A Survey of Access Control Models in Wireless Sensor Networks

Copyright 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have attracted considerable interest in the research community, because of their wide range of applications. However, due to the distributed nature of WSNs and their deployment in remote areas, these networks are vulnerable to numerous security threats that can adversely affect their proper functioning. Resource constraints in sensor nodes mean that security mechanisms with a large overhead of computation and communication are impractical to use in WSNs; security in sensor networks is, therefore, a challenge. Access control is a critical security service that offers the appropriate access privileges to legitimate users and prevents illegitimate users from unauthorized access. However, access control has not received much attention in the context of WSNs. This paper provides an overview of security threats and attacks, outlines the security requirements and presents a state-of-the-art survey on access control models, including a comparison and evaluation based on their characteristics in WSNs. Potential challenging issues for access control schemes in WSNs are also discussed.Peer reviewe

A QoS-Aware Routing Protocol for Real-time Applications in Wireless Sensor Networks

The paper presents a quality of service aware routing protocol which provides low latency for high priority packets. Packets are differentiated based on their priority by applying queuing theory. Low priority packets are transferred through less energy paths. The sensor nodes interact with the pivot nodes which in turn communicate with the sink node. This protocol can be applied in monitoring context aware physical environments for critical applications.Comment: 10 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1001.5339 by other author

A Survey on Wireless Sensor Network Security

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have recently attracted a lot of interest in the research community due their wide range of applications. Due to distributed nature of these networks and their deployment in remote areas, these networks are vulnerable to numerous security threats that can adversely affect their proper functioning. This problem is more critical if the network is deployed for some mission-critical applications such as in a tactical battlefield. Random failure of nodes is also very likely in real-life deployment scenarios. Due to resource constraints in the sensor nodes, traditional security mechanisms with large overhead of computation and communication are infeasible in WSNs. Security in sensor networks is, therefore, a particularly challenging task. This paper discusses the current state of the art in security mechanisms for WSNs. Various types of attacks are discussed and their countermeasures presented. A brief discussion on the future direction of research in WSN security is also included.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

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

Optimisation of Mobile Communication Networks - OMCO NET

The mini conference “Optimisation of Mobile Communication Networks” focuses on advanced methods for search and optimisation applied to wireless communication networks. It is sponsored by Research & Enterprise Fund Southampton Solent University. The conference strives to widen knowledge on advanced search methods capable of optimisation of wireless communications networks. The aim is to provide a forum for exchange of recent knowledge, new ideas and trends in this progressive and challenging area. The conference will popularise new successful approaches on resolving hard tasks such as minimisation of transmit power, cooperative and optimal routing

Self-organizing Fast Routing Protocols for Underwater Acoustic Communications Networks

To address this problem, in this thesis we propose a cross-layer proactive routing initialization mechanism that does not require additional measurements and, at the same time, is energy efficient. Two routing protocols are proposed: Self-Organized Fast Routing Protocol for Radial Underwater Networks (SOFRP) for radial topology and Self-organized Proactive Routing Protocol for Non-uniformly Deployed Underwater Networks (SPRINT) for a randomly deployed network. SOFRP is based on the algorithm to recreate a radial topology with a gateway node, such that packets always use the shortest possible path from source to sink, thus minimizing consumed energy. Collisions are avoided as much as possible during the path initialization. The algorithm is suitable for 2D or 3D areas, and automatically adapts to a varying number of nodes. In SPRINT the routing path to the gateway is formed on the basis of the distance, measured by the signal strength received. The data sending node prefers to choose the neighbor node which is closest to it. It is designed to achieve high data throughput and low energy consumption of the nodes. There is a tradeoff between the throughput and the energy consumption: more distance needs more transmission energy, and more relay nodes (hops) to the destination node affects the throughput. Each hop increases the packet delay and decreases the throughput. Hence, energy consumption requires nearest nodes to be chosen as forwarding node whereas the throughput requires farthest node to be selected to minimize the number of hops. Fecha de lectura de Tesis Doctoral: 11 mayo 2020Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) constitute an emerging technology for marine surveillance, natural disaster alert and environmental monitoring. Unlike terrestrial Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), electromagnetic waves cannot propagate more than few meters in water (high absorption rate). However, acoustic waves can travel long distances in underwater. Therefore, acoustic waves are preferred for underwater communications, but they travel very slow compare to EM waves (typical speed in water is 1500 m/s against 2x10^8 m/s for EM waves). This physical effect makes a high propagation delay and cannot be avoided, but the end-to-end packet delay it can be reduced. Routing delay is one of the major factors in end-to-end packet delay. In reactive routing protocols, when a packet arrives to a node, the node takes some time to select the node to which the data packet would be forwarded. We may reduce the routing delay for time-critical applications by using proactive routing protocols. Other two critical issues in UWSNs are determining the position of the nodes and time synchronization. Wireless sensor nodes need to determine the position of the surrounding nodes to select the next node in the path to reach the sink node. A Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) cannot be used because of the very short underwater range of the GNSS signal. Timestamping to estimate the distance is possible but the limited mobility of the UWSN nodes and variation in the propagation speed of the acoustic waves make the time synchronization a challenging task. For these reasons, terrestrial WSN protocols cannot be readily used for underwater acoustic networks

GRIDKIT: Pluggable overlay networks for Grid computing

A `second generation' approach to the provision of Grid middleware is now emerging which is built on service-oriented architecture and web services standards and technologies. However, advanced Grid applications have significant demands that are not addressed by present-day web services platforms. As one prime example, current platforms do not support the rich diversity of communication `interaction types' that are demanded by advanced applications (e.g. publish-subscribe, media streaming, peer-to-peer interaction). In the paper we describe the Gridkit middleware which augments the basic service-oriented architecture to address this particular deficiency. We particularly focus on the communications infrastructure support required to support multiple interaction types in a unified, principled and extensible manner-which we present in terms of the novel concept of pluggable overlay networks