Mobile data offloading via urban public transportation networks

Mobile data traffic is increasing at an exponential rate with the proliferation of mobile devices and easy access to large contents such as video. Traffic demand is expected to soar in the next 5 years and a new generation of mobile networks (5G) is currently being developed to address the looming bandwidth crunch. However, significant 5G deployments are not expected until 2020 or even beyond. As such, any solution that offloads cellular traffic to other available networks is of high interest, the main example being the successful offloading of cellular traffic onto WiFi. In this context, we propose to leverage public transportation networks (PTNs) created by regular bus lines in urban centers to create another offloading option for delay tolerant data such as video on demand. This PhD proposes a novel content delivery infrastructure where wireless access points (APs) are installed on both bus stops and buses. Buses act as data mules, creating a delay tolerant network capable of carrying content users can access while commuting using public transportation. Building such a network raises several core challenges such as: (i) selecting the bus stops on which it is best to install APs, (ii) efficiently routing the data, (iii) relieving congestion points in major hubs and (iv) minimizing the cost of the full architecture. These challenges are addressed in the three parts of this thesis. The first part of the thesis presents our content delivery infrastructure whose primary aim is to carry large volumes of data. We show that it is beneficial to install APs at the end stations of bus lines by analyzing the publicly available time tables of PTN providers of different cities. Knowing the underlying topology and schedule of PTNs, we propose to pre-calculate static routes between stations. This leads to a dramatic decrease in message replications and transfers compared to the state-of-the-art Epidemic delay tolerant protocol. Simulation results for three cities demonstrate that our routing policy increases by 4 to 8 times the number of delivered messages while reducing the overhead ratio. The second part of the thesis addresses the problem of relieving congestion at stations where several bus lines converge and have to exchange data through the AP. The solution proposed leverages XOR network coding where encoding and decoding are performed hop-by-hop for flows crossing at an AP. We conduct a theoretical analysis of the delivery probability and overhead ratio for a general setting. This analysis indicates that the maximum delivery probability is increased by 50% while the overhead ratio is reduced by 50%, if such network coding is applied. Simulations of this general setting corroborate these points, showing, in addition, that the average delay is reduced as well. Introducing our XOR network coding to our content delivery infrastructure using real bus timetables, we demonstrate a 35% - 48% improvement in the number of messages delivered. The third part of the thesis proposes a cost-effective architecture. It classifies PTN bus stops into three categories, each equipped with different types of wireless APs, allowing for a fine-grained cost control. Simulation results demonstrate the viability of our design choices. In particular, the 3-Tier architecture is shown to guarantee end-to-end connectivity and reduce the deployment cost by a factor of 3 while delivering 30% more packets than a baseline architecture. It can offload a large amount of mobile data, as for instance 4.7 terabytes within 12 hours in the Paris topology

XOR Network Coding for Data Mule Delay Tolerant Networks

International audienceWe propose a simple yet efficient scalable scheme for improving the performance of Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs) with data mules by using XOR network coding. We carry out a theoretical analysis based on a model abstracted from the Village Communication Networks (VCNs), beginning with two villages and then extending to N villages. We also examine how the delivery probability is affected by the different overlapping intervals of two data mules. The theoretical analysis indicates that the maximum delivery probability increases by 50% and our simulation results illustrate this point, showing that the overhead ratio and average delay are reduced as well. Finally, our scheme is applied to a real network, the Toulouse public transportation network. We analyze the dataset, calculate the overlapping intervals of inter-vehicles and the amount of data that transit vehicles can exchange in one day, showing a 54:4% improvement in throughput

Study on Vertical Dynamic Characteristics of Composite Sleeper Ballasted Track in Tunnels

In order to study the vertical dynamic characteristics of the composite sleeper ballasted track in tunnels, this paper establishes a dynamic model based on the finite element method, and compares the dynamic response of vehicle, wheel and rail systems, track systems and backfill layer with the type-III concrete sleeper. The research results show that the composite sleeper ballasted tracks’ acceleration of the car body and the wheel-rail force are smaller than that of the type-III sleeper. It can meet the safety of the train and passenger comfort. Because the composite sleeper has good elasticity, The rail displacement and acceleration, the sleeper displacement and acceleration of the composite sleeper are slightly larger than the type-III sleeper ballasted track, but the effect is not great. The composite sleeper has good elasticity and large damping, so that the acceleration of the track bed and the backfill layer is less than that of the type-III sleeper ballasted track. This shows that the composite sleeper has vibration damping characteristics for the track bed and the backfill layer

Données mobiles délestant sur les réseaux de transports publics urbains

La popularité des plateformes mobiles telles que smartphones et tablettes génère un volume croissant de données à transférer. La principale raison de cette croissance est l'accès simplifié aux contenus vidéo sur ces plateformes. La future génération (5G) de téléphonie mobile est en cours de développement et a pour objectif d'offrir une bande passante suffisante pour de tels volumes de données. Néanmoins, un déploiement en masse de la 5G n'est pas envisagé avant 2020. De plus, la croissance est telle qu'il sera forcément intéressant de développer des solutions alternatives et complémentaires capables de délester le réseau cellulaire. L'exemple actuel le plus représentatif est le délestage de données cellulaires vers des réseaux d'accès WiFi par les principaux opérateurs mobiles. Dans ce contexte, nous proposons de déployer un nouveau réseau de contenus qui s'appuie sur les réseaux de transports publics urbains. Cette solution déploie des bornes sans-fil dans les bus et sur certaines stations de bus pour offrir du contenu aux passagers des bus. Les bus enregistrent et transportent les données, et se comportent donc comme des mules qui peuvent s'échanger des données dans certaines stations de bus. L'ensemble des bus créé un réseau de transport de données tolérantes au délai telles que de la vidéo à la demande. La création d'un tel réseau soulève de nombreuses questions. Les questions traitées dans les trois parties de cette thèse sont les suivantes: (i) le choix des stations de bus sur lesquelles une borne sans-fil doit être déployée, (ii) le choix du protocole de routage des données, (iii) la gestion efficace de la contention dans les stations et enfin (iv) la réduction du coût d'une telle infrastructure. La première partie de la thèse présente notre réseau de contenu dont l'objectif principal est de transporter de larges volumes de données. Nous montrons pour cela qu'il suffit de déployer des bornes sans-fil aux terminus des lignes de bus. Ce résultat provient de l'analyse des réseaux de transports publics des villes de Toulouse, Helsinki et Paris. Connaissant les horaires et la topologie de ces réseaux de transports, nous proposons de pré-calculer les routes pour transmettre les données dans ce réseau. Nous montrons que ce routage statique permet de réduire drastiquement le nombre de réplications de messages quand on le compare à un routage épidémique. La seconde contribution de cette thèse s'intéresse à l'échange des messages au niveau des bornes sans-fil déployées aux terminus des lignes de bus. En effet, les protocoles d'accès actuels partagent équitablement la bande passante entre les bus et le point d'accès. Dans notre cas, il en résulte une congestion importante que nous proposons de résoudre en introduisant un codage réseau XOR de proche en proche. Les flux qui se croisent sont alors combinés par la borne. Les bus transportent des paquets codés qui seront décodés au prochain saut par la borne suivante. Une analyse théorique de ce mode de communication montre que la probabilité de réception des messages peut-être augmentée au maximum de 50% et la surcharge diminuée au maximum de 50%. Pour les 3 villes européennes considérées, nous montrons par simulation que ce protocole permet d'augmenter de 35% à 48% le nombre de messages reçus. La dernière partie de cette thèse a pour objectif de réduire le coût de déploiement d'une telle architecture. Elle classifie les terminus des lignes de bus en trois ensembles qui sont équipés par des bornes sans fil de nature différentes. Les résultats de simulation montrent que pour les trois villes il est possible de garantir la connectivité de bout-en-bout tout en réduisant les coûts de déploiement d'un facteur 3. Cette architecture, dénommée 3-tier, transporte 30% plus de messages que le déploiement basique proposé en première partie. Nous montrons qu'il est possible de décharger un grand volume de données avec notre architecture. Par exemple, pour Paris, notre architecture permet deMobile data traffic is increasing at an exponential rate with the proliferation of mobile devices and easy access to large contents such as video. Traffic demand is expected to soar in the next 5 years and a new generation of mobile networks (5G) is currently being developed to address the looming bandwidth crunch. However, significant 5G deployments are not expected until 2020 or even beyond. As such, any solution that offloads cellular traffic to other available networks is of high interest, the main example being the successful offloading of cellular traffic onto WiFi. In this context, we propose to leverage public transportation networks (PTNs) created by regular bus lines in urban centers to create another offloading option for delay tolerant data such as video on demand. This PhD proposes a novel content delivery infrastructure where wireless access points (APs) are installed on both bus stops and buses. Buses act as data mules, creating a delay tolerant network capable of carrying content users can access while commuting using public transportation. Building such a network raises several core challenges such as: (i) selecting the bus stops on which it is best to install APs, (ii) efficiently routing the data, (iii) relieving congestion points in major hubs and (iv) minimizing the cost of the full architecture. These challenges are addressed in the three parts of this thesis. The first part of the thesis presents our content delivery infrastructure whose primary aim is to carry large volumes of data. We show that it is beneficial to install APs at the end stations of bus lines by analyzing the publicly available time tables of PTN providers of different cities. Knowing the underlying topology and schedule of PTNs, we propose to pre-calculate static routes between stations. This leads to a dramatic decrease in message replications and transfers compared to the state-of-the-art Epidemic delay tolerant protocol. Simulation results for three cities demonstrate that our routing policy increases by 4 to 8 times the number of delivered messages while reducing the overhead ratio. The second part of the thesis addresses the problem of relieving congestion at stations where several bus lines converge and have to exchange data through the AP. The solution proposed leverages XOR network coding where encoding and decoding are performed hop-by-hop for flows crossing at an AP. We conduct a theoretical analysis of the delivery probability and overhead ratio for a general setting. This analysis indicates that the maximum delivery probability is increased by 50% while the overhead ratio is reduced by 50%, if such network coding is applied. Simulations of this general setting corroborate these points, showing, in addition, that the average delay is reduced as well. Introducing our XOR network coding to our content delivery infrastructure using real bus timetables, we demonstrate a 35% - 48% improvement in the number of messages delivered. The third part of the thesis proposes a cost-effective architecture. It classifies PTN bus stops into three categories, each equipped with different types of wireless APs, allowing for a fine-grained cost control. Simulation results demonstrate the viability of our design choices. In particular, the 3-Tier architecture is shown to guarantee end-to-end connectivity and reduce the deployment cost by a factor of 3 while delivering 30% more packets than a baseline architecture. It can offload a large amount of mobile data, as for instance 4.7 terabytes within 12 hours in the Paris topology

Study on Vertical Dynamic Characteristics of Composite Sleeper Ballasted Track in Tunnels

In order to study the vertical dynamic characteristics of the composite sleeper ballasted track in tunnels, this paper establishes a dynamic model based on the finite element method, and compares the dynamic response of vehicle, wheel and rail systems, track systems and backfill layer with the type-III concrete sleeper. The research results show that the composite sleeper ballasted tracks’ acceleration of the car body and the wheel-rail force are smaller than that of the type-III sleeper. It can meet the safety of the train and passenger comfort. Because the composite sleeper has good elasticity, The rail displacement and acceleration, the sleeper displacement and acceleration of the composite sleeper are slightly larger than the type-III sleeper ballasted track, but the effect is not great. The composite sleeper has good elasticity and large damping, so that the acceleration of the track bed and the backfill layer is less than that of the type-III sleeper ballasted track. This shows that the composite sleeper has vibration damping characteristics for the track bed and the backfill layer

An Efficient Content Delivery Infrastructure Leveraging the Public Transportation Network

With the world population becoming increasingly urban and the multiplication of mega cities, urban leaders have responded with plans calling for so called smart cities relying on instantaneous access to information using mobile devices for an intelligent management of resources. Coupled with the advent of the smartphone as the main platform for accessing the Internet, this has created the conditions for the looming wireless bandwidth crunch. This paper presents a content delivery infrastructure relying on off-the-shelf technology and the public transportation network (PTN) aimed at relieving the wireless bandwidth crunch in urban centers. Our solution proposes installing WiFi access points on selected public bus stations and buses and using the latter as data mules, creating a delay tolerant network capable of carrying content users can access while using the public transportation. Building such an infrastructure poses several challenges, including congestion points in major hubs and the cost of additional hardware necessary for secure communications. To address these challenges we propose a 3-Tier architecture that guarantees end-to-end delivery and minimizes hardware cost. Trace-based simulations from three major European cities of Paris, Helsinki and Toulouse demonstrate the viability of our design choices. In particular, the 3-Tier architecture is shown to guarantee end-to-end connectivity and reduce the deployment cost by several times while delivering at least as many packets as a baseline architecture

Recrystallization Behavior of a Pure Cu Connection Interface with Ultrasonic Welding

Three-dimensional metal waveguide components are key components in the next generation of radio telescopes. Ultrasonic additive manufacturing technology combining ultrasonic welding and micro electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) provides a new method for the overall manufacturing of waveguide elements, and the effective welding of Electrolytic Tough Pitch copper (Cu-ETP) sheets is the key process of this method. This study demonstrates that the orthogonal test optimization method is used to conduct ultrasonic welding tests on Cu-ETP. Specifically, electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) technology is used to analyze the crystal grains, grain boundary types and texture changes during interface recrystallization. In addition, the finite element software ABAQUS 6.13 is employed to calculate the temperature field in order to determine the possibility of recrystallization of the welding interface. The results showed that the average grain size of the welding interface decreased from 20 to 1~2 μm. The Cu-ETP matrix is mainly composed of coarse grains with high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs), while a large number of low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs), subcrystals and fine equiaxed grains appear in the welded joint. At the same time, discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) occurs in the less strained area, and continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) is predominant in the greater strain area. The temperature field calculation shows that the peak temperature of the welding interface exceeds the recrystallization temperature of Cu-ETP from 379.05 to 433.2 °C

A real-time cross-domain wi-fi-based gesture recognition system for digital twins

The rapid development of Internet of Things has led more realization of digital twins (DT), such as healthcare, smart homes, virtual reality, etc, gesture recognition is a fundamental component of DT. Its implementation can provide users with personalized services or improved human-computer interaction, such as smart home control, in-car interaction, etc, most of existing gesture recognition methods are based on vision or wearable device. However, the vision-based methods face the problem of privacy breach, whereas the wearable-based methods may bring inconvenience to users. With the wide deployment of Wi-Fi networks, lots of consumer devices are widely accessible in people’s homes. Motivated by the fact that Wi-Fi signal propagation can be affected by human motion, the opportunity to use Wi-Fi signals for gesture recognition can be further explored. However, the challenge is that the received Wi-Fi signal shows great differences when the same person performs the same gesture in different environments or different person performs the same gesture in the same environment. Therefore, the signal alignment across different domain needs to be solved. In this paper, we propose a gesture recognition system named Phase-Attention-based-Conv-CSI (PAC-CSI), which consists of two modules: data processing and gesture recognition. In the data processing module, we eliminate random phase noise in channel state information (CSI) and perform phase calibration. In the gesture recognition module, we feed the processed phase sequence into a lightweight deep neural network for gesture recognition. PAC-CSI can obtain the gesture category in about 200ms, which can meets the real-time requirements of DT. The gesture recognition accuracy of our proposed system in a single domain is 99.46%, and its performance across new locations, orientations, users, and environments is 98.77%, 98.90%, 97.54%, and 96.47%, respectively.</p

Active photosynthetic inhibition mediated by MPK3/MPK6 is critical to effector-triggered immunity

<div><p>Extensive research revealed tremendous details about how plants sense pathogen effectors during effector-triggered immunity (ETI). However, less is known about downstream signaling events. In this report, we demonstrate that prolonged activation of MPK3 and MPK6, two <i>Arabidopsis</i> pathogen-responsive mitogen-activated protein kinases (MPKs), is essential to ETI mediated by both coiled coil-nucleotide binding site-leucine rich repeats (CNLs) and toll/interleukin-1 receptor nucleotide binding site-leucine rich repeats (TNLs) types of R proteins. MPK3/MPK6 activation rapidly alters the expression of photosynthesis-related genes and inhibits photosynthesis, which promotes the accumulation of superoxide () and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), two major reactive oxygen species (ROS), in chloroplasts under light. In the chemical-genetically rescued <i>mpk3 mpk6</i> double mutants, ETI-induced photosynthetic inhibition and chloroplastic ROS accumulation are compromised, which correlates with delayed hypersensitive response (HR) cell death and compromised resistance. Furthermore, protection of chloroplasts by expressing a plastid-targeted cyanobacterial flavodoxin (pFLD) delays photosynthetic inhibition and compromises ETI. Collectively, this study highlights a critical role of MPK3/MPK6 in manipulating plant photosynthetic activities to promote ROS accumulation in chloroplasts and HR cell death, which contributes to the robustness of ETI. Furthermore, the dual functionality of MPK3/MPK6 cascade in promoting defense and inhibiting photosynthesis potentially allow it to orchestrate the trade-off between plant growth and defense in plant immunity.</p></div

Selective stimulation of caveolae-mediated endocytosis by an osmotic polymannitol-based gene transporter

Controlling the cellular uptake mechanism and consequent intracellular route of polyplexes is important to improve the transfection efficiency of the non-viral gene delivery. Here, we report a new non-viral vector, polymannitol-based gene transporter (PMT), generated by crosslinking low molecular weight polyethylenimine with mannitol diacrylate, which has low cytotoxicity and good transfection efficiency. Interestingly, the uptake pathway of PMT/DNA complexes was shifted into caveolae-mediated endocytosis, avoiding lysosomal degradation. The mechanism of increased caveolae-mediated endocytosis of PMT/DNA complexes was found to be correlated with mechanosensing signal transduction by the hyperosmotic polymannitol part. Our results suggested that PMT, polymannitol-based gene transporter, is a safe and efficient gene delivery system with a well-modulated uptake pathway and intracellular route for gene therapy