ESP2CS: Securing Internet of Vehicles through Blockchain-enabled Communications and Payments

The burgeoning domain of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), a subset of the Internet of Things (IoT), promises to revolutionize transportation through enhanced safety, efficiency, and environmental sustainability. By amalgamating technologies like sensors and cloud computing, the IoV paves the way for optimized traffic management, heightened vehicle safety, and the birth of novel business paradigms. However, this growth is shadowed by significant security concerns, especially in the communication and payment sectors. Addressing the pressing need for secure Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communications and payments amidst rising cyber threats, this research introduces the Ethereum based Secure Payment and Communication Solution (ESP2CS). Utilizing Ethereum as a middleware, ESP2CS ensures robust and secure V2X interactions. The solution is complemented by an Android Auto application for vehicles, streamlining inter vehicle communication, parking space detection, and transaction management. Furthermore, dedicated Android applications are developed for parking space renters and the parking IoT system. Preliminary evaluations underscore ESP2CS's superior cost effectiveness, integrity and consistency over contemporary solutions, with Ethereum bolstering both security and efficiency.Comment: The first GCC Engineering Symposium, GCCENG23, 202

Costs and benefits of superfast broadband in the UK

This paper was commissioned from LSE Enterprise by Convergys Smart Revenue Solutions to stimulate an open and constructive debate among the main stakeholders about the balance between the costs, the revenues, and the societal benefits of ‘superfast’ broadband. The intent has been to analyse the available facts and to propose wider perspectives on economic and social interactions. The paper has two parts: one concentrates on superfast broadband deployment and the associated economic and social implications (for the UK and its service providers), and the other considers alternative social science approaches to these implications. Both parts consider the potential contribution of smart solutions to superfast broadband provision and use. Whereas Part I takes the “national perspective” and the “service provider perspective”, which deal with the implications of superfast broadband for the UK and for service providers, Part II views matters in other ways, particularly by looking at how to realise values beyond the market economy, such as those inherent in neighbourliness, trust and democrac

Enhancing Trust in Devices and Transactions of the Internet of Things

With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), billions of smart embedded devices will interact frequently.These interactions will produce billions of transactions.With IoT, users can utilize their phones, home appliances, wearables, or any other wireless embedded device to conduct transactions.For example, a smart car and a parking lot can utilize their sensors to negotiate the fees of a parking spot.The success of IoT applications highly depends on the ability of wireless embedded devices to cope with a large number of transactions.However, these devices face significant constraints in terms of memory, computation, and energy capacity.With our work, we target the challenges of accurately recording IoT transactions from resource-constrained devices. We identify three domain-problems: a) malicious software modification, b) non-repudiation of IoT transactions, and c) inability of IoT transactions to include sensors readings and actuators.The motivation comes from two key factors.First, with Internet connectivity, IoT devices are exposed to cyber-attacks.Internet connectivity makes it possible for malicious users to find ways to connect and modify the software of a device.Second, we need to store transactions from IoT devices that are owned or operated by different stakeholders.The thesis includes three papers. In the first paper, we perform an empirical evaluation of Secure Boot on embedded devices.In the second paper, we propose IoTLogBlock, an architecture to record off-line transactions of IoT devices.In the third paper, we propose TinyEVM, an architecture to execute off-chain smart contracts on IoT devices with an ability to include sensor readings and actuators as part of IoT transactions

Digital Transformation in Norwegian Enterprises

This open access book presents a number of case studies on digital transformation in Norway, one of the fore-runners in the digital progress index established by the European Commission in 2020. They explore the process of adoption, diffusion and value generation from digital technologies, and how the use of different digital solutions has enabled Norwegian enterprises to digitally transform their operations and business models. The book starts with an introductory chapter summarizing a vast body of literature in order to synthesize what is already known about digital transformation before exploring the Norwegian context in more detail. Then a series of case studies from the private and public sector in Norway is presented. They document a process perspective which describes the sequence of events during and after adoption of digital solutions, as well as the types of business value that were realized. Through these single studies, the process of digital transformation is illustrated, a number of key findings highlighted, and eventually theoretical and practical recommendations based on these cases emphasized. The book closes with a brief overview of some emerging technologies, and comments on how they are likely to change different sectors. Digital transformation has been one of the priority areas for the Norwegian government over the past years and puts Norwegian enterprises upfront in adopting novel technologies and utilizing them for achieving organizational goals. This experience accumulated over the years makes the Norwegian context a particularly interesting one in understanding how private and public organizations make use of new digital solutions, what lessons can be learnt during the process, and what are some of the key success and failure factors. This way the book is written for practitioners who are currently involved in digital transformation projects in their organizations, researchers of information systems and management, as well as master students in degrees of informatics and technology management

Telecommunication Economics

This book constitutes a collaborative and selected documentation of the scientific outcome of the European COST Action IS0605 Econ@Tel "A Telecommunications Economics COST Network" which run from October 2007 to October 2011. Involving experts from around 20 European countries, the goal of Econ@Tel was to develop a strategic research and training network among key people and organizations in order to enhance Europe's competence in the field of telecommunications economics. Reflecting the organization of the COST Action IS0605 Econ@Tel in working groups the following four major research areas are addressed: - evolution and regulation of communication ecosystems; - social and policy implications of communication technologies; - economics and governance of future networks; - future networks management architectures and mechanisms

Telecommunication Economics

This book constitutes a collaborative and selected documentation of the scientific outcome of the European COST Action IS0605 Econ@Tel "A Telecommunications Economics COST Network" which run from October 2007 to October 2011. Involving experts from around 20 European countries, the goal of Econ@Tel was to develop a strategic research and training network among key people and organizations in order to enhance Europe's competence in the field of telecommunications economics. Reflecting the organization of the COST Action IS0605 Econ@Tel in working groups the following four major research areas are addressed: - evolution and regulation of communication ecosystems; - social and policy implications of communication technologies; - economics and governance of future networks; - future networks management architectures and mechanisms

Self-Reliance for the Internet of Things: Blockchains and Deep Learning on Low-Power IoT Devices

The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed common embedded devices from isolated objects to interconnected devices, allowing multiple applications for smart cities, smart logistics, and digital health, to name but a few. These Internet-enabled embedded devices have sensors and actuators interacting in the real world. The IoT interactions produce an enormous amount of data typically stored on cloud services due to the resource limitations of IoT devices. These limitations have made IoT applications highly dependent on cloud services. However, cloud services face several challenges, especially in terms of communication, energy, scalability, and transparency regarding their information storage. In this thesis, we study how to enable the next generation of IoT systems with transaction automation and machine learning capabilities with a reduced reliance on cloud communication. To achieve this, we look into architectures and algorithms for data provenance, automation, and machine learning that are conventionally running on powerful high-end devices. We redesign and tailor these architectures and algorithms to low-power IoT, balancing the computational, energy, and memory requirements.The thesis is divided into three parts:Part I presents an overview of the thesis and states four research questions addressed in later chapters.Part II investigates and demonstrates the feasibility of data provenance and transaction automation with blockchains and smart contracts on IoT devices.Part III investigates and demonstrates the feasibility of deep learning on low-power IoT devices.We provide experimental results for all high-level proposed architectures and methods. Our results show that algorithms of high-end cloud nodes can be tailored to IoT devices, and we quantify the main trade-offs in terms of memory, computation, and energy consumption

Distributed Data Management in Vehicular Networks Using Mobile Agents

En los últimos años, las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones se han incorporado al mundo de la automoción gracias a sus avances, y han permitido la creación de dispositivos cada vez más pequeños y potentes. De esta forma, los vehículos pueden ahora incorporar por un precio asequible equipos informáticos y de comunicaciones.En este escenario, los vehículos que circulan por una determinada zona (como una ciudad o una autopista) pueden comunicarse entre ellos usando dispositivos inalámbricos que les permiten intercambiar información con otros vehículos cercanos, formando así una red vehicular ad hoc, o VANET (Vehicular Ad hoc Network). En este tipo de redes, las comunicaciones se establecen con conexiones punto a punto por medio de dispositivos tipo Wi-Fi, que permiten la comunicación con otros del mismo tipo dentro de su alcance, sin que sea necesaria la existencia previa de una infraestructura de comunicaciones como ocurre con las tecnologías de telefonía móvil (como 3G/4G), que además requieren de una suscripción y el pago de una tarifa para poder usarlas.Cada vehículo puede enviar información y recibirla de diversos orígenes, como el propio vehículo (por medio de los sensores que lleva incorporados), otros vehículos que se encuentran cerca, así como de la infraestructura de tráfico presente en las carreteras (como semáforos, señales, paneles electrónicos de información, cámaras de vigilancia, etc.). Todos estas fuentes pueden transmitir datos de diversa índole, como información de interés para los conductores (por ejemplo, atascos de tráfico o accidentes en la vía), o de cualquier otro tipo, mientras sea posible digitalizarla y enviarla a través de una red.Todos esos datos pueden ser almacenados localmente en los ordenadores que llevan los vehículos a medida que son recibidos, y sería muy interesante poder sacarles partido por medio de alguna aplicación que los explotara. Por ejemplo, podrían utilizarse los vehículos como plataformas móviles de sensores que obtengan datos de los lugares por los que viajan. Otro ejemplo de aplicación sería la de ayudar a encontrar plazas de aparcamiento libres en una zona de una ciudad, usando la información que suministrarían los vehículos que dejan una plaza libre.Con este fin, en esta tesis se ha desarrollado una propuesta de la gestión de datos basada en el uso de agentes móviles para poder hacer uso de la información presente en una VANET de forma eficiente y flexible. Esta no es una tarea trivial, ya que los datos se encuentran dispersos entre los vehículos que forman la red, y dichos vehículos están constantemente moviéndose y cambiando de posición. Esto hace que las conexiones de red establecidas entre ellos sean inestables y de corta duración, ya que están constantemente creándose y destruyéndose a medida que los vehículos entran y salen del alcance de sus comunicaciones debido a sus movimientos.En un escenario tan complicado, la aproximación que proponemos permite que los datos sean localizados, y que se puedan hacer consultas sobre ellos y transmitirlos de un sitio cualquiera de la VANET a otro, usando estrategias multi-salto que se adaptan a las siempre cambiantes posiciones de los vehículos. Esto es posible gracias a la utilización de agentes móviles para el procesamiento de datos, ya que cuentan con una serie de propiedades (como su movilidad, autonomía, adaptabilidad, o inteligencia), que hace que sean una elección muy apropiada para este tipo de entorno móvil y con un elevado grado de incertidumbre.La solución propuesta ha sido extensamente evaluada y probada por medio de simulaciones, que demuestran su buen rendimiento y fiabilidad en redes vehiculares con diferentes condiciones y en diversos escenarios.<br /