Showing papers in "Wireless Personal Communications in 2016"

Collaborative Multi-hop Routing in Cognitive Wireless Networks

Abstract: The collaboration of nodes in cognitive wireless networks is a large challenge This paper studies the collaborative multi-hop routing in cognitive networks We propose a new algorithm to construct the collaborative routing in multi-hop cognitive networks Our algorithm takes into account the interference among nodes including primary and secondary users The clustering and collaboration are exploited to improve the performance of collaborative routing in multi-hop cognitive wireless networks with multiple primary and secondary users By analyzing the maximum transmission distance, collaborations, transmission angle control and power control, and channel allocation, we propose a new clustering-based collaborative multi-hop cognitive routing algorithm to attain better network performance Simulation results show that our approach is feasible and effective

SDN and Virtualization-Based LTE Mobile Network Architectures: A Comprehensive Survey

Abstract: Software-defined networking (SDN) features the decoupling of the control plane and data plane, a programmable network and virtualization, which enables network infrastructure sharing and the "softwarization" of the network functions. Recently, many research works have tried to redesign the traditional mobile network using two of these concepts in order to deal with the challenges faced by mobile operators, such as the rapid growth of mobile traffic and new services. In this paper, we first provide an overview of SDN, network virtualization, and network function virtualization, and then describe the current LTE mobile network architecture as well as its challenges and issues. By analyzing and categorizing a wide range of the latest research works on SDN and virtualization in LTE mobile networks, we present a general architecture for SDN and virtualization in mobile networks (called SDVMN) and then propose a hierarchical taxonomy based on the different levels of the carrier network. We also present an in-depth analysis about changes related to protocol operation and architecture when adopting SDN and virtualization in mobile networks. In addition, we list specific use cases and applications that benefit from SDVMN. Last but not least, we discuss the open issues and future research directions of SDVMN.

A Hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model for a Cloud Service Selection Problem Using BSC, Fuzzy Delphi Method and Fuzzy AHP

Abstract: In rapid changing the global business environment, information communication technology (ICT) is essential for the survival of a firm, and the functions of ICT is becoming increasingly important. The emergence of cloud computing represents a fundamental change of ICT services and cloud services continue to grow rapidly with increasing functionality and more users. As a result of this growth, it is a critical issue to select a suitable cloud service which meets all the business strategies and the objectives of firms. This paper proposes a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making model for a cloud service selection problem using balanced scorecard (BSC), fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). We focus on selecting an IaaS among cloud services for firms' users. The BSC concept is applied to define the hierarchy with four major perspectives (i.e. financial, customer, internal business process, and learning and growth), and to derive decision-making criteria and decision-making factors are selected for each BSC perspective. FDM is used to select the list of important decision-making factors within each BSC perspective based on the decision makers' opinion. A FAHP approach is then proposed in order to compares the decision-making criteria and factors and determine the importance of them. It is also used to select the best cloud service among the cloud service alternatives based on the predetermined weights of decision-making criteria and factors. In this study, the BSC and FAHP as the hybrid multi-criteria decision-making technique are used to select the best cloud service. Our findings can be utilized as bases to apply systematic decision-making processes for the best cloud service selection and for providing guidance to IT department managers or CTO regarding performance evaluation and strategies to improve companies' performance and capability.

Visions Towards 5G: Technical Requirements and Potential Enablers

Abstract: Compared to the previous generations of mobile networks, 5G will provide a significant paradigm shift by including beyond state of the art technical solutions, like very high carrier frequencies with massive bandwidths, extreme base station and device densities, and very high number of transceiver antennas. However, unlike the previous generations, it will also be highly integrative and backward compatible: combining the novel 5G air interface and spectrum together with legacy wireless systems like LTE/LTE-A and WiFi, in order to facilitate an umbrella of high-rate coverage and a seamless user experience. In order to support this advances in the radio interface, the core network will also have to reach unprecedented levels of elasticity and intelligence. Spectrum regulation will need to be rethought and significantly improved, whereas energy and cost efficiencies will become one of the key parameters that will steer the 5G design and development. This paper elaborates on the 5G related topics, identifying the key challenges for future research and preliminary 5G standardization activities, as well as providing a comprehensive survey of the current literature.

Modified Bat Algorithm for Localization of Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract: The problem of node localization in wireless sensor networks aims to assign th e geographical coordinates to each device with unknown position, in the deployment area In this paper the meta heuristic optimization algorithm known as bat algorithm is described in order to evaluate the precision of node localization problem in wireless sensor networks Meanwhile the existing bat algorithm has also been modified by using the bacterial foraging strategies of bacterial foraging optimization algorithm Compared with the existing bat algorithm, the proposed modified bat algorithm is shown through simulations to perform constantly better not only in increasing localization success ratios and fast convergence speed but also enhance its robustness

A Watermarking Technique with Chaotic Fractional S-Box Transformation

Abstract: In this paper, the system of non-linear ordinary differential equations which defines a continuous-time dynamical system that shows the fractal characteristics of attractor is used to construct chaotic S-box. In this new digital watermarking technique the priority is of importance of robustness along with chaos to create confusion. The inclusion of chaos along with watermarking in frequency domain ensures robustness. As we have proposed a frequency domain watermarking as which we embed watermark into the low or middle frequencies, these changes will be spread all over the image. The strength of fractional S-box is evaluated with the help of bit independence criterion, nonlinearity analysis, strict avalanche criterion, linear approximation probability and differential approximation probability. Additionally, some security analyses in the form of correlation, contrast, energy, entropy, homogeneity, mean square error and peak signal to noise ratio are performed for validity of proposed watermarking scheme. The confidence measure after these analyses indicates the survival aligned with malicious attacks like noise, cropping and compression.

An Efficient Hybrid Anomaly Detection Scheme Using K-Means Clustering for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract: Sensor nodes in a wireless sensor network (WSN) may be lost due to enervation or malicious attacks by an adversary. WSNs deployed for several applications including military applications are prone to various attacks, which degrade the network performance very rapidly. Hybrid anomaly is a type of anomaly that contains the different types of attacker nodes such as blackhole, misdirection, wormhole etc. These multiple attacks can be launched in the network using the hybrid anomaly. In this situation, it is very difficult to find out which kind of attacker nodes are activated in the network. This motivates us to design a robust and efficient secure intrusion detection approach in order to extend the lifetime of a WSN. In this paper, we aim to propose a new intrusion detection technique for hybrid anomaly, which uses the existing data mining algorithm, called K-means clustering. For the detection purpose, patterns of intrusions are built automatically by the K-means clustering algorithm over training data. After that intrusions are detected by matching network activities against these detection patterns. We evaluate our approach over a WSN dataset that is created using Opnet modeler, which contains various attributes, such as end-to-end delay, traffic sent and traffic received. The training dataset contains the normal values of the network parameters. The testing dataset is created in actual working mode consists of normal and abnormal values of the network parameters. The proposed technique has the ability to detect two types of malicious nodes: blackhole and misdirection nodes. Our scheme achieves 98.6 % detection rate and 1.2 % false positive rate, which are significantly better than the existing related schemes.

FDS: Fault Detection Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract: Since more than one decade, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have been emerged as a promising and interesting area which increasingly drawing researcher attention. So, the attraction to WSNs is due to their large applicability having growing tendency to fit almost all domains in our daily life. WSNs consist of a large number of heterogeneous/homogeneous sensor nodes communicating through wireless medium and working cooperatively to sense or monitor environment sizes related to physical phenomena. As a corner stone involved in WSN design, fault detection is indispensable to offer WSN applications robustness capability allowing them to meet mission success requirements. In order to ensure high quality of service, it is essential for a WSN to be able to detect its faulty sensor nodes before carrying out necessary recovery actions. In this paper, we propose a fault detection scheme (FDS) to identify faulty sensor nodes. FDS performs in two levels; the first level is conducted locally inside the sensor nodes, while the second level is carried out in a higher level (e.g., in a cluster head or gateway). The performance evaluation is tested through simulation to evaluate some factors such as: detection accuracy, false alarm rate, control overhead and memory overhead. We compared our results with referenced algorithm: Fault Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks (FDWSN), and found that FDS performance outperforms that of FDWSN.

A Range Based Localization System in Multihop Wireless Sensor Networks: A Distributed Cooperative Approach

Abstract: In recent times although there is lot of research in field of localization application but very few aims at localization module with optimal energy consumption. Localization, being inevitable for a range of applications, is also a basis for many network operations such as data packet forwarding i.e. routing and sensing coverage in wireless sensor networks. With a range of application scenario, it is a challenging task to design a localization module for a wireless sensor network consisting of sensor nodes with limited capacity in terms of power, processing and storage etc. This paper presents a simple model of a range based localization system that employs distributed computing in a collaborative and cooperative manner. The aim of this work is to modify a range based localization algorithm to utilize scarce resources optimally along with improved performance by changing the inherent methodologies of position estimation. In this research work basically the role of a media access control scheme (MAC) in the localization module is investigated. A MAC is basically used to save the energy by reducing collisions and retransmission of range packets. Further, energy is conserved by restricting the coverage to a smaller part containing the neighbours up to certain hops and that is formed by dividing the whole network area into clusters. To analyse the performance spectrum, we have simulated the localization method under a variety of application scenarios and lead to the conclusion that this approach increases the efficiency of localization in wireless sensor networks. In the simulation process, every minute aspect of sensor network localization model including the topology, range, mobility, channel, propagation schemes etc. were considered and the performance was finally analyzed.

Cooperative Intelligence of Vehicles for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

Abstract: The aim of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is to automate the interactions among vehicles and infrastructure to accomplish high levels of safety measures, comfort, and competence in vehicular communication. To utilize the future trends of increasing traffic safety and efficiency in ITS, integrating vehicles and infrastructures with the cooperative vehicular technique will be the feasible solution. In order to demonstrate the importance of cooperative communication in vehicular networks, a spectral efficient architecture has been proposed for cooperative centralized and distributed spectrum sensing in vehicular networks. We discuss the possibilities of Cognitive Radio in the cooperative vehicular environment. In order to exhibit cooperative vehicular networks, hardware modules are designed for a vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to infrastructure and infrastructure to infrastructure communications. Furthermore, quantitative analysis is made in order to calculate the energy optimization, connectivity failure probability and traffic management in cooperative vehicular networks. In addition, we test the results of the cooperative vehicular network by simulating it in NS2. In this respect, we have considered three different cases, Emergency vehicles, VIP vehicles, and normal vehicles. It is inferred from the results that end-to-end delay for emergency vehicles in the cooperative environment is considerably less as compared to VIP and normal vehicles.

An Effective Clustering Approach with Data Aggregation Using Multiple Mobile Sinks for Heterogeneous WSN

Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) mostly uses static sink to collect data from the sensor nodes randomly deployed in the sensor region. In the static sink based approach, the data packets are flooded across the network to reach the mobile base station in multi-hop communication. Due to this, the static sink is inefficient in energy utilization. Recently, mobile sink are used for data gathering, has less energy utilization which in turn increases the network lifetime. Thus, the sink mobility has difficulties in finding the routing path for the data packets. This paper proposes an effective clustering approach with data aggregation using multiple mobile sinks for heterogeneous WSN. The proposed algorithm achieves network lifetime increases with limited energy utilization.

Design of an MIMO Dielectric Resonator Antenna for 4G Applications

Abstract: A two-port MIMO Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) has been proposed and studied. The antenna consists of a single Rectangular DRA (RDRA) element housed in a thin FR4 substrate, that is fed by two microstrip feed lines. Both the feeding lines excite $${\text{TE}}_{\updelta 11}^{\text{X}}$$TE?11X mode in the RDRA. The mutual coupling between the ports has been decreased by employing two symmetrical slits in the ground plane. The proposed antenna has been fabricated and a parametric study has been carried out to obtain the optimum parameters. The presented antenna with acceptable MIMO characteristics, covers a measured bandwidth of 80 MHz (2.56---2.64 GHz) for |S11| < ?10 dB, which is able to operate on LTE band 38. The measured isolation between the two ports for the desired frequency band is better than 20 dB. The presented antenna has been examined by calculating and measuring the Envelope Correlation Coefficient, Mean Effective Gains and the Diversity Gain. Based on the study that has been carried out, the antenna offers easy fabrication, feeding and good MIMO characteristics. Therefore, the presented antenna can be a suitable candidate for LTE applications.

Design and Implementation of a Reliable Message Transmission System Based on MQTT Protocol in IoT

Abstract: Internet of Things is one of most important IT trend and it is getting more popular in home automation fast. A message transmission system is important component in an IoT device for collecting data or send commands. Push protocol is light-weight and high productivity protocol than polling protocol, which is used in IoT devices widely. However, this push message like MQTT protocol is just guarantees of delivery of each message and vulnerable to maintain (the) ordering between messages. Ordering messages and re-sending messages which lost while transmitting are key issue for a reliable message communication system in IoT environment such as home security automation. In this paper, we designed and implemented a reliable message transmission system using MQTT protocol to maintain ordering between messages for the work environment. This (system) consists of MQTT protocol, reliable message transmission server and client module. The reliable message transmission server module expands a message topic to a new message topic after combining the order flag and SEQ. The order flag is the value which determines whether to maintain ordering between the message or not. SEQ is the sequence number for each message and is managed by reliable message transmission system server module and is stored into a database in the server. The reliable message transmission system client module checks message's sequence before processing the messages and requests the previous message if there are missed messages to retain the messages ordering. For simulation, we implemented the reliable message transmission system with mosquitto MQTT message broker and the simulation showed that this proposed system could enhance the message transmission for IoT environment.

Energy Efficient Clustering Protocol Using Fuzzy Logic for Heterogeneous WSNs

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a multilevel heterogeneous network model characterized by a parameter, called model parameter that helps the model defining a network of 0-level, 1-level, 2-level, 3-level, and 4-level heterogeneity. We consider the hybrid energy efficient distributed (HEED) clustering protocol to estimate the network lifetime and accordingly name it as HEEDML (HEED MultiLevel). Depending on the heterogeneity, its variants have been named as HEEDML-0, HEEDML-1, HEEDML-2, HEEDML-3, and HEEDML-4 for 0-level, 1-level, 2-level, 3-level, and 4-level heterogeneity. The HEEDML-0 is the original HEED. The model parameter also determines the numbers of nodes of each type. We use the same parameters as in the HEED to decide the cluster heads: residual energy and node density. We also consider fuzzy implementation of the HEEDML. The HEEDML-1, HEEDML-2 HEEDML-3, and HEEDML-4 increase network lifetime by 39.61, 117.38, 182.69, and 223.7 %, corresponding to the increase in the network energy as 9.2, 17.40, 21.80, and 24 %, with respect to the HEEDML-0. The fuzzy implementation further increases the network lifetime. The HEEDML-FL-0, HEEDML-FL-1, HEEDML-FL-2, HEEDML-FL-3, and HEEDML-FL-4 increase the network lifetime by 193.84, 270.31, 375.84, 448.33, and 589.07 %, corresponding to the same increase in network energy as that for HEEDML (all levels) with respect to that of the HEEDML-0. The HEEDML-FL-0 increases the network lifetime by 193.84 % with respect to the original HEED without increasing the network energy. The packet delivery, total energy consumption, throughput, average delay, and traffic load have better results.

Energy Efficient Architecture for Intra and Inter Cluster Communication for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract: Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) consume a significant amount of energy because of high transmission power and lengthy data packet transmission time. Sensors of UWSNs, which perform numerous tasks like target tracking, intrusion detection etc. can preserve energy and attain longer network life time by appropriate selection of cluster head (CH), cluster size (CS), and routing scheme. In order to achieve this, an Intra and Inter Cluster Communication (IICC) for data aggregation in UWSN have been proposed here. In our approach, the CH selection and CS are determined by using fuzzy logic. The main strength of our paper is to provide an optimal selection for CH as well as optimal intra and inter cluster communications based on energy and multiple paths. Minimum Average Routing Path Clustering Protocol method is implemented for intra-clustering communication in the network. Hierarchical Multi-path Routing-LEACH method is implemented for inter-cluster communication in the network. Experimental simulation shows that IICC improves the performance of UWSN in terms of end-to-end packet delay, energy consumption and packet delivery ratio. The proposed approach is adaptive in nature as it reduces the average energy consumption and end-to-end delay, thereby improving the packet delivery ratio.

Security Enhancement of an Improved Remote User Authentication Scheme with Key Agreement

Abstract: In 2014, Kumari, Khan and Li proposed smart card based secure and robust remote user authentication scheme with key agreement and claimed that their scheme is suitable, secure and efficient for real life applications. But in this paper, we demonstrate that their proposed mechanism is completely insecure as an adversary can easily obtain not only the security parameters of the protocol but also obtains the common session key of future communication between user and the server. In addition, an adversary gets password of the registered user as well as secret key of the server. Thus collapses the entire system and authors claims are proven to be wrong. Hence, to remedy the identified security flaws and to ensure secure communication through an insecure channel, we propose an upgraded secure and efficient authentication protocol. Furthermore, we verify the security of our authentication protocol informally as well as formally via widely accepted OFMC and CL-AtSe back-ends of AVISPA tool against active and passive attacks.

New Optimal and Suboptimal Resource Allocation Techniques for Downlink Non-orthogonal Multiple Access

Abstract: This paper investigates several new strategies for the allocation of radio resources (bandwidth and transmission power) using a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme with successive interference cancellation (SIC) in a cellular downlink system. In non-orthogonal access with SIC, the same subband is allocated to multiple users, which requires elaborate multiuser scheduling and subband assignment techniques, compared to orthogonal multiplexing. While taking into account various design issues, we propose and compare several optimum and suboptimum power allocation schemes. These are jointly implemented with multiple user scheduling strategies. Besides, a minimization of the total amount of used bandwidth is targeted. Also, to increase the total achieved system throughput, a hybrid orthogonal-non orthogonal scheme is introduced. This hybrid scheme enables a dynamic switching to orthogonal signaling whenever the non-orthogonal cohabitation in the power domain does not improve the achieved data rate per subband. Extensive simulation results show that the proposed strategies for resource allocation can improve both the spectral efficiency and the cell-edge user throughput, especially when compared to previous schemes employing either orthogonal signaling or NOMA with static inter-subband power allocation. They also prove to be robust in the context of crowded areas.

A 2.7 GHz Low-Phase-Noise LC-QVCO Using the Gate-Modulated Coupling Technique

Abstract: In this paper, a 2.7 GHz LC-tank quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO) is proposed for achieving low phase noise. The excellent phase noise performance is accomplished by the integration of the gate-modulated quadrature phase coupling technique into a complementary oscillator topology. Simulation results show a wide tuning range from 2.6 to 4.4 GHz, a phase noise of ?125 dBc/Hz at an offset of 1 MHz, and a phase-noise figure-of-merit of ?184.5 dBc/Hz, while consuming 5.48 mA for the core QVCO from a 1.5 V supply. The proposed QVCO was designed using a 0.18 μm CMOS process.

A Novel Chaotic Maps-Based User Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for Multi-server Environments with Provable Security

Abstract: The widespread popularity of the computer networks has triggered concerns about information security. Password-based user authentication with key agreement protocols have drawn attentions since it provides proper authentication of a user before granting access right to services, and then ensure secure communication over insecure channels. Recently, Lee et al. pointed out different security flaws on Tsaur et al.'s multi-server user authentication protocol, and they further proposed an extended chaotic maps-based user authentication with key agreement protocol for multi-server environments. However, we observed that Lee et al.'s protocol has some functionality and security flaws, i.e., it is inefficient in detection of unauthorized login and it does not support password change mechanism. Besides, their protocol is vulnerable to registration center spoofing attack and server spoofing attack. In order to remedy the aforementioned flaws, we proposed a novel chaotic maps-based user authentication with key agreement protocol for multi-server environments. The proposed protocol is provably secure in the random oracle model under the chaotic-maps based computational Diffie-Hellman assumption. In addition, we analyzed our protocol using BAN logic model. We also compared our protocol with Lee et al.'s protocol in aspects of computation cost, functionalities and securities.

Hardware Implementation of Architecture Techniques for Fast Efficient Lossless Image Compression System

Abstract: In this research paper, a high throughput memory efficient pipelining architecture for Fast Efficient Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) image compression system is explained. The main aim of this paper is to compress and implement the image without any loss of information. So, we are using spatial oriented tree approach in Fast Efficient SPIHT algorithm for compression and Spartan 3 EDK kit for hardware implementation analysis purpose. Integer wavelet transform is used for encoding and decoding process in SPIHT algorithm. Here, we are using pipelining architecture to implement it in FPGA kit because pipeline architecture is more suitable for hardware utility purpose. Generally an image file will occupy more amount of space. In order to reduce the memory size no loss during transmission we are using this approach. By this way we are attained maximum PSNR value, CR and also produced very high accurate image after decompression, when compared with the results of other previous algorithms. In this module, the hardware tools used are dual core processor and FPGA Spartan 3 EDK kit and the software tool windows 8 operating system and the tool kit is MATLAB 7.8.

A Residual Energy Aware Schedule Scheme for WSNs Employing Adjustable Awake/Sleep Duty Cycle

Abstract: In this paper, we systematically analyze the relationship among expected energy expenditure, packet loss ratio, end to end delay and lifetime of wireless sensor networks. Firstly, we demonstrate that optimized duty cycle schemes can achieve a trade-off among the lifetime of network, transmission delay and packet loss ratio. Then, a residual energy aware with adjustable duty cycle scheme (READC) is proposed based on the fact that energy consumption is higher in the region near sink, while it is lower in the area far away from the sink. In READC scheme, sensor nodes near sink adopt appropriate duty cycles to meet with the requirement of forwarding data, while the higher duty cycles are needed in far-sink area. In this way, the residual energy of the nodes can be fully used. Meanwhile, transmission delay and packet loss ratio can also be reduced. Through our extensive theoretical analysis and simulation study, we demonstrate that compared with fixed duty cycle schemes, the READC scheme can reduce the transmission delay from 10.1 to 40.35 % and the packet loss ratio from 7.7 to 71.63 % without impacting the lifetime of network.

Localized Secure Routing Architecture Against Cooperative Black Hole Attack in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract: Black hole attack refers an attack by single or more number of malicious nodes which forcibly captures the route from source to destination by sending reply with largest sequence number and smallest hop count. In this paper, a novel technique using Localized Secure Architecture for MANET (LSAM) routing protocol is proposed to detect and prevent co-operative black hole attack. Security Monitoring Nodes (SMNs) would be activated only if the threshold value is exceeded. If malicious nodes are detected, other SMNs in its proximity area are intimated to isolate the malicious nodes. Network simulator tool is implemented to analyze the network performance of different scenarios with various number of nodes. Packet delivery ratio (PDR), routing overhead, control overhead, packet drop rate, throughput and end-to-end delay (EED) are the factors taken into consideration for performance analysis and it is shown that the proposed protocol is more secured and efficient. PDR is been increased by 27 % in the presence of 40 % misbehaving nodes, while it increases the percentage of overhead on proposed routing protocol from 1 to 4 %. EED is greatly reduced from 0.9 to 0.3 % in LSAM.

Rogue Access Point Detection: Taxonomy, Challenges, and Future Directions

Abstract: Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) are increasingly integrated into our daily lives. Access Points (APs) are an integral part of the WLAN infrastructure, as they are responsible for coordinating wireless users and connecting them to the wired side of the network and, eventually, to the Internet. APs are deployed everywhere, from airports and shopping malls to coffee shops and hospitals, to provide Internet connectivity. One of the most serious security problems encountered by WLAN users is the existence of Rogue Access Points (RAPs). This article classifies existing solutions, identifies vulnerabilities, and suggests future directions for research into these RAPs. The ultimate objective is to classify existing detection techniques and find new RAP types that have not been classified by the research community. The literature typically categorizes Evil-twin, Unauthorized, Compromised, and Improperly Configured RAPs. Two other types have largely been abandoned by researchers, but can be classified as Denial of Service RAP attacks. These are deauthentication/disassociation attacks targeting wireless users, and the forging of the first message in a four-way handshake.

eWALL: An Intelligent Caring Home Environment Offering Personalized Context-Aware Applications Based on Advanced Sensing

Abstract: Independent living of senior citizens is one of the main challenges linked to the ageing population. Senior citizens may suffer from a number of diseases, including the decline in cardiopulmonary conditions, weaker muscle functions and a declined neuromuscular control of the movements, which result in a higher risk of fall and a higher vulnerability for cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. With respect to cognitive functions, senior citizens may suffer from a decline of memory function, less ability to orientate and a declined ability to cope with complex situations. This is by itself a big societal challenge with impact in multiple sectors. In this paper we present an innovative ICT solution, named eWALL, that aims to address these challenges by means of an advanced ICT infrastructure and home sensing environment; thus differentiating from existing eHealth and eCare solutions. The system of eWALL will extend the state-of-the-art of Assistive Platforms and will significantly increase the independent living of seniors.

An Energy-Efficient Unequal Clustering Algorithm Using `Sierpinski Triangle' for WSNs

Abstract: Maximizing the nodes lifetime is one of the major issues in the wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Clustering algorithms represent the most well-known solution for optimizing the total consumed energy of WSNs. In clustered WSNs, each sensor is able to supervise an event and send information to its cluster head (CH) which aggregates and transmits data to the base station (BS) through other CHs in the network. This scenario causes the `hot spots' problem where closer CHs to the BS tend to die earlier because of the heavy relay data. Unequal clustering algorithms have tried to solve this problem and control the size of each cluster in the network. In this paper, we proposed a new unequal clustering algorithm called energy degree distance unequal clustering algorithm (EDDUCA) aiming to balance energy consumption and maximize the network lifetime. EDDUCA uses the `Sierpinski triangle' method in order to devide network into unequal clusters. The obtained results indicate that EDDUCA can effectively balance the energy consumption and therefore can lengthen the network lifetime.

Practical Signcryption for Secure Communication of Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract: Secure communication is an important task for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Signcryption is a good choice to guarantee the security of resource-constrained WSNs since it simultaneously achieves confidentiality, authentication, integrity and non-repudiation at a low cost. In this paper, we propose a heterogeneous signcryption scheme for secure communication from the WSNs to an Internet server. In our scheme, the WSNs belong to the certificateless cryptosystem (CLC) and the server belongs to the public key infrastructure (PKI). The CLC has neither key escrow problem nor public key certificates and is very suitable for the WSNs. The PKI is also suitable for the server since the PKI technique has been widely adopted in the Internet security. We prove that our scheme has the existential unforgeability against adaptive chosen message attack under q-strong Diffie---Hellman and modified inverse computational Diffie---Hellman problems and indistinguishability against adaptive chosen ciphertext attack under bilinear Diffie---Hellman inversion problem in the random oracle model. As compared with the existing three certificateless signcryption schemes (i.e., YL, BF and WC), our scheme respectively costs a 28.4, 58.3, and 68.2 % less in computational time and a 26.9, 56.6, and 67.3 % saving in energy consumption (the length of transmitted message is 100 bits).

A Risk-Aware Reputation-Based Trust Management in Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract: Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are susceptible to many security threats and are specifically prone to physical node capture in which the adversary can easily launch the so-called insider attacks such as node compromise, bypassing the traditional security mechanisms based on cryptography primitives. So, the compromised nodes can be modified to misbehave and disrupt the entire network and can successfully perform the authentication process with their neighbors, which have no way to distinguish fraudulent nodes from trustworthy ones. Trust and reputation systems have been recently suggested as a powerful tools and an attractive complement to cryptography-based schemes in securing WSNs. They provide ability to detect and isolate both faulty and malicious nodes. Considerable research has been done on modeling and managing trust and reputation. However, trust topic issue in WSNs remains an open and challenging field. In this paper, we propose a Risk-aware Reputation-based Trust (RaRTrust) model for WSNs. Our novel framework uses both reputation and risk to evaluate trustworthiness of a sensor node. Risk evaluation is used to deal with the dramatic spoiling of nodes, which makes RaRTrust robust to on---off attack and differ from other trust models based only on reputation. This paper contributes to model the risk as opinion of short-term trustworthiness combining with traditional reputation evaluation to derive trustworthiness in WSNs.

An Efficient Channel Reservation Technique for Improved QoS for Mobile Communication Deployment Using High Altitude Platform

Abstract: In order to provide committed Quality of Service (QoS) to the users, telecommunication service providers use different resource allocation techniques. One of such schemes is the adaptive bandwidth allocation technique. QoS is improved by minimizing the probability of dropping and blocking calls and by allocating channels, optimally. In this paper, reserved channel technique has been considered for High Altitude Platform (HAP) based communication services deployment. Such implementation is especially feasible in HAP as, on a single HAP, multiple mobile cells are created and optimal resource allocation could be done, centrally. By varying the value of reserved channels and reserved channels for hand-off, we report that the probability of blocking of a new call and successful hand-off of an ongoing call is greatly improved.

A Localization Scheme for Underwater Sensor Networks Without Time Synchronization

Abstract: The underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) exhibit different characteristics from terrestrial WSNs. To make the sensed data meaningful, one of basic task is the localization of sensor nodes. In UWSNs, this is not feasible to use global positioning system due to its issue of propagation. This senses localization as a fundamental as well as sound issue in the UWSNs. In spite of continuous and sincere research effort, the time synchronization between the sensor nodes for their localization is also a tough job. To address these issues, a localization scheme free from the concept of time synchronization for large scale 3D-UWSNs based on dive and rise mobile beacons floating over the sea surface has been proposed in the given paper. The analytical analysis of the proposed scheme is also presented in the paper. In the simulation section, the performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated in terms of coverage and the number of localized nodes. A discussion based on various obtained results is also given in the paper.

BETaaS: A Platform for Development and Execution of Machine-to-Machine Applications in the Internet of Things

Abstract: The integration of everyday objects into the Internet represents the foundation of the forthcoming Internet of Things (IoT) Smart objects will be the building blocks of the next generation of applications that will exploit interaction between machines to implement enhanced services with minimum or no human intervention in the loop A crucial factor to enable Machine-to-Machine (M2M) applications is a horizontal service infrastructure that seamlessly integrates existing IoT heterogeneous systems The authors present BETaaS, a framework that enables horizontal M2M deployments BETaaS is based on a distributed service infrastructure built on top of an overlay network of gateways that allows seamless integration of existing IoT systems The platform enables easy deployment of applications by exposing to developers a service oriented interface to access things (according to a Things-as-a-Service model) regardless of the technology and the physical infrastructure they belong to