Cloud Services Brokerage for Mobile Ubiquitous Computing

Recently, companies are adopting Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) to efficiently deliver enterprise services to users (or consumers) on their personalized devices. MCC is the facilitation of mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and smart watches) to access virtualized services such as software applications, servers, storage, and network services over the Internet. With the advancement and diversity of the mobile landscape, there has been a growing trend in consumer attitude where a single user owns multiple mobile devices. This paradigm of supporting a single user or consumer to access multiple services from n-devices is referred to as the Ubiquitous Cloud Computing (UCC) or the Personal Cloud Computing. In the UCC era, consumers expect to have application and data consistency across their multiple devices and in real time. However, this expectation can be hindered by the intermittent loss of connectivity in wireless networks, user mobility, and peak load demands. Hence, this dissertation presents an architectural framework called, Cloud Services Brokerage for Mobile Ubiquitous Cloud Computing (CSB-UCC), which ensures soft real-time and reliable services consumption on multiple devices of users. The CSB-UCC acts as an application middleware broker that connects the n-devices of users to the multi-cloud services. The designed system determines the multi-cloud services based on the user's subscriptions and the n-devices are determined through device registration on the broker. The preliminary evaluations of the designed system shows that the following are achieved: 1) high scalability through the adoption of a distributed architecture of the brokerage service, 2) providing soft real-time application synchronization for consistent user experience through an enhanced mobile-to-cloud proximity-based access technique, 3) reliable error recovery from system failure through transactional services re-assignment to active nodes, and 4) transparent audit trail through access-level and context-centric provenance

Web service composition: A survey of techniques and tools

Web services are a consolidated reality of the modern Web with tremendous, increasing impact on everyday computing tasks. They turned the Web into the largest, most accepted, and most vivid distributed computing platform ever. Yet, the use and integration of Web services into composite services or applications, which is a highly sensible and conceptually non-trivial task, is still not unleashing its full magnitude of power. A consolidated analysis framework that advances the fundamental understanding of Web service composition building blocks in terms of concepts, models, languages, productivity support techniques, and tools is required. This framework is necessary to enable effective exploration, understanding, assessing, comparing, and selecting service composition models, languages, techniques, platforms, and tools. This article establishes such a framework and reviews the state of the art in service composition from an unprecedented, holistic perspective

A Systematic Review of IoT Communication Strategies for an Efficient Smart Environment

The massive increase in actuators, industrial devices, health-care devices, and sensors, have led to the implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT), fast and flexible information technology communication between the devices. As such, responding to the needs in speedily way, and matching the smart services with modified requirements, IoT communications have facilitated the interconnections of things between applications, users, and smart devices. In order to gain extra advantage of the numerous services of the Internet. In this paper, the authors first, provided a comprehensive analysis on the IoT communication strategies and applications for smart devices based on a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). Then, the communication strategies and applications are categorized into four main topics including device to device, device to cloud, device to gateway and device to application scenarios. Furthermore, a technical taxonomy is presented to classify the existing papers according to search-based methodology in the scientific databases. The technical taxonomy presents five categories for IoT communication applications including monitoring-based communications, routing-based communications, health-based communications, Intrusion-based communications, and resource-based communications. The evaluation factors and infrastructure attributes are discussed based on some technical questions. Finally, some new challenges and forthcoming issues of future IoT communications are presented

Architecting the IoT Paradigm: A Middleware for Autonomous Distributed Sensor Networks

Actualizing Internet of Things undoubtedly constitutes a major challenge of modern computing and is a promising next step in realizing the unification of all seamlessly interacting entities, either human users or participating machines, under a shared, coherent architecture. While it has now become common belief that the related solutions should be based on compatible network infrastructure employing widely accepted communication schemes, the specifics of the intermediate system that would act as global interface for all involved “things” are yet to be determined. A rising trend to define such machine-based entities is through cyber-physical systems, in terms of collaborating elements with physical input and output. Certainly, sensor networks constitute the most representative realization of such systems. Taking these issues and opportunities under consideration, this work proposes a bioinspired distributed architecture for an Internet of Things that exhibits self-organization properties to enable efficient interaction between entities modeled as cyber-physical systems, mainly focusing on sensor networks. Furthermore, a middleware has been implemented according to the proposed architecture, which serves the role of the backbone of this network as a multiagent and autonomous distributed system. The evaluation results demonstrate the self-optimization properties of the introduced scheme and indicate global network convergence

Enhancing access to socioeconomic development information using mobile phone applications in rural Zimbabwe: the case of Matabeleland South Province.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Mobile phone access has grown exponentially, transforming access to information and communication in Africa. Mobile phone penetration has increased dramatically across the urban-rural, rich-poor and literate-illiterate divides, which other technologies failed to bridge. The number of mobile phone subscriptions grew astronomically, from less than two million in 1998 to more than 620 million subscribers in Africa (Carmody, 2012). Internet users grew 85-fold from 4.5m users in 2000 to over 388m users in Africa at a rate higher than any other region (Internetworldstas, 2018). Global mobile app downloads have reached 175 billion in 2017, generating more than $85 billion, yet most African countries possess an insignificant share of this, due to low literacy levels, low economic opportunities and an infrastructure that is still developing (The Guardian, 2014; Perez, 2018). The growing presence of mobile phones must be harnessed to enhance access to socioeconomic information, in order to improve standards of life in the global south. Scholars and communication enthusiasts have argued that simply providing access to the internet, without considering the relevance of content, will not change the fortunes of rural communities (Internet.org, 2014; GSMA, 2015). There is the need to provide localised and relevant content – such as local news, market prices and bus timetables – to these communities. This research resonates with Goal 9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which seeks to increase access to information and communication technology, and provide universal and affordable access to the internet in least developed countries by 2020 (UN, 2016). In Zimbabwe, radio and television are basic technologies used for disseminating socioeconomic information, yet most of the rural communities have no access to radio and television signals, 37 years after independence. Rural mobile phone ownership is about 80%, and broadband penetration is 46.5% (ITU, 2013). In addition, Zimbabwe’s average rural literacy is about 90%. These two factors – high rural literacy levels and high rural mobile phone ownership – motivated the researcher to develop a mobile phone application prototype that could be utilised by rural communities to enhance their access to socioeconomic development information that could, in turn, anchor sustainable development. The mobile phone application prototype has the potential to provide a new platform for accessing socioeconomic development information in the rural areas of Zimbabwe, including information on agriculture, health, community activities, education and the markets, plus local and national news. These can all promote sustainable development. The study followed a seven-cycle design science research methodology, from problem identification to communicating the utility of the aertefact which guided the development of the mobile phone application (Hevner, 2007). The development of the prototype followed a user-centred design, as well user experience, where high-fidelity prototypes were presented to participants selected through a random sample to be part of the development process. This process is iterative, incorporating user feedback and redesign of the prototype until the users and developers agree on the design. After designing the prototype, participants were randomly selected to evaluate the mobile phone application prototype using an adapted TAM2, whose main constructs relate to perceived usefulness and ease of use (Davis, 1989)

A Cognitive Routing framework for Self-Organised Knowledge Defined Networks

This study investigates the applicability of machine learning methods to the routing protocols for achieving rapid convergence in self-organized knowledge-defined networks. The research explores the constituents of the Self-Organized Networking (SON) paradigm for 5G and beyond, aiming to design a routing protocol that complies with the SON requirements. Further, it also exploits a contemporary discipline called Knowledge-Defined Networking (KDN) to extend the routing capability by calculating the “Most Reliable” path than the shortest one. The research identifies the potential key areas and possible techniques to meet the objectives by surveying the state-of-the-art of the relevant fields, such as QoS aware routing, Hybrid SDN architectures, intelligent routing models, and service migration techniques. The design phase focuses primarily on the mathematical modelling of the routing problem and approaches the solution by optimizing at the structural level. The work contributes Stochastic Temporal Edge Normalization (STEN) technique which fuses link and node utilization for cost calculation; MRoute, a hybrid routing algorithm for SDN that leverages STEN to provide constant-time convergence; Most Reliable Route First (MRRF) that uses a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) to approximate route-reliability as the metric of MRRF. Additionally, the research outcomes include a cross-platform SDN Integration framework (SDN-SIM) and a secure migration technique for containerized services in a Multi-access Edge Computing environment using Distributed Ledger Technology. The research work now eyes the development of 6G standards and its compliance with Industry-5.0 for enhancing the abilities of the present outcomes in the light of Deep Reinforcement Learning and Quantum Computing

Health Care Equity Through Intelligent Edge Computing and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality: A Systematic Review

Intellectual capital is a scarce resource in the healthcare industry. Making the most of this resource is the first step toward achieving a completely intelligent healthcare system. However, most existing centralized and deep learning-based systems are unable to adapt to the growing volume of global health records and face application issues. To balance the scarcity of healthcare resources, the emerging trend of IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) and edge computing will be very practical and cost-effective. A full examination of the transformational role of intelligent edge computing in the IoMT era to attain health care equity is offered in this research. Intelligent edge computing-aided distribution and collaborative information management is a possible approach for a long-term digital healthcare system. Furthermore, IEC (Intelligent Edge Computing) encourages digital health data to be processed only at the edge, minimizing the amount of information exchanged with central servers/the internet. This significantly increases the privacy of digital health data. Another critical component of a sustainable healthcare system is affordability in digital healthcare. Affordability in digital healthcare is another key component of a sustainable healthcare system. Despite its importance, it has received little attention due to its complexity. In isolated and rural areas where expensive equipment is unavailable, IEC with AR / VR, also known as edge device shadow, can play a significant role in the inexpensive data collection process. Healthcare equity becomes a reality by combining intelligent edge device shadows and edge computing

La seguridad en redes SDN y sus aplicaciones

Introduction: The review article is the product of the research on Security in SDN networks and their applications, developed at the District University in 2020, presenting the latest advances, that have been made in security. Problem: The security weaknesses that SDN networks have had, due to being a new architecture. This has not allowed traditional networks to be replaced.   Objective: To carry out a review of the state of the art of SDN networks, focusing research on the security of the control layer and its advances. Methodology: The descriptive method is implemented, consulting databases such as Scopus, IEEE and ScienceDirect, using the following search criteria: SDN networks, security in SDN networks, applications with SDN networks and OpenFlow protocol. It is shown as a research sample: the Asian, European and American continents with years of research from 2014 to 2020. Results: Great advances have been made in terms of security for SDN networks, which allows us to see an early solution to the weaknesses that it currently faces.   Conclusion: SDN networks will solve all the challenges they face and will be consolidated as a solid and reliable architecture.   Originality: an important focus is taken on the security of SDN networks and the great development that has occurred in this regard is evident.   Limitations: SDN networks are a new architecture, so their development has been very little and advances in security have been significantly affected.Introducción: El artículo de revisión es producto de la investigación Seguridad en redes SDN y sus aplicaciones, desarrollada en la Universidad Distrital en el año 2020, presentando los últimos avances que se han logrado en seguridad. Problema: Las debilidades en seguridad que han tenido las redes SDN debido a ser una arquitectura nueva, esto no ha permitido que se reemplacen las redes tradicionales. Objetivo: realizar una revisión del estado del arte de las redes SDN enfocando la investigación la seguridad de la capa de control y sus avances. Metodología: se emplea el método descriptivo, se consultaron bases de datos como Scopus, IEEE y ScienceDirect, utilizando los siguientes criterios de búsqueda: SDN networks, security in SDN networks, applications with SDN networks y OpenFlow protocol, se tomó como muestra de investigación a los continentes asiático, europeo y americano con años de investigación desde el año 2014 hasta el año 2020. Resultados: se han desarrollado grandes avances en seguridad para las redes SDN, lo que permite ver una pronta solución a las debilidades que afronta en la actualidad. Conclusión: las redes SDN lograran resolver todos los retos a los que se enfrentan y se consolidara como una arquitectura sólida y confiable. Originalidad: se realiza un enfoque importante en la seguridad de las redes SDN y se evidencia el gran desarrollo que se ha presentado en este aspecto. Limitaciones: las redes SDN son una arquitectura nueva por lo que su desarrollo ha sido muy poco y los avances en seguridad se vieron afectados significativamente