Considering Pigeons for Carrying Delay Tolerant Networking based Internet traffic in Developing Countries

There are many regions in the developing world that suffer from poor infrastructure and lack of connection to the Internet and Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN). Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) is a technology that has been advocated for providing store-and-forward network connectivity in these regions over the past few years. DTN often relies on human mobility in one form or another to support transportation of DTN data. This presents a socio-technical problem related to organizing how the data should be transported. In some situations the demand for DTN traffic can exceed that which is possible to support with human mobility, so alternative mechanisms are needed. In this paper we propose using live carrier pigeons (columba livia) to transport DTN data. Carrier pigeons have been used for transporting packets of information for a long time, but have not yet been seriously considered for transporting DTN traffic. We provide arguements that this mode of DTN data transport provides promise, and should receive attention from research and development projects. We provide an overview of pigeon characteristics to analyze the feasibility of using them for data transport, and present simulations of a DTN network that utilizes pigeon transport in order to provide an initial investigation into expected performance characteristics

Renewable Energies for Sustainable Development

In the current scenario in which climate change dominates our lives and in which we all need to combat and drastically reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, renewable energies play key roles as present and future energy sources. Renewable energies vary across a wide range, and therefore, there are related studies for each type of energy. This Special Issue is composed of studies integrating the latest research innovations and knowledge focused on all types of renewable energy: onshore and offshore wind, photovoltaic, solar, biomass, geothermal, waves, tides, hydro, etc. Authors were invited submit review and research papers focused on energy resource estimation, all types of TRL converters, civil infrastructure, electrical connection, environmental studies, licensing and development of facilities, construction, operation and maintenance, mechanical and structural analysis, new materials for these facilities, etc. Analyses of a combination of several renewable energies as well as storage systems to progress the development of these sustainable energies were welcomed

Secure Communication in Disaster Scenarios

Während Naturkatastrophen oder terroristischer Anschläge ist die bestehende Kommunikationsinfrastruktur häufig überlastet oder fällt komplett aus. In diesen Situationen können mobile Geräte mithilfe von drahtloser ad-hoc- und unterbrechungstoleranter Vernetzung miteinander verbunden werden, um ein Notfall-Kommunikationssystem für Zivilisten und Rettungsdienste einzurichten. Falls verfügbar, kann eine Verbindung zu Cloud-Diensten im Internet eine wertvolle Hilfe im Krisen- und Katastrophenmanagement sein. Solche Kommunikationssysteme bergen jedoch ernsthafte Sicherheitsrisiken, da Angreifer versuchen könnten, vertrauliche Daten zu stehlen, gefälschte Benachrichtigungen von Notfalldiensten einzuspeisen oder Denial-of-Service (DoS) Angriffe durchzuführen. Diese Dissertation schlägt neue Ansätze zur Kommunikation in Notfallnetzen von mobilen Geräten vor, die von der Kommunikation zwischen Mobilfunkgeräten bis zu Cloud-Diensten auf Servern im Internet reichen. Durch die Nutzung dieser Ansätze werden die Sicherheit der Geräte-zu-Geräte-Kommunikation, die Sicherheit von Notfall-Apps auf mobilen Geräten und die Sicherheit von Server-Systemen für Cloud-Dienste verbessert

Modelado de transmisión eficiente de datos para eventos multivariantes basados en umbral

This doctoral thesis delves into the optimization of communications in sensor networks for a specific purpose: to evaluate threshold-based events that depend on multiple distributed variables. This motivation is behind the detailed research presented here in the form of a compendium of papers. The developed work is structured in 3 scientific contributions in articles. Out of those 3 contributions, the most theoretical work has been described in 2 of them, leaving the third article for the presentation of a methodological support tool with great scientific impact and relevance in this doctoral thesis. Due to the two theoretical and large–scale contributions in the proposed field, a solution is proposed which is stated as an hypotheses. The first contribution is the mathematical foundations for modelling data reduction in the sensor network and measuring its influence on the quality of the event evaluation. For this purpose, a set of functions and parameters is defined. This logic modifies the cardinality of the mathematical domains in which information is defined in order to save traffic. Specific metrics that consider the time delays in the state changes of the evaluated condition are also defined. The second contribution is an adaptive algorithm that, taking into account the logical context of the system information, parameterizes the proposed model at runtime. As a result, this technique maximizes traffic reduction and minimizes error in the evaluation of the event simultaneously, obtaining promising results. As a methodological contribution, a procedure for generating pseudo-realistic random signals is also described, a useful tool for easily obtaining large datasets suitable for experimentation, which has been applied in the described contributions.Esta tesis doctoral profundiza en la optimización de las comunicaciones en redes de sensores con un propósito específico: evaluar eventos basados en umbral que dependen de múltiples variables distribuidas. Con esta motivación se desarrolla la investigación detallada aquí en forma compendio de artículos. El trabajo desarrollado se estructura en 3 aportaciones científicas en artículos. De esas 3 aportaciones, el trabajo en su vertiente más teórica se desarrolla en 2 de ellas, quedando el tercer artículo para la presentación de una herramienta de soporte metodológico con gran impacto científico y de relevancia en esta tesis doctoral. Gracias a las dos aportaciones teóricas y de gran calado en el ámbito propuesto se propone una solución que se plantea en forma de hipótesis. La primera aportación son los fundamentos matemáticos para modelar la reducción de datos en la red de sensores y medir su incidencia en la calidad de la evaluación del evento. Para ello define una serie de funciones y parámetros que alteran la cardinalidad de los dominios matemáticos en los que se define la información, así como métricas específicas que tienen en cuenta los desfases temporales en los cambios de estado de la condición evaluada. La segunda aportación es un algoritmo adaptativo que, considerando el contexto lógico de la información del sistema, parametriza el modelo propuesto en tiempo de ejecución. Como resultado, esta técnica maximiza la reducción de tráfico y minimiza el error en la evaluación del evento simultáneamente, obteniendo resultados prometedores. Como tercera aportación se describe también un procedimiento para generar señales aleatorias pseudo–realistas, una herramienta útil para disponer fácilmente de grandes conjuntos de datos adecuados para experimentación, que ha sido utilizada en las aportaciones descritas

A review of task allocation methods for UAVs

Unmanned aerial vehicles, can offer solutions to a lot of problems, making it crucial to research more and improve the task allocation methods used. In this survey, the main approaches used for task allocation in applications involving UAVs are presented as well as the most common applications of UAVs that require the application of task allocation methods. They are followed by the categories of the task allocation algorithms used, with the main focus being on more recent works. Our analysis of these methods focuses primarily on their complexity, optimality, and scalability. Additionally, the communication schemes commonly utilized are presented, as well as the impact of uncertainty on task allocation of UAVs. Finally, these methods are compared based on the aforementioned criteria, suggesting the most promising approaches

3rd Many-core Applications Research Community (MARC) Symposium. (KIT Scientific Reports ; 7598)

This manuscript includes recent scientific work regarding the Intel Single Chip Cloud computer and describes approaches for novel approaches for programming and run-time organization