Optimal Coding Functions for Pairwise Message Sharing on Finite-Field Multi-Way Relay Channels

This paper considers the finite-field multi-way relay channel with pairwise message sharing, where multiple users exchange messages through a single relay and where the users may share parts of their source messages (meaning that some message parts are known/common to more than one user). In this paper, we design an optimal functional-decode-forward coding scheme that takes the shared messages into account. More specifically, we design an optimal function for the relay to decode (from the users on the uplink) and forward (back to the users on the downlink). We then show that this proposed function-decode-forward coding scheme can achieve the capacity region of the finite-field multi-way relay channel with pairwise message sharing. This paper generalizes our previous result for the case of three users to any number of users.Comment: Author's final version (accepted for presentation at the 2014 IEEE International Conference on Communications [ICC 2014]

Reliable Physical Layer Network Coding

When two or more users in a wireless network transmit simultaneously, their electromagnetic signals are linearly superimposed on the channel. As a result, a receiver that is interested in one of these signals sees the others as unwanted interference. This property of the wireless medium is typically viewed as a hindrance to reliable communication over a network. However, using a recently developed coding strategy, interference can in fact be harnessed for network coding. In a wired network, (linear) network coding refers to each intermediate node taking its received packets, computing a linear combination over a finite field, and forwarding the outcome towards the destinations. Then, given an appropriate set of linear combinations, a destination can solve for its desired packets. For certain topologies, this strategy can attain significantly higher throughputs over routing-based strategies. Reliable physical layer network coding takes this idea one step further: using judiciously chosen linear error-correcting codes, intermediate nodes in a wireless network can directly recover linear combinations of the packets from the observed noisy superpositions of transmitted signals. Starting with some simple examples, this survey explores the core ideas behind this new technique and the possibilities it offers for communication over interference-limited wireless networks.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, survey paper to appear in Proceedings of the IEE

The Engineering of a Scalable Multi-Site Communications System Utilizing Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is a means of generating keys between a pair of computing hosts that is theoretically secure against cryptanalysis, even by a quantum computer. Although there is much active research into improving the QKD technology itself, there is still significant work to be done to apply engineering methodology and determine how it can be practically built to scale within an enterprise IT environment. Significant challenges exist in building a practical key management service for use in a metropolitan network. QKD is generally a point-to-point technique only and is subject to steep performance constraints. The integration of QKD into enterprise-level computing has been researched, to enable quantum-safe communication. A novel method for constructing a key management service is presented that allows arbitrary computing hosts on one site to establish multiple secure communication sessions with the hosts of another site. A key exchange protocol is proposed where symmetric private keys are granted to hosts while satisfying the scalability needs of an enterprise population of users. The key management service operates within a layered architectural style that is able to interoperate with various underlying QKD implementations. Variable levels of security for the host population are enforced through a policy engine. A network layer provides key generation across a network of nodes connected by quantum links. Scheduling and routing functionality allows quantum key material to be relayed across trusted nodes. Optimizations are performed to match the real-time host demand for key material with the capacity afforded by the infrastructure. The result is a flexible and scalable architecture that is suitable for enterprise use and independent of any specific QKD technology

Uplink User-Assisted Relaying in Cellular Networks

We use stochastic geometry to analyze the performance of a partial decode-and-forward (PDF) relaying scheme applied in a user-assisted relaying setting, where an active user relays data through another idle user in uplink cellular communication. We present the geometric model of a network deploying user-assisted relaying and propose two geometric cooperation policies for fast and slow fading channels. We analytically derive the cooperation probability for both policies. This cooperation probability is further used in the analytical derivation of the moments of inter-cell interference power caused by system-wide deployment of this user-assisted PDF relaying. We then model the inter-cell interference power statistics using the Gamma distribution by matching the first two moments analytically derived. This cooperation and interference analysis provides the theoretical basis for quantitatively evaluating the performance impact of user-assisted relaying in cellular networks. We then numerically evaluate the average transmission rate performance and show that user-assisted relaying can significantly improve per-user transmission rate despite of increased inter-cell interference. This transmission rate gain is significant for active users near the cell edge and further increases with higher idle user density, supporting user-assisted relaying as a viable solution to crowded population areas.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figures, revised version submitted to IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communication

The two-unicast problem

We consider the communication capacity of wireline networks for a two-unicast traffic pattern. The network has two sources and two destinations with each source communicating a message to its own destination, subject to the capacity constraints on the directed edges of the network. We propose a simple outer bound for the problem that we call the Generalized Network Sharing (GNS) bound. We show this bound is the tightest edge-cut bound for two-unicast networks and is tight in several bottleneck cases, though it is not tight in general. We also show that the problem of computing the GNS bound is NP-complete. Finally, we show that despite its seeming simplicity, the two-unicast problem is as hard as the most general network coding problem. As a consequence, linear coding is insufficient to achieve capacity for general two-unicast networks, and non-Shannon inequalities are necessary for characterizing capacity of general two-unicast networks.Comment: 23 pages, 22 figure

A Survey of Distributed Consensus Protocols for Blockchain Networks

Since the inception of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology have attracted an increasing interest from both academia and industry. Among various core components, consensus protocol is the defining technology behind the security and performance of blockchain. From incremental modifications of Nakamoto consensus protocol to innovative alternative consensus mechanisms, many consensus protocols have been proposed to improve the performance of the blockchain network itself or to accommodate other specific application needs. In this survey, we present a comprehensive review and analysis on the state-of-the-art blockchain consensus protocols. To facilitate the discussion of our analysis, we first introduce the key definitions and relevant results in the classic theory of fault tolerance which help to lay the foundation for further discussion. We identify five core components of a blockchain consensus protocol, namely, block proposal, block validation, information propagation, block finalization, and incentive mechanism. A wide spectrum of blockchain consensus protocols are then carefully reviewed accompanied by algorithmic abstractions and vulnerability analyses. The surveyed consensus protocols are analyzed using the five-component framework and compared with respect to different performance metrics. These analyses and comparisons provide us new insights in the fundamental differences of various proposals in terms of their suitable application scenarios, key assumptions, expected fault tolerance, scalability, drawbacks and trade-offs. We believe this survey will provide blockchain developers and researchers a comprehensive view on the state-of-the-art consensus protocols and facilitate the process of designing future protocols.Comment: Accepted by the IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials for publicatio

Onions in the Crosshairs: When The Man really is out to get you

We introduce and investigate *targeting adversaries* who selectively attack users of Tor or other secure-communication networks. We argue that attacks by such adversaries are more realistic and more significant threats to those most relying on Tor's protection than are attacks in prior analyses of Tor security. Previous research and Tor design decisions have focused on protecting against adversaries who are equally interested in any user of the network. Our adversaries selectively target users---e.g., those who visit a particular website or chat on a particular private channel---and essentially disregard Tor users other than these. We present a model of such adversaries and investigate three example cases where particular users might be targeted: a cabal conducting meetings using MTor, a published Tor multicast protocol; a cabal meeting on a private IRC channel; and users visiting a particular .onion website. In general for our adversaries, compromise is much faster and provides more feedback and possibilities for adaptation than do attacks examined in prior work. We also discuss selection of websites for targeting of their users based on the distribution across users of site activity. We describe adversaries both attempting to learn the size of a cabal meeting online or of a set of sufficiently active visitors to a targeted site and attempting to identify guards of each targeted user. We compare the threat of targeting adversaries versus previously considered adversaries, and we briefly sketch possible countermeasures for resisting targeting adversaries.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

DFINITY Technology Overview Series, Consensus System

The DFINITY blockchain computer provides a secure, performant and flexible consensus mechanism. At its core, DFINITY contains a decentralized randomness beacon which acts as a verifiable random function (VRF) that produces a stream of outputs over time. The novel technique behind the beacon relies on the existence of a unique-deterministic, non-interactive, DKG-friendly threshold signatures scheme. The only known examples of such a scheme are pairing-based and derived from BLS. The DFINITY blockchain is layered on top of the DFINITY beacon and uses the beacon as its source of randomness for leader selection and leader ranking. A "weight" is attributed to a chain based on the ranks of the leaders who propose the blocks in the chain, and that weight is used to select between competing chains. The DFINITY blockchain is layered on top of the DFINITY beacon and uses the beacon as its source of randomness for leader selection and leader ranking blockchain is further hardened by a notarization process which dramatically improves the time to finality and eliminates the nothing-at-stake and selfish mining attacks. DFINITY consensus algorithm is made to scale through continuous quorum selections driven by the random beacon. In practice, DFINITY achieves block times of a few seconds and transaction finality after only two confirmations. The system gracefully handles temporary losses of network synchrony including network splits, while it is provably secure under synchrony

A New Efficient Key Management Protocol for Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks

Research on sensor networks has become much more active and is currently being applied to many different fields. However since sensor networks are limited to only collecting and reporting information regarding a certain event, and requires human intervention with that given information, it is often difficult to react to an event or situation immediately and proactively. To overcome this kind of limitation, Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks (WSANs) with immediate-response actor nodes have been proposed which adds greater mobility and activity to the existing sensor networks. Although WSANs share many common grounds with sensor networks, it is difficult to apply existing security technologies due to the fact that WSANs contain actor nodes that are resource-independent and mobile. Therefore, this research seeks to demonstrate ways to provide security, integrity, and authentication services for WSANs secure operation, by separating networks into hierarchical structure by each node's abilities and provides different encryption key based secure protocols for each level of hierarchy, Pairwise key, node key, and region key for sensor levels, and public key for actorComment: 8 pages IEEE format, International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, IJCSIS November 2009, ISSN 1947 5500, http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis