Umar Albalawi

Bio: Umar Albalawi is an academic researcher from University of Tabuk. The author has contributed to research in topics: Computer science & Encryption. The author has an hindex of 6, co-authored 17 publications receiving 137 citations. Previous affiliations of Umar Albalawi include University of North Texas & Texas A&M University–Commerce.

Design of a High-Performance System for Secure Image Communication in the Internet of Things

Abstract: Image or video exchange over the Internet of Things (IoT) is a requirement in diverse applications, including smart health care, smart structures, and smart transportations. This paper presents a modular and extensible quadrotor architecture and its specific prototyping for automatic tracking applications. The architecture is extensible and based on off-the-shelf components for easy system prototyping. A target tracking and acquisition application is presented in detail to demonstrate the power and flexibility of the proposed design. Complete design details of the platform are also presented. The designed module implements the basic proportional–integral–derivative control and a custom target acquisition algorithm. Details of the sliding-window-based algorithm are also presented. This algorithm performs $20\times $ faster than comparable approaches in OpenCV with equal accuracy. Additional modules can be integrated for more complex applications, such as search-and-rescue, automatic object tracking, and traffic congestion analysis. A hardware architecture for the newly introduced Better Portable Graphics (BPG) compression algorithm is also introduced in the framework of the extensible quadrotor architecture. Since its introduction in 1987, the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) graphics format has been the de facto choice for image compression. However, the new compression technique BPG outperforms the JPEG in terms of compression quality and size of the compressed file. The objective is to present a hardware architecture for enhanced real-time compression of the image. Finally, a prototyping platform of a hardware architecture for a secure digital camera (SDC) integrated with the secure BPG (SBPG) compression algorithm is presented. The proposed architecture is suitable for high-performance imaging in the IoT and is prototyped in Simulink. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ever proposed hardware architecture for SBPG compression integrated with an SDC.

An energy efficient sensor for thyroid monitoring through the IoT

Abstract: This paper presents a thyroid monitoring sensor for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The proposed architecture is energy efficient and user friendly. Thyroid monitoring can be done either by monitoring the basal body temperature or through blood samples. In this work basal body temperature is the quantity sensed for thyroid monitoring. The temperature acquisition is performed by a ring oscillator along with a counter and a controller. The designed module implements the temperature acquisition module along with the calibration method to dynamically optimize the sensor design. A prototype of the temperature sensor along with the controller which performs the calibration is designed using Simulink®.

A Hardware Architecture for Better Portable Graphics (BPG) Compression Encoder

Abstract: This paper proposes a hardware architecture for the newly introduced Better Portable Graphics (BPG) compression algorithm. Since its introduction in 1987, the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) graphics format has been the de facto choice for image compression. However, the new compression technique BPG outperforms JPEG in terms of compression quality and size of the compressed file. The objective of this paper is to present a hardware architecture for enhanced real time compression of the image. The complexity of the BPG encoder library is reduced by using hardware compression wherever possible over software compression because of the real time requirements, possibly in embedded systems with low latency requirements. BPG compression is based on the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), which is considered a major advance in compression techniques. In this paper, only image compression is considered. The proposed architecture is prototyped in Matlab/Simulink. The experimental results prove that the visual quality of BPG compression is higher than that of JPEG with equal or reduced file size. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first ever proposed hardware architecture for BPG compression.

Secure and trusted telemedicine in Internet of Things IoT

Abstract: Internet of Things (IoT) is a revolutionary technology for the modern society. IoT can connect every surrounding objects for various applications like security, medical fields, monitoring and other industrial applications. This paper considers the application of IoT in the field of medicine. IoT in E-medicine can take the advantage of emerging technologies to provide immediate treatment to the patient as well as monitors and keeps track of health record for healthy person. IoT then performs complex computations on these collected data and can provide health related advice. Though IoT can provide a cost effective medical services to any people of all age groups, there are several key issues that need to be addressed. System security, IoT interoperability, dynamic storage facility and unified access mechanisms are some of the many fundamental issues associated with IoT. This paper proposes a system level design solution for security and flexibility aspect of IoT. In this paper, the functional components are bound in security function group which ensures the management of privacy and secure operation of the system. The security function group comprises of components which offers secure communication using Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE). Since CP-ABE are delegated to unconstrained devices with the assumption that these devices are trusted, the producer encrypts data using AES and the ABE scheme is protected through symmetric key solutions.

A Survey on Internet of Things and Cloud Computing for Healthcare

Abstract: The fast development of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology in recent years has supported connections of numerous smart things along with sensors and established seamless data exchange between them, so it leads to a stringy requirement for data analysis and data storage platform such as cloud computing and fog computing. Healthcare is one of the application domains in IoT that draws enormous interest from industry, the research community, and the public sector. The development of IoT and cloud computing is improving patient safety, staff satisfaction, and operational efficiency in the medical industry. This survey is conducted to analyze the latest IoT components, applications, and market trends of IoT in healthcare, as well as study current development in IoT and cloud computing-based healthcare applications since 2015. We also consider how promising technologies such as cloud computing, ambient assisted living, big data, and wearables are being applied in the healthcare industry and discover various IoT, e-health regulations and policies worldwide to determine how they assist the sustainable development of IoT and cloud computing in the healthcare industry. Moreover, an in-depth review of IoT privacy and security issues, including potential threats, attack types, and security setups from a healthcare viewpoint is conducted. Finally, this paper analyzes previous well-known security models to deal with security risks and provides trends, highlighted opportunities, and challenges for the IoT-based healthcare future development.

Everything You Wanted to Know about Smart Health Care: Evaluating the Different Technologies and Components of the Internet of Things for Better Health

Abstract: The Internet-of-Things (IoT) has taken over the business spectrum, and its applications vary widely from agriculture and health care to transportation. A hospital environment can be very stressful, especially for senior citizens and children. With the ever-increasing world population, the conventional patient-doctor appointment has lost its effectiveness. Hence, smart health care becomes very important. Smart health care can be implemented at all levels, starting from temperature monitoring for babies to tracking vital signs in the elderly.

Multimedia Internet of Things: A Comprehensive Survey

Abstract: The immense increase in multimedia-on-demand traffic that refers to audio, video, and images, has drastically shifted the vision of the Internet of Things (IoT) from scalar to Multimedia Internet of Things (M-IoT). IoT devices are constrained in terms of energy, computing, size, and storage memory. Delay-sensitive and bandwidth-hungry multimedia applications over constrained IoT networks require revision of IoT architecture for M-IoT. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of M-IoT with an emphasis on architecture, protocols, and applications. This article starts by providing a horizontal overview of the IoT. Then, we discuss the issues considering the characteristics of multimedia and provide a summary of related M-IoT architectures. Various multimedia applications supported by IoT are surveyed, and numerous use cases related to road traffic management, security, industry, and health are illustrated to show how different M-IoT applications are revolutionizing human life. We explore the importance of Quality-of-Experience (QoE) and Quality-of-Service (QoS) for multimedia transmission over IoT. Moreover, we explore the limitations of IoT for multimedia computing and present the relationship between the M-IoT and emerging technologies including event processing, feature extraction, cloud computing, Fog/Edge computing and Software-Defined-Networks (SDNs). We also present the need for better routing and Physical-Medium Access Control (PHY-MAC) protocols for M-IoT. Finally, we present a detailed discussion on the open research issues and several potential research areas related to emerging multimedia communication in IoT.

Statistical Methods in Bioinformatics: An Introduction

Abstract: No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading statistical methods in bioinformatics an introduction is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.

The Effect of Security, Privacy, Familiarity, and Trust on Users’ Attitudes Toward the Use of the IoT-Based Healthcare: The Mediation Role of Risk Perception

Abstract: The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the network of devices which contain electronics, sensors or software that enables them to connect at anytimeand anywhere through a cyber-physical system. Before the establishment of such a system, it should be considered to what extent the users are ready to adopt and use it in their daily routines. Therefore, this paper explores users’ attitudestowardsusing IoT technologies to receive healthcare services. This is in contrast to most previous research, which has studied the technical requirements or devices of the IoT that are required in healthcare services, or ways in which connectivity and performance can be improved using the IoT. Based on known models of technology acceptance, an integrated framework was developed to investigate the impact of security and privacy concerns, and familiarity with the technology, on users’ trust in the IoT, and then to measure the effect of that trust on Omani users’ attitudes regarding use ofIoT technologies to receive healthcare services. This framework enabled the measurement of risk perception as a mediator between user trust and their attitudes towards using the IoT. Data were collected from 387 respondents and were analysed using SPSS 25 and AMOS 25 statistics software. Exploratory and confirmatory analysis and structural equation modelling were applied. The findings showed that levels of security, privacy and familiarity affected trustin the IoT. Furthermore, these levels of trust in the IoT were found to affect both users’ perceptions of risk in, and their attitude towards, using the IoT. The users’ risk perception partially mediated the relations between users’ trustand their attitude regarding use of the IoT. The framework was supported and interpreted by 40 per cent of the variance in the attitude towards usingthe IoT in healthcare, while the mediator showed 47 per cent of the variance in the attitude towards using the IoT inhealthcare.