Distributed Hybrid Simulation of the Internet of Things and Smart Territories

This paper deals with the use of hybrid simulation to build and compose heterogeneous simulation scenarios that can be proficiently exploited to model and represent the Internet of Things (IoT). Hybrid simulation is a methodology that combines multiple modalities of modeling/simulation. Complex scenarios are decomposed into simpler ones, each one being simulated through a specific simulation strategy. All these simulation building blocks are then synchronized and coordinated. This simulation methodology is an ideal one to represent IoT setups, which are usually very demanding, due to the heterogeneity of possible scenarios arising from the massive deployment of an enormous amount of sensors and devices. We present a use case concerned with the distributed simulation of smart territories, a novel view of decentralized geographical spaces that, thanks to the use of IoT, builds ICT services to manage resources in a way that is sustainable and not harmful to the environment. Three different simulation models are combined together, namely, an adaptive agent-based parallel and distributed simulator, an OMNeT++ based discrete event simulator and a script-language simulator based on MATLAB. Results from a performance analysis confirm the viability of using hybrid simulation to model complex IoT scenarios.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1605.0487

Vehicular Fog Computing Enabled Real-time Collision Warning via Trajectory Calibration

Vehicular fog computing (VFC) has been envisioned as a promising paradigm for enabling a variety of emerging intelligent transportation systems (ITS). However, due to inevitable as well as non-negligible issues in wireless communication, including transmission latency and packet loss, it is still challenging in implementing safety-critical applications, such as real-time collision warning in vehicular networks. In this paper, we present a vehicular fog computing architecture, aiming at supporting effective and real-time collision warning by offloading computation and communication overheads to distributed fog nodes. With the system architecture, we further propose a trajectory calibration based collision warning (TCCW) algorithm along with tailored communication protocols. Specifically, an application-layer vehicular-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication delay is fitted by the Stable distribution with real-world field testing data. Then, a packet loss detection mechanism is designed. Finally, TCCW calibrates real-time vehicle trajectories based on received vehicle status including GPS coordinates, velocity, acceleration, heading direction, as well as the estimation of communication delay and the detection of packet loss. For performance evaluation, we build the simulation model and implement conventional solutions including cloud-based warning and fog-based warning without calibration for comparison. Real-vehicle trajectories are extracted as the input, and the simulation results demonstrate that the effectiveness of TCCW in terms of the highest precision and recall in a wide range of scenarios

A Hybrid Model to Extend Vehicular Intercommunication V2V through D2D Architecture

In the recent years, many solutions for Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communication were proposed to overcome failure problems (also known as dead ends). This paper proposes a novel framework for V2V failure recovery using Device-to-Device (D2D) communications. Based on the unified Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) architecture, LTE-based D2D mechanisms can improve V2V dead ends failure recovery delays. This new paradigm of hybrid V2V-D2D communications overcomes the limitations of traditional V2V routing techniques. According to NS2 simulation results, the proposed hybrid model decreases the end to end delay (E2E) of messages delivery. A complete comparison of different D2D use cases (best & worst scenarios) is presented to show the enhancements brought by our solution compared to traditional V2V techniques.Comment: 6 page

Federated Robust Embedded Systems: Concepts and Challenges

The development within the area of embedded systems (ESs) is moving rapidly, not least due to falling costs of computation and communication equipment. It is believed that increased communication opportunities will lead to the future ESs no longer being parts of isolated products, but rather parts of larger communities or federations of ESs, within which information is exchanged for the benefit of all participants. This vision is asserted by a number of interrelated research topics, such as the internet of things, cyber-physical systems, systems of systems, and multi-agent systems. In this work, the focus is primarily on ESs, with their specific real-time and safety requirements. While the vision of interconnected ESs is quite promising, it also brings great challenges to the development of future systems in an efficient, safe, and reliable way. In this work, a pre-study has been carried out in order to gain a better understanding about common concepts and challenges that naturally arise in federations of ESs. The work was organized around a series of workshops, with contributions from both academic participants and industrial partners with a strong experience in ES development. During the workshops, a portfolio of possible ES federation scenarios was collected, and a number of application examples were discussed more thoroughly on different abstraction levels, starting from screening the nature of interactions on the federation level and proceeding down to the implementation details within each ES. These discussions led to a better understanding of what can be expected in the future federated ESs. In this report, the discussed applications are summarized, together with their characteristics, challenges, and necessary solution elements, providing a ground for the future research within the area of communicating ESs

A log mining approach for process monitoring in SCADA

SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems are used for controlling and monitoring industrial processes. We propose a methodology to systematically identify potential process-related threats in SCADA. Process-related threats take place when an attacker gains user access rights and performs actions, which look legitimate, but which are intended to disrupt the SCADA process. To detect such threats, we propose a semi-automated approach of log processing. We conduct experiments on a real-life water treatment facility. A preliminary case study suggests that our approach is effective in detecting anomalous events that might alter the regular process workflow