Sarfraz Alam

Bio: Sarfraz Alam is an academic researcher from University of Oslo. The author has contributed to research in topics: Semantic Web & Ontology (information science). The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 15 publications receiving 300 citations. Previous affiliations of Sarfraz Alam include The Graduate Center, CUNY & UNIK.

SenaaS: An event-driven sensor virtualization approach for Internet of Things cloud

Abstract: In this paper, we propose an Internet of Things (IoT) virtualization framework to support connected objects sensor event processing and reasoning by providing a semantic overlay of underlying IoT cloud. The framework uses the sensor-as-aservice notion to expose IoT cloud's connected objects functional aspects in the form of web services. The framework uses an adapter oriented approach to address the issue of connectivity with various types of sensor nodes. We employ semantic enhanced access polices to ensure that only authorized parties can access the IoT framework services, which result in enhancing overall security of the proposed framework. Furthermore, the use of event-driven service oriented architecture (e-SOA) paradigm assists the framework to leverage the monitoring process by dynamically sensing and responding to different connected objects sensor events. We present our design principles, implementations, and demonstrate the development of IoT application with reasoning capability by using a green school motorcycle (GSMC) case study. Our exploration shows that amalgamation of e-SOA, semantic web technologies and virtualization paves the way to address the connectivity, security and monitoring issues of IoT domain.

Interoperability of Security-Enabled Internet of Things

Abstract: The future Internet will embrace the intelligence of Web 3.0 and the omnipresence of every day connected objects. The later was envisioned as the Internet of Things. Security and interoperability concerns are hindering the service innovations using the Internet of Things. This paper addresses secure access provision to Internet of Things-enabled services and interoperability of security attributes between different administrative domains. In this paper we proposed a layered architecture of Internet of Things framework where a semantically enhanced overlay interlink the other layers and facilitate secure access provision to Internet of Things-enabled services. The main element of semantic overlay is security reasoning through ontologies and semantic rules. Finally the interoperability of security aspect is addressed through ontology and a machine-to-machine platform. This paper provides implementation details of security reasoning and the interoperability aspects and discusses crucial challenges in these areas.

A Semantic Enhanced Service Proxy Framework for Internet of Things

Abstract: This paper proposes a semantic enhanced service proxy framework for internet-of-things cloud. The framework exposes IoT cloud's smart objects as services by virtue of service orientation and virtualization. The framework uses an adapter oriented approach to address the issue of connectivity with different types of smart objects. We employ a query based service re-route mechanism to decouple service provider and service consumer. We propose micro-formats based service description template for associating smart object location with its service end-point. As a step toward enhancing smart objects service publication and discovery, we adopt a service advertisement approach within the IoT cloud perimeter that automates service publication and discovery process. Our proof-of-concept prototype implementation shows that the existing technology enablers are capable of realizing the service oriented IoT vision, which does not only plug smart objects into the internet but also link the information resided in smart objects into the fabric of the web.

Integrating Mobile Devices into Semantic Services Environments

Abstract: This paper addresses mobile service provisioning in a mobile supported sensor network. The challenges of secure service provisioning in such a network is tackled through a two-layer approach, using the encryption on the radio layer and policies for device capabilities and service access. This paper suggests the mobile phone acting as control centre for the sensors. The implementation is based on a distributed semantic service repository, allowing the mobile services to become part of a semantic service composition. The semantic policy server connects the device capabilities, the user preferences and the service functionality. The papers provides the functional architecture and implementations of key elements of this architecture.

Toward User-Centric Privacy-Aware User Profile Ontology for Future Services

Abstract: Personalization is one of the key features of the future Internet. However, the success of personalized services mostly relies on user profiles. Therefore, a generic, shareable, and reusable user profile is crucial for service providers for the uptake of personalized services. This paper proposes a user-centric personalization approach. The core of this approach is a user-centric user profile where user is in the center and experience perceived control over his information. We use Ontology Web Language (OWL-DL) to formally represent user relevant information in ontology. We present profile and privacy enhancement mechanism to increase profile applicability and user privacy respectively. The paper also offers a policy based approach to ensure authorized access of user profiles among third parties. Furthermore, we formally represent authorization policies by exploiting Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) and evaluate policies by employing Semantic Query Enhanced Web Rule Language (SQWRL).

Context Aware Computing for The Internet of Things: A Survey

Abstract: As we are moving towards the Internet of Things (IoT), the number of sensors deployed around the world is growing at a rapid pace. Market research has shown a significant growth of sensor deployments over the past decade and has predicted a significant increment of the growth rate in the future. These sensors continuously generate enormous amounts of data. However, in order to add value to raw sensor data we need to understand it. Collection, modelling, reasoning, and distribution of context in relation to sensor data plays critical role in this challenge. Context-aware computing has proven to be successful in understanding sensor data. In this paper, we survey context awareness from an IoT perspective. We present the necessary background by introducing the IoT paradigm and context-aware fundamentals at the beginning. Then we provide an in-depth analysis of context life cycle. We evaluate a subset of projects (50) which represent the majority of research and commercial solutions proposed in the field of context-aware computing conducted over the last decade (2001-2011) based on our own taxonomy. Finally, based on our evaluation, we highlight the lessons to be learnt from the past and some possible directions for future research. The survey addresses a broad range of techniques, methods, models, functionalities, systems, applications, and middleware solutions related to context awareness and IoT. Our goal is not only to analyse, compare and consolidate past research work but also to appreciate their findings and discuss their applicability towards the IoT.

Internet of Things for Enterprise Systems of Modern Manufacturing

Abstract: Design and operation of a manufacturing enterprise involve numerous types of decision-making at various levels and domains. A complex system has a large number of design variables and decision-making requires real-time data collected from machines, processes, and business environments. Enterprise systems (ESs) are used to support data acquisition, communication, and all decision-making activities. Therefore, information technology (IT) infrastructure for data acquisition and sharing affects the performance of an ES greatly. Our objective is to investigate the impact of emerging Internet of Things (IoT) on ESs in modern manufacturing. To achieve this objective, the evolution of manufacturing system paradigms is discussed to identify the requirements of decision support systems in dynamic and distributed environments; recent advances in IT are overviewed and associated with next-generation manufacturing paradigms; and the relation of IT infrastructure and ESs is explored to identify the technological gaps in adopting IoT as an IT infrastructure of ESs. The future research directions in this area are discussed.

Sensing as a Service and Big Data

Abstract: Internet of Things (IoT) will comprise billions of devices that can sense, communicate, compute and potentially actuate Data streams coming from these devices will challenge the traditional approaches to data management and contribute to the emerging paradigm of big data This paper discusses emerging Internet of Things (IoT) architecture, large scale sensor network applications, federating sensor networks, sensor data and related context capturing techniques, challenges in cloud-based management, storing, archiving and processing of sensor data

Interoperability in Internet of Things: Taxonomies and Open Challenges

Abstract: In the last few years, many smart objects found in the physical world are interconnected and communicate through the existing internet infrastructure which creates a global network infrastructure called the Internet of Things (IoT). Research has shown a substantial development of solutions for a wide range of devices and IoT platforms over the past 6-7 years. However, each solution provides its own IoT infrastructure, devices, APIs, and data formats leading to interoperability issues. Such interoperability issues are the consequence of many critical issues such as vendor lock-in, impossibility to develop IoT application exposing cross-platform, and/or cross-domain, difficulty in plugging non-interoperable IoT devices into different IoT platforms, and ultimately prevents the emergence of IoT technology at a large-scale. To enable seamless resource sharing between different IoT vendors, efforts by several academia, industry, and standardization bodies have emerged to help IoT interoperability, i.e., the ability for multiple IoT platforms from different vendors to work together. This paper performs a comprehensive survey on the state-of-the-art solutions for facilitating interoperability between different IoT platforms. Also, the key challenges in this topic is presented.