High-speed, in-band performance measurement instrumentation for next generation IP networks

Facilitating always-on instrumentation of Internet traffic for the purposes of performance measurement is crucial in order to enable accountability of resource usage and automated network control, management and optimisation. This has proven infeasible to date due to the lack of native measurement mechanisms that can form an integral part of the network‟s main forwarding operation. However, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) specification enables the efficient encoding and processing of optional per-packet information as a native part of the network layer, and this constitutes a strong reason for IPv6 to be adopted as the ubiquitous next generation Internet transport. In this paper we present a very high-speed hardware implementation of in-line measurement, a truly native traffic instrumentation mechanism for the next generation Internet, which facilitates performance measurement of the actual data-carrying traffic at small timescales between two points in the network. This system is designed to operate as part of the routers' fast path and to incur an absolutely minimal impact on the network operation even while instrumenting traffic between the edges of very high capacity links. Our results show that the implementation can be easily accommodated by current FPGA technology, and real Internet traffic traces verify that the overhead incurred by instrumenting every packet over a 10 Gb/s operational backbone link carrying a typical workload is indeed negligible

Internet of Things-aided Smart Grid: Technologies, Architectures, Applications, Prototypes, and Future Research Directions

Traditional power grids are being transformed into Smart Grids (SGs) to address the issues in existing power system due to uni-directional information flow, energy wastage, growing energy demand, reliability and security. SGs offer bi-directional energy flow between service providers and consumers, involving power generation, transmission, distribution and utilization systems. SGs employ various devices for the monitoring, analysis and control of the grid, deployed at power plants, distribution centers and in consumers' premises in a very large number. Hence, an SG requires connectivity, automation and the tracking of such devices. This is achieved with the help of Internet of Things (IoT). IoT helps SG systems to support various network functions throughout the generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy by incorporating IoT devices (such as sensors, actuators and smart meters), as well as by providing the connectivity, automation and tracking for such devices. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT-aided SG systems, which includes the existing architectures, applications and prototypes of IoT-aided SG systems. This survey also highlights the open issues, challenges and future research directions for IoT-aided SG systems

Development and Flight Testing of a Wireless Avionics Network Based on the IEEE 802.11 Protocols

This report describes the development and flight testing of the IEEE 802.11 protocol-based Wireless Flight Management System (WFMS) using low cost Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) equipment and software. The unlicensed spectrum allocation in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands by the FCC has encouraged the industry to develop new standards for short-range communication that are commercially viable. This has resulted in new short-range communication technologies like Bluetooth and the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). The new modulation techniques developed for wireless communication support wired equivalent data rates. The commercial success of these technologies and their wide market adaptation has resulted in reduced costs for the devices that support these technologies. Applications of wireless technology in aerospace engineering are vast, including development, testing, manufacturing, prognostics health management, ground support equipment and active control. The high data rates offered by technologies like WLAN (IEEE 802.11 a/b/g) are sufficient to implement critical and essential data applications of avionics systems. A wireless avionics network based on IEEE 802.11a/b/g protocols will reduce the complexity and cost of installation and maintenance of the avionics system when compared to the existing wired system. The proposed WFMS imitates the flight management system of any commercial aircraft in terms of functionality. It utilizes a radio frequency for the transmission of the sensor data to the Cockpit Display Unit (CDU) and the Flight Management Computer (FMC). WFMS consists of a FMC, data acquisition node, sensor node and a user interface node. The FMC and the data acquisition nodes are built using PC/104 standard modules. The sensor node consists of an Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) and a GPS integrated with a serial device server. The user interface node is installed with moving map software which receives data from the AHRS and GPS to display flight information including topographic maps, attitude, heading, velocity, et cetera. This thesis demonstrates the performance evaluation of the WFMS both on the ground and in flight, and its advantages over a wired system. This thesis focuses on the evaluation of IEEE 802.11a/b/g protocols for avionics application. Efforts taken to calibrate the available bandwidth of the WLAN network at different operating conditions and varying ranges using different network analysis tools are explained briefly. Considerable research on issues like electromagnetic interference and network security critical to the development of a wireless network for avionics has also been done. This report covers different aspects of the implementation of wireless technology for aircraft systems. This work is a successful starting point for the new fly-by-wireless concept with extensions to active wireless flight control

LunaNet: a Flexible and Extensible Lunar Exploration Communications and Navigation Infrastructure

NASA has set the ambitious goal of establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon. Diverse commercial and international partners are engaged in this effort to catalyze scientific discovery, lunar resource utilization and economic development on both the Earth and at the Moon. Lunar development will serve as a critical proving ground for deeper exploration into the solar system. Space communications and navigation infrastructure will play an integral part in realizing this goal. This paper provides a high-level description of an extensible and scalable lunar communications and navigation architecture, known as LunaNet. LunaNet is a services network to enable lunar operations. Three LunaNet service types are defined: networking services, position, navigation and timing services, and science utilization services. The LunaNet architecture encompasses a wide variety of topology implementations, including surface and orbiting provider nodes. In this paper several systems engineering considerations within the service architecture are highlighted. Additionally, several alternative LunaNet instantiations are presented. Extensibility of the LunaNet architecture to the solar system internet is discussed

Proceedings of the NSSDC Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies for Space and Earth Science Applications

The proceedings of the National Space Science Data Center Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies for Space and Earth Science Applications held July 23 through 25, 1991 at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center are presented. The program includes a keynote address, invited technical papers, and selected technical presentations to provide a broad forum for the discussion of a number of important issues in the field of mass storage systems. Topics include magnetic disk and tape technologies, optical disk and tape, software storage and file management systems, and experiences with the use of a large, distributed storage system. The technical presentations describe integrated mass storage systems that are expected to be available commercially. Also included is a series of presentations from Federal Government organizations and research institutions covering their mass storage requirements for the 1990's

A Prototype Toolkit For Evaluating Indoor Environmental Quality In Commercial Buildings

Measurement of building environmental parameters is often complex, expensive, and not easily proceduralized in a manner that covers all commercial buildings. Evaluating building indoor environmental quality performance is therefore not standard practice. This project developed a prototype toolkit that addressed existing barriers to widespread indoor environmental quality performance evaluation. A toolkit with both hardware and software elements was designed for practitioners around the indoor environmental quality requirements of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers / Chartered Institution of Building Services / United States Green Building Council Performance Measurement Protocols. This unique toolkit was built on a wireless mesh network with a web-based data collection, analysis, and reporting application. The toolkit provided a fast, robust deployment of sensors, real-time data analysis, Performance Measurement Protocol-based analysis methods and a scorecard and report generation tools. A web-enabled Geographic Information System-based metadata collection system also reduced field-study deployment time. The toolkit was evaluated through three case studies, which were discussed in this report

Implementation of online temperature controller based on LabVIEW

LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) is the software which gives virtual existence of hardware, reduces its cost and hence termed as Virtual Instrumentation. This thesis presents the implementation of ON/OFF and PID controller for controlling the temperature of a heating element inside a wooden box with the help of LabVIEW. In this software, DataSocket Protocol and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) are used for developing an online transmission process between client and server. Client has control over the set point and Server has control over the temperature. With the help of internet protocol, client provides the value of set point according to which the control actions are taken by the server. The paper also includes discussions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of TCP/IP. Written communication in LabVIEW refers to communication via internet where the user can write messages to another user. Generally written communication is not found in any programming related software but LabVIEW makes this possible using internet protocol. This helps in easy and fast transmission of data in form of messages between the client and server PC(s). After the transmission process gets over, the transmitted data is used for implementing PID controller. The various responses in PID controller are obtained by varying the tuning parameters. The responses are with respect to three conditions in the controller. On studying the response curves, parameters like setting time, rise time and maximum overshoot are obtained. A comparison table is obtained for these parameters and helps in deciding to choose the values for tuning parameters of the controller