Exploring Multi-path Communication in Hybrid Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

International audienceAmbient computing requires the integration of multiple mobile heterogeneous networks. Multi-path communication, in such scenarios, can provide reliability and privacy benefits. Even though the properties of multi-path routing have been already extensively studied and a number of algorithms have been proposed, implementation of such techniques can be tricky, particularly when resource-constrained nodes are connected to each other through hybrid networks with different characteristics. In this paper we discuss the challenges involved in implementing multi-path communication on a middleware for hybrid mobile ad hoc networks. We present the PLASTIC middleware, some compelling applications of multi-path communication and the main issues concerning their implementation as a middleware-provided communication primitive

Architecting Pervasive Computing Systems for Privacy: A Survey

International audienceIn pervasive computing systems, a higher number of interactions will be mediated by computers, amplifying the menace to privacy. Privacy protection in pervasive environments is still a big issue, despite the growing number of works on this subject as evidenced by this survey. In this paper, we propose a taxonomy for privacy invasion attacks, classify existing privacy enhancing technologies according to the protection provided for those attacks, and introduce a service-oriented privacy-enhanced architecture for pervasive computing

AmbiStream: A Middleware for Multimedia Streaming on Heterogeneous Mobile Devices

Part 5: Notification and StreamingInternational audienceMultimedia streaming when smartphones act as both clients and servers is difficult. Indeed, multimedia streaming protocols and associated data formats supported by today's smartphones are highly heterogeneous. At the same time, multimedia processing is resource consuming while smartphones are resource-constrained devices. To overcome this complexity, we present AmbiStream, a lightweight middleware layer solution, which enables applications that run on smartphones to easily handle multimedia streams. Contrarily to existing multimedia-oriented middleware that propose a complete stack for multimedia streaming, our solution leverages the available highly-optimized multimedia software stack of the smartphones' platforms and complements them with additional, yet resource-efficient, layers to enable interoperability. We introduce the challenges, present our approach and discuss the experimental results obtained when executing AmbiStream on both Android and iOS smartphones. Our results show that it is possible to perform adaptation at run time and still obtain streams with satisfactory quality

A flexible QoS-aware routing protocol for infrastructure-less B3G networks

International audienceCurrent mobile devices support multiple network technolo- gies and network composition via such devices can enable service provisioning across heterogeneous networks. One of the key challenges for realizing this view is inter-domain routing. Indeed, given the diversity of involved network technologies and infrastructures, a exible routing protocol that takes into account their quality properties and dynam- ics is an important requirement. In this paper, we present a exible quality-aware routing protocol for infrastructure-less B3G environments that enables discovery of routes with op- timal bandwidth, delay or cost according to the preference of each client. The protocol is based on the Optimized Link- State Routing (OLSR) protocol and is designed to enable computation of quality-aware routes in multi-network envi- ronments. We detail the protocol, discuss its deployment and provide experimental results

Interoperable Semantic & Syntactic Service Matching for Ambient Computing Environments

International audienceThe inherent heterogeneity of ambient computing environments and their constant evolution requires middleware platforms to manage networked components designed, developed and deployed independently. Such management must also be efficient to cater for resource-constrained devices and highly dynamic situations due to the spontaneous appearance and disappearance of networked resources. For service discovery protocols (SDP), one of the main functions of service-oriented architectures (SOA), the efficiency of the matching of syntactic service descriptions is most often opposed to the fullness of the semantic approach. As part of the PLASTIC middleware for ambient computing environments, we present in this paper an interoperable service matching and ranking platform, which is able to process service descriptions from both semantic and syntactic service description languages. To that end, we define a generic, modular description language able to record service functional properties, potentially extended with semantic annotations. An evaluation of the prototype implementation of our platform demonstrates that multi-protocols service matching supporting various levels of expressiveness can be achieved in ambient computing environments

Middleware Support for Mobile Social Ecosystems

International audienceWith the increased prevalence of advanced mobile devices (the so-called “smart” phones), interest has grown in mobile social ecosystems, where users not only access traditional Web-based social networks using their mobile devices, but are also able to use the context information provided by these devices to further enrich their interactions. Owing to the large variety of platforms available for smart phones, as well as the different ways that data and context information is represented, it is natural to think of middleware solutions that the developers of these systems can use while creating their applications. In this paper, we highlight the issues which should be addressed by middleware designed for mobile social ecosystems, taking into account the heterogeneity of both deployment nodes and available data, the intrinsic distributed nature of mobile social applications, as well as users' security concerns. As part of our ongoing effort to develop this middleware, we present a comprehensive model to represent mobile social ecosystems and the interactions possible in them, and show how to exploit it in a representative scenario

Dynamic Connector Synthesis: Principles, Methods, Tools and Assessment

CONNECT adopts a revolutionary approach to the seamless networking of digital systems, that is, onthe- fly synthesis of the connectors via which networked systems communicate. Within CONNECT, the role of the WP3 work package is to devise automated and efficient approaches to the synthesis of such emergent connectors, provided the behavioral specification of the components to be connected. Thanks to WP3 scientific and technology development, emergent connectors can be synthesized on the fly as networked systems get discovered, implementing the necessary mediation between networked systems' protocols, from application down to middleware layers. This document being the final report about WP3 achievements, it outlines both: (i) specific contributions over the reporting period, and (ii) overall contributions in the area of automated, on-the-fly protocol mediation, from theory to supporting tool

Experiment scenarios, prototypes and report - Iteration 2

The task of WP6 is to evaluate the CONNECT technologies under realistic situations. To achieve this goal, WP6 concentrated its 3rd year effort on the development of a main scenario in the context of GMES, which requires the connection of highly heterogeneous and independently built systems provided by the industry partners. The resulting scenario allows the consortium to assess the validity of CONNECT claims and to investigate the exploitation of CONNECT technologies in the context of the integration of real systems. Another objective of this report is to provide a first assessment of CONNECT solutions against the project's objectives stated in the DoW. The proposed assessment spans: (i) the project's overall objective of enabling on-the-fly interoperability among heterogeneous networked systems as well as (ii) the project's specific objectives related to the foundations and associated enablers to be elaborated for learning and reasoning about the interaction behaviours of networked systems and for synthesizing mediators so as to make systems interoperate

Final CONNECT Architecture

Interoperability remains a fundamental challenge when connecting heterogeneous systems which encounter and spontaneously communicate with one another in pervasive computing environments. This challenge is exasperated by the highly heterogeneous technologies employed by each of the interacting parties, i.e., in terms of hardware, operating system, middleware protocols, and application protocols. The key aim of the CONNECT project is to drop this heterogeneity barrier and achieve universal interoperability. Here we report on the revised CONNECT architecture, highlighting the integration of the work carried out to integrate the CONNECT enablers developed by the different partners; in particular, we present the progress of this work towards a finalised concrete architecture. In the third year this architecture has been enhanced to: i) produce concrete CONNECTors, ii) match networked systems based upon their goals and intent, and iii) use learning technologies to find the affordance of a system. We also report on the application of the CONNECT approach to streaming based systems, further considering exploitation of CONNECT in the mobile environment

Deliverable D6.4: Assessment report: Experimenting with CONNECT in Systems of Systems, and Mobile Environments

The core objective of WP6 is to evaluate the CONNECT technologies under realistic situations. To achieve this goal, WP6 concentrated a significant amount of its 4th year effort on the finalization of the implementation of the GMES scenario defined during the 3rd year. The GMES scenario allows the consortium to assess the validity of CONNECT claims and to investigate the exploitation of CONNECT technologies to deal with the integration of real systems. In particular, GMES requires the connection of highly heterogeneous and independently built systems provided by the industry partners. WP6 contributed also in providing mobile collaborative applications and case studies showing the exploitation of CONNECTORs on mobile devices