Nicola Accettura

Bio: Nicola Accettura is an academic researcher from University of Toulouse. The author has contributed to research in topics: Scheduling (computing) & Citation. The author has an hindex of 15, co-authored 27 publications receiving 1731 citations. Previous affiliations of Nicola Accettura include Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory & University of California, Berkeley.

Standardized Protocol Stack for the Internet of (Important) Things

Abstract: We have witnessed the Fixed Internet emerging with virtually every computer being connected today; we are currently witnessing the emergence of the Mobile Internet with the exponential explosion of smart phones, tablets and net-books. However, both will be dwarfed by the anticipated emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), in which everyday objects are able to connect to the Internet, tweet or be queried. Whilst the impact onto economies and societies around the world is undisputed, the technologies facilitating such a ubiquitous connectivity have struggled so far and only recently commenced to take shape. To this end, this paper introduces in a timely manner and for the first time the wireless communications stack the industry believes to meet the important criteria of power-efficiency, reliability and Internet connectivity. Industrial applications have been the early adopters of this stack, which has become the de-facto standard, thereby bootstrapping early IoT developments with already thousands of wireless nodes deployed. Corroborated throughout this paper and by emerging industry alliances, we believe that a standardized approach, using latest developments in the IEEE 802.15.4 and IETF working groups, is the only way forward. We introduce and relate key embodiments of the power-efficient IEEE 802.15.4-2006 PHY layer, the power-saving and reliable IEEE 802.15.4e MAC layer, the IETF 6LoWPAN adaptation layer enabling universal Internet connectivity, the IETF ROLL routing protocol enabling availability, and finally the IETF CoAP enabling seamless transport and support of Internet applications. The protocol stack proposed in the present work converges towards the standardized notations of the ISO/OSI and TCP/IP stacks. What thus seemed impossible some years back, i.e., building a clearly defined, standards-compliant and Internet-compliant stack given the extreme restrictions of IoT networks, is commencing to become reality.

On Optimal Scheduling in Duty-Cycled Industrial IoT Applications Using IEEE802.15.4e TSCH

Abstract: As exposed in a recent report by General Electric, an industrial Internet of Things (IoT) is emerging as a commercially viable embodiment of the IoT where physical sensors gather data readings from the field and deliver the traffic to the Internet. The collected real-time big data, in turn, allow the optimizing of entire industry verticals with enormous return of investments. Although opportunities are ample, it comes along with serious engineering design challenges as industrial applications have stringent requirements on delay, lifetime and standards-compliance. To this end, we advocate the use of an IEEE/IETF standardized IoT architecture along with a recently introduced data-centric scheduling algorithm known as traffic aware scheduling algorithm (TASA). Applying graph theoretical tools to the multi-channel, time-synchronized, and duty-cycled nature of TASA, we rigorously derive optimality and bounds on the minimum number of needed active slots (impacting end-to-end delays) and the network duty-cycle (impacting lifetime). We demonstrate the enormous superiority of TASA over traditional IEEE802.15.4/ZigBee approaches in terms of energy efficiency. The outcome of this paper is currently to lay foundations of the recently formed IETF standardization group 6TSCH with the aim to significantly improve IoT data flows over IEEE802.15.4e TSCH and IETF 6LoWPAN/ROLL enabled technologies.

Traffic Aware Scheduling Algorithm for reliable low-power multi-hop IEEE 802.15.4e networks

Abstract: The Time Synchronized Channel Hopping (TSCH) protocol is part of the newly defined IEEE 802.15.4e standard and represents the latest generation of highly reliable low-power MAC protocols. With implementation details left open, we conceive here a novel Traffic Aware Scheduling Algorithm (TASA) by extending the theoretically well-established graph theory methods of matching and coloring by means of an innovative approach based on network topology and traffic load. TASA is able to support emerging industrial applications requiring low latency at low duty cycle and power consumption. Preliminary simulation results have also been reported to highlight the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Performance analysis of the RPL Routing Protocol

Abstract: The IETF Routing Over Low-power and Lossy Networks working group has recently proposed the IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low power and Lossy Networks, i.e., the RPL protocol. It has been designed to face the typical requirements of wireless sensor networks. Given its relevance in the industrial and scientific communities, this paper presents a performance analysis of RPL based on simulations. Our results clearly show that RPL can ensure a very fast network set-up, thus allowing the development of advanced monitoring applications also in critical conditions. On the other hand, we found that further research is required to optimize the RPL signaling in order to decrease the protocol overhead.

Decentralized Traffic Aware Scheduling for multi-hop Low power Lossy Networks in the Internet of Things

Abstract: The emerging IEEE802.15.4e standard and IETF RPL routing protocol are core to the organization of multi-hop Low-power and Lossy Networks. They provide key functionalities useful for a really viable Internet of Things. However, several open issues still remain and require research efforts to be solved. Among others, the design of effective scheduling schemes in such systems is one of the major problems; in fact, there are no specifications about how schedules should be realized. Trying to fill this gap, this paper presents a new Decentralized Traffic-Aware Scheduling algorithm, which is able to construct optimum multi-hop schedules in a distributed fashion. Its effectiveness has been proved by using simulation results and comparing it with a centralized scheme. The reported performance results encourage the use of the developed scheduling technique, since it allows a very efficient queue management, and thus it minimizes packet discards due to buffer overflows, while at the same time minimizing the network duty cycle.

Internet of Things: A Survey on Enabling Technologies, Protocols, and Applications

Abstract: This paper provides an overview of the Internet of Things (IoT) with emphasis on enabling technologies, protocols, and application issues. The IoT is enabled by the latest developments in RFID, smart sensors, communication technologies, and Internet protocols. The basic premise is to have smart sensors collaborate directly without human involvement to deliver a new class of applications. The current revolution in Internet, mobile, and machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies can be seen as the first phase of the IoT. In the coming years, the IoT is expected to bridge diverse technologies to enable new applications by connecting physical objects together in support of intelligent decision making. This paper starts by providing a horizontal overview of the IoT. Then, we give an overview of some technical details that pertain to the IoT enabling technologies, protocols, and applications. Compared to other survey papers in the field, our objective is to provide a more thorough summary of the most relevant protocols and application issues to enable researchers and application developers to get up to speed quickly on how the different protocols fit together to deliver desired functionalities without having to go through RFCs and the standards specifications. We also provide an overview of some of the key IoT challenges presented in the recent literature and provide a summary of related research work. Moreover, we explore the relation between the IoT and other emerging technologies including big data analytics and cloud and fog computing. We also present the need for better horizontal integration among IoT services. Finally, we present detailed service use-cases to illustrate how the different protocols presented in the paper fit together to deliver desired IoT services.

A Survey on Internet of Things: Architecture, Enabling Technologies, Security and Privacy, and Applications

Abstract: Fog/edge computing has been proposed to be integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) to enable computing services devices deployed at network edge, aiming to improve the user’s experience and resilience of the services in case of failures. With the advantage of distributed architecture and close to end-users, fog/edge computing can provide faster response and greater quality of service for IoT applications. Thus, fog/edge computing-based IoT becomes future infrastructure on IoT development. To develop fog/edge computing-based IoT infrastructure, the architecture, enabling techniques, and issues related to IoT should be investigated first, and then the integration of fog/edge computing and IoT should be explored. To this end, this paper conducts a comprehensive overview of IoT with respect to system architecture, enabling technologies, security and privacy issues, and present the integration of fog/edge computing and IoT, and applications. Particularly, this paper first explores the relationship between cyber-physical systems and IoT, both of which play important roles in realizing an intelligent cyber-physical world. Then, existing architectures, enabling technologies, and security and privacy issues in IoT are presented to enhance the understanding of the state of the art IoT development. To investigate the fog/edge computing-based IoT, this paper also investigate the relationship between IoT and fog/edge computing, and discuss issues in fog/edge computing-based IoT. Finally, several applications, including the smart grid, smart transportation, and smart cities, are presented to demonstrate how fog/edge computing-based IoT to be implemented in real-world applications.

Internet of Things in the 5G Era: Enablers, Architecture, and Business Models

Abstract: The IoT paradigm holds the promise to revolutionize the way we live and work by means of a wealth of new services, based on seamless interactions between a large amount of heterogeneous devices. After decades of conceptual inception of the IoT, in recent years a large variety of communication technologies has gradually emerged, reflecting a large diversity of application domains and of communication requirements. Such heterogeneity and fragmentation of the connectivity landscape is currently hampering the full realization of the IoT vision, by posing several complex integration challenges. In this context, the advent of 5G cellular systems, with the availability of a connectivity technology, which is at once truly ubiquitous, reliable, scalable, and cost-efficient, is considered as a potentially key driver for the yet-to emerge global IoT. In the present paper, we analyze in detail the potential of 5G technologies for the IoT, by considering both the technological and standardization aspects. We review the present-day IoT connectivity landscape, as well as the main 5G enablers for the IoT. Last but not least, we illustrate the massive business shifts that a tight link between IoT and 5G may cause in the operator and vendors ecosystem.