Routing, Localization And Positioning Protocols For Wireless Sensor And Actor Networks

Wireless sensor and actor networks (WSANs) are distributed systems of sensor nodes and actors that are interconnected over the wireless medium. Sensor nodes collect information about the physical world and transmit the data to actors by using one-hop or multi-hop communications. Actors collect information from the sensor nodes, process the information, take decisions and react to the events. This dissertation presents contributions to the methods of routing, localization and positioning in WSANs for practical applications. We first propose a routing protocol with service differentiation for WSANs with stationary nodes. In this setting, we also adapt a sports ranking algorithm to dynamically prioritize the events in the environment depending on the collected data. We extend this routing protocol for an application, in which sensor nodes float in a river to gather observations and actors are deployed at accessible points on the coastline. We develop a method with locally acting adaptive overlay network formation to organize the network with actor areas and to collect data by using locality-preserving communication. We also present a multi-hop localization approach for enriching the information collected from the river with the estimated locations of mobile sensor nodes without using positioning adapters. As an extension to this application, we model the movements of sensor nodes by a subsurface meandering current mobility model with random surface motion. Then we adapt the introduced routing and network organization methods to model a complete primate monitoring system. A novel spatial cut-off preferential attachment model and iii center of mass concept are developed according to the characteristics of the primate groups. We also present a role determination algorithm for primates, which uses the collection of spatial-temporal relationships. We apply a similar approach to human social networks to tackle the problem of automatic generation and organization of social networks by analyzing and assessing interaction data. The introduced routing and localization protocols in this dissertation are also extended with a novel three dimensional actor positioning strategy inspired by the molecular geometry. Extensive simulations are conducted in OPNET simulation tool for the performance evaluation of the proposed protocol

Contributions to Context-Aware Smart Healthcare: A Security and Privacy Perspective

Les tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació han canviat les nostres vides de manera irreversible. La indústria sanitària, una de les indústries més grans i de major creixement, està dedicant molts esforços per adoptar les últimes tecnologies en la pràctica mèdica diària. Per tant, no és sorprenent que els paradigmes sanitaris estiguin en constant evolució cercant serveis més eficients, eficaços i sostenibles. En aquest context, el potencial de la computació ubiqua mitjançant telèfons intel·ligents, rellotges intel·ligents i altres dispositius IoT ha esdevingut fonamental per recopilar grans volums de dades, especialment relacionats amb l'estat de salut i la ubicació de les persones. Les millores en les capacitats de detecció juntament amb l'aparició de xarxes de telecomunicacions d'alta velocitat han facilitat la implementació d'entorns sensibles al context, com les cases i les ciutats intel·ligents, capaços d'adaptar-se a les necessitats dels ciutadans. La interacció entre la computació ubiqua i els entorns sensibles al context va obrir la porta al paradigma de la salut intel·ligent, centrat en la prestació de serveis de salut personalitzats i de valor afegit mitjançant l'explotació de grans quantitats de dades sanitàries, de mobilitat i contextuals. No obstant, la gestió de dades sanitàries, des de la seva recollida fins a la seva anàlisi, planteja una sèrie de problemes desafiants a causa del seu caràcter altament confidencial. Aquesta tesi té per objectiu abordar diversos reptes de seguretat i privadesa dins del paradigma de la salut intel·ligent. Els resultats d'aquesta tesi pretenen ajudar a la comunitat científica a millorar la seguretat dels entorns intel·ligents del futur, així com la privadesa dels ciutadans respecte a les seves dades personals i sanitàries.Las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación han cambiado nuestras vidas de forma irreversible. La industria sanitaria, una de las industrias más grandes y de mayor crecimiento, está dedicando muchos esfuerzos por adoptar las últimas tecnologías en la práctica médica diaria. Por tanto, no es sorprendente que los paradigmas sanitarios estén en constante evolución en busca de servicios más eficientes, eficaces y sostenibles. En este contexto, el potencial de la computación ubicua mediante teléfonos inteligentes, relojes inteligentes, dispositivos wearables y otros dispositivos IoT ha sido fundamental para recopilar grandes volúmenes de datos, especialmente relacionados con el estado de salud y la localización de las personas. Las mejoras en las capacidades de detección junto con la aparición de redes de telecomunicaciones de alta velocidad han facilitado la implementación de entornos sensibles al contexto, como las casas y las ciudades inteligentes, capaces de adaptarse a las necesidades de los ciudadanos. La interacción entre la computación ubicua y los entornos sensibles al contexto abrió la puerta al paradigma de la salud inteligente, centrado en la prestación de servicios de salud personalizados y de valor añadido mediante la explotación significativa de grandes cantidades de datos sanitarios, de movilidad y contextuales. No obstante, la gestión de datos sanitarios, desde su recogida hasta su análisis, plantea una serie de cuestiones desafiantes debido a su naturaleza altamente confidencial. Esta tesis tiene por objetivo abordar varios retos de seguridad y privacidad dentro del paradigma de la salud inteligente. Los resultados de esta tesis pretenden ayudar a la comunidad científica a mejorar la seguridad de los entornos inteligentes del futuro, así como la privacidad de los ciudadanos con respecto a sus datos personales y sanitarios.Information and communication technologies have irreversibly changed our lives. The healthcare industry, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing industries, is dedicating many efforts in adopting the latest technologies into daily medical practice. It is not therefore surprising that healthcare paradigms are constantly evolving seeking for more efficient, effective and sustainable services. In this context, the potential of ubiquitous computing through smartphones, smartwatches, wearables and IoT devices has become fundamental to collect large volumes of data, including people's health status and people’s location. The enhanced sensing capabilities together with the emergence of high-speed telecommunication networks have facilitated the implementation of context-aware environments, such as smart homes and smart cities, able to adapt themselves to the citizens needs. The interplay between ubiquitous computing and context-aware environments opened the door to the so-called smart health paradigm, focused on the provision of added-value personalised health services by meaningfully exploiting vast amounts of health, mobility and contextual data. However, the management of health data, from their gathering to their analysis, arises a number of challenging issues due to their highly confidential nature. In particular, this dissertation addresses several security and privacy challenges within the smart health paradigm. The results of this dissertation are intended to help the research community to enhance the security of the intelligent environments of the future as well as the privacy of the citizens regarding their personal and health data

From MANET to people-centric networking: Milestones and open research challenges

In this paper, we discuss the state of the art of (mobile) multi-hop ad hoc networking with the aim to present the current status of the research activities and identify the consolidated research areas, with limited research opportunities, and the hot and emerging research areas for which further research is required. We start by briefly discussing the MANET paradigm, and why the research on MANET protocols is now a cold research topic. Then we analyze the active research areas. Specifically, after discussing the wireless-network technologies, we analyze four successful ad hoc networking paradigms, mesh networks, opportunistic networks, vehicular networks, and sensor networks that emerged from the MANET world. We also present an emerging research direction in the multi-hop ad hoc networking field: people centric networking, triggered by the increasing penetration of the smartphones in everyday life, which is generating a people-centric revolution in computing and communications

Smart Wireless Sensor Networks

The recent development of communication and sensor technology results in the growth of a new attractive and challenging area - wireless sensor networks (WSNs). A wireless sensor network which consists of a large number of sensor nodes is deployed in environmental fields to serve various applications. Facilitated with the ability of wireless communication and intelligent computation, these nodes become smart sensors which do not only perceive ambient physical parameters but also be able to process information, cooperate with each other and self-organize into the network. These new features assist the sensor nodes as well as the network to operate more efficiently in terms of both data acquisition and energy consumption. Special purposes of the applications require design and operation of WSNs different from conventional networks such as the internet. The network design must take into account of the objectives of specific applications. The nature of deployed environment must be considered. The limited of sensor nodes� resources such as memory, computational ability, communication bandwidth and energy source are the challenges in network design. A smart wireless sensor network must be able to deal with these constraints as well as to guarantee the connectivity, coverage, reliability and security of network's operation for a maximized lifetime. This book discusses various aspects of designing such smart wireless sensor networks. Main topics includes: design methodologies, network protocols and algorithms, quality of service management, coverage optimization, time synchronization and security techniques for sensor networks

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

Efficient Actor Recovery Paradigm For Wireless Sensor And Actor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are becoming widely used worldwide. Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks (WSANs) represent a special category of WSNs wherein actors and sensors collaborate to perform specific tasks. WSANs have become one of the most preeminent emerging type of WSNs. Sensors with nodes having limited power resources are responsible for sensing and transmitting events to actor nodes. Actors are high-performance nodes equipped with rich resources that have the ability to collect, process, transmit data and perform various actions. WSANs have a unique architecture that distinguishes them from WSNs. Due to the characteristics of WSANs, numerous challenges arise. Determining the importance of factors usually depends on the application requirements. The actor nodes are the spine of WSANs that collaborate to perform the specific tasks in an unsubstantiated and uneven environment. Thus, there is a possibility of high failure rate in such unfriendly scenarios due to several factors such as power fatigue of devices, electronic circuit failure, software errors in nodes or physical impairment of the actor nodes and inter-actor connectivity problem. It is essential to keep inter-actor connectivity in order to insure network connectivity. Thus, it is extremely important to discover the failure of a cut-vertex actor and network-disjoint in order to improve the Quality-of-Service (QoS). For network recovery process from actor node failure, optimal re-localization and coordination techniques should take place. In this work, we propose an efficient actor recovery (EAR) paradigm to guarantee the contention-free traffic-forwarding capacity. The EAR paradigm consists of Node Monitoring and Critical Node Detection (NMCND) algorithm that monitors the activities of the nodes to determine the critical node. In addition, it replaces the critical node with backup node prior to complete node-failure which helps balances the network performance. The packet is handled using Network Integration and Message Forwarding (NIMF) algorithm that determines the source of forwarding the packets (Either from actor or sensor). This decision-making capability of the algorithm controls the packet forwarding rate to maintain the network for longer time. Furthermore, for handling the proper routing strategy, Priority-Based Routing for Node Failure Avoidance (PRNFA) algorithm is deployed to decide the priority of the packets to be forwarded based on the significance of information available in the packet. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed EAR paradigm, we compare the performance of our proposed work with state-of the art localization algorithms. Our experimental results show superior performance in regards to network life, residual energy, reliability, sensor/ actor recovery time and data recovery

Contributions to Edge Computing

Efforts related to Internet of Things (IoT), Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Machine to Machine (M2M) technologies, Industrial Internet, and Smart Cities aim to improve society through the coordination of distributed devices and analysis of resulting data. By the year 2020 there will be an estimated 50 billion network connected devices globally and 43 trillion gigabytes of electronic data. Current practices of moving data directly from end-devices to remote and potentially distant cloud computing services will not be sufficient to manage future device and data growth. Edge Computing is the migration of computational functionality to sources of data generation. The importance of edge computing increases with the size and complexity of devices and resulting data. In addition, the coordination of global edge-to-edge communications, shared resources, high-level application scheduling, monitoring, measurement, and Quality of Service (QoS) enforcement will be critical to address the rapid growth of connected devices and associated data. We present a new distributed agent-based framework designed to address the challenges of edge computing. This actor-model framework implementation is designed to manage large numbers of geographically distributed services, comprised from heterogeneous resources and communication protocols, in support of low-latency real-time streaming applications. As part of this framework, an application description language was developed and implemented. Using the application description language a number of high-order management modules were implemented including solutions for resource and workload comparison, performance observation, scheduling, and provisioning. A number of hypothetical and real-world use cases are described to support the framework implementation