Mission-Critical Mobile Broadband Communications in Open Pit Mines

The need for continuous safety improvements and increased operational efficiency is driving the mining industry through a transition toward automated operations. From a communications perspective, this transition introduces a new set of high-bandwidth business-critical and mission-critical applications that need to be met by the wireless network. This article introduces fundamental concepts behind open-pit mining and discusses why this ever-changing environment and strict industrial reliability requirements pose unique challenges to traditional broadband network planning and optimization techniques. On the other hand, unlike unpredictable disaster scenarios, mining is a carefully planned activity. Taking advantage of this predictability element, we propose a framework that integrates mine and radio network planning so that continuous and automated adaptation of the radio network becomes possible. The potential benefits of this framework are evaluated by means of an illustrative example

Cryptographic protection for military radio communications

Protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information is very important in any telecommunications system. Information protection requires use of necessary physical, personal, information and communication technologies and above all – electromagnetic and cryptographic security measures. Equipment and tools for cryptographic protection should be examined and assessed in terms of resistance to known threats. Additional requirements are put on information protection for radio communication, especially military, where radio transmission is characterized by uncertainty of establishing and maintaining connections, bit rates are relatively low, often without full duplex. All this has an impact on the methods of cryptographic synchronization and implementation of cryptographic functions. A different approach to information protection is required by classic narrowband radio communications, a different one in time-division multi-access modes, and another one in broadband packet data transmission. Systems designed for information protection in radio communications implement appropriate operating modes of operation for cryptographic algorithms and protocols. Latest threats from quantum computers pose new challenges, especially in systems using public-key cryptography, because there are algorithms that can be used to attack these schemes with polynomial complexity

Cryptographic protection for military radio communications

Protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information is very important in any telecommunications system. Information protection requires use of necessary physical, personal, information and communication technologies and above all – electromagnetic and cryptographic security measures. Equipment and tools for cryptographic protection should be examined and assessed in terms of resistance to known threats. Additional requirements are put on information protection for radio communication, especially military, where radio transmission is characterized by uncertainty of establishing and maintaining connections, bit rates are relatively low, often without full duplex. All this has an impact on the methods of cryptographic synchronization and implementation of cryptographic functions. A different approach to information protection is required by classic narrowband radio communications, a different one in time-division multi-access modes, and another one in broadband packet data transmission. Systems designed for information protection in radio communications implement appropriate operating modes of operation for cryptographic algorithms and protocols. Latest threats from quantum computers pose new challenges, especially in systems using public-key cryptography, because there are algorithms that can be used to attack these schemes with polynomial complexity

A use case of low power wide area networks in future 5G healthcare applications

Abstract. The trend in all cellular evolution to the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) has always been to offer users continuously increasing data rates. However, the next leap forwards towards the 5th Generation Mobile Networks (5G) will be mainly addressing the needs of devices. Machines communicating with each other, sensors reporting to a server, or even machines communicating with humans, these are all different aspects of the same technology; the Internet of Things (IoT). The key differentiator between Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and IoT will be the added -feature of connecting devices and sensors not only to themselves, but also to the internet. The appropriate communications network is the key to allow this connectivity. Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs) have been thought of as enablers for IoT, but since they both suffered from limitations in IoT aspects, the need for a new enabling technology was evident. LPWANs are networks dedicated to catering for the needs of IoT such as providing low energy consumption for wireless devices. LPWANs can be categorized into proprietary LPWANs and cellular LPWANs. Proprietary LPWANs are created by an alliance of companies working together on creating a communications standard operating in unlicensed frequency bands. An example of proprietary LPWANs is LoRa. Whereas cellular LPWANs are standardized by the 3rd Partnership Project (3GPP) and they are basically versions of the LTE standard especially designed for machine communications. An example of cellular LPWANs is Narrowband IoT (NB IoT). This diploma thesis documents the usage of LoRa and NB IoT in a healthcare use case of IoT. It describes the steps and challenges of deploying an LTE network at a target site, which will be used by the LoRa and NB IoT sensors to transmit data through the 5G test network (5GTN) to a desired server location for storing and later analysis.Matalan tehonkulutuksen ja pitkänkantaman teknologian käyttötapaus tulevaisuuden 5G:tä hyödyntävissä terveydenhoidon sovelluksissa. Tiivistelmä. Pitemmän aikavälin tarkastelussa matkaviestintäteknologian kehittyminen nykyisin käytössä olevaan Long-Term Evolution (LTE) teknologiaan on tarkoittanut käyttäjille yhä suurempia datanopeuksia. Seuraavassa askeleessa kohti 5. sukupolven matkaviestintäverkkoja (5G) lähestytään kehitystä myös laitteiden tarpeiden lähtökohdista. Toistensa kanssa kommunikoivat koneet, palvelimille dataa lähettävät anturit tai jopa ihmisten kanssa kommunikoivat koneet ovat kaikki eri puolia samasta teknologisesta käsitteestä; esineiden internetistä (IoT). Oleellisin ero koneiden välisessä kommunikoinnissa (M2M) ja IoT:ssä on, että erinäiset laitteet tulevat olemaan yhdistettyinä paitsi toisiinsa myös internettiin. Tätä kytkentäisyyttä varten tarvitaan tarkoitukseen kehitetty matkaviestinverkko. Sekä lähiverkkoja (LAN) että suuralueverkkoja (WAN) on pidetty mahdollisina IoT mahdollistajina, mutta näiden molempien käsitteiden alle kuuluvissa teknologioissa on rajoitteita IoT:n vaatimusten lähtökohdista, joten uuden teknologian kehittäminen oli tarpeellista. Matalan tehonkulutuksen suuralueverkko (LP-WAN) on käsite, johon luokitellaan eri teknologioita, joita on kehitetty erityisesti IoT:n tarpeista lähtien. LP-WAN voidaan jaotella ainakin itse kehitettyihin ja matkaviestinverkkoihin perustuviin teknologisiin ratkaisuihin. Itse kehitetyt ratkaisut on luotu lukuisten yritysten yhteenliittymissä eli alliansseissa ja nämä ratkaisut keskittyvät lisensoimattomilla taajuuksilla toimiviin langattomiin ratkaisuihin, joista esimerkkinä laajasti käytössä oleva LoRa. Matkaviestinverkkoihin perustuvat lisensoiduilla taajuuksilla toimivat ratkaisut on puolestaan erikseen standardoitu 3GPP-nimisessä yhteenliittymässä, joka nykyisellään vastaa 2G, 3G ja LTE:n standardoiduista päätöksistä. Esimerkki 3GPP:n alaisesta LPWAN-luokkaan kuuluvasta teknologiasta on kapea kaistainen IoT-teknologia, NB-IoT. Tässä diplomityössä keskitytään terveydenhoidon käyttötapaukseen, missä antureiden mittaamaa tietoa siirretään langattomasti käyttäen sekä LoRa että NB-IoT teknologioita. Työssä kuvataan eri vaiheet ja haasteet, joita liittyi kun rakennetaan erikseen tiettyyn kohteeseen LTE-verkon radiopeitto, jotta LoRa:a ja NB-IoT:a käyttävät anturit saadaan välittämään mitattua dataa halutulle palvelimelle säilytykseen ja myöhempää analysointia varten. LTE-radiopeiton rakensi Oulun yliopiston omistama 5G testiverkko, jonka tarkoitus on tukea sekä tutkimusta että ympäröivää ekosysteemiä tulevaisuuden 5G:n kehityksessä

Internet of Things-aided Smart Grid: Technologies, Architectures, Applications, Prototypes, and Future Research Directions

Traditional power grids are being transformed into Smart Grids (SGs) to address the issues in existing power system due to uni-directional information flow, energy wastage, growing energy demand, reliability and security. SGs offer bi-directional energy flow between service providers and consumers, involving power generation, transmission, distribution and utilization systems. SGs employ various devices for the monitoring, analysis and control of the grid, deployed at power plants, distribution centers and in consumers' premises in a very large number. Hence, an SG requires connectivity, automation and the tracking of such devices. This is achieved with the help of Internet of Things (IoT). IoT helps SG systems to support various network functions throughout the generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy by incorporating IoT devices (such as sensors, actuators and smart meters), as well as by providing the connectivity, automation and tracking for such devices. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT-aided SG systems, which includes the existing architectures, applications and prototypes of IoT-aided SG systems. This survey also highlights the open issues, challenges and future research directions for IoT-aided SG systems

EVA Radio DRATS 2011 Report

In the Fall of 2011, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) participated in the Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) field experiments held near Flagstaff, Arizona. The objective of the DRATS outing is to provide analog mission testing of candidate technologies for space exploration, especially those technologies applicable to human exploration of extra- terrestrial rocky bodies. These activities are performed at locations with similarities to extra-terrestrial conditions. This report describes the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Dual-Band Radio Communication System which was demonstrated during the 2011 outing. The EVA radio system is designed to transport both voice and telemetry data through a mobile ad hoc wireless network and employs a dual-band radio configuration. Some key characteristics of this system include: 1. Dual-band radio configuration. 2. Intelligent switching between two different capability wireless networks. 3. Self-healing network. 4. Simultaneous data and voice communication

IoT-laitteiden datayhteyden automaattinen määrittely matkapuhelinverkoissa

Cellular networks have existed for almost forty years. During the course of their history, they have transformed from wireless voice communication providers to wireless network providers. Nowadays mobile broadband data forms the bulk of the cellular data transfer which was a staggering 14 exabytes per month in year 2017, or 2.9 gigabytes per smartphone per month. The Internet of Things is changing this connectivity landscape by introducing devices in the millions but with scarce individual resources and data usage. However, there are some challenges related to cellular data connections in constrained IoT devices. This thesis identifies those challenges and proposes solutions to overcome them for enabling simpler cellular data connectivity. We first present the technical challenges and solutions found in today’s cellular IoT devices. We then present a proof of concept prototype that realizes automatic cellular connectivity in a very constrained IoT device. The prototype is capable of connecting to a management system and reporting sensor readings without requiring any user interaction. Besides recognizing important improvements in the next generation of cellular IoT technology, the thesis concludes with suggestions on how to improve the usability of programming interfaces for cellular connectivity.Lähes neljäkymmenvuotisen historiansa aikana atkapuhelinverkot ovat muuttuneet puheen välittäjistä langattomaksi dataverkoksi. Nykyään langaton laajakaista muodostaa suuren osan matkapuhelinverkoissa siirretystä datasta, jota oli 14 exatavua kuukaudessa vuonna 2017. Esineiden Internet tuo verkkoon miljoonia laitteita joiden yksittäinen datansiirron tarve on vähäinen. Matkapuhelinverkon datayhteyden käyttö ei kuitenkaan ole ongelmatonta rajoittuneissa Esineiden Internetin laitteissa. Tämä diplomityö tunnistaa ja luokittelee näitä teknisiä haasteita ja ehdottaa ratkaisuja niihin. Esittelemme prototyypin joka toteuttaa automaatisen matkapuhelinverkon datayhteyden luonnin rajoittuneessa laitteessa. Prototyyppi ottaa yhteyden hallintajärjestelmään ja raportoi mittausdataa ilman käyttäjältä vaadittavia toimia. Johtopäätöksenä tämä diplomityö esittää parannuksia tehtäväksi matkapuhelinverkkojen datayhteyksien ohjelmointirajapintoihin niitä käyttävissä laitteissa. Löysimme myös tärkeitä parannuksia joita on jo tehty tulevan sukupolven matkapuhelinverkon määrittelyssä

Narrowband IoT: from the end device to the cloud. An experimental end-to-end study

This thesis is about a novel study and experimentation of a Cloud IoT application, communicating over a NB-IoT Italian network. So far there no been presented studies, which are about the interactions between the NB-IoT network and the cloud. This thesis not only fill this gap but also shows the use of Cognitive Services to interact, through the human voice, with the IoT application. Compared with other types of mobile networks, NB-IoT is the best choice

Efficient vertical handover in heterogeneous low-power wide-area networks

As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to expand, the need to combine communication technologies to cope with the limitations of one another and to support more diverse requirements will proceed to increase. Consequently, we started to see IoT devices being equipped with multiple radio technologies to connect to different networks over time. However, the detection of the available radio technologies in an energy-efficient way for devices with limited battery capacity and processing power has not yet been investigated. As this is not a straightforward task, a novel approach in such heterogeneous networks is required. This article analyzes different low-power wide-area network technologies and how they can be integrated in such a heterogeneous system. Our contributions are threefold. First, an optimal protocol stack for a constrained device with access to multiple communication technologies is put forward to hide the underlying complexity for the application layer. Next, the architecture to hide the complexity of a heterogeneous network is presented. Finally, it is demonstrated how devices with limited processing power and battery capacity can have access to higher bandwidth networks combined with longer range networks and on top are able to save energy compared to their homogeneous counterparts, by measuring the impact of the novel vertical handover algorithm