Mobile forensic triage for damaged phones using M_Triage

Mobile forensics triage is a useful technique in a digital forensics investigation for recovering lost or purposely deleted and hidden files from digital storage. It is particularly useful, especially when solving a very sensitive crime, for example, kidnapping, in a timely manner. However, the existing mobile forensics triage tools do not consider performing a triage examination on damaged mobile phones. This research addressed the issues of performing triage examination on damaged Android mobile phones and reduction of false positive result generated by the current mobile forensics triage tools. Furthermore, the research addressed the issues of ignoring possible evidence residing in a bad block memory location. In this research a new forensics triage tool called M_Triage was introduced by extending Decode’s framework to handle data retrieval challenges on damaged Android mobile phones. The tool was designed to obtain evidence quickly and accurately (i.e. valid address book, call logs, SMS, images, and, videos, etc.) on Android damaged mobile phones. The tool was developed using C#, while back end engines was done using C programming and tested using five data sets. Based on the computational time processing comparison with Dec0de, Lifter, XRY and Xaver, the result showed that there was 75% improvement over Dec0de, 36% over Lifter, 28% over XRY and finally 71% over Xaver. Again, based on the experiment done on five data sets, M_Triage was capable of carving valid address book, call logs, SMS, images and videos as compared to Dec0de, Lifter, XRY and Xaver. With the average improvement of 90% over DEC0DE, 30% over Lifter, 40% over XRY and lastly 61% over Xaver. This shows that M_Triage is a better tool to be used because it saves time, carve more relevant files and less false positive result are achieved with the tool

Mobile forensic triage for damaged phones using M_Triage

Mobile forensics triage is a useful technique in a digital forensics investigation for recovering lost or purposely deleted and hidden files from digital storage. It is particularly useful, especially when solving a very sensitive crime, for example, kidnapping, in a timely manner. However, the existing mobile forensics triage tools do not consider performing a triage examination on damaged mobile phones. This research addressed the issues of performing triage examination on damaged Android mobile phones and reduction of false positive result generated by the current mobile forensics triage tools. Furthermore, the research addressed the issues of ignoring possible evidence residing in a bad block memory location. In this research a new forensics triage tool called M_Triage was introduced by extending Decode’s framework to handle data retrieval challenges on damaged Android mobile phones. The tool was designed to obtain evidence quickly and accurately (i.e. valid address book, call logs, SMS, images, and, videos, etc.) on Android damaged mobile phones. The tool was developed using C#, while back end engines was done using C programming and tested using five data sets. Based on the computational time processing comparison with Dec0de, Lifter, XRY and Xaver, the result showed that there was 75% improvement over Dec0de, 36% over Lifter, 28% over XRY and finally 71% over Xaver. Again, based on the experiment done on five data sets, M_Triage was capable of carving valid address book, call logs, SMS, images and videos as compared to Dec0de, Lifter, XRY and Xaver. With the average improvement of 90% over DEC0DE, 30% over Lifter, 40% over XRY and lastly 61% over Xaver. This shows that M_Triage is a better tool to be used because it saves time, carve more relevant files and less false positive result are achieved with the tool

three different approaches for localization in a corridor environment by means of an ultrasonic wide beam

In this paper the authors present three methods to detect the position and orientation of an observer, such as a mobile robot, with respect to a corridor wall. They use an inexpensive sensor to spread a wide ultrasonic beam. The sensor is rotated by means of an accurate servomotor in order to propagate ultrasonic waves towards a regular wall. Whatever the wall material may be the scanning surface appears to be an acoustic reflector as a consequence of low air impedance. The realized device is able to give distance information in each motor position and thus permits the derivation of a set of points as a ray trace-scanner. The dataset contains points lying on a circular arc and relating to strong returns. Three different approaches are herein considered to estimate both the slope of the wall and its minimum distance from the sensor. Slope and perpendicular distance are the parameters of a target plane, which may be calculated in each observer's position to predict its new location. Experimental tests and simulations are shown and discussed by scanning from different stationary locations. They allow the appreciation of the effectiveness of the proposed approaches

Un nuevo concepto en escáner adaptativo de bajo costo para robots móviles

El problema fundamental en las aplicaciones de robots móviles, es la necesidad de conocer con exactitud la posición del vehículo, para poder localizarse en el espacio y evitar obstáculos en su camino. En la búsqueda de una solución, los investigadores e ingenieros han desarrollado diferentes sensores, sistemas y técnicas.Los robots móviles modernos se basan en la información obtenida de diferentes sensores y en sofisticados algoritmos de fusión de datos. Por tal razón, en este artículo se propone un nuevo concepto de escáner de adaptación a bajo costo, basándose en patrones de luz proyectados. La ventaja principal del sistema propuesto es: su adaptabilidad, que permite en los robots el escaneo rápido de los alrededores durante la búsqueda de obstáculos y una exploración más detallada de un objeto determinado, para poder recu-perar así, su configuración de la superficie y realizar algunos análisis limitados.El artículo aborda el concepto de un escáner de este tipo, donde se logró la prueba del concepto utilizando un proyector de oficina DLP. Durante las mediciones, la exactitud del sistema propuesto se puso a prueba, usando obstáculos con objetos de configuraciones conocidas. De esta manera, los resultados obtenidos son presentados, analizados y se discuten las conclusiones sobre el desempeño del sistema para generar posibles mejoramientos.A fundamental problem in mobile robot applications is the need for accurate knowledge of the position of a vehicle for localizing itself and for avoiding obstacles in its path. In the search for a solution to this problem, researchers and engineers have developed different sensors, systems and techniques. Modern mobile robots relay information obtained from a variety of sensors and sophisticated data fusion algorithms. In this paper, a novel concept for a low-cost adaptive scanner based on a projected light pattern is proposed. The main advantage of the proposed system is its adaptivity, which enables the rapid scanning of the robot’s surroundings in search of obstacles and a more detailed scan of a single object to retrieve its surface configuration and perform some limited analyses. This paper addresses the concept behind such a scanner, where a proof-of-concept is achieved using an office DLP projector. During the measurements, the accuracy of the proposed system was tested on obstacles and objects with known configurations. The obtained results are presented and analyzed, and conclusions about the system’s performance and possible improvements are discussed

One Tone, Two Ears, Three Dimensions: An investigation of qualitative echolocation strategies in synthetic bats and real robots

Institute of Perception, Action and BehaviourThe aim of the work reported in this thesis is to investigate a methodology for studying perception by building and testing robotic models of animal sensory mechanisms. Much of Artificial Intelligence studies agent perception by exploring architectures for linking (often abstract) sensors and motors so as to give rise to particular behaviour. By contrast, this work proposes that perceptual investigations should begin with a characterisation of the underlying physical laws which govern the specific interaction of a sensor (or actuator) with its environment throughout the execution of a task. Moreover, it demonstrates that, through an understanding of task-physics, problems for which architectural solutions or explanations are often proposed may be solved more simply at the sensory interface - thereby minimising subsequent computation. This approach is applied to an investigation of the acoustical cues that may be exploited by several species of tone emitting insectivorous bats (species in the families Rhinolophidae and Hipposideridae) which localise prey using systematic pinnae scanning movements. From consideration of aspects of the sound filtering performed by the external and inner ear or these bats, three target localisation mechanisms are hypothesised and tested aboard a 6 degree-of-freedom, binaural, robotic echolocation system.In the first case, it is supposed that echolocators with narrow-band call structures use pinna movement to alter the directional sensitivity of their perceptual systems in the same whay that broad-band emitting bats rely on pinnae morphology to alter acoustic directionality at different frequencies.Scanning receivers also create dynamic cues - in the form of frequency and amplitude modulations - which very systematically with target angle. The second hypothesis investigated involves the extraction of timing cues from amplitude modulated echo envelopes

Development of a Wall Climbing Robot and Ground Penetrating Radar System for NonDestructive Testing of Vertical Safety Critical Concrete Structures

This research aims to develop a unique adhesion mechanism for wall climbing robot to automate the technology of non-destructive testing (NDT) of large safety critical reinforced concrete structures such as nuclear power plants, bridge columns, dams etc. This research work investigates the effect of key design parameters involved in optimizing the adhesion force achieved from rare earth neodymium magnets. In order to penetrate a nominal concrete cover to achieve magnetic coupling with buried rebar and generate high enough adhesion force by using minimum number of permanent magnets, criteria such as distance between multiple magnets, thickness of flux concentrator are evaluated by implementing finite element analysis (FEA). The proposed adhesion module consists of three N42 grade neodymium magnets arranged in a unique arrangement on a flux concentrator called yoke. The preliminary FEA results suggest that, using two yoke modules with minimum distance between them generate 82 N higher adhesion force compared to a single module system with higher forceto-weight ratio of 4.36. Presence of multiple rebars in a dense mesh setting can assist the adhesion module to concentrate the magnetic flux along separate rebars. This extended concentration area has led to higher adhesion force of 135.73 N as well as enabling the robot to take turns. Results suggest that, having a 50×50 mm rebar meshing can sustain steep robot rotational movement along it’s centre of gravity where the adhesion force can fall as low as 150 N. A small, mobile prototype robot with on-board force sensor is built that exhibited 3600 of manoeuvrability on a 50×50 mm meshed rebars test rig with maximum adhesion force of 108 N at 35 mm air gap. Both experiment and simulationresults prove that the magnetic adhesion mechanism can generate efficient adhesion force for the climbing robot to operate on vertical reinforced concrete structures. In terms of the NDT sensor, an in-depth analysis of the ground penetrating radar (GPR) is carried out to develop a low cost operational laboratory prototype. A one-dimensional numerical framework based on finite difference time domain (FDTD) method is developed to model response behaviour of a GPR. The effects of electrical properties such as dielectric constant, conductivity of the media are evaluated. A Gaussian shaped pulse is used as source which propagates through the 1D array grid, and the pulse interactions at different media interfaces are investigated. A real life application of GPR to detect a buried steel bar in 1 m thick concrete block is modelled, and the results present 100% accurate detection of the steel bar along with measured depth of the concrete cover. The developed framework could be implemented to model multi-layer dielectric blocks with detection capability of various buried objects. Experimental models are built by utilizing a proposed antenna miniaturization technique of dipole antenna with additional radiating arms. The resultant reflection coefficient values indicate a reduction of 55% and 44% in length reduction compared to a conventional 100 MHz and 200 MHz dipole antenna respectively. The GPR transmitting pulse generator features an enhanced tuneable feature to make the GPR system more adaptable to various environmental conditions. The prototype pulse generator circuit can produce pulses with variable width from 750 ps to 10 ns. The final assembled robotic GPR system’s performance is validated by its capability of detecting and localizing an aluminium sheet and a rebar of 12 mm diameter buried under a test rig built of wood to mimic the concrete structure environment. The final calculations reveal a depth error of +0.1 m. However, the key focus of this work is to prove the design concept and the error in measurement can be addressed by utilizing narrower bandwidth pulse that the proposed pulse generator is capable of generating. In general, the proposed robotic GPR system developed in this research proves the concept of feasibility of undertaking inspection procedure on large concrete structures in hazardous environments that may not be accessible to human inspector