The Architecture of Coupon-Based, Semi-off-Line, Anonymous Micropayment System for Internet of Things

Part 6: Computational Systems ApplicationsInternational audienceIn the Internet of Things a lot of business opportunities may be identified. The devices in IoT may create ad-hoc temporary networks to provide services or share some resources. Such services are characterized by a great economical potential, especially while provided at mass-scale and for incidental users. However, the development of paid services or resources in IoT is hampered by relatively big transaction costs of payment operations. To deal with this problem, we propose a novel architecture of coupon based, semi off line, anonymous micropayment system to enable transactions in the scope of Internet of Things. User anonymity and security is assured by the usage of standard cryptographic techniques together with novel architectural design of the payment processes. Utilization of a hash function allows generating and verifying electronic coins in computationally efficient way, so as to be executed even in hardware- and software-restricted environment such as Internet of Things

Virtual Web Services

In this paper we propose an application of software agents to provide Virtual Web Services. A Virtual Web Service is a linked collection of several real and/or virtual Web Services, and public and private agents, accessed by the user in the same way as a single real Web Service. A Virtual Web Service allows unrestricted comparison, information merging, pipelining, etc., of data coming from different sources and in different forms. Detailed architecture and functionality of a single Virtual Web Service is user-dependent, and information gathered from existing Web Services may be used in an individual manner. The main goal of the proposal is twofold. First, virtual services allow unrestricted personalization of any Web Service by user-defined software executed at both the server- and the clientside. Second, virtual services provide efficient server-side monitoring and alerting once “vital” information provided by a real service is changed, and this change is of any interest to particular user. In addition, the service users are able to define their own, non-standard interfaces to existing services without a direct interaction with the service provider (information owner). This feature allows for user-specific versioning of services and continuous improvement of the service from the user point of view. By shifting the personalization aspects to the users, we reduce overall maintenance costs (from the service owner point of view) and improve system flexibility and fast adaptation to dynamic changes in the environment and evolving user requirements

Who should take care of the personalization

Abstract. In this paper, a new approach is proposed for the personalization of the access to different information sources (servers, Web pages, services, etc.) distributed across the Internet. In contrast to the traditional approaches, with personalization software owned and controlled by the owner of the information source, we propose to use the software that is prepared and controlled directly by the end-users. Our approach is based on software agent technology and imperative programming of agent code. The main goal of using personalization agents is twofold. First, such agents act as information brokers, adjusting both contents and format of the information to individual user requirements, restrictions imposed by the end-user hardware and communication means, current situation, etc. Second, the agents are used as autonomous monitors, individually informing agent owners about "important" (from the particular owner point of view) information changes. The fact of using source-independent personalization agents makes it possible to personalize access to such traditionally closed and fixed (i.e., unmanageable from the end-user point of view) information sources and systems, as e-banks, public Web portals and information servers, etc. Due to the fact the agents are prepared by (or at least for) particular users, the expenses related with the development of the agent code are in the major part incurred by these users

Orchestration of distributed heterogeneous sensor networks and internet of things

This paper focuses on management of sensor networks and Internet of Things. Two alternative architectures for service management in IoT and sensor networks are analyzed. The first one is based on Open Service Gateway (OSGi) framework and Remote Services for OSGi (R-OSGi) bundle. The second one extends Representational State Transfer (REST) paradigm. The analysis confirms that these two architectures meet the requirements of both sensor networks and IoT management. However, to bypass the disadvantages of these architectures, the new one is proposed being a combination of the analyzed architectures. In our proposition, the OSGi framework is applied to manage local sensor networks and RESTbased architecture allows for managing complex services in Internet of Things. The RESTlet OSGi module integrates the OSGi management system for sensor networks with REST-based management of Internet of Things

Sieci bezadresowe jako sposób sterowania „inteligentnymi” urządzeniami domowymi

W artykule opisano nowy sposób realizacji niewielkich sieci lokalnych, który wykorzystuje adresowanie na bazie typu urządzenia, a nie adresu fizycznego węzła sieci. Taka sieć nie wymaga rejestracji nowych urządzeń, nieustannego sprawdzania obecności i aktywności urządzeń, katalogowania ich możliwości i parametrów dostępowych, pobierania i ustalania dynamicznych adresów w momencie pojawienia się węzłów dynamicznych typu smartfon itp. Zarządzanie siecią jest zdecentralizowane, nie istnieje żaden stały punkt sieci, który periodycznie gromadzi informacje o dołączonych urządzeniach i sprawdza ich stan. Nie ma potrzeby utrzymywania centralnej bazy danych urządzeń. Zestaw urządzeń pracujących w sieci jest dynamiczny, co umożliwia także korzystanie ad-hoc z urządzeń personalnych typu smartfon. Idea przedstawiona w artykule została zaimplementowana z wykorzystaniem urządzeń AGD produkowanych przez firmę Amica SA z siedzibą we Wronkach. Do implementacji wykorzystano transmisję w standardzie WiFi oraz BLE, w trybie mesh, wykorzystując popularne mikrosterowniki firm Nordic Semiconductor i Espressif