Scalability of broadcast performance in wireless network-on-chip

Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) are currently the paradigm of choice to interconnect the cores of a chip multiprocessor. However, conventional NoCs may not suffice to fulfill the on-chip communication requirements of processors with hundreds or thousands of cores. The main reason is that the performance of such networks drops as the number of cores grows, especially in the presence of multicast and broadcast traffic. This not only limits the scalability of current multiprocessor architectures, but also sets a performance wall that prevents the development of architectures that generate moderate-to-high levels of multicast. In this paper, a Wireless Network-on-Chip (WNoC) where all cores share a single broadband channel is presented. Such design is conceived to provide low latency and ordered delivery for multicast/broadcast traffic, in an attempt to complement a wireline NoC that will transport the rest of communication flows. To assess the feasibility of this approach, the network performance of WNoC is analyzed as a function of the system size and the channel capacity, and then compared to that of wireline NoCs with embedded multicast support. Based on this evaluation, preliminary results on the potential performance of the proposed hybrid scheme are provided, together with guidelines for the design of MAC protocols for WNoC.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A critical analysis of research potential, challenges and future directives in industrial wireless sensor networks

In recent years, Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) have emerged as an important research theme with applications spanning a wide range of industries including automation, monitoring, process control, feedback systems and automotive. Wide scope of IWSNs applications ranging from small production units, large oil and gas industries to nuclear fission control, enables a fast-paced research in this field. Though IWSNs offer advantages of low cost, flexibility, scalability, self-healing, easy deployment and reformation, yet they pose certain limitations on available potential and introduce challenges on multiple fronts due to their susceptibility to highly complex and uncertain industrial environments. In this paper a detailed discussion on design objectives, challenges and solutions, for IWSNs, are presented. A careful evaluation of industrial systems, deadlines and possible hazards in industrial atmosphere are discussed. The paper also presents a thorough review of the existing standards and industrial protocols and gives a critical evaluation of potential of these standards and protocols along with a detailed discussion on available hardware platforms, specific industrial energy harvesting techniques and their capabilities. The paper lists main service providers for IWSNs solutions and gives insight of future trends and research gaps in the field of IWSNs

Formulation, implementation considerations, and first performance evaluation of algorithmic solutions - D4.1

Deliverable D4.1 del projecte Europeu OneFIT (ICT-2009-257385)This deliverable contains a first version of the algorithmic solutions for enabling opportunistic networks. The presented algorithms cover the full range of identified management tasks: suitability, creation, QoS control, reconfiguration and forced terminations. Preliminary evaluations complement the proposed algorithms. Implementation considerations towards the practicality of the considered algorithms are also included.Preprin

Securing autonomous networks through virtual closure

The increasing autonomy of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) has enabled a great many large-scale unguided missions, such as agricultural planning, conservation and similar surveying tasks. Commercial and military institutions have expressed great interest in such ventures, raising the question of security as the application of such systems in potentially hostile environments. Preventing theft, disruption or destruction of such MANETs through cyber-attacks has become a focus for many researchers as a result. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have been shown to enhance the security of Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs). VPNs do not normally support broadcast communication, reducing their effectiveness in high-traffic MANETs which have many broadcast communication requirements. To support routing, broadcast updates and efficient MANET communication a Virtual Closed Network (VCN) architecture is proposed. By supporting private, secure communication in unicast, multicast and broadcast modes, VCNs provide an efficient alternative to VPNs when securing MANETs. Comparative analysis of the set-up and security overheads of VCN and VPN approaches is provided between OpenVPN, IPsec, Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS), and the proposed VCN solution: Security Using Pre-Existing Routing for MANETs (SUPERMAN)

The search for a convergent option to deploy smart grids on IoT scenario

Smart city projects are quickly evolving in several countries as a feasible solution to the urban organization to provide sustainable socioeconomic growth and solve problems that arise as the populations of these cities grow. In this sense, technology application plays an important role in enabling automation of processes, improving the citizen’s quality of life and reducing the costs of public services for municipalities and enterprises. However, automation initiatives of services such as electricity, water, and gas which materialize by the so-called smart grids, have emerged earlier than smart city projects, and are consolidating in several countries. Although smart grid initiatives have arisen earlier to projects of smart cities it represents a subset of the great scenario of IoT that is the vision in which the smart city projects are based. The time difference from developments between these two initiatives made the alternatives of communication technologies for infrastructures construction of communication followed different paths. However, in view of the great scenery of IoT is desirable to determine technologies that provide convergence of a single urban communication infrastructure capable of supporting all applications, whether they are typically IoT or traditional smart grid applications. This work is a review which presents and discusses the two main technologies which are currently best positioned to play this role of convergence that is RF Mesh and LoRaWAN. The strengths and weaknesses of each one of them are also presented and propose that in actuality LoRaWAN is a promising option to offer the required conditions to take on this convergent position2356957

Validation platform implementation description – D5.2

Deliverable D5.2 del projecte OneFITPostprint (published version

Dtn and non-dtn routing protocols for inter-cubesat communications: A comprehensive survey

CubeSats, which are limited by size and mass, have limited functionality. These miniaturised satellites suffer from a low power budget, short radio range, low transmission speeds, and limited data storage capacity. Regardless of these limitations, CubeSats have been deployed to carry out many research missions, such as gravity mapping and the tracking of forest fires. One method of increasing their functionality and reducing their limitations is to form CubeSat networks, or swarms, where many CubeSats work together to carry out a mission. Nevertheless, the network might have intermittent connectivity and, accordingly, data communication becomes challenging in such a disjointed network where there is no contemporaneous path between source and destination due to satellites’ mobility pattern and given the limitations of range. In this survey, various inter-satellite routing protocols that are Delay Tolerant (DTN) and Non Delay Tolerant (Non-DTN) are considered. DTN routing protocols are considered for the scenarios where the network is disjointed with no contemporaneous path between a source and a destination. We qualitatively compare all of the above routing protocols to highlight the positive and negative points under different network constraints. We conclude that the performance of routing protocols used in aerospace communications is highly dependent on the evolving topology of the network over time. Additionally, the Non-DTN routing protocols will work efficiently if the network is dense enough to establish reliable links between CubeSats. Emphasis is also given to network capacity in terms of how buffer, energy, bandwidth, and contact duration influence the performance of DTN routing protocols, where, for example, flooding-based DTN protocols can provide superior performance in terms of maximizing delivery ratio and minimizing a delivery delay. However, such protocols are not suitable for CubeSat networks, as they harvest the limited resources of these tiny satellites and they are contrasted with forwarding-based DTN routing protocols, which are resource-friendly and produce minimum overheads on the cost of degraded delivery probability. From the literature, we found that quota-based DTN routing protocols can provide the necessary balance between delivery delay and overhead costs in many CubeSat missions

Open to change: slowing down to explore and innovate

A specific type of knowing comes from the handling of materials in the handcrafting of an artifact. This research looks at the relationship between the handcraft of weaving, and the decision-making process and knowledge of the textile designer. It investigates the potential for new design opportunities to be opened up for the commercial designer by moving out of the studio and back into the workshop environment. As an educator, manager and formerly a designer trained in textile design, this research explores an established industrial production method of weaving but revisited using a craft-like approach. Slowing down the creative process to engage with the materials themselves, this paper starts to explore the potential of hand woven leno structures to be used within the landscape and to explore the process of change in response to environmental factors. Architect Philip Beesleys’ work seeks to achieve a balance with nature, submitting itself to the natural cycles and inevitable decay, in which he deliberately designs mesh structures with weak and fragile links, whose materials soak up environmental forces. This paper starts to further explore the value of haptic intelligence and empathy for materials, also adopted by Beesley in his Haystack Veil (1997) and later Holozoic series. The process of creating leno structures on a handloom, has resulted in outcomes difficult to predict using digital software, confirming weaving as an emergent system (Philpott, 2011), where disparate threads are combined into dynamic structures. There is a delicate relationship between textiles and the landscape, in response to which the designer of performance fabrics is required to create, indestructible solutions, with a lifetime guarantee. By embracing the science of uncertainty, fresh ideas and new solutions have the potential to be created