Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks

In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge, and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control, learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity, localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature, and identify topics that require more research attention in the future

Prospectiva de seguridad de las redes de sensores inalámbricos

En las Redes de Sensores Inalámbricos (WSN), los nodos son vulnerables a los ataques de seguridad porque están instalados en un entorno difícil, con energía y memoria limitadas, baja capacidad de procesamiento y transmisión de difusión media; por lo tanto, identificar las amenazas, los retos y las soluciones de seguridad y privacidad es un tema candente hoy en día. En este artículo se analizan los trabajos de investigación que se han realizado sobre los mecanismos de seguridad para la protección de las WSN frente a amenazas y ataques, así como las tendencias que surgen en otros países junto con futuras líneas de investigación. Desde el punto de vista metodológico, este análisis se muestra a través de la visualización y estudio de trabajos indexados en bases de datos como IEEE, ACM, Scopus y Springer, con un rango de 7 años como ventana de observación, desde 2013 hasta 2019. Se obtuvieron un total de 4.728 publicaciones, con un alto índice de colaboración entre China e India. La investigación planteó desarrollos, como avances en los principios de seguridad y mecanismos de defensa, que han llevado al diseño de contramedidas en la detección de intrusiones. Por último, los resultados muestran el interés de la comunidad científica y empresarial por el uso de la inteligencia artificial y el aprendizaje automático (ML) para optimizar las medidas de rendimiento.In Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), nodes are vulnerable to security attacks because they are installed in a harsh environment with limited power and memory, low processing power, and medium broadcast transmission. Therefore, identifying threats, challenges, and solutions of security and privacy is a talking topic today. This article analyzes the research work that has been carried out on the security mechanisms for the protection of WSN against threats and attacks, as well as the trends that emerge in other countries combined with future research lines. From the methodological point of view, this analysis is shown through the visualization and study of works indexed in databases such as IEEE, ACM, Scopus, and Springer, with a range of 7 years as an observation window, from 2013 to 2019. A total of 4,728 publications were obtained, with a high rate of collaboration between China and India. The research raised developments, such as advances in security principles and defense mechanisms, which have led to the design of countermeasures in intrusion detection. Finally, the results show the interest of the scientific and business community in the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML) to optimize performance measurements

Low-latency Networking: Where Latency Lurks and How to Tame It

While the current generation of mobile and fixed communication networks has been standardized for mobile broadband services, the next generation is driven by the vision of the Internet of Things and mission critical communication services requiring latency in the order of milliseconds or sub-milliseconds. However, these new stringent requirements have a large technical impact on the design of all layers of the communication protocol stack. The cross layer interactions are complex due to the multiple design principles and technologies that contribute to the layers' design and fundamental performance limitations. We will be able to develop low-latency networks only if we address the problem of these complex interactions from the new point of view of sub-milliseconds latency. In this article, we propose a holistic analysis and classification of the main design principles and enabling technologies that will make it possible to deploy low-latency wireless communication networks. We argue that these design principles and enabling technologies must be carefully orchestrated to meet the stringent requirements and to manage the inherent trade-offs between low latency and traditional performance metrics. We also review currently ongoing standardization activities in prominent standards associations, and discuss open problems for future research

Routing protocol for heterogeneous wireless mesh networks

The introduction of heterogeneous wireless mesh technologies provides an opportunity for higher network capacity, wider coverage, and higher quality of service (QoS). Each wireless device utilizes different standards, data formats,protocols, and access technologies. However, the diversity andcomplexity of such technologies create challenges for traditionalcontrol and management systems. This paper proposes aheterogeneous metropolitan area network architecture thatcombines an IEEE 802.11 wireless mesh network with a long-term evolution (LTE) network. In addition, a new heterogeneous routing protocol and a routing algorithm based on reinforcement learning called Cognitive Heterogeneous Routing (CHR) are proposed to select the appropriate transmission technology based on parameters from each network. The proposed heterogeneous network overcomes the problems of sending packets over long paths, island nodes and interference in wireless mesh network and increases the overall capacity of the combined network by utilizing unlicensed frequency bands instead of buying more license frequency bands for LTE. The work is validated through extensive simulations that indicate that the proposed heterogeneous wireless mesh network outperforms the LTE and Wi-Fi networks when used individually. The simulation results show that the proposed network achieves an increase of up to 200% increase in throughput compared with Wi-Fi-only networks or LTE-only networks

Hedonic Coalition Formation for Distributed Task Allocation among Wireless Agents

Autonomous wireless agents such as unmanned aerial vehicles or mobile base stations present a great potential for deployment in next-generation wireless networks. While current literature has been mainly focused on the use of agents within robotics or software applications, we propose a novel usage model for self-organizing agents suited to wireless networks. In the proposed model, a number of agents are required to collect data from several arbitrarily located tasks. Each task represents a queue of packets that require collection and subsequent wireless transmission by the agents to a central receiver. The problem is modeled as a hedonic coalition formation game between the agents and the tasks that interact in order to form disjoint coalitions. Each formed coalition is modeled as a polling system consisting of a number of agents which move between the different tasks present in the coalition, collect and transmit the packets. Within each coalition, some agents can also take the role of a relay for improving the packet success rate of the transmission. The proposed algorithm allows the tasks and the agents to take distributed decisions to join or leave a coalition, based on the achieved benefit in terms of effective throughput, and the cost in terms of delay. As a result of these decisions, the agents and tasks structure themselves into independent disjoint coalitions which constitute a Nash-stable network partition. Moreover, the proposed algorithm allows the agents and tasks to adapt the topology to environmental changes such as the arrival/removal of tasks or the mobility of the tasks. Simulation results show how the proposed algorithm improves the performance, in terms of average player (agent or task) payoff, of at least 30.26% (for a network of 5 agents with up to 25 tasks) relatively to a scheme that allocates nearby tasks equally among agents.Comment: to appear, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computin

Adaptive Optimal Stochastic Control of Delay--Tolerant Networks

International audienceOptimal stochastic control of delay tolerant networks is studied in this paper. First, the structure of optimal two-hop forwarding policies is derived. In order to be implemented, such policies require knowledge of certain global system parameters such as the number of mobiles or the rate of contacts between mobiles. But, such parameters could be unknown at system design time or may even change over time. In order to address this problem, adaptive policies are designed that combine estimation and control: based on stochastic approximation techniques, such policies are proved to achieve optimal performance in spite of lack of global information. Furthermore, the paper studies interactions that may occur in the presence of several DTNs which compete for the access to a gateway node. The latter problem is formulated as a cost-coupled stochastic game and a unique Nash equilibrium is found. Such equilibrium corresponds to the system configuration in which each DTN adopts the optimal forwarding policy determined for the single network problem

SCALABLE AND EFFICIENT VERTICAL HANDOVER DECISION ALGORITHMS IN VEHICULAR NETWORK CONTEXTS

A finales de los años noventa, y al comienzo del nuevo milenio, las redes inalámbricas han evolucionado bastante, pasando de ser sólo una tecnología prometedora para convertirse en un requisito para las actividades cotidianas en las sociedades desarrolladas. La infraestructura de transporte también ha evolucionado, ofreciendo comunicación a bordo para mejorar la seguridad vial y el acceso a contenidos de información y entretenimiento. Los requisitos de los usuarios finales se han hecho dependientes de la tecnología, lo que significa que sus necesidades de conectividad han aumentado debido a los diversos requisitos de las aplicaciones que se ejecutan en sus dispositivos móviles, tales como tabletas, teléfonos inteligentes, ordenadores portátiles o incluso ordenadores de abordo (On-Board Units (OBUs)) dentro de los vehículos. Para cumplir con dichos requisitos de conectividad, y teniendo en cuenta las diferentes redes inalámbricas disponibles, es necesario adoptar técnicas de Vertical Handover (VHO) para cambiar de red de forma transparente y sin necesidad de intervención del usuario. El objetivo de esta tesis es desarrollar algoritmos de decisión (Vertical Handover Decision Algorithms (VHDAs)) eficientes y escalables, optimizados para el contexto de las redes vehiculares. En ese sentido se ha propuesto, desarrollado y probado diferentes algoritmos de decisión basados en la infraestructura disponible en las actuales, y probablemente en las futuras, redes inalámbricas y redes vehiculares. Para ello se han combinado diferentes técnicas, métodos computacionales y modelos matemáticos, con el fin de garantizar una conectividad apropiada, y realizando el handover hacia las redes más adecuadas de manera a cumplir tanto con los requisitos de los usuarios como los requisitos de las aplicaciones. Con el fin de evaluar el contexto, se han utilizado diferentes herramientas para obtener información variada, como la disponibilidad de la red, el estado de la red, la geolocalizaciónMárquez Barja, JM. (2012). SCALABLE AND EFFICIENT VERTICAL HANDOVER DECISION ALGORITHMS IN VEHICULAR NETWORK CONTEXTS [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/17869Palanci