The CEO Problem with Secrecy Constraints

We study a lossy source coding problem with secrecy constraints in which a remote information source should be transmitted to a single destination via multiple agents in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. The agents observe noisy versions of the source and independently encode and transmit their observations to the destination via noiseless rate-limited links. The destination should estimate the remote source based on the information received from the agents within a certain mean distortion threshold. The eavesdropper, with access to side information correlated to the source, is able to listen in on one of the links from the agents to the destination in order to obtain as much information as possible about the source. This problem can be viewed as the so-called CEO problem with additional secrecy constraints. We establish inner and outer bounds on the rate-distortion-equivocation region of this problem. We also obtain the region in special cases where the bounds are tight. Furthermore, we study the quadratic Gaussian case and provide the optimal rate-distortion-equivocation region when the eavesdropper has no side information and an achievable region for a more general setup with side information at the eavesdropper.Comment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 17 pages, 4 figure

Noncuring Graphene Thermal Interface Materials for Advanced Electronics

As transistors continue to decrease in size and packing densities increase, thermal management becomes a critical bottleneck for development of the next generation of compact and flexible electronics. The increase in computer usage and ever-growing dependence on cloud systems require better methods for dissipating heat away from electronic components. The important ingredients of thermal management are the thermal interface materials. The discovery of excellent heat conduction properties of graphene and few-layer graphene stimulated research on practical applications of graphene fillers in thermal interface materials. The initial studies of graphene fillers in thermal interface materials were focused almost exclusively on curing epoxy-based composites. However, many thermal management applications require specifically noncuring thermal paste type materials. This dissertation reports on the synthesis and thermal conductivity measurements of noncuring thermal paste based on mineral oil with the mixture of graphene and few-layer graphene flakes as the fillers. The relatively simple composition has been selected in order to systematically compare the performance and understand the mechanisms governing heat conduction. It was found that graphene thermal paste exhibits a distinctive thermal percolation threshold with the thermal conductivity revealing a sublinear dependence on the filler loading. This behavior contrasts with the thermal conductivity of curing graphene thermal interface materials, based on epoxy, where super-linear dependence on the filler loading is observed. The performance of graphene thermal paste was benchmarked against top-of-the-line commercial thermal pastes. The obtained results show that noncuring graphene thermal interface materials outperforms the best commercial pastes in terms of thermal conductivity, at substantially lower filler concentration. The results of this dissertation research shed light on the thermal percolation mechanism in noncuring polymeric matrices laden with quasi-two-dimensional fillers. Considering recent progress in graphene production via liquid phase exfoliation and oxide reduction, it is possible that the undertaken approach will open a pathway for large-scale industrial application of graphene in thermal management of electronics

Optimal Home Energy Management System for Committed Power Exchange Considering Renewable Generations

This thesis addresses the complexity of SH operation and local renewable resources optimum sizing. The effect of different criteria and components of SH on the size of renewable resources and cost of electricity is investigated. Operation of SH with the optimum size of renewable resources is evaluated to study SH annual cost. The effectiveness of SH with committed exchange power functionality is studied for minimizing cost while responding to DR programs