Application Interaction Model for Opportunistic Networking

In Opportunistic Networks, autonomous nodes discover, assess and potentially seize opportunities for communication and distributed processing whenever these emerge. In this paper, we consider prerequisites for a successful implementation of such a way of processing in networks that consist mainly of heterogeneous devices. Devices are heterogeneous in size, in abilities, in movement, and in the role they play in the application. The focus here is on the interaction at different levels and among various nodes, in view of our current scenario, where mobile nodes connect clusters of wireless sensors. The combined networks form an infrastructure-less sensor and actuation network. We propose a RESTful interaction model, which we demonstrate with an example implementation

PROMOÇÃO DE QUALIDADE DE VIDA E SUSTENTABILIDADE

The promotion of quality of life and sustainability is an interdisciplinary theme of great contemporary relevance. It focuses on finding approaches that balance human well-being with preserving natural resources and the health of the planet. This theme covers a variety of areas, from public health and urban development to environmental conservation and economic policy. The objective of this study is to investigate strategies and practices that seek to improve people's quality of life in a sustainable way. This study is a bibliographic review, in which a multidisciplinary approach was adopted that integrated qualitative and quantitative analyses. Data collection covered the investigation of specialized literature, relevant case studies and an in-depth analysis of socio-environmental indicators. The results demonstrated that the promotion of quality of life and sustainability requires an integrated approach. Successful initiatives include the implementation of efficient public transport policies, the creation of urban green spaces, the adoption of renewable energies and education for environmental awareness. Public awareness and cross-sectoral collaboration also emerged as critical factors in achieving positive outcomes. Promoting quality of life and sustainability is not just a necessity, but an imperative to ensure a livable future for future generations. The integrated approach, combined with the participation of society and government engagement, can result in an effective balance between human well-being and preservation of the environment. By prioritizing sustainability in all spheres of life, we can aspire to a future where prosperity and care for the planet go hand in hand.A promoção da qualidade de vida e sustentabilidade é um tema interdisciplinar de grande relevância contemporânea. Ele se concentra em encontrar abordagens que equilibrem o bem-estar humano com a preservação dos recursos naturais e a saúde do planeta. Este tema abrange uma variedade de áreas, desde saúde pública e desenvolvimento urbano à conservação ambiental e políticas econômicas. O objetivo deste estudo é investigar estratégias e práticas que buscam melhorar a qualidade de vida das pessoas de forma sustentável. Este estudo trata-se de uma revisão bibliográfica, em que foi adotada uma abordagem multidisciplinar que integrou análises qualitativas e quantitativas. A coleta de dados abrangeu a investigação de literatura especializada, estudos de caso relevantes e uma análise aprofundada de indicadores socioambientais. Os resultados demonstraram que a promoção da qualidade de vida e sustentabilidade requer uma abordagem integrada. Iniciativas bem-sucedidas incluem a implementação de políticas de transporte público eficiente, a criação de espaços verdes urbanos, a adoção de energias renováveis e a educação para a conscientização ambiental. A conscientização da população e a colaboração entre setores também emergiram como fatores críticos para alcançar resultados positivos. A promoção da qualidade de vida e sustentabilidade não é apenas uma necessidade, mas um imperativo para garantir um futuro habitável para as gerações vindouras. A abordagem integrada, aliada à participação da sociedade e ao engajamento governamental, pode resultar em um equilíbrio eficaz entre o bem-estar humano e a preservação do meio ambiente. Ao priorizar a sustentabilidade em todas as esferas da vida, podemos aspirar a um futuro em que prosperidade e cuidado com o planeta caminhem lado a lado

Data dissemination in vehicular environments

In the last few decades, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have been deployed to reduce congestion, enhance mobility, and help save lives. Among the\ud various technologies incorporated is vehicular communication which consists\ud in equipping vehicles with inexpensive wireless devices to enable a decentralized network composed by vehicles and infrastructure points. Such a vehicular network allows vehicles to extend their horizon of awareness to events that are beyond those that on-board sensors alone are able to detect.\ud In this context, one crucial task is the dissemination of data generated by\ud a wide range of applications. On the one hand, safety applications are mostly\ud related to hazardous situations. Therefore, they require a low dissemination\ud delay and reliable delivery to all vehicles in the surroundings. On the other\ud hand, non-safety applications, related to transport efficiency and infotainment,\ud tolerate higher levels of delay, however, they also generate larger data volumes.\ud Due to the limited channel capacity, the data must be selected prior to broadcasting according to the current level of interest of neighboring vehicles. This can be defined based on the current context such as the vehicles’ direction and the age of the data being disseminated. In both categories, applications share the challenges raised by unique characteristics of vehicular networks such as the continual variation in density and predominant intermittent connectivity between vehicles. This thesis focuses on the development of data disseminating solutions that address these challenges while fulfilling the requirements of both safety and non-safety applications

Achieving Data Utility Fairness in Periodic Dissemination for VANETs

In addition to safety, Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) enable the development of new information-rich applications that disseminate relevant data to vehicles. One key challenge in such networks is to use the available bandwidth efficiently when there is: (i) a short connectivity time due to the rapidly changing road environment, and (ii) bandwidth congestion due to continuous collection and dissemination of data. Numerous solutions were proposed to alleviate bandwidth congestion by using transmission power and beaconing rate control. However, the reduction of data messages transmitted by using priority-based data selection mechanisms has not been fully explored. In this work, we propose a periodic data dissemination protocol for non-safety applications which distributes data utility fairly among vehicles with conflicting data interests. Furthermore, given a defined maximum network load allowed, only the least relevant data is suppressed. Fairness is achieved using the concept of Nash Bargaining from game theory. Simulation results show that our approach leads to an efficient bandwidth utilization in terms of utility per message received and higher fairness index compared with other approaches

Towards Opportunistic Sensed Data Dissemination in Vehicular Environments

This paper proposes guidelines for the design of dissemination protocols for data sensed in vehicular environments in view of a number of potential applications. We organize the data dissemination process in three main tasks: discovery, assessment, and seizing of data exchange opportuni­ties. One major problem is the limitation in bandwidth due to large amounts of data and short communication time slots. We elaborate on this problem by presenting preliminary results which favor an approach which disseminate data fairly over the nodes in the network

Analysis of Utility-Based Data Dissemination Approaches in VANETs

By disseminating data through Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs), vehicles are able to share relevant sensor data to acquire information about accidents, traffic, and even pollution. Data relevance is measured by a utility function which considers the contextual information that vehicles currently have about their environment. To be effective, data dissemination protocols must cope with intermittent connectivity due to the high speeds of vehicles. Problems arise when not all data can be exchanged due to the limited time available. In this paper, we explore and compare two fundamentally distinct approaches to tackling this problem. The first aims to maximize the system efficiency. In contrast, the second trades efficiency by a fair data distribution over vehicles by means of Nash Bargaining as used in game theory. By means of an extensive simulation campaign, an approach relying on fairness is shown to outperform efficiency in terms of delivery ratio, Jain’s fairness index, sum of utility gains, number of hops and number of files downloaded

Application Synchronization Among Multiple MEC Servers in Connected Vehicle Scenarios

Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) is an emerging technology aimed to improve the communication latency and scalability e.g. of cloud-based connected vehicle applications and services. This is accomplished by bringing services closer to the end users, that is, to the network edge. In a high-mobility scenario, such as one involving vehicles, there will be a need for handovers between different MEC servers in order to maintain the required communication latency. Part of the application data may also be relevant to multiple MEC servers, covering overlapping geographical areas or being hosted by different network operators. This paper focuses on these situations and studies the problem of maintaining service continuity and synchronization of relevant data among multiple MEC servers to support vehicular applications. The analysis is conducted in the context of two example applications with different requirements, namely platoon management and shared world model, with promising results regarding their suitability for future implementation

Analysis of Utility-Based Data Dissemination Approaches in VANETs

By disseminating data through Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs), vehicles are able to share relevant sensor data to acquire information about accidents, traffic, and even pollution. Data relevance is measured by a utility function which considers the contextual information that vehicles currently have about their environment. To be effective, data dissemination protocols must cope with intermittent connectivity due to the high speeds of vehicles. Problems arise when not all data can be exchanged due to the limited time available. In this paper, we explore and compare two fundamentally distinct approaches to tackling this problem. The first aims to maximize the system efficiency. In contrast, the second trades efficiency by a fair data distribution over vehicles by means of Nash Bargaining as used in game theory. By means of an extensive simulation campaign, an approach relying on fairness is shown to outperform efficiency in terms of delivery ratio, Jain’s fairness index, sum of utility gains, number of hops and number of files downloaded

Fair and adaptive data dissemination for traffic information systems

Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) are expected to serve as support to the development of not only safety applications but also information-rich applications that disseminate relevant data to vehicles. Due to the continuous collection, processing, and dissemination of data, one crucial requirement is the efficient use of the available bandwidth. Firstly, the rate of message transmissions must be properly controlled in order to limit the amount of data inserted into the network. Secondly, messages must be carefully selected to maximize the utility (benefit) gain of vehicles in the neighborhood. We argue that such selection must aim at a fair distribution of data utility, given the possible conflicting data interests among vehicles. In this work, we propose a data dissemination protocol for VANETs that distributes data utility fairly over vehicles while adaptively controlling the network load. The protocol relies only on local knowledge to achieve fairness with concepts of Nash Bargaining from game theory. Simulation results show that our algorithm presents a higher fairness index and yet it maintains a high level of bandwidth utilization efficiency compared to other approaches. In addition, the rate of transmissions is adaptively controlled as new information about the environment is collected