Integrating secure mobile P2P systems and Wireless Sensor Networks

Aquesta tesi tracta de les diferents limitacions trobades a WSN per a habilitar-ne el desplegament en nous escenaris i facilitar la difusió de la informació obtinguda. A un nivell baix, ens centrem en el consum d'energia, mentre que, a un nivell més alt, ens focalitzem en la difusió i la seguretat de la informació. Reduïm el consum d'una mote individual en xarxes amb patrons de trànsit dinàmic mitjançant la definició d'una funció de planificació basada en el conegut controlador PID i allarguem la vida d'una WSN globalment distribuint equitativament el consum energètic de totes les motes, disminuint el nombre d'intervencions necessàries per a canviar bateries i el cost associat. Per tal d'afavorir la difusió de la informació provinent d'una WSN, hem proposat jxSensor, una capa d'integració entre les WSN i el conegut sistema P2P JXTA. Com que tractem informació sensible, hem proposat una capa d'anonimat a JXTA i un mecanisme d'autenticació lleuger per a la seva versió mòbil.Esta tesis trata las diferentes limitaciones encontradas en WSN para habilitar su despliegue en nuevos escenarios, así como facilitar la diseminación de la información obtenida. A bajo nivel, nos centramos en el consumo de energía, mientras que, a un nivel más alto, nos focalizamos en la diseminación y seguridad de la información. Reducimos el consumo de una mota individual en redes con patrones de tráfico dinámico mediante la definición de una función de planificación basada en el conocido controlador PID y alargamos la vida de una WSN globalmente distribuyendo equitativamente el consumo energético de todas las motas, disminuyendo el número de intervenciones requeridas para cambiar baterías y su coste asociado. Para favorecer la diseminación de la información procedente de una WSN hemos propuesto jxSensor, una capa de integración entre las WSN y el conocido sistema P2P JXTA. Como estamos tratando con información sensible, hemos propuesto una capa de anonimato en JXTA y un mecanismo de autenticación ligero para su versión móvil.This thesis addresses different limitations found in WSNs in order to enable their deployment in new scenarios as well as to make it easier to disseminate the gathered information. At a lower level, we concentrate on energy consumption while, at a higher level, we focus on the dissemination and security of information. The consumption of an individual mote in networks with dynamic traffic patterns is reduced by defining a scheduling function based on the well-known PID controller. Additionally, the life of a WSN is extended by equally distributing the consumption of all the motes, which reduces the number of interventions required to replace batteries as well as the associated cost. To help the dissemination of information coming from a WSN we have proposed jxSensor, which is an integration layer between WSNs and the well-known JXTA P2P system. As we are dealing with sensitive information, we have proposed an anonymity layer in JXTA and a light authentication method in its mobile version

Analysis as first-class citizens – an application to Architecture Description Languages

Architecture Description Languages (ADLs) support modeling and analysis of systems through models transformation and exploration. Various contributions made proposals to bring verification capabilities to designers through model-based frame- works and illustrated benefits to the overall system quality. Model-level analyses are usually performed as an exogenous, unidirectional and semantically weak transformation towards a third-party model. We claim such process can be incomplete and/or inefficient because gathered results lead to evolution of the primary model. This is particularly problematic for the design of Distributed Real-Time Embedded (DRE) systems that has to tackle many concerns like time, security or safety. In this paper, we argue why analysis should no longer be considered as a side step in the design process but, rather, should be embedded as a first-class citizen in the model itself. We review several standardized architecture description languages, which consider analysis as a goal. As an element of solution, we introduce current work on the definition of a language dedicated to the analysis of models within the scope of one particular ADL, namely the Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL)

On the definition of non-player character behaviour for real-time simulated virtual environments.

Computer games with complex virtual worlds, which are populated by artificial characters and creatures, are the most visible application of artificial intelligence techniques. In recent years game development has been fuelled by dramatic advances in computer graphics hardware which have led to a rise in the quality of real-time computer graphics and increased realism in computer games. As a result of these developments video games are gaining acceptance and cultural significance as a form of art and popular culture. An important factor for the attainment of realism in games is the artificially intelligent behaviour displayed by the virtual entities that populate the games' virtual worlds. It is our firm belief that to further improve the behaviour of virtual entities, game AI development will have to mirror the advances achieved in game graphics. A major contributing factor for these advancements has been the advent of programmable shaders for real-time graphics, which in turn has been significantly simplified by the introduction of higher level programming languages for the creation of shaders. This has demonstrated that a good system can be vastly improved by the addition of a programming language. This thesis presents a similar (syntactic) approach to the definition of the behaviour of virtual entities in computer games. We introduce the term behaviour definition language (BDL), describing a programming language for the definition of game entity behaviour. We specify the requirements for this type of programming language, which are applied to the development and implementation of several behaviour definition languages, culminating in the design of a new game-genre independent behaviour definition (scripting) language. This extension programming language includes several game AI techniques within a single unified system, allowing the use of different methods of behaviour definition. A subset of the language (itself a BDL) was implemented as a proof of concept of this design, providing a framework for the syntactic definition of the behaviour of virtual entities in computer games

High-technology industry developments - 2004/05; Audit risk alerts

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_indev/1114/thumbnail.jp

Uma infra-estrutura computacional para aumentar objectos reais com informação adicional

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia InformáticaA Computação Ubíqua tem como objectivo principal a construção de sistemas computacionais que suportem e facilitem o quotidiano dos utilizadores, mas sendo o menos intrusivos possível. Idealmente, estes nem se aperceberiam desse seu papel, pois toda a estrutura do sistema estaria de tal forma integrada no ambiente que se tornaria invisível, fazendo desaparecer a consciência de que se está perante um sistema computacional. Nos últimos anos, tem-se intensifi cado a investigação nesta área e são muitos os avanços tecnológicos, mas o cenário actual ainda se encontra longe de um quotidiano preenchido por sistemas ubíquos invisíveis. Esta dissertação segue uma perspectiva que defende uma aproximação prudente e iterativa à visão de Computação Ubíqua. Neste âmbito, é estudada e apresentada uma proposta de arquitectura e sistema, baseada em tecnologias reconhecidas, com um objectivo aplicacional restrito. Este sistema aumenta os objectos físicos presentes num ambiente através da apresentação de informação multimédia adicional. A informação que aumenta um objecto é contextual,baseando-se não só no objecto, mas também na sua localização específica, no espaço e no per l dos utilizadores. Foi desenhada uma arquitectura genérica para a implementação de infra-estruturas computacionais deste tipo em qualquer espaço físico. Esta tem em consideraração a distribuição do sistema pelas várias entidades presentes no ambiente, que são utilizadores, dispositivos e objectos. A apresentação da informação é feita onde e quando é necessária, sendo o mais discreta possível,e com interacção passiva. Numa abordagem complementar, permite-se uma interacção activa, desde que solicitada pelo utilizador. Foram desenvolvidos dois protótipos da infra-estrutura, cada um com base numa tecnologia madura para detecção e comunicação - RFID e Bluetooth. Estes protótipos permitiram que estas tecnologias fossem testadas, servindo também como prova de viabilidade da infra-estrutura

Autonomous grid scheduling using probabilistic job runtime forecasting.

Computational Grids are evolving into a global, service-oriented architecture a universal platform for delivering future computational services to a range of applications of varying complexity and resource requirements. The thesis focuses on developing a new scheduling model for general-purpose, utility clusters based on the concept of user requested job completion deadlines. In such a system, a user would be able to request each job to finish by a certain deadline. and possibly to a certain monetary cost. Implementing deadline scheduling is dependent on the ability to predict the execution time of each queued job. and on an adaptive scheduling algorithm able to use those predictions to maximise deadline adherence. The thesis proposes novel solutions to these two problems and documents their implementation in a largely autonomous and self-managing way. The starting point of the work is an extensive analysis of a representative Grid workload revealing consistent workflow patterns, usage cycles and correlations between the execution times of jobs and its properties commonly collected by the Grid middleware for accounting purposes. An automated approach is proposed to identify these dependencies and use them to partition the highly variable workload into subsets of more consistent and predictable behaviour. A range of time-series forecasting models, applied in this context for the first time, were used to model the job execution times as a function of their historical behaviour and associated properties. Based on the resulting predictions of job runtimes a novel scheduling algorithm is able to estimate the latest job start time necessary to meet the requested deadline and sort the queue accordingly to minimise the amount of deadline overrun. The testing of the proposed approach was done using the actual job trace collected from a production Grid facility. The best performing execution time predictor (the auto-regressive moving average method) coupled to workload partitioning based on three simultaneous job properties returned the median absolute percentage error eentroid of only 4.75CX. This level of prediction accuracy enabled the proposed deadline scheduling method to reduce the average deadline overrun time ten-fold compared to the benchmark batch scheduler. Overall, the thesis demonstrates that deadline scheduling of computational jobs on the Grid is achievable using statistical forecasting of job execution times based on historical information. The proposed approach is easily implementable, substantially self-managing and better matched to the human workflow making it well suited for implementation in the utility Grids of the future