Header Compression and Signal Processing for Wideband Communication Systems.

This thesis is dedicated to the investigation, development and practical verification of header compression and signal processing techniques over TErrestrial Trunked RAdio (TETRA), TETRA Enhanced Data Services (TEDS) and Power Line Communication (PLC). TETRA release I is a narrowband private mobile radio technology used by safety and security organizations, while TEDS is a widebandsystem. With the introduction of IP support, TEDS enables multimedia based applications and services to communicate across communication systems. However the IP extension for TEDS comes at a cost of significant header contributions with the payload. With small application payloads and fast rate application traffic profiles, the header contribution in the total size of the packet is considerably more than the actual application payload. This overhead constitutes the considerable slot capacity at the physical layer of TEDS and PLC. Advanced header compression techniques such as Robust Header Compression (RoHC) compress the huge header sizes and offer significant compression gain without compromising quality of service (QoS). Systems can utilize this bandwidth to transmit more information payload than control information. In this study, the objective is to investigate the integration of RoHC in TEDS and design a novel IPv6 enabled protocol stack for PLC with integrated RoHC. The purpose of the study is also to investigate the throughput optimization technique such as RoHC over TEDS and PLC by simulating different traffic profile classes and to illustrate the benefit of using RoHC over TEDS and PLC. The thesis also aims to design and simulate the TEDS physical layer for the purpose of investigating the performance of higher order modulation schemes. Current TEDS, standards are based on the transmission frequencies above 400MHz range, however with delays in the standardization of broadband TETRA, it is important to explore all possible avenues to extend the capacity of the system. The research concludes the finding of the application of RoHC for TEDS and PLC, against different traffic classes and propagation channels. The benefit of using RoHC in terms of saving bandwidth, slot capacity and other QoS parameters is presented along with integration aspects into TEDS and PLC communication stacks. The study also presents the TEDS physical layer simulation results for modulation schemes and transmission frequency other than specified in the standard. The research results presented in this thesis have been published in international symposiums and professional journals. The application of the benefits of using RoHC for TEDS has been proposed to the ETSI TETRA for contribution to the TETRA standard under STF 378. Simulation results for the investigation of characteristics of ?/4 DQPSK performance below 200 MHz have also been also presented to ETSI TETRA as a contribution to the existing TEDS standard. The Results presented for the design of IPv6 enabled stacked with integrated RoHC have been submitted as deliverable under the FP-7 project DLC+VIT4IP. All the results, simulations and investigations presented in the thesis have been carried out through the platform provided by HW Communication Ltd

Identifying Inequality of School Facilities and Resource Distribution Problems in Abbottabad City, Pakistan through Geographical Visualization

Providing quality education in isolated areas is one of the major issues in recent times, mainly in the underdeveloped countries, especially in South Asia. As the population is increasing rapidly in Pakistan, the resources cannot meet the requirements of quality education. One such example is the Abbottabad District of Pakistan with 1900 schools in 51 union councils; the government educational authorities have not established any system for their proper management and monitoring. The main reason behind the lack of resource management is the absence of effective visualization systems as well as the distance of schools from the main city. Mapping schools geographically to visualize them for analysis and managing resources is an efficient and effective way to make better decisions. The purpose of this study is to geographically identify the inequality in distribution of school’s facilities and resources that can help educational authorities to diagnose problems when making decision and managing schools. Use of static conventional paper methods has consistently lead to poor results, because it is difficult to manage large amounts of school. In this research, the complete educational data was calculated from both government and local resources and then properly arranged in a database. That database was then connected to a web server to represent it publicly on a web-based application. The resulting map represents the spatial distribution of schools, depicting the improper distribution of almost 25% of the schools in different areas of Abbottabad. This research provides evidence that using GIS aided decision support and recommendation system will facilitate in better resource planning for education in developing nations. Keywords: Geographical Visualization, Resource Management, Geographical Distribution, Abbottabad

Pattern analysis of substandard and inadequate distribution of educational resources in urban–rural areas of Abbottabad, Pakistan

Despite an extensive system of public schools, Abbottabad, Pakistan has a chronically low literacy rate. A factor contributing to these low literacy rates might be a spatial mismatch between public schools and dense settlements in fast-growing urban and semi-urban areas of this municipal region. To test this proposition, the locations of 153 public schools were collected using hand-held GPS devices to create a geo-database, and a road network was created from the open street map and Google imagery. Nearest neighbor, K-function, Spearman’s Rho, and directional analyses were applied to this data to overcome the limitations of sparse geospatial data. A point pattern analysis shows that more than 50% of secondary schools were clustered south of the city while most of the built-up area was in the north. Localizing Geospatial data, spatial restructuring, and reorganization of schools in the study area would support rational planning and enhance student access to school facilities

Getting Smarter about Smart Cities: Improving Data Security and Privacy through Compliance

Smart cities assure the masses a higher quality of life through digital interconnectivity, leading to increased efficiency and accessibility in cities. In addition, a huge amount of data is being exchanged through smart devices, networks, cloud infrastructure, big data analysis and Internet of Things (IoT) applications in the various private and public sectors, such as critical infrastructures, financial sectors, healthcare, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). However, these sectors require maintaining certain security mechanisms to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of personal and critical information. However, unfortunately, organizations fail to maintain their security posture in terms of security mechanisms and controls, which leads to data breach incidents either intentionally or inadvertently due to the vulnerabilities in their information management systems that either malicious insiders or attackers exploit. In this paper, we highlight the importance of data breaches and issues related to information leakage incidents. In particular, the impact of data breaching incidents and the reasons contributing to such incidents affect the citizens’ well-being. In addition, this paper also discusses various preventive measures such as security mechanisms, laws, standards, procedures, and best practices, including follow-up mitigation strategies