Networking and Application Interface Technology for Wireless Sensor Network Surveillance and Monitoring

Distributed unattended ground sensor networks used in battlefield surveillance and monitoring missions, have proven to be valuable in providing a tactical information advantage required for command and control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance planning. Operational effectiveness for surveillance missions can be enhanced further through network centric capability, where distributed UGS networks have the ability to perform surveillance operations autonomously. NCC operation can be enhanced through UGSs having the ability to evaluate their awareness of the current joint surveillance environment, in order to provide the necessary adaptation to dynamic changes. NCC can also provide an advantage for UGS networks to self-manage their limited operational resources efficiently, according to mission objective priority. In this article, we present a cross-layer approach and highlight techniques that have potential to enable NCC operation within a mission-orientated UGS surveillance setting

Survey of Inter-satellite Communication for Small Satellite Systems: Physical Layer to Network Layer View

Small satellite systems enable whole new class of missions for navigation, communications, remote sensing and scientific research for both civilian and military purposes. As individual spacecraft are limited by the size, mass and power constraints, mass-produced small satellites in large constellations or clusters could be useful in many science missions such as gravity mapping, tracking of forest fires, finding water resources, etc. Constellation of satellites provide improved spatial and temporal resolution of the target. Small satellite constellations contribute innovative applications by replacing a single asset with several very capable spacecraft which opens the door to new applications. With increasing levels of autonomy, there will be a need for remote communication networks to enable communication between spacecraft. These space based networks will need to configure and maintain dynamic routes, manage intermediate nodes, and reconfigure themselves to achieve mission objectives. Hence, inter-satellite communication is a key aspect when satellites fly in formation. In this paper, we present the various researches being conducted in the small satellite community for implementing inter-satellite communications based on the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model. This paper also reviews the various design parameters applicable to the first three layers of the OSI model, i.e., physical, data link and network layer. Based on the survey, we also present a comprehensive list of design parameters useful for achieving inter-satellite communications for multiple small satellite missions. Specific topics include proposed solutions for some of the challenges faced by small satellite systems, enabling operations using a network of small satellites, and some examples of small satellite missions involving formation flying aspects.Comment: 51 pages, 21 Figures, 11 Tables, accepted in IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorial

Satellite Networks: Architectures, Applications, and Technologies

Since global satellite networks are moving to the forefront in enhancing the national and global information infrastructures due to communication satellites' unique networking characteristics, a workshop was organized to assess the progress made to date and chart the future. This workshop provided the forum to assess the current state-of-the-art, identify key issues, and highlight the emerging trends in the next-generation architectures, data protocol development, communication interoperability, and applications. Presentations on overview, state-of-the-art in research, development, deployment and applications and future trends on satellite networks are assembled

Distributed and adaptive location identification system for mobile devices

Indoor location identification and navigation need to be as simple, seamless, and ubiquitous as its outdoor GPS-based counterpart is. It would be of great convenience to the mobile user to be able to continue navigating seamlessly as he or she moves from a GPS-clear outdoor environment into an indoor environment or a GPS-obstructed outdoor environment such as a tunnel or forest. Existing infrastructure-based indoor localization systems lack such capability, on top of potentially facing several critical technical challenges such as increased cost of installation, centralization, lack of reliability, poor localization accuracy, poor adaptation to the dynamics of the surrounding environment, latency, system-level and computational complexities, repetitive labor-intensive parameter tuning, and user privacy. To this end, this paper presents a novel mechanism with the potential to overcome most (if not all) of the abovementioned challenges. The proposed mechanism is simple, distributed, adaptive, collaborative, and cost-effective. Based on the proposed algorithm, a mobile blind device can potentially utilize, as GPS-like reference nodes, either in-range location-aware compatible mobile devices or preinstalled low-cost infrastructure-less location-aware beacon nodes. The proposed approach is model-based and calibration-free that uses the received signal strength to periodically and collaboratively measure and update the radio frequency characteristics of the operating environment to estimate the distances to the reference nodes. Trilateration is then used by the blind device to identify its own location, similar to that used in the GPS-based system. Simulation and empirical testing ascertained that the proposed approach can potentially be the core of future indoor and GPS-obstructed environments

Implementation of Middleware for Internet of Things in Asset Tracking Applications: In-lining Approach

ThesisInternet of Things (IoT) is a concept that involves giving objects a digital identity and limited artificial intelligence, which helps the objects to be interactive, process data, make decisions, communicate and react to events virtually with minimum human intervention. IoT is intensified by advancements in hardware and software engineering and promises to close the gap that exists between the physical and digital worlds. IoT is paving ways to address complex phenomena, through designing and implementation of intelligent systems that can monitor phenomena, perform real-time data interpretation, react to events, and swiftly communicate observations. The primary goal of IoT is ubiquitous computing using wireless sensors and communication protocols such as Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), ZigBee and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). Insecurity, of assets and lives, is a problem around the world. One application area of IoT is tracking and monitoring; it could therefore be used to solve asset insecurity. A preliminary investigation revealed that security systems in place at Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) are disjointed; they do not instantaneously and intelligently conscientize security personnel about security breaches using real time messages. As a result, many assets have been stolen, particularly laptops. The main objective of this research was to prove that a real-life application built over a generic IoT architecture that innovatively and intelligently integrates: (1) wireless sensors; (2) radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and readers; (3) fingerprint readers; and (4) mobile phones, can be used to dispel laptop theft. To achieve this, the researcher developed a system, using the heterogeneous devices mentioned above and a middleware that harnessed their unique capabilities to bring out the full potential of IoT in intelligently curbing laptop theft. The resulting system has the ability to: (1) monitor the presence of a laptop using RFID reader that pro-actively interrogates a passive tag attached to the laptop; (2) detect unauthorized removal of a laptop under monitoring; (3) instantly communicate security violations via cell phones; and (4) use Windows location sensors to track the position of a laptop using Googlemaps. The system also manages administrative tasks such as laptop registration, assignment and withdrawal which used to be handled manually. Experiments conducted using the resulting system prototype proved the hypothesis outlined for this research

Survivability Analysis of the Iridium Low Earth Orbit Satellite Network

This thesis evaluates the survivability of the proposed Iridium Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Network. In addition to the complete Iridium constellation, three degraded Iridium constellations are analyzed. This analysis occurs via the use of simulation models, which are developed to use three dynamic routing algorithms over three loading levels. The Iridium network models use a common set of operating assumptions and system environments. The constellation survivability was determined by comparing packet rejection rates, hop\u27 counts, and average end to end delay performance between the various network scenarios. It was concluded that, based on the established scenarios, the proposed Iridium constellation was highly survivable. Even with only 45 percent of its satellites functioning (modeled with 36 failed Iridium satellites), the average packet delays were never greater than 178 milliseconds (msec), well within the real time packet delivery constraint of 400 msec. As a result, while additional research is necessary, Iridium has demonstrated the network robustness that is required within the military communications environment

Adaptive Traffic Fingerprinting for Darknet Threat Intelligence

Darknet technology such as Tor has been used by various threat actors for organising illegal activities and data exfiltration. As such, there is a case for organisations to block such traffic, or to try and identify when it is used and for what purposes. However, anonymity in cyberspace has always been a domain of conflicting interests. While it gives enough power to nefarious actors to masquerade their illegal activities, it is also the cornerstone to facilitate freedom of speech and privacy. We present a proof of concept for a novel algorithm that could form the fundamental pillar of a darknet-capable Cyber Threat Intelligence platform. The solution can reduce anonymity of users of Tor, and considers the existing visibility of network traffic before optionally initiating targeted or widespread BGP interception. In combination with server HTTP response manipulation, the algorithm attempts to reduce the candidate data set to eliminate client-side traffic that is most unlikely to be responsible for server-side connections of interest. Our test results show that MITM manipulated server responses lead to expected changes received by the Tor client. Using simulation data generated by shadow, we show that the detection scheme is effective with false positive rate of 0.001, while sensitivity detecting non-targets was 0.016+-0.127. Our algorithm could assist collaborating organisations willing to share their threat intelligence or cooperate during investigations.Comment: 26 page

A critical analysis of mobility management related issues of wireless sensor networks in cyber physical systems

Mobility management has been a long-standing issue in mobile wireless sensor networks and especially in the context of cyber physical systems; its implications are immense. This paper presents a critical analysis of the current approaches to mobility management by evaluating them against a set of criteria which are essentially inherent characteristics of such systems on which these approaches are expected to provide acceptable performance. We summarize these characteristics by using a quadruple set of metrics. Additionally, using this set we classify the various approaches to mobility management that are discussed in this paper. Finally, the paper concludes by reviewing the main findings and providing suggestions that will be helpful to guide future research efforts in the area

End-to-end communications in low-rate wireless networks: Problems and solutions in satellite scenarios

Satellite communication links are susceptible to present numerous discontinuities in the transmission. Specific solutions are necessary to be developed to cope this problem. In this sense Delay and Disruptive Tolerant Networks are envisaged as solutions trying to optimize in some sense the communication link. In this TFG the problem of disruptive networks will be studied and possible solutions will be analyzed having in mind satellites scenarios. The work will require the definition of a scenario and the implementation of some state-of-the art solutions in a simulator.Since the Sputnik 1 was first launched in 1957, satellites have taken over the world with their multiple applications in our day-to-day life, specially in the telecommunications field, from television broadcast to mobile communications. One of the main issues they present, is that a single satellite can't provide an end-to-end communication between two spots widely separated. This issue implies that a continuous network between these two spots can never be implemented, and that's why so many public and private companies have been working for a long time in clusters of satellites to provide global coverage of the earth. In the last decade, the M2M (machine-to-machine) communications have become one of the most advanced fields in the engineering world, as they are changing it in order to create a more sophisticated and automatized future. These type of low-rate wireless communications can be supported in a satellite network but they sometimes require a low latency in its channel. In this project, several satellite network scenarios are simulated in order to study the different delays in them and to find the way to optimize the latency in the M2M communication between two fixed spots in the globe, while creating a continuous network made out of GEO and LEO satellites. The project is focused on the idea of finding the best satellite architecture to obtain a fluid communication without any relevant delay along the way, as well as discussing the trade-off between the delay of the signal and the energy consumption of the satellite, specially in the nanosatellite case.Desde que el Sputnik 1 fue lanzado por primera vez en 1957, los satélites han tomado el mundo con sus múltiples aplicaciones en nuestro, especialmente en el campo de las telecomunicaciones, desde la emisión de televisión a las comunicaciones móviles. Uno de los principales problemas que presentan, es que un solo satélite no puede proporcionar una comunicación de extremo a extremo entre dos puntos muy distantes entre sí. Este problema implica que una red contínua entre estos dos puntos no se puede implementar, y es por eso por lo que muchas empresas públicas y privadas han estado trabajando durante mucho tiempo en grupos de satélites para proporcionar una cobertura global de la Tierra. En la última década, las comunicaciones M2M (machine-to-machine) se han convertido en uno de los campos más avanzados en el mundo de la ingeniería, y lo están cambiando con el fin de crear un futuro más sofisticado y automatizado. Este tipo de comunicaciones sin hilos de bajo ritmo de bit puede ser apoyado en una red de satélites, pero que a veces requiere una latencia baja en su canal. En este proyecto, varios escenarios de redes de satélite son simulados con el fin de estudiar los diferentes retardos en todos ellos y en encontrar la manera de optimizar la latencia en la comunicación M2M entre dos puntos fijos en el mundo, usando la creación de una red continua hecha de satélites GEO y LEO. El proyecto se centra en la idea de encontrar la mejor arquitectura de satélites para obtener una comunicación fluida y sin ningún retraso relevante en el camino, así como en discutir el equilibrio entre el retardo de la señal y el consumo de energía del satélite, especialmente en el caso de nanosatélites.Des de que l'Sputnik 1 es llançava per primer cop el 1957, els satèl·lits han dominat el món amb les seves múltiples aplicacions en la nostra vida quotidiana, especialment en el camp de les telecomunicacions, des de difusió de televisió a les comunicacions mòbils. Una de les principals qüestions que presenten, és que un únic satèl·lit no pot proporcionar una comunicació extrem a extrem entre dos punts molt distants. Això implica que mai no es pugui implementar una xarxa contínua entre aquests dos punts, i és per això que moltes empreses públiques i privades han estat treballant durant molt temps en agrupacions de satèl·lits per donar cobertura global de la terra. En la darrera dècada, les comunicacions de M2M (machine-to-machine) han esdevingut un dels camps més avançats del món de l'enginyeria, ja que estan canviant-lo per tal de crear un més sofisticat i automatitzat futur. Aquests tipus de comunicacions sense fils de baix ritme de bit poden ser recolzades en una xarxa de satèl·lits però de vegades requereixen una latència baixa al seu canal. En aquest projecte, diversos escenaris de xarxes de satèl·lits són simulats per tal d'estudiar els diferents retards en tots ells i en trobar la manera d'optimitzar la latència en la comunicació M2M entre dos punts fixos en el món, utilitzant la creació d'una xarxa contínua de satèl·lits GEO i LEO. El projecte es centra en la idea de trobar la millor arquitectura de satèl·lits per obtenir una comunicació fluida sense demora pertinent en el camí, així com en discutir la solució de compromís que existeix entre el retard del senyal i el consum energètic del satèl·lit, especialment en el cas dels nanosatèl·lits