Resource Allocation for Network-Integrated Device-to-Device Communications Using Smart Relays

With increasing number of autonomous heterogeneous devices in future mobile networks, an efficient resource allocation scheme is required to maximize network throughput and achieve higher spectral efficiency. In this paper, performance of network-integrated device-to-device (D2D) communication is investigated where D2D traffic is carried through relay nodes. An optimization problem is formulated for allocating radio resources to maximize end-to-end rate as well as conversing QoS requirements for cellular and D2D user equipment under total power constraint. Numerical results show that there is a distance threshold beyond which relay-assisted D2D communication significantly improves network performance when compared to direct communication between D2D peers

Securing Real-Time Internet-of-Things

Modern embedded and cyber-physical systems are ubiquitous. A large number of critical cyber-physical systems have real-time requirements (e.g., avionics, automobiles, power grids, manufacturing systems, industrial control systems, etc.). Recent developments and new functionality requires real-time embedded devices to be connected to the Internet. This gives rise to the real-time Internet-of-things (RT-IoT) that promises a better user experience through stronger connectivity and efficient use of next-generation embedded devices. However RT- IoT are also increasingly becoming targets for cyber-attacks which is exacerbated by this increased connectivity. This paper gives an introduction to RT-IoT systems, an outlook of current approaches and possible research challenges towards secure RT- IoT frameworks

Protecting Actuators in Safety-Critical IoT Systems from Control Spoofing Attacks

In this paper, we propose a framework called Contego-TEE to secure Internet-of-Things (IoT) edge devices with timing requirements from control spoofing attacks where an adversary sends malicious control signals to the actuators. We use a trusted computing base available in commodity processors (such as ARM TrustZone) and propose an invariant checking mechanism to ensure the security and safety of the physical system. A working prototype of Contego-TEE was developed using embedded Linux kernel. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach for a robotic vehicle running on an ARM-based platform.Comment: 2nd Workshop on the Internet of Things Security and Privacy - Iot S&P'19, November 15, 2019, London, United Kingdom. ACM ISBN: 978-1-4503-6838-4/19/1

5G Cellular: Key Enabling Technologies and Research Challenges

The evolving fifth generation (5G) cellular wireless networks are envisioned to provide higher data rates, enhanced end-user quality-of-experience (QoE), reduced end-to-end latency, and lower energy consumption. This article presents several emerging technologies, which will enable and define the 5G mobile communications standards. The major research problems, which these new technologies breed, as well as the measurement and test challenges for 5G systems are also highlighted.Comment: IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Magazine, to appear in the June 2015 issue. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1406.6470 by other author

Integrating security into real-time cyber-physical systems

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) such as automobiles, power plants, avionics systems, unmanned vehicles, medical devices, manufacturing and home automation systems have distinct cyber and physical components that must work cohesively with each other to ensure correct operation. Many cyber-physical applications have “real-time” constraints, i.e., they must function correctly within predetermined time scales. A failure to protect these systems could result in significant harm to humans, the system or even the environment. While traditionally such systems were isolated from external accesses and used proprietary components and protocols, modern CPS use off-the-shelf components and are increasingly interconnected, often via networks such as the Internet. As a result, they are exposed to additional attack surfaces and have become increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks. Enhancing security for real-time CPS, however, is not an easy task due to limited resource availability (e.g., processing power, memory, storage, energy) and stringent timing/safety requirements. Security monitoring techniques for cyber-physical platforms (a) must execute with existing real-time tasks, (b) operate without impacting the timing and safety constraints of the control logic and (c) have to be designed and executed in a way that an adversary cannot easily evade it. The objective of my research is to increase security posture of embedded real-time CPS by integrating monitoring/detection techniques that defeat cyber attacks without violating timing/safety constraints of existing tasks. My dissertation work explores the real-time security domain and shows that by employing a combination of multiple scheduling/analysis techniques and interactions between hardware/software-based security extensions, it becomes feasible to integrate security monitoring mechanisms in real-time CPS without compromising timing/safety requirements of existing tasks. In this research, I (a) develop techniques to raise the responsiveness of security monitoring tasks by increasing their frequency of execution, (b) design a hardware-supported framework to prevent falsification of actuation commands — i.e., commands that control the state of the physical system and (c) propose metrics to trade-off security with real-time guarantees. The solutions presented in this dissertation require minimal changes to system components/parameters and thus compatible for legacy systems. My proposed frameworks and results are evaluated through both, simulations and experiments on real off-the-shelf cyber-physical platforms. The development of analysis techniques and design frameworks proposed in this dissertation will inherently make such systems more secure and hence, safer. I believe my dissertation work will bring researchers and system engineers one step closer to understand how to integrate two seemingly diverse yet important fields — real-time CPS and cyber-security — while gaining a better understanding of both areas