Quality-of-service in wireless sensor networks: state-of-the-art and future directions

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are one of today’s most prominent instantiations of the ubiquituous computing paradigm. In order to achieve high levels of integration, WSNs need to be conceived considering requirements beyond the mere system’s functionality. While Quality-of-Service (QoS) is traditionally associated with bit/data rate, network throughput, message delay and bit/packet error rate, we believe that this concept is too strict, in the sense that these properties alone do not reflect the overall quality-ofservice provided to the user/application. Other non-functional properties such as scalability, security or energy sustainability must also be considered in the system design. This paper identifies the most important non-functional properties that affect the overall quality of the service provided to the users, outlining their relevance, state-of-the-art and future research directions

Towards efficacy and efficiency in sparse delay tolerant networks

The ubiquitous adoption of portable smart devices has enabled a new way of communication via Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), whereby messages are routed by the personal devices carried by ever-moving people. Although a DTN is a type of Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET), traditional MANET solutions are ill-equipped to accommodate message delivery in DTNs due to the dynamic and unpredictable nature of people\u27s movements and their spatio-temporal sparsity. More so, such DTNs are susceptible to catastrophic congestion and are inherently chaotic and arduous. This manuscript proposes approaches to handle message delivery in notably sparse DTNs. First, the ChitChat system [69] employs the social interests of individuals participating in a DTN to accurately model multi-hop relationships and to make opportunistic routing decisions for interest-annotated messages. Second, the ChitChat system is hybridized [70] to consider both social context and geographic information for learning the social semantics of locations so as to identify worthwhile routing opportunities to destinations and areas of interest. Network density analyses of five real-world datasets is conducted to identify sparse datasets on which to conduct simulations, finding that commonly-used datasets in past DTN research are notably dense and well connected, and suggests two rarely used datasets are appropriate for research into sparse DTNs. Finally, the Catora system is proposed to address congestive-driven degradation of service in DTNs by accomplishing two simultaneous tasks: (i) expedite the delivery of higher quality messages by uniquely ordering messages for transfer and delivery, and (ii) avoid congestion through strategic buffer management and message removal. Through dataset-driven simulations, these systems are found to outperform the state-of-the-art, with ChitChat facilitating delivery in sparse DTNs and Catora unencumbered by congestive conditions --Abstract, page iv

Technoethics and Human Rights: The Metaethical Implications of Crisismapping and the Right to Privacy in Post-Disaster, Post-Conflict Scenarios

Do invasive digital approaches to disaster response come at too high of a cost to privacy, such that we should seek alternative methods or regulations? This paper examines the tension between the right to privacy and crisismapping, a new technological advancement in emergency response. After mapping the critical international institutions and stakeholders, the paper grounds interests to effective triage and to digital privacy in international human rights law. A thought experiment is offered to show our conflicting intuitions when privacy is weighed against critical safety interests, and multiple procedures are evaluated as means to reconcile these interests and determine the extent of the right to privacy. Ultimately, the paper calls for an expanded inquiry by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy, who has the power to engage multiple stakeholders for a fair and inclusive new approach. Privacy costs are too fundamental for emergency response to proceed without proper scrutiny

Impacts of Mobility Models on RPL-Based Mobile IoT Infrastructures: An Evaluative Comparison and Survey

With the widespread use of IoT applications and the increasing trend in the number of connected smart devices, the concept of routing has become very challenging. In this regard, the IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-power and Lossy Networks (PRL) was standardized to be adopted in IoT networks. Nevertheless, while mobile IoT domains have gained significant popularity in recent years, since RPL was fundamentally designed for stationary IoT applications, it could not well adjust with the dynamic fluctuations in mobile applications. While there have been a number of studies on tuning RPL for mobile IoT applications, but still there is a high demand for more efforts to reach a standard version of this protocol for such applications. Accordingly, in this survey, we try to conduct a precise and comprehensive experimental study on the impact of various mobility models on the performance of a mobility-aware RPL to help this process. In this regard, a complete and scrutinized survey of the mobility models has been presented to be able to fairly justify and compare the outcome results. A significant set of evaluations has been conducted via precise IoT simulation tools to monitor and compare the performance of the network and its IoT devices in mobile RPL-based IoT applications under the presence of different mobility models from different perspectives including power consumption, reliability, latency, and control packet overhead. This will pave the way for researchers in both academia and industry to be able to compare the impact of various mobility models on the functionality of RPL, and consequently to design and implement application-specific and even a standard version of this protocol, which is capable of being employed in mobile IoT applications

Robust, Resilient Networked Communication in Challenged Environments

In challenged environments, digital communication infrastructure may be difficult or even impossible to access. This is especially true in rural and developing regions, as well as in any region during a time of political or environmental crisis. We advance the state of the art in wireless networking and security to design networks and applications that rapidly assess changing networking conditions to restore communication and provide local situational awareness. This dissertation examines new systems for responding to current and emerging needs for wireless networks. This work looks across the wireless ecosystem of widely deployed standards. We develop new tools to improve network assessment and to provide robust and reliable network communication. By incorporating new technological breakthroughs, such as the wide commercial success of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), we introduce novel methods and systems for existing wireless standards for these challenged networks. We assess how existing technologies and standards function in difficult environments: lacking end-end Internet connectivity, experiencing overload or other resource constraints, and operating in three dimensional space. Through this lens, we demonstrate how to optimize networks to serve marginalized communities outside of first world urban cities and make our networks resilient to natural and political crisis that threaten communication

An operational research-based integrated approach for mass evacuation planning of a city

Large-scale disasters are constantly occurring around the world, and in many cases evacuation of regions of city is needed. ‘Operational Research/Management Science’ (OR/MS) has been widely used in emergency planning for over five decades. Warning dissemination, evacuee transportation and shelter management are three ‘Evacuation Support Functions’ (ESF) generic to many hazards. This thesis has adopted a case study approach to illustrate the importance of integrated approach of evacuation planning and particularly the role of OR/MS models. In the warning dissemination phase, uncertainty in the household’s behaviour as ‘warning informants’ has been investigated along with uncertainties in the warning system. An agentbased model (ABM) was developed for ESF-1 with households as agents and ‘warning informants’ behaviour as the agent behaviour. The model was used to study warning dissemination effectiveness under various conditions of the official channel. In the transportation phase, uncertainties in the household’s behaviour such as departure time (a function of ESF-1), means of transport and destination have been. Households could evacuate as pedestrians, using car or evacuation buses. An ABM was developed to study the evacuation performance (measured in evacuation travel time). In this thesis, a holistic approach for planning the public evacuation shelters called ‘Shelter Information Management System’ (SIMS) has been developed. A generic allocation framework of was developed to available shelter capacity to the shelter demand by considering the evacuation travel time. This was formulated using integer programming. In the sheltering phase, the uncertainty in household shelter choices (either nearest/allocated/convenient) has been studied for its impact on allocation policies using sensitivity analyses. Using analyses from the models and detailed examination of household states from ‘warning to safety’, it was found that the three ESFs though sequential in time, however have lot of interdependencies from the perspective of evacuation planning. This thesis has illustrated an OR/MS based integrated approach including and beyond single ESF preparedness. The developed approach will help in understanding the inter-linkages of the three evacuation phases and preparing a multi-agency-based evacuation planning evacuatio

A reliable and resource aware framework for data dissemination in wireless sensor networks

Distinctive from traditional wireless ad hoc networks, wireless sensor networks (WSN) comprise a large number of low-cost miniaturized nodes each acting autonomously and equipped with short-range wireless communication mechanism, limited memory, processing power, and a physical sensing capability. Since sensor networks are resource constrained in terms of power, bandwidth and computational capability, an optimal system design radically changes the performance of the sensor network. Here, a comprehensive information dissemination scheme for wireless sensor networks is performed. Two main research issues are considered: (1) a collaborative flow of information packet/s from the source to sink and (2) energy efficiency of the sensor nodes and the entire system. For the first issue, we designed and evaluated a reactive and on-demand routing paradigm for distributed sensing applications. We name this scheme as IDLF-Information Dissemination via Label ForwarDing IDLF incorporates point to point data transmission where the source initiates the routing scheme and disseminates the information toward the sink (destination) node. Prior to transmission of actual data packet/s, a data tunnel is formed followed by the source node issuing small label information to its neighbors locally. These labels are in turn disseminated in the network. By using small size labels, IDLF avoids generation of unnecessary network traffic and transmission of duplicate packets to nodes. To study the impact of node failures and to improve the reliability of the network, we developed another scheme which is an extension to IDLF. This new scheme, RM-IDLF - Reliable Multipath Information dissemination by Label Forwarding, employ an alternate disjoint path. This alternate path scheme (RM-IDLF) may have a higher path cost in terms of energy consumption, but is more reliable in terms of data packet delivery to sink than the single path scheme (IDLF). In the latter scheme, the protocol establishes multiple (alternate) disjoint path/s from source to destination with negligible control overhead to balance load due to heavy data traffic among intermediate nodes from source to the destination. Another point of interest in this framework is the study of trade-offs between the achieved routing reliability using multiple disjoint path routing and extra energy consumption due to the use of additional path/s. Also, the effect of the failed nodes on the network performance is evaluated within the sensor system; Performance of the label dissemination scheme is evaluated and compared with the classic flooding and SPIN. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Disasters Preparedness and Emergency Response: Prevention, Surveillance and Mitigation Planning

This Special Issue welcomes research papers on new approaches that have been applied or are under development to improve preparedness and emergency response. We especially encourage the submission of inter-disciplinary and crosscutting research. We also encourage the submission of manuscripts that focus on various types of disasters, disaster and emergency research, and on policy or management solutions at multiple scales

Issues in Modeling Military Space

Fighter Pilots students undertake an intense 120-day training program. New classes of students enter the training program at regular interval. Students endured rigorous academic, simulator, and aircraft training throughout the program. Squadron schedulers ensure the multiple classes and students are scheduled for the activities. Simulator and aircraft training are scheduled individual for each student. Academic training are taught to the class. Aircraft utilization must also be considered. Aircraft Sortie training are also constrained by daylight hours. Additionally, students are limited to a maximum of three training events in a given day. Squadron schedulers must balance these requirements to ensure students meet their training requirements and successfully graduate. The dynamic training environment requires advanced robust schedules with flexibility to accommodate changes. A Visual Interactive Modeling approach is used to generate schedules. Current schedules are being generated manually with an Excel spreadsheet. Taking advantage of Excel\u27s Visual Basic Programming language, the Excel tool is modified in several ways. Scheduling Dispatch rules are implemented to automatically generate feasible schedules. Graphical User Interfaces are used to create a user-friendly environment. Schedulers guide the schedule building process to produce a robust schedule. An attrition environment is created to simulate attrition probabilities of aircraft sortie training due to operations, maintenance, weather, and other cancellations. Analysis of dispatch rules are analyzed