networks. Major challenges in designing underwater localization techniques are the lack of good radio signal propagation in underwater, sensor mobility management, and ensuring network coverage in 3D underwater M2M networks. Similarly, predicting the mobility pattern of MTC devices, trading-off energy consumption and location accuracy pose great design challenges for terrestrial localization techniques. This article presents a comprehensive survey on the current state-of-the-art research on both terrestrial and underwater localization approaches for sensor-based MTC devices. It also classifies localization approaches based on several factors, identifies their limitations with potential solutions, and compares them. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

CPWS: An efficient routing protocol for RGB sensor-based fish pond monitoring system

Abstract: This paper proposes a simple Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)-based water level and water quality monitoring system for fish ponds. The proposed architecture uses RGB color sensors and provides a low cost and real-time monitoring system to grow healthy fish and avoid anomalies such as overflow or low water level and the death or disease of fishes for unhealthy water (e.g., rise of acid level due to the change of pH and lack of oxygen in water) in a pond. In this simple monitoring system, sensors monitor the water level, dissolved oxygen, temperature and pH level of the water of the fish ponds at some predefined sensing interval. We also introduce a simple but efficient Clustering Protocol for Water Sensor network (CPWS) for the proposed fish pond monitoring framework in terms of network energy consumptions, network lifetime and number of data communications.

Towards an efficient rendezvous protocol for a cognitive PAN

Abstract: In this paper we describe a rendezvous protocol that enables nodes to quickly and reliably discover an existing channel-hopping cognitive PAN. The proposed protocol does not rely on the presence of a dedicated controller, the availability of a common control channel, or clock synchronization between the cognitive PAN and the new node. Furthermore, the CPAN need not suspend its operation for the discovery procedure to succeed. The performance of the proposed protocol is evaluated under fixed and adaptive superframe duration.

Sensor Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems.

Abstract: Modern society faces serious problems with transportation systems, including but not limited to traffic congestion, safety, and pollution. Information communication technologies have gained increasing attention and importance in modern transportation systems. Automotive manufacturers are developing in-vehicle sensors and their applications in different areas including safety, traffic management, and infotainment. Government institutions are implementing roadside infrastructures such as cameras and sensors to collect data about environmental and traffic conditions. By seamlessly integrating vehicles and sensing devices, their sensing and communication capabilities can be leveraged to achieve smart and intelligent transportation systems. We discuss how sensor technology can be integrated with the transportation infrastructure to achieve a sustainable Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and how safety, traffic control and infotainment applications can benefit from multiple sensors deployed in different elements of an ITS. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges that need to be addressed to enable a fully operational and cooperative ITS environment.

Underwater sensor network applications: a comprehensive survey

Abstract: There is no escaping fact that a huge amount of unexploited resources lies underwater which covers almost 70% of the Earth. Yet, the aquatic world has mainly been unaffected by the recent advances in the area of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and their pervasive penetration in modern day research and industrial development. The current pace of research in the area of underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) is slow due to the difficulties arising in transferring the state-of-the-art WSNs to their underwater equivalent. Maximum underwater deployments rely on acoustics for enabling communication combined with special sensors having the capacity to take on harsh environment of the oceans. However, sensing and subsequent transmission tend to vary as per different subsea environments; for example, deep sea exploration requires altogether a different approach for communication as compared to shallow water communication. This paper particularly focuses on comprehensively gathering most recent developments in UWSN applications and their deployments. We have classified the underwater applications into five main classes, namely, monitoring, disaster, military, navigation, and sports, to cover the large spectrum of UWSN. The applications are further divided into relevant subclasses. We have also shown the challenges and opportunities faced by recent deployments of UWSN.

Grant-Free Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access for IoT: A Survey

Abstract: Massive machine-type communications (mMTC) is one of the main three focus areas in the 5th generation (5G) of wireless communications technologies to enable connectivity of a massive number of Internet of things (IoT) devices with little or no human intervention. In conventional human-type communications (HTC), due to the limited number of available channel resources and orthogonal resource allocation techniques, users get a transmission slot by making scheduling/connection requests. The involved control channel signaling, negligible with respect to the huge transmit data, is not a major issue. However, this may turn into a potential performance bottleneck in mMTC, where huge number of devices transmit short packet data in a sporadic way. To tackle the limited radio resources and massive connectivity challenges, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has emerged as a promising technology that allows multiple users to simultaneously transmit their data over the same channel resource. This is achieved by employing user-specific signature sequences at the transmitting devices, which are exploited by the receiver for multi-user data detection. Due to its massive connectivity potential, NOMA has also been considered to enable grant-free transmissions especially in mMTC, where devices can transmit their data whenever they need without the scheduling requests. The existing surveys majorly discuss different NOMA schemes, and exploit their potential, in typical grant-based HTC scenarios, where users are connected with the base station, and various system parameters are pre-defined in the scheduling phase. Different from these works, this survey provides a comprehensive review of the recent advances in NOMA from a grant-free connectivity perspective. Various grant-free NOMA schemes are presented, their potential and related practical challenges are highlighted, and possible future directions are thoroughly discussed at the end.

Underwater Optical Wireless Communications, Networking, and Localization: A Survey

Abstract: Underwater wireless communications can be carried out through acoustic, radio frequency (RF), and optical waves. Compared to its bandwidth limited acoustic and RF counterparts, underwater optical wireless communications (UOWCs) can support higher data rates at low latency levels. However, severe aquatic channel conditions (e.g., absorption, scattering, turbulence, etc.) pose great challenges for UOWCs and significantly reduce the attainable communication ranges, which necessitates efficient networking and localization solutions. Therefore, we provide a comprehensive survey on the challenges, advances, and prospects of underwater optical wireless networks (UOWNs) from a layer by layer perspective which includes: 1) Potential network architectures; 2) Physical layer issues including propagation characteristics, channel modeling, and modulation techniques 3) Data link layer problems covering link configurations, link budgets, performance metrics, and multiple access schemes; 4) Network layer topics containing relaying techniques and potential routing algorithms; 5) Transport layer subjects such as connectivity, reliability, flow and congestion control; 6) Application layer goals and state-of-the-art UOWN applications, and 7) Localization and its impacts on UOWN layers. Finally, we outline the open research challenges and point out the future directions for underwater optical wireless communications, networking, and localization research.