SciTech News Volume 71, No. 1 (2017)

Columns and Reports From the Editor 3 Division News Science-Technology Division 5 Chemistry Division 8 Engineering Division Aerospace Section of the Engineering Division 9 Architecture, Building Engineering, Construction and Design Section of the Engineering Division 11 Reviews Sci-Tech Book News Reviews 12 Advertisements IEEE

TechNews digests: Jan - Nov 2006

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

Identifying attack surfaces in the evolving space industry using reference architectures

The space environment is currently undergoing a substantial change and many new entrants to the market are deploying devices, satellites and systems in space; this evolution has been termed as NewSpace. The change is complicated by technological developments such as deploying machine learning based autonomous space systems and the Internet of Space Things (IoST). In the IoST, space systems will rely on satellite-to-x communication and interactions with wider aspects of the ground segment to a greater degree than existing systems. Such developments will inevitably lead to a change in the cyber security threat landscape of space systems. Inevitably, there will be a greater number of attack vectors for adversaries to exploit, and previously infeasible threats can be realised, and thus require mitigation. In this paper, we present a reference architecture (RA) that can be used to abstractly model in situ applications of this new space landscape. The RA specifies high-level system components and their interactions. By instantiating the RA for two scenarios we demonstrate how to analyse the attack surface using attack trees

Survey of Inter-satellite Communication for Small Satellite Systems: Physical Layer to Network Layer View

Small satellite systems enable whole new class of missions for navigation, communications, remote sensing and scientific research for both civilian and military purposes. As individual spacecraft are limited by the size, mass and power constraints, mass-produced small satellites in large constellations or clusters could be useful in many science missions such as gravity mapping, tracking of forest fires, finding water resources, etc. Constellation of satellites provide improved spatial and temporal resolution of the target. Small satellite constellations contribute innovative applications by replacing a single asset with several very capable spacecraft which opens the door to new applications. With increasing levels of autonomy, there will be a need for remote communication networks to enable communication between spacecraft. These space based networks will need to configure and maintain dynamic routes, manage intermediate nodes, and reconfigure themselves to achieve mission objectives. Hence, inter-satellite communication is a key aspect when satellites fly in formation. In this paper, we present the various researches being conducted in the small satellite community for implementing inter-satellite communications based on the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model. This paper also reviews the various design parameters applicable to the first three layers of the OSI model, i.e., physical, data link and network layer. Based on the survey, we also present a comprehensive list of design parameters useful for achieving inter-satellite communications for multiple small satellite missions. Specific topics include proposed solutions for some of the challenges faced by small satellite systems, enabling operations using a network of small satellites, and some examples of small satellite missions involving formation flying aspects.Comment: 51 pages, 21 Figures, 11 Tables, accepted in IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorial

TechNews digests: Autumn 2004

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

European Arctic Initiatives Compendium

Julkaistu versi

Engineering at San Jose State University, Winter 2014

https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/engr_news/1012/thumbnail.jp

Working Paper 36 - Information Technology and the Challenge of Economic Growth in Africa

The recent advances in information technology are becoming central to the process of socio-economic development. Information technology offers new ways of exchanging information, and transacting business, changes the nature of the financial and other service sectors and provides efficient means of using the human and institutional capabilities of countries in both the public and private sectors. The world is rapidly moving towards knowledge-based economic structures and information societies, which comprise networks of individuals, firms and countries that are linked electronically and in interdependent relationships. In an increasingly globalized economy, information technology is one of the key determinants of competitiveness and growth of firms and countries. Firms are becoming more competitive on the basis of their knowledge, rather than on the basis of natural endowments or low labor costs. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the role of traditional sources of comparative advantage (a large labor force and abundant natural resources) in determining international competitiveness is diminishing. The competitive and comparative advantages of countries are gradually being determined by access to information technology and knowledge. The comparative advantage that now counts is man-made, engineered by knowledge through the application of information. Since man-made comparative advantage can only be acquired by knowledge and brainpower, the newly emerging knowledge-based economic structures have far reaching implications with regard to labor markets and the roles of technical education, human capital formation and research and development in the process of economic growth. The evolution of the knowledge-based economy is expected to result in increasing the demand for skilled labor and reducing the employment prospects of unskilled labor. And within economies, enterprises would succeed only to the extent that their employees can access and use information and knowledge effectively. Information technology does not only determine the market share and profitability of individual companies in tomorrow's global economy, but it also has a huge impact on future generations of workers and on a country's economic prospects. What are the implications of information technology for the relative fortunes of nations? Countries that invest in and adopt information technology quickly will move ahead and those that fail to rapidly adopt information technology will be left behind. The views on the possible impact of the information revolution on African countries can be grouped in two opposing schools of thought. The first school predicts that as African countries incur an increasing 'technological deficit' the welfare gap between them and the industrialized world would increase. This school stresses that Africa risks further reduction in its ability to generate the resources necessary to accelerate its growth rate and reverse the trend of increasing poverty. On the other hand, the second school believe that information technology may actually help reduce the income gaps between rich and poor countries. In the words of Negroponte (1998): "the Third World five years from now may not be where you think it is. There have been many theories of leapfrog development, none of which has yet survived the test of time. That's about to change". The basic issue separating the two schools with regard to the impact of information technology on African countries is the question of whether Africa and other developing regions could, in the first place have adequate access to the global information Infrastructure, and hence to the information technology age. The prediction of the first school stems from the notion that, starting from an initial position of poverty, African countries would not be able to finance the investments in information infrastructure and computer hardware and software required to access the information technology age. This would, in turn, mean that they would risk increased marginalization in the global economy with severe competitive disadvantage for their goods and services, and hence for their development prospects. The prediction of the second school is based on the argument that the information technology, itself, would provide the means for countries to turn their disadvantages into advantages; adjust to the new ways of doing business; and, put in place the required infrastructure of telecommunications and information systems. This paper reviews Africa's development challenges in an increasingly information and knowledge-based global economy. It outlines the roles of knowledge and information technology in addressing these challenges and also discusses the strategies and policies that Africa and its development partners particularly the African Development Bank could adopt to accelerate the process of integrating the region into the emerging global information system. The paper is organized in five sections. Following this introduction, the next section examines the major developmental challenges facing Africa and what role information technology could play in overcoming them. Section III outlines the policies that would need to be adopted by African countries to improve their information accessibility and examines the initiatives taken by African countries in this domain. Section IV examines the role that could be played by the African Development Bank Group. The conclusion of the paper is provided in the last section.