Dial "M" for middlebox managed mobility

Users can be served by multiple network-enabled terminal devices, each of which in turn can have multiple network interfaces. This multihoming at both the user and device level presents new opportunities for mobility handling. Mobility can be handled by utilizing devices, namely, middleboxes that can provide intermediary routing or adaptation services. This article presents an approach to enabling this kind of mobility handling using the concept of personal networks (PNs). Personal networks (PNs) consist of dynamic conglomerations of terminal and middlebox devices tasked to facilitate the delivery of information to and from a single human user. This concept creates the potential to view mobility handling as a path selection problem because there may be multiple valid terminal device and middlebox configurations that can successfully carry a given communication session. We present details and an evaluation of our approach, based on an extension of the Host Identity Protocol, which demonstrate its simplicity and effectiveness.     

Mobility Modeling for Personal Networks

A Personal Network (PN) is a user-centric design interconnecting numerous devices belonging to a user in different geographic locations, such as home, office, car, etc., to form a single global network to offer fully personalized services. In PNs devices of the user move in different groups, where these groups merge and split. In this paper, we design and simulate a PN Mobility Model (PNMM) to capture the characteristics of movements of devices in PNs. We propose a simple stability evaluation method for group mobility models and apply the method to PNMM. Through the stability evaluation, we find that PNMM possesses long-term steady state behavior. Moreover, for the evaluation of mobility models, some evaluation methods have been proposed, which include non-homogenous node mobility, relative node mobility in a group, and dynamics of group merging and splitting. Analysis shows that PNMM is better than other models to represent the PN mobility properties. In addition, the impact of PNMM on the performance of a PN Clustering Protocol (PNCP) has been studied. Simulation results provide insights into the performance of PNCP, and provide guidelines for future design of PN clustering. PNMM can be easily applied to any Personal Area Network or Body Area Network with slight modifications.     

Research Issues in Ad-Hoc Distributed Personal Networking

This paper discusses the research issues that need to be addressed in order to create a personal distributed environment where people interact with various companion, embedded, or invisible computers not only in their close vicinity but potentially anywhere. These systems are called personal networks (PNs). They constitute a category of distributed systems with very specific characteristics. They are configured in an ad hoc fashion, as the opportunity and the demand arise, to support personal applications. PNs consist of communicating clusters of personal digital devices, devices shared with other people and even infrastructure-based systems. At the heart of a PN is a core Personal Area Network (PAN), which is physically associated with the owner of the PN. Unlike the present PANs that have a geographically limited coverage, the Personal Operating Space, PNs have an unrestricted geographical span, and incorporate devices into the personal environment regardless of their geographic location. In order to do this they need the services of infrastructure-based networks and ad-hoc networks to extend their reach. A PN extends and complements the concept of pervasive computing. We show that PNs introduce new design challenges due to the heterogeneity of the involved technologies, the need for self-organization, the dynamics of the system composition, the application-driven nature, the co-operation with infrastructure-based networks, and the security hazards. We discuss the impact of these problems on network design, assess present and proposed solutions, and identify the research issues. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Using trusted computing for privacy preserving keystroke-based authentication in smartphones

Smartphones are increasingly being used to store personal information as well as to access sensitive data from the Internet and the cloud. Establishment of the identity of a user requesting information from smartphones is a prerequisite for secure systems in such scenarios. In the past, keystroke-based user identification has been successfully deployed on production-level mobile devices to mitigate the risks associated with naïve username/password based authentication. However, these approaches have two major limitations: they are not applicable to services where authentication occurs outside the domain of the mobile device—such as web-based services; and they often overly tax the limited computational capabilities of mobile devices. In this paper, we propose a protocol for keystroke dynamics analysis which allows web-based applications to make use of remote attestation and delegated keystroke analysis. The end result is an efficient keystroke-based user identification mechanism that strengthens traditional password protected services while mitigating the risks of user profiling by collaborating malicious web services. We present a prototype implementation of our protocol using the popular Android operating system for smartphones.     

Enriching user experiences with location-sensitive music services

Abstract

The wide adoption of mobile devices and streaming music services has paved the way for location-based music services. However, there has not yet been any commercial breakthrough. We designed OUTMedia, a location-sensitive music discovery application with unique features, to explore rewarding user interactions. This article reports the design efforts and a field study of the functional prototype. We utilised user interviews, log data and the ResQue instrument to study use and user experience of the prototype. All measures found the overall concept feasible and the use of the application resulted in serendipitous experiences of music and places. Our findings call for service designers to support the interplay between media and places in personal meaning-making processes, to enrich urban cultural experiences with user-created information layers that accumulate over time. The design implications can be used to support serendipitous music experiences through the interplay between places and media in future content discovery services.     

Developing a platform to evaluate and assess the security of wearable devices

Operating in a body area network around a smartphone user, wearables serve a variety of commercial, medical and personal uses. Depending on a certain smartphone application, a wearable can capture sensitive data about the user and provide critical, possibly life-or-death, functionality. When using wearables, security problems might occur on hardware/software of wearables, connected phone apps or web services devices, or Bluetooth channels used for communication. This paper develops an open source platform called SecuWear for identifying vulnerabilities in these areas and facilitating wearable security research to mitigate them. SecuWear supports the creation, evaluation, and analysis of security vulnerability tests on actual hardwares. Extending earlier results, this paper includes an empirical evaluation that demonstrates proof of concept attacks on commercial wearable devices and shows how SecuWear captures the information necessary for identifying such attacks. Also included is a process for releasing attack and mitigation information to the security community.     

Personalizing recommendations for tourists

Internet has significantly influenced the tourism sector providing a great variety of services and products online. However, the number of choices has increased so dramatically that is very difficult for the consumers to find what they are looking for. For this purpose, recommendation systems for tourism have attracted a lot of research energy and interest. The main characteristic of these systems is that they can personalize their recommendations to each user interacting with the system. Personalization is even more essential for tourism recommendation systems used in handheld devices where the screen is even smaller and the presentation capabilities are limited. This paper addresses these problems and provides some development steps for a tourism recommendation system by making a state of the art in personalized e-tourism services both in computers and handheld devices as well as a review of the user modeling and personalization techniques used in these systems. Furthermore, the theories used for the improvement of the personalization procedure in tourism recommendation systems; their applications and evaluation are discussed.     

Spatial compatible user grouping algorithm for multiuser MIMO systems

A spatial compatible user grouping algorithm is proposed to reduce CoChannel Interference （CCI） in Space Division Multiple Access （SDMA） multiuser Multiple Input Multiple Output （MIMO） systems. We evaluate the interferences among Users by use of distances between row spaces spanned by users＇ channel matrixes, then control frequency sharing according to the compatible user grouping algorithm. Results show that the row space distance algorithm outperforms others because it can fully utilize the information from users＇ channel matrixes, especially the matrix structure information. The results also prove that the algorithm based on channel matrix structure analysis is a better candidate for spatial compatibility approximation.     

Personalisation and Web Communities

Even in Web communities where the primary aim is to share information and networks with members of similar interests, personalised information management services are highly desirable. Applications that tailor services to the individual improve personal productivity and increase the value of the underlying eCommunity beyond a social or networking instrument. Thus, software systems designed to support Web communities should satisfy dual and somewhat conflicting objectives of maximising member interaction and information sharing, while providing personalised services and protecting individual privacy. One collaborative effort described in this paper has, we believe, achieved those objectives, via a balance between, on the one hand, promoting aggregation and sharing of information resources, and, on the other hand, reserving profile management and privacy settings for the individual user. The successful integration of expertise in personal software agents, resource management middleware, and eCommunity platforms has culminated in a commercial product, through the joint efforts of BTexact Technologies, Fujitsu Laboratories, and Teamware Group Ltd.     

On the inclusion of geographic information systems (GIS) in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS)

The latest innovation of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) technologies plays an important role in improving the quality and safety of modern life. Most of the applications evolved from the integration between GNSS, geographical information systems (GIS) and wireless communications and networking (WCN) systems. The wide spread applications that are using these technologies include: the automatic vehicle location (AVL), tracking systems, navigation systems, pedestrian navigation systems, intelligent transportation systems, precise positioning, and emergency callers, among others. The location‐based services (LBS) are possible only by the combination of GNSS, GIS and WCN. The growing need for commercial LBS has forced cellular‐phone and network manufacturers to concentrate on positioning solutions, which are even more precise than the regulatory mandates for positioning of emergency callers and other user services and applications. In this paper, we will present a literature review of the GNSS, the three satellite systems GPS, GLONASS and Galileo, which are aimed to support GNSS services, and a comparison between them and their role in creating a GIS. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A secure multifactor remote user authentication scheme for Internet of Multimedia Things environment

To attain ubiquitous connectivity of everything, Internet of Things (IoT) systems must include “multimedia things.” Internet of Multimedia Things (IoMT) is a heterogeneous network of smart multimedia things connected together and with other physical devices to the Internet so as to achieve globally available multimedia services and applications. Due to the ever increasing amount of multimedia data in IoT environments, securing these systems becomes crucial. This is because these systems are easily susceptible to attacks when information or any service is accessed by the users. In this paper, we propose a secure three‐factor remote user authentication scheme for IoMT systems using ECC. The formal security proof performed using ROR model and BAN logic confirms that an attacker will not be able to extract sensitive user information. Through informal security analysis, we justify the resistance of the scheme against several security attacks. The performance comparison shows that the scheme is efficient in terms of computational cost, security features, and attack resistance. Furthermore, simulation of the scheme using AVISPA and Proverif proves that the scheme is secure against all active and passive attacks.     

A Privacy Preserving Method Using Privacy Enhancing Techniques for Location Based Services

The move towards service-oriented architectures and the increasing usage of mobile devices to access such services are two of the major changes in modern computing. Information about the user, their location and their trajectory can provide additional context information to a service, leading to useful applications such as directing a user to the nearest bus stop and displaying which buses are due to arrive in the next minutes. While this type of information can be useful, when the offered services are trusted, it also introduces privacy issues relating to gathering of location information for non-trusted applications like location-based marketing or user behaviour profiling. Users can limit their location information provided to a service but these controls are simple, making it important for the user to understand how their location information is being used by services. This paper reviews some of the methods currently being proposed to reduce the impact of location tracking on user privacy, and presents a novel encryption method for preserving the location and trajectory path of a user using Privacy-Enhancing Technologies.     

Intelligent Knowledge Recommendation Methods for R&D Knowledge Portals

The personalization in knowledge portals and knowledge management systems is mainly performed based on users' explicitly specified categories and keywords. The explicit specification approach requires users' participation to start personalization services, and has limitation to adapt changes of users' preference. This paper suggests two implicit personalization approaches: automatic user category assignment method and automatic keyword profile generation method. The performances of the implicit personalization approaches are compared with traditional personalization approach using an Internet news site experiment. The result of the experiment shows that the suggested personalization approaches provide sufficient recommendation effectiveness with lessening users'unwanted involvement in personalization process.     

Space-time dynamic signature assignment for the reverse link of DS-CDMA systems

Multiple-access interference is one of the major impediments in the reverse link of code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems, due to the synergy of the users' spreading codes, transmission delays, and the channel characteristics. A space-time dynamic signature-assignment (DSA) algorithm was briefly described by the authors in a previous paper. In this paper, we further elaborate on the space-time DSA approach and its receiver structure for the reverse link of direct-sequence (DS)-CDMA systems using multiple antennas at the receiver. The space-time DSA dynamically assigns the users' spreading codes and transmission delays, i.e., to assign the user signatures, in order to minimize mutual crosscorrelations. In assigning the signatures, the DSA adopts a low-complexity iterative algorithm which utilizes channel information and aims to maximize the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio of the poorest performing user at the base station. Analytic results as well as further simulation results are provided to support our arguments.     

A Generic Framework for Cross-Layer Optimisation in Wireless Personal Area Networks

Wireless Personal Area Networking (WPAN) is introduced as a new concept for next generation wireless systems. WPANs are short-range wireless systems operating in the direct surrounding of the user. A reference architecture for short-range wireless communications has been designed covering the end-to-end system design. Traditional protocol stack implementations based on layering do not function efficiently in wireless environments due to inefficiency, inflexibility and suboptimality of the functionalities in the different layers. Specifically in WPAN and other short-range wireless systems the performance benefits from a cross-layer design strategy, supporting adaptability and optimizing the use of resources over multiple layers of the protocol stack. In this paper we advocate cross-layer optimisation for WPAN systems and introduce a centralised control structure for interaction between different layers in master or leader devices. The control structure adapts the link characteristics to the channel state and user requirements. Allowing for the support of heterogeneous services, each with their own quality-of-service demands, in wireless environments.     

Towards Viable Personal Networks and FedNets -- a Value-Web Perspective

The concepts of Personal Networks (PNs) and Federated Networks (FedNets) have been introduced before, but there are no studies published yet about migration strategies towards viable solutions in the market. One of the main reasons is the lack of a clear vision about the different values that various parties involved in achieving PNs and FedNets have to offer to each other and the end user. In fixed broadband communication such value chains and business models are already commonly used for rolling out complex service offering based on fiber-to-the-home and broadband home networks. In this paper we use the knowledge from these business domains to approach the problem of PNs and FedNets.     

Understanding the user experience of location-based services: five principles of perceptual organisation applied

Within recent years, the development of location-based services have received increasing attention from the software industry as well as from researchers within a wide range of computing disciplines as a particular interesting class of context-aware mobile systems. However, while a lot of research has been done into sensing, adapting to, and philosophising over the complex concept of ‘context’, little theoretically based knowledge exists about why, from a user experience perspective, some system designs work well and why others do not. Contributing to this discussion, this article suggests the perspective of ‘Gestalt theory’ as a theoretical framework for understanding the use of this class of computer systems. Based on findings from an empirical study, we argue that the user experience of location-based services can be understood through Gestalt theory's five principles of perceptual organisation: proximity, closure, symmetry, continuity and similarity. Specifically, we argue, that these principles assist us in explaining the interplay between context and technology in the user experience of location-based services, and how people make sense of small and fragmented pieces of information on mobile devices in context.     

Dynamic signature assignment for direct sequence CDMA systems

Multiple access interference (MAI) is one of the major impediments in the reverse link of wide band CDMA systems, due to the synergy of the users' spreading codes, transmission delays and the channel characteristics. We propose to dynamically assign the users' spreading codes and transmission delays, i.e., to assign the user signature, in order to minimize mutual cross-correlations at the receiver. This dynamic signature assignment (DSA) approach helps to avoid (as opposed to combating) MAI at the base station. In assigning the signatures, we present a low-complexity iterative algorithm which utilizes channel information and is able to minimize signal-to-interference-plus-noise (SINR) ratio at receivers. Computer simulation results are presented which show a potential 2-3 fold capacity increase over conventional systems     

Interference suppression for DS/CDMA

A direct-sequence spread spectrum (DS/SS) receiver for suppressing multiple-access interference in direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS/CDMA) communication systems is introduced. The proposed receiver does not require knowledge of other users' spreading codes, timing, or phase information. Moreover, the receiver allows the number of taps to be chosen independently of the processing gain and, hence, is easily applicable to CDMA systems employing either a small or a large processing gain. Performance analysis, including average probability of error and signal-to-noise ratio, is provided, and results are presented for systems varying from lightly loaded (for example, eight user/255 chip) to heavily loaded (for example, 50 user/200 chip). Performance results indicate that the proposed receiver outperforms the linear correlation receiver and, in many cases, it does so by a considerable margin