Future Internet, Volume 7, Issue 3 (September 2015) – 8 articles , Pages 214-362

The self-organizing nature of the Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) provide a communication channel anywhere, anytime without any pre-existing network infrastructure. However, it is exposed to various vulnerabilities that may be exploited by the malicious nodes. One such malicious behavior is introduced by blackhole nodes, which can be easily introduced in the network and, in turn, such nodes try to crumble the working of the network by dropping the maximum data under transmission. In this paper, a new protocol is proposed which is based on the widely used Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocol, Enhanced Secure Trusted AODV (ESTA), which makes use of multiple paths along with use of trust and asymmetric cryptography to ensure data security. The results, based on NS-3 simulation, reveal that the proposed protocol is effectively able to counter the blackhole nodes in three different scenarios. Full article

To monitor multiple environmental factors of henhouses in modern chicken farms, a henhouse online monitoring system based on wireless sensor network was developed using wireless sensor technology and computer network technology. Sensor data compensation and correction were designed to be achieved using software and data fitting methods, data reliable transmission achieved using a data loss recovery strategy, and data missing during monitoring addressed using a self-decision and online filling method. Operation test of the system showed that: The system was economic and reliable; it enabled wireless monitoring and Web display of the environmental factors of a henhouse; and the root mean square errors (RMSEs) between the estimated values from the self-decision and on-line filling method and experimental values of the four environmental factors were 0.1698, 3.0859, 77 and 0.094, respectively, indicative of high estimation accuracy. The system can provide support for modern management of henhouses and can be transplanted to related monitoring scenarios in the agricultural field. Full article

It is significant to reduce packet jitter for real-time applications in a wireless network. Existing coding-aware routing algorithms use the opportunistic network coding (ONC) scheme in a packet coding algorithm. The ONC scheme never delays packets to wait for the arrival of a future coding opportunity. The loss of some potential coding opportunities may degrade the contribution of network coding to jitter performance. In addition, most of the existing coding-aware routing algorithms assume that all flows participating in the network have equal rate. This is unrealistic, since multi-rate environments often appear. To overcome the above problem and expand coding-aware routing to multi-rate scenarios, from the view of data transmission, we present a low-jitter wireless transmission algorithm based on buffer management (BLJCAR), which decides packets in coding node according to the queue-length based threshold policy instead of the regular ONC policy as used in existing coding-aware routing algorithms. BLJCAR is a unified framework to merge the single rate case and multiple rate case. Simulations results show that the BLJCAR algorithm embedded in coding-aware routing outperforms the traditional ONC policy in terms of jitter, packet delivery delay, packet loss ratio and network throughput in network congestion in any traffic rates. Full article

As internet technologies make their way into developing areas, so too does the possibility of education and training being delivered to the people living in those previously unserved areas. The growing catalogue of free, high quality courseware, when combined with the newly acquired means of delivery, creates the potential for millions of people in the developing world to acquire a good education. Yet a good education obviously requires more than simply delivering information; students must also receive high quality feedback on their assessments. They must be told how their performance compares with the ideal, and be shown how to close the gap between the two. However, delivering high quality feedback is labor-intensive, and therefore expensive, and has long been recognized as a problematic issue by educators. This paper outlines a case study that uses a Learning Management System (LMS) to efficiently deliver detailed feedback that is informed by the principles of best practice. We make the case that the efficiencies of this method allow for large-scale courses with thousands of enrolments that are accessible to developing and developed areas alike. We explore the question; is computer-mediated feedback delivery efficient and effective and might it be applied to large-scale courses at low-cost? Full article

This paper proposes a discussion concerning the use of social media-related geographic information in the context of the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of Sardinian Municipal masterplans (MMPs). We show that this kind of information improves, substantially, the SEA process since it provides planners, evaluators, and the local communities with information retrieved from social media that would have not been available otherwise. This information integrates authoritative data collection, which comes from official sources, and enlightens tastes and preferences of the users of services and infrastructure, and their expectations concerning their spatial organization. A methodological approach related to the collection of social media-related geographic information is implemented and discussed with reference to the urban context of the city of Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy). The results are very effective in terms of provision of information, which may possibly increase the spatial knowledge available for planning policy definition and implementation. In this perspective, this kind of information discloses opportunities for building analytical scenarios related to urban and regional planning and it offers useful suggestions for sustainable development based on tourism strategies. Full article

The vehicular internet will drive the future of vehicular technology and intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Whether it is road safety, infotainment, or driver-less cars, the vehicular internet will lay the foundation for the future of road travel. Governments and companies are pursuing driver-less vehicles as they are considered to be more reliable than humans and, therefore, safer. The vehicles today are not just a means of transportation but are also equipped with a wide range of sensors that provide valuable data. If vehicles are enabled to share data that they collect with other vehicles or authorities for decision-making and safer driving, they thereby form a vehicular network. However, there is a lot at stake in vehicular networks if they are compromised. With the stakes so high, it is imperative that the vehicular networks are secured and made resilient to any attack or attempt that may have serious consequences. The vehicular internet can also be the target of a cyber attack, which can be devastating. In this paper, the opportunities that the vehicular internet offers are presented and then various security and privacy aspects are discussed and some solutions are presented. Full article

In Internet of Things (IoT), the main driving technologies are considered to be tiny sensory objects. These objects cannot host traditional preventive and detective technologies to provide protection against the increasing threat sophistication. Furthermore, these solutions are limited to analyzing particular contextual information, for instance network information or files, and do not provide holistic context for risk analysis and response. Analyzing a part of a situation may lead to false alarms and later to unnecessary and incorrect configurations. To overcome these concerns, we proposed an event-driven adaptive security (EDAS) model for IoT. EDAS aims to observe security events (changes) generated by various things in the monitored IoT environment, investigates any intentional or unintentional risks associated with the events and adapts to it autonomously. It correlates different events in time and space to reduce any false alarms and provides a mechanism to predict attacks before they are realized. Risks are responded to autonomically by utilizing a runtime adaptation ontology. The mitigation action is chosen after assessing essential information, such as the risk faced, user preferences, device capabilities and service requirements. Thus, it selects an optimal mitigation action in a particular adverse situation. The objective of this paper is to investigate EDAS feasibility and its aptitude as a real-world prototype in a remote patient monitoring context. It details how EDAS can be a practical choice for IoT-eHealth in terms of the security, design and implementation features it offers as compared to traditional security controls. We have explained the prototype’s major components and have highlighted the key technical challenges. Full article

In order to solve the problem of poor real-time performance, low accuracy and high computational complexity in the traditional process of locating and tracking of Direction of Arrival (DOA) of moving targets, this paper proposes a DOA algorithm based on the Direction Lock Loop (DILL) which adopts Lock Loop structure to realize the estimation and location of DOA and can adjust the direction automatically along with the changes of a signal’s angular variation to track the position of the signal. Meanwhile, to reduce the influence of nonlinearity and noise on its performance, the UKF filter is designed for eliminating interference of the estimated target signal to improve accuracy of the signal tracking and stability of the system. Simulation results prove that the algorithm can not only get a high resolution DOA estimate signal, but can also locate and track multiple mobile targets effectively with enhanced accuracy, efficiency and stability. Full article