BitWhisper: Covert Signaling Channel between Air-Gapped Computers using Thermal Manipulations

It has been assumed that the physical separation (air-gap) of computers provides a reliable level of security, such that should two adjacent computers become compromised, the covert exchange of data between them would be impossible. In this paper, we demonstrate BitWhisper, a method of bridging the air-gap between adjacent compromised computers by using their heat emissions and built-in thermal sensors to create a covert communication channel. Our method is unique in two respects: it supports bidirectional communication, and it requires no additional dedicated peripheral hardware. We provide experimental results based on implementation of BitWhisper prototype, and examine the channel properties and limitations. Our experiments included different layouts, with computers positioned at varying distances from one another, and several sensor types and CPU configurations (e.g., Virtual Machines). We also discuss signal modulation and communication protocols, showing how BitWhisper can be used for the exchange of data between two computers in a close proximity (at distance of 0-40cm) at an effective rate of 1-8 bits per hour, a rate which makes it possible to infiltrate brief commands and exfiltrate small amount of data (e.g., passwords) over the covert channel

Lost in the City? - A Scoping Review of 5G Enabled Location-Based Urban Scenarios

5G mobile network technologies and scenarios with the associated innovations receive growing interest among academics and practitioners. Current literature on 5G technologies discusses several scenarios and specific chances and challenges. However, 5G literature is fragmented and not systematically reviewed. We conducted a scoping review on 5G applications in urban scenarios. We reviewed 1,394 papers and identified 20 studies about urban logistics and emergency indoor localization. Our review accumulates current academic knowledge on these scenarios and identifies six further research directions in four research fields. It reveals several further research opportunities, e.g., regarding trust and privacy concerns. We review and discuss 5G literature for academics and practitioners, contribute towards more tailored 5G research and reflect on cost- efficient 5G applications in urban scenarios

High-Performance Computing for Scheduling Decision Support: A Parallel Depth-First Search Heuristic

Many academic disciplines - including information systems, computer science, and operations management - face scheduling problems as important decision making tasks. Since many scheduling problems are NP-hard in the strong sense, there is a need for developing solution heuristics. For scheduling problems with setup times on unrelated parallel machines, there is limited research on solution methods and to the best of our knowledge, parallel computer architectures have not yet been taken advantage of. We address this gap by proposing and implementing a new solution heuristic and by testing different parallelization strategies. In our computational experiments, we show that our heuristic calculates near-optimal solutions even for large instances and that computing time can be reduced substantially by our parallelization approach

Methodology and Tools for Field Testing of Synchrophasor Systems

The electrical power grid, as one of today’s most critical infrastructures, requires constant monitoring by operators to be aware of and react to any threats to the system’s condition. With control centers typically located far away from substations and other physical grid equipment, field measurement data forms the basis for a vast majority of control decisions in power system operation. For that reason, it is imperative to ensure the highest level of data integrity as erroneous data may lead to inappropriate control actions with potentially devastating consequences. Performance of one of the most advanced monitoring systems, the synchrophasor system, is the focus of this thesis. This research will look at testing techniques used for performance assessment of synchrophasor system performance in the field. Existing methods will be reviewed and evaluated for deficiencies in capturing system performance regarding data quality. The focus of this work will be on improving synchrophasor data quality, by introducing new testing methodology that utilizes a nested testing approach for end-to-end testing in the field using a portable test set and associated software tools. The capability of such methods and these tools to fully characterize and evaluate the performance of synchrophasor systems in the field will be validated through implementation in a large-scale testbed. The purpose of this research is to specify, develop and implement a methodology and associated tools for field-testing of synchrophasor systems. To this day, there is no dedicated standard for field-testing of synchrophasor systems. This resulted in an inability to define widely accepted procedures to detect deterioration of system performance due to poor data quality and caused communication failures, unacceptable device and subsystem accuracy, or loss of calibration. This work will demonstrate how the new approach addresses the mentioned performance assessment gap. The feasibility of implementation of the proposed test procedures will be demonstrated using different test system configurations available in a large-scale testbed. The proposed method is fully leveraging the benefits of a portable device specifically developed for field-testing, which may be used for improvement of commissioning, maintenance and troubleshooting tests for existing installations. Use Cases resulting from this work will illustrate the practical benefits of the proposed methodology and associated tools

Low-cost automated vectors and modular environmental sensors for plant phenotyping

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. High-throughput plant phenotyping in controlled environments (growth chambers and glasshouses) is often delivered via large, expensive installations, leading to limited access and the increased relevance of “affordable phenotyping” solutions. We present two robot vectors for automated plant phenotyping under controlled conditions. Using 3D-printed components and readily-available hardware and electronic components, these designs are inexpensive, flexible and easily modified to multiple tasks. We present a design for a thermal imaging robot for high-precision time-lapse imaging of canopies and a Plate Imager for high-throughput phenotyping of roots and shoots of plants grown on media plates. Phenotyping in controlled conditions requires multi-position spatial and temporal monitoring of environmental conditions. We also present a low-cost sensor platform for environmental monitoring based on inexpensive sensors, microcontrollers and internet-of-things (IoT) protocols

KYPO – A Platform for Cyber Defence Exercises

Correct and timely responses to cyber attacks are crucial for the effective implementation of cyber defence strategies and policies. The number of threats and ingenuity of attackers is ever growing, as is the need for more advanced detection tools, techniques and skilled cyber security professionals. KYPO – Cyber Exercise & Research Platform is focused on modelling and simulating complex computer systems and networks in a virtualized and separated environment. The platform enables realistic simulations of critical information infrastructures in a fully controlled and monitored environment. Time-efficient and cost-effective simulation is feasible using cloud resources instead of a dedicated infrastructure. In this paper, we present the KYPO platform and its use cases. We aim to execute current and sophisticated cyber attacks against simulated infrastructure since this is one of the key premises for running successful cyber security training exercises. To make the desirable improvement in the skills of the participants, a powerful storyline for the exercise is essential. Last but not least, we understand that technical skills must be complemented by communication, strategy and other skills for effective cyber defence

Artificial Intelligence for Automated Design of Elevator Systems

Configuration and design of complex products represents a challenge in many application fields. The designer must take into account many different aspects and make decisions typically driven by experience while taking into account performance constraints and costs. Methods and tools for design automation represents a viable solution to such complex decision problems, giving also the possibility to optimize the performance of the final product on particular context-driven aspects. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can help in dealing with complexity and enhance the current tools by supplying solutions in feasible time. My research is concerned with the development and testing of different artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to automate the design of elevators. Elevator design is a problem with many interesting aspects like the need to deal with a hybrid search state space (continuous and discrete variables) constrained by design requirements and safety regulations. The study, design and integration of AI techniques in this particular application field can provide the end user with design automation tools that output feasible solutions within acceptable computation times. My research considered AI techniques such as special-purpose heuristic search, genetic algorithms and constraint satisfaction to solve elevator configuration problems. I tested them considering different setups and parts of the whole design process. I have also implemented a tool L IFT C REATE , available as a web application. L IFT C REATE leverages the findings of my research to automate the design of elevators and, to the best of my knowledge, there is currently no similar tool publicly available from either academia or industry that provides the same level of design automation

A reference model for integrated energy and power management of HPC systems

Optimizing a computer for highest performance dictates the efficient use of its limited resources. Computers as a whole are rather complex. Therefore, it is not sufficient to consider optimizing hardware and software components independently. Instead, a holistic view to manage the interactions of all components is essential to achieve system-wide efficiency. For High Performance Computing (HPC) systems, today, the major limiting resources are energy and power. The hardware mechanisms to measure and control energy and power are exposed to software. The software systems using these mechanisms range from firmware, operating system, system software to tools and applications. Efforts to improve energy and power efficiency of HPC systems and the infrastructure of HPC centers achieve perpetual advances. In isolation, these efforts are unable to cope with the rising energy and power demands of large scale systems. A systematic way to integrate multiple optimization strategies, which build on complementary, interacting hardware and software systems is missing. This work provides a reference model for integrated energy and power management of HPC systems: the Open Integrated Energy and Power (OIEP) reference model. The goal is to enable the implementation, setup, and maintenance of modular system-wide energy and power management solutions. The proposed model goes beyond current practices, which focus on individual HPC centers or implementations, in that it allows to universally describe any hierarchical energy and power management systems with a multitude of requirements. The model builds solid foundations to be understandable and verifiable, to guarantee stable interaction of hardware and software components, for a known and trusted chain of command. This work identifies the main building blocks of the OIEP reference model, describes their abstract setup, and shows concrete instances thereof. A principal aspect is how the individual components are connected, interface in a hierarchical manner and thus can optimize for the global policy, pursued as a computing center's operating strategy. In addition to the reference model itself, a method for applying the reference model is presented. This method is used to show the practicality of the reference model and its application. For future research in energy and power management of HPC systems, the OIEP reference model forms a cornerstone to realize --- plan, develop and integrate --- innovative energy and power management solutions. For HPC systems themselves, it supports to transparently manage current systems with their inherent complexity, it allows to integrate novel solutions into existing setups, and it enables to design new systems from scratch. In fact, the OIEP reference model represents a basis for holistic efficient optimization.Computer auf höchstmögliche Rechenleistung zu optimieren bedingt Effizienzmaximierung aller limitierenden Ressourcen. Computer sind komplexe Systeme. Deshalb ist es nicht ausreichend, Hardware und Software isoliert zu betrachten. Stattdessen ist eine Gesamtsicht des Systems notwendig, um die Interaktionen aller Einzelkomponenten zu organisieren und systemweite Optimierungen zu ermöglichen. Für Höchstleistungsrechner (HLR) ist die limitierende Ressource heute ihre Leistungsaufnahme und der resultierende Gesamtenergieverbrauch. In aktuellen HLR-Systemen sind Energie- und Leistungsaufnahme programmatisch auslesbar als auch direkt und indirekt steuerbar. Diese Mechanismen werden in diversen Softwarekomponenten von Firmware, Betriebssystem, Systemsoftware bis hin zu Werkzeugen und Anwendungen genutzt und stetig weiterentwickelt. Durch die Komplexität der interagierenden Systeme ist eine systematische Optimierung des Gesamtsystems nur schwer durchführbar, als auch nachvollziehbar. Ein methodisches Vorgehen zur Integration verschiedener Optimierungsansätze, die auf komplementäre, interagierende Hardware- und Softwaresysteme aufbauen, fehlt. Diese Arbeit beschreibt ein Referenzmodell für integriertes Energie- und Leistungsmanagement von HLR-Systemen, das „Open Integrated Energy and Power (OIEP)“ Referenzmodell. Das Ziel ist ein Referenzmodell, dass die Entwicklung von modularen, systemweiten energie- und leistungsoptimierenden Sofware-Verbunden ermöglicht und diese als allgemeines hierarchisches Managementsystem beschreibt. Dies hebt das Modell von bisherigen Ansätzen ab, welche sich auf Einzellösungen, spezifischen Software oder die Bedürfnisse einzelner Rechenzentren beschränken. Dazu beschreibt es Grundlagen für ein planbares und verifizierbares Gesamtsystem und erlaubt nachvollziehbares und sicheres Delegieren von Energie- und Leistungsmanagement an Untersysteme unter Aufrechterhaltung der Befehlskette. Die Arbeit liefert die Grundlagen des Referenzmodells. Hierbei werden die Einzelkomponenten der Software-Verbunde identifiziert, deren abstrakter Aufbau sowie konkrete Instanziierungen gezeigt. Spezielles Augenmerk liegt auf dem hierarchischen Aufbau und der resultierenden Interaktionen der Komponenten. Die allgemeine Beschreibung des Referenzmodells erlaubt den Entwurf von Systemarchitekturen, welche letztendlich die Effizienzmaximierung der Ressource Energie mit den gegebenen Mechanismen ganzheitlich umsetzen können. Hierfür wird ein Verfahren zur methodischen Anwendung des Referenzmodells beschrieben, welches die Modellierung beliebiger Energie- und Leistungsverwaltungssystemen ermöglicht. Für Forschung im Bereich des Energie- und Leistungsmanagement für HLR bildet das OIEP Referenzmodell Eckstein, um Planung, Entwicklung und Integration von innovativen Lösungen umzusetzen. Für die HLR-Systeme selbst unterstützt es nachvollziehbare Verwaltung der komplexen Systeme und bietet die Möglichkeit, neue Beschaffungen und Entwicklungen erfolgreich zu integrieren. Das OIEP Referenzmodell bietet somit ein Fundament für gesamtheitliche effiziente Systemoptimierung

Apollo experience report: Lunar module environmental control subsystem

A functional description of the environmental control subsystem is presented. Development, tests, checkout, and flight experiences of the subsystem are discussed; and the design fabrication, and operational difficulties associated with the various components and subassemblies are recorded. Detailed information is related concerning design changes made to, and problems encountered with, the various elements of the subsystem, such as the thermal control water sublimator, the carbon dioxide sensing and control units, and the water section. The problems associated with water sterilization, water/glycol formulation, and materials compatibility are discussed. The corrective actions taken are described with the expection that this information may be of value for future subsystems. Although the main experiences described are problem oriented, the subsystem has generally performed satisfactorily in flight