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24 pages, 2816 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

25 Years of Bluetooth Technology

by Sherali Zeadally, Farhan Siddiqui and Zubair Baig

Future Internet 2019, 11(9), 194; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11090194 - 9 Sep 2019

Cited by 50 | Viewed by 15218

Abstract

Bluetooth technology started off as a wireless, short-range cable replacement technology but it has undergone significant developments over the last two decades. Bluetooth radios are currently embedded in almost all computing devices including personal computers, smart phones, smart watches, and even micro-controllers. For [...] Read more.

Bluetooth technology started off as a wireless, short-range cable replacement technology but it has undergone significant developments over the last two decades. Bluetooth radios are currently embedded in almost all computing devices including personal computers, smart phones, smart watches, and even micro-controllers. For many of us, Bluetooth is an essential technology that we use every day. We provide an insight into the history of Bluetooth and its significant design developments over the last 25 years. We also discuss related issues (including security) and Bluetooth as a driving technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). Finally, we also present recent research results obtained with Bluetooth technology in various application areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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17 pages, 1679 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Platform Economy and Techno-Regulation—Experimenting with Reputation and Nudge

by Nicola Lettieri, Alfonso Guarino, Delfina Malandrino and Rocco Zaccagnino

Future Internet 2019, 11(7), 163; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11070163 - 23 Jul 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6444

Abstract

In the cloud-based society, where the vast majority of social, economic and personal interactions is mediated by information communication technology (ICT), technology is no longer simply a subject of regulation but is becoming an integral part of the regulatory process. Techno-regulation, the “intentional [...] Read more.

In the cloud-based society, where the vast majority of social, economic and personal interactions is mediated by information communication technology (ICT), technology is no longer simply a subject of regulation but is becoming an integral part of the regulatory process. Techno-regulation, the “intentional influencing of individuals’ behavior by building norms into technological devices,” is inspiring new ways to support legal safeguards through hardware and software tools, technical solutions allowing the creation of legal relations, hampering breaches of law and even promoting norm compliance. This paper touches on these issues by focusing on Digital Labor Platforms, one of the most relevant phenomena in the gig economy. We present a research project exploring innovative techno-regulatory solutions to protect gig economy workers. The idea is to integrate, in the same strategy, legal principles, regulatory objectives and software solutions. Our attention focuses on two results of our activity—a techno-regulatory model relying on reputational mechanisms to affect the behavior of digital labor market operators and GigAdvisor, a cross-platform experimental application implementing the model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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20 pages, 2491 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

A Choreography-Based and Collaborative Road Mobility System for L’Aquila City

by Marco Autili, Amleto Di Salle, Francesco Gallo, Claudio Pompilio and Massimo Tivoli

Future Internet 2019, 11(6), 132; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11060132 - 14 Jun 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4449

Abstract

Next Generation Internet (NGI) is the European initiative launched to identify the future internet technologies, designed to serve the needs of the digitalized society while ensuring privacy, trust, decentralization, openness, inclusion, and business cooperation. NGI provides efficient support to promote diversity, decentralization and [...] Read more.

Next Generation Internet (NGI) is the European initiative launched to identify the future internet technologies, designed to serve the needs of the digitalized society while ensuring privacy, trust, decentralization, openness, inclusion, and business cooperation. NGI provides efficient support to promote diversity, decentralization and the growth of disruptive innovation envisioned by smart cities. After the earthquake of 6 April 2009, the city of L’Aquila is facing a massive and innovative reconstruction process. As a consequence, nowadays, the L’Aquila city can be considered as a living laboratory model for applications within the context of smart cities. This paper describes and evaluates the realization of a Collaborative Road Mobility System (CRMS) for L’Aquila city by using our CHOReVOLUTION approach for the automated choreography production. The CRMS allows vehicles and transport infrastructure to interconnect, share information and use it to coordinate their actions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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9 pages, 2487 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancing IoT Data Dependability through a Blockchain Mirror Model

by Alessandro Bellini, Emanuele Bellini, Monica Gherardelli and Franco Pirri

Future Internet 2019, 11(5), 117; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11050117 - 21 May 2019

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 5127

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a remarkable data producer and these data may be used to prevent or detect security vulnerabilities and increase productivity by the adoption of statistical and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. However, these desirable benefits are gained if data [...] Read more.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a remarkable data producer and these data may be used to prevent or detect security vulnerabilities and increase productivity by the adoption of statistical and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. However, these desirable benefits are gained if data from IoT networks are dependable—this is where blockchain comes into play. In fact, through blockchain, critical IoT data may be trusted, i.e., considered valid for any subsequent processing. A simple formal model named “the Mirror Model” is proposed to connect IoT data organized in traditional models to assets of trust in a blockchain. The Mirror Model sets some formal conditions to produce trusted data that remain trusted over time. A possible practical implementation of an application programming interface (API) is proposed, which keeps the data and the trust model in synch. Finally, it is noted that the Mirror Model enforces a top-down approach from reality to implementation instead of going the opposite way as it is now the practice when referring to blockchain and the IoT. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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18 pages, 1679 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Dynamic Lognormal Shadowing Framework for the Performance Evaluation of Next Generation Cellular Systems

by Georgios A. Karagiannis and Athanasios D. Panagopoulos

Future Internet 2019, 11(5), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11050106 - 2 May 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4046

Abstract

Performance evaluation tools for wireless cellular systems are very important for the establishment and testing of future internet applications. As the complexity of wireless networks keeps growing, wireless connectivity becomes the most critical requirement in a variety of applications (considered also complex and [...] Read more.

Performance evaluation tools for wireless cellular systems are very important for the establishment and testing of future internet applications. As the complexity of wireless networks keeps growing, wireless connectivity becomes the most critical requirement in a variety of applications (considered also complex and unfavorable from propagation point of view environments and paradigms). Nowadays, with the upcoming 5G cellular networks the development of realistic and more accurate channel model frameworks has become more important since new frequency bands are used and new architectures are employed. Large scale fading known also as shadowing, refers to the variations of the received signal mainly caused by obstructions that significantly affect the available signal power at a receiver’s position. Although the variability of shadowing is considered mostly spatial for a given propagation environment, moving obstructions may significantly impact the received signal’s strength, especially in dense environments, inducing thus a temporal variability even for the fixed users. In this paper, we present the case of lognormal shadowing, a novel engineering model based on stochastic differential equations that models not only the spatial correlation structure of shadowing but also its temporal dynamics. Based on the proposed spatio-temporal shadowing field we present a computationally efficient model for the dynamics of shadowing experienced by stationary or mobile users. We also present new analytical results for the average outage duration and hand-offs based on multi-dimensional level crossings. Numerical results are also presented for the validation of the model and some important conclusions are drawn. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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17 pages, 1549 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Study on Join Operations in MongoDB Preserving Collections Data Models for Future Internet Applications

by Antonio Celesti, Maria Fazio and Massimo Villari

Future Internet 2019, 11(4), 83; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11040083 - 27 Mar 2019

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 7294

Abstract

Presently, we are observing an explosion of data that need to be stored and processed over the Internet, and characterized by large volume, velocity and variety. For this reason, software developers have begun to look at NoSQL solutions for data storage. However, operations [...] Read more.

Presently, we are observing an explosion of data that need to be stored and processed over the Internet, and characterized by large volume, velocity and variety. For this reason, software developers have begun to look at NoSQL solutions for data storage. However, operations that are trivial in traditional Relational DataBase Management Systems (DBMSs) can become very complex in NoSQL DBMSs. This is the case of the join operation to establish a connection between two or more DB structures, whose construct is not explicitly available in many NoSQL databases. As a consequence, the data model has to be changed or a set of operations have to be performed to address particular queries on data. Thus, open questions are: how do NoSQL solutions work when they have to perform join operations on data that are not natively supported? What is the quality of NoSQL solutions in such cases? In this paper, we deal with such issues specifically considering one of the major NoSQL document oriented DB available on the market: MongoDB. In particular, we discuss an approach to perform join operations at application layer in MongoDB that allows us to preserve data models. We analyse performance of the proposes approach discussing the introduced overhead in comparison with SQL-like DBs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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17 pages, 1192 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Software-Defined Heterogeneous Vehicular Networking: The Architectural Design and Open Challenges

by Adnan Mahmood, Wei Emma Zhang and Quan Z. Sheng

Future Internet 2019, 11(3), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11030070 - 11 Mar 2019

Cited by 70 | Viewed by 7864

Abstract

The promising advancements in the telecommunications and automotive sectors over the years have empowered drivers with highly innovative communication and sensing capabilities, in turn paving the way for the next-generation connected and autonomous vehicles. Today, vehicles communicate wirelessly with other vehicles and vulnerable [...] Read more.

The promising advancements in the telecommunications and automotive sectors over the years have empowered drivers with highly innovative communication and sensing capabilities, in turn paving the way for the next-generation connected and autonomous vehicles. Today, vehicles communicate wirelessly with other vehicles and vulnerable pedestrians in their immediate vicinity to share timely safety-critical information primarily for collision mitigation. Furthermore, vehicles connect with the traffic management entities via their supporting network infrastructure to become more aware of any potential hazards on the roads and for guidance pertinent to their current and anticipated speeds and travelling course to ensure more efficient traffic flows. Therefore, a secure and low-latency communication is highly indispensable in order to meet the stringent performance requirements of such safety-critical vehicular applications. However, the heterogeneity of diverse radio access technologies and inflexibility in their deployment results in network fragmentation and inefficient resource utilization, and these, therefore, act as bottlenecks in realizing the aims for a highly efficient vehicular networking architecture. In order to overcome such sorts of bottlenecks, this article brings forth the current state-of-the-art in the context of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and subsequently proposes a software-defined heterogeneous vehicular networking (SDHVNet) architecture for ensuring a highly agile networking infrastructure to ensure rapid network innovation on-demand. Finally, a number of potential architectural challenges and their probable solutions are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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17 pages, 1848 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gamification vs. Privacy: Identifying and Analysing the Major Concerns

by Aikaterini-Georgia Mavroeidi, Angeliki Kitsiou, Christos Kalloniatis and Stefanos Gritzalis

Future Internet 2019, 11(3), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11030067 - 7 Mar 2019

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 7104

Abstract

Gamification, the use of game design elements in applications that are not games, has been developed to provide attractive environments and maintain user interest in several domains. In domains such as education, marketing and health, where gamification techniques are applied, user engagement in [...] Read more.

Gamification, the use of game design elements in applications that are not games, has been developed to provide attractive environments and maintain user interest in several domains. In domains such as education, marketing and health, where gamification techniques are applied, user engagement in applications has increased. In these applications the protection of users’ privacy is an important aspect to consider, due to the applications obtaining a record of the personal information of their users. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify if applications where gamification is applied do respect users’ privacy. For the accomplishment of this aim, two main steps have been implemented. Since the main principle of gamification is the existence of game elements, the first step was to identify the set of game elements recorded in the literature that are commonly applied in various applications. Afterwards, an examination of the relationship between these elements and privacy requirements was implemented in order to identify which elements conflict with the privacy requirements leading to potential privacy violations and which elements do not. Α conceptual model according to the results of this examination was designed, which presents how elements conflict with requirements. Based on the results, there are indeed game elements which can lead to privacy violations. The results of this work provide valuable guidance to software developers, especially during the design stages of gamified applications since it helps them to consider the protection of users’ privacy in parallel from the early stages of the application development onwards. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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25 pages, 1702 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Cyber Security Threat Modeling for Supply Chain Organizational Environments

by Abel Yeboah-Ofori and Shareeful Islam

Future Internet 2019, 11(3), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11030063 - 5 Mar 2019

Cited by 61 | Viewed by 17899

Abstract

Cyber security in a supply chain (SC) provides an organization the secure network facilities to meet its overall business objectives. The integration of technologies has improved business processes, increased production speed, and reduced distribution costs. However, the increased interdependencies among various supply chain [...] Read more.

Cyber security in a supply chain (SC) provides an organization the secure network facilities to meet its overall business objectives. The integration of technologies has improved business processes, increased production speed, and reduced distribution costs. However, the increased interdependencies among various supply chain stakeholders have brought many challenges including lack of third party audit mechanisms and cascading cyber threats. This has led to attacks such as the manipulation of the design specifications, alterations, and manipulation during distribution. The aim of this paper is to investigate and understand supply chain threats. In particular, the paper contributes towards modeling and analyzing CSC attacks and cyber threat reporting among supply chain stakeholders. We consider concepts such as goal, actor, attack, TTP, and threat actor relevant to the supply chain, threat model, and requirements domain, and modeled the attack using the widely known STIX threat model. The proposed model was analyzed using a running example of a smart grid case study and an algorithm to model the attack. A discrete probability method for calculating the conditional probabilities was used to determine the attack propagation and cascading effects, and the results showed that our approach effectively analyzed the threats. We have recommended a list of CSC controls to improve the overall security of the studied organization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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21 pages, 16107 KiB

Open AccessArticle

IoH: A Platform for the Intelligence of Home with a Context Awareness and Ambient Intelligence Approach

by Luis Gomes, Carlos Ramos, Aria Jozi, Bruno Serra, Lucas Paiva and Zita Vale

Future Internet 2019, 11(3), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11030058 - 2 Mar 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5848

Abstract

This paper presents IoH (Intelligence of Home), a platform developed to test some basic intelligent behaviors in Home context. Internet of Things, ambient intelligence and context awareness approaches motivated the development of IoH. The platform involves six layers, responsible by connectivity, persistency, unification, [...] Read more.

This paper presents IoH (Intelligence of Home), a platform developed to test some basic intelligent behaviors in Home context. Internet of Things, ambient intelligence and context awareness approaches motivated the development of IoH. The platform involves six layers, responsible by connectivity, persistency, unification, Internet of Things integration, subsystems integration and user interface. The integrated subsystems involve intelligent systems for light control, television brightness control, desk light control, persons counting and air conditioner control. The IoH platform is then tested for a real building, and results and conclusions are obtained. Different intelligent methods and technologies are used, form the use of a diversity of sensors, actuators, and controllers and processing units to a set of artificial intelligence approaches varying from machine learning and optimization algorithms to the use of sensor fusion and computer vision. The use of IoH day-by-day demonstrated an intelligent performance for the real building occupants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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33 pages, 1099 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On the Need for a General REST-Security Framework

by Luigi Lo Iacono, Hoai Viet Nguyen and Peter Leo Gorski

Future Internet 2019, 11(3), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11030056 - 27 Feb 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5674

Abstract

Contemporary software is inherently distributed. The principles guiding the design of such software have been mainly manifested by the service-oriented architecture (SOA) concept. In a SOA, applications are orchestrated by software services generally operated by distinct entities. Due to the latter fact, service [...] Read more.

Contemporary software is inherently distributed. The principles guiding the design of such software have been mainly manifested by the service-oriented architecture (SOA) concept. In a SOA, applications are orchestrated by software services generally operated by distinct entities. Due to the latter fact, service security has been of importance in such systems ever since. A dominant protocol for implementing SOA-based systems is SOAP, which comes with a well-elaborated security framework. As an alternative to SOAP, the architectural style representational state transfer (REST) is gaining traction as a simple, lightweight and flexible guideline for designing distributed service systems that scale at large. This paper starts by introducing the basic constraints representing REST. Based on these foundations, the focus is afterwards drawn on the security needs of REST-based service systems. The limitations of transport-oriented protection means are emphasized and the demand for specific message-oriented safeguards is assessed. The paper then reviews the current activities in respect to REST-security and finds that the available schemes are mostly HTTP-centered and very heterogeneous. More importantly, all of the analyzed schemes contain vulnerabilities. The paper contributes a methodology on how to establish REST-security as a general security framework for protecting REST-based service systems of any kind by consistent and comprehensive protection means. First adoptions of the introduced approach are presented in relation to REST message authentication with instantiations for REST-ful HTTP (web/cloud services) and REST-ful constraint application protocol (CoAP) (internet of things (IoT) services). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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12 pages, 1652 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Multi-Agent Architecture for Data Analysis

by Gianfranco Lombardo, Paolo Fornacciari, Monica Mordonini, Michele Tomaiuolo and Agostino Poggi

Future Internet 2019, 11(2), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11020049 - 18 Feb 2019

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4668

Abstract

ActoDatA (Actor Data Analysis) is an actor-based software library for the development of distributed data mining applications. It provides a multi-agent architecture with a set of predefined and configurable agents performing the typical tasks of data mining applications. In particular, its architecture can [...] Read more.

ActoDatA (Actor Data Analysis) is an actor-based software library for the development of distributed data mining applications. It provides a multi-agent architecture with a set of predefined and configurable agents performing the typical tasks of data mining applications. In particular, its architecture can manage different users’ applications; it maintains a high level of execution quality by distributing the agents of the applications on a dynamic set of computational nodes. Moreover, it provides reports about the analysis results and the collected data, which can be accessed through either a web browser or a dedicated mobile APP. After an introduction about the actor model and the software framework used for implementing the software library, this article underlines the main features of ActoDatA and presents its experimentation in some well-known data analysis domains. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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10 pages, 1215 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Vehicle Politeness in Driving Situations

by Jae-Gil Lee, Kwan Min Lee and Seoung-Ho Ryu

Future Internet 2019, 11(2), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11020048 - 16 Feb 2019

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5172

Abstract

Future vehicles are becoming more like driving partners instead of mere machines. With the application of advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs), vehicles perform driving tasks while drivers monitor the functioning states of vehicles. This change in interaction requires a deliberate consideration of [...] Read more.

Future vehicles are becoming more like driving partners instead of mere machines. With the application of advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs), vehicles perform driving tasks while drivers monitor the functioning states of vehicles. This change in interaction requires a deliberate consideration of how vehicles should present driving-related information. As a way of encouraging drivers to more readily accept instructions from vehicles, we suggest the use of social rules, such as politeness, in human-vehicle interaction. In a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment, we test the effects of vehicle politeness (plain vs. polite) on drivers’ interaction experiences in two operation situations (normal vs. failure). The results indicate that vehicle politeness improves interaction experience in normal working situations but impedes the experience in failure situations. Specifically, in normal situations, vehicles with polite instructions are highly evaluated for social presence, politeness, satisfaction and intention to use. Theoretical and practical implications on politeness research and speech interaction design are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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17 pages, 423 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Scheme to Design Community Detection Algorithms in Various Networks

by Haoye Lu and Amiya Nayak

Future Internet 2019, 11(2), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11020041 - 12 Feb 2019

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4106

Abstract

Network structures, consisting of nodes and edges, have applications in almost all subjects. A set of nodes is called a community if the nodes have strong interrelations. Industries (including cell phone carriers and online social media companies) need community structures to allocate network [...] Read more.

Network structures, consisting of nodes and edges, have applications in almost all subjects. A set of nodes is called a community if the nodes have strong interrelations. Industries (including cell phone carriers and online social media companies) need community structures to allocate network resources and provide proper and accurate services. However, most detection algorithms are derived independently, which is arduous and even unnecessary. Although recent research shows that a general detection method that serves all purposes does not exist, we believe that there is some general procedure of deriving detection algorithms. In this paper, we represent such a general scheme. We mainly focus on two types of networks: transmission networks and similarity networks. We reduce them to a unified graph model, based on which we propose a method to define and detect community structures. Finally, we also give a demonstration to show how our design scheme works. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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12 pages, 1468 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Overview of Vehicular Communications

by Fabio Arena and Giovanni Pau

Future Internet 2019, 11(2), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11020027 - 24 Jan 2019

Cited by 192 | Viewed by 18736

Abstract

The transport sector is commonly subordinate to several issues, such as traffic congestion and accidents. Despite this, in recent years, it is also evolving with regard to cooperation between vehicles. The fundamental objective of this trend is to increase road safety, attempting to [...] Read more.

The transport sector is commonly subordinate to several issues, such as traffic congestion and accidents. Despite this, in recent years, it is also evolving with regard to cooperation between vehicles. The fundamental objective of this trend is to increase road safety, attempting to anticipate the circumstances of potential danger. Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technologies strive to give communication models that can be employed by vehicles in different application contexts. The resulting infrastructure is an ad-hoc mesh network whose nodes are not only vehicles but also all mobile devices equipped with wireless modules. The interaction between the multiple connected entities consists of information exchange through the adoption of suitable communication protocols. The main aim of the review carried out in this paper is to examine and assess the most relevant systems, applications, and communication protocols that will distinguish the future road infrastructures used by vehicles. The results of the investigation reveal the real benefits that technological cooperation can involve in road safety. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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13 pages, 327 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Explorative Model to Assess Individuals’ Phubbing Risk

by Andrea Guazzini, Mirko Duradoni, Ambra Capelli and Patrizia Meringolo

Future Internet 2019, 11(1), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11010021 - 18 Jan 2019

Cited by 70 | Viewed by 10964

Abstract

Phubbing could be defined as a new form of addiction; however, checking the phone and ignoring the speaker could also be linked to the increased availability of virtual social environments. We developed a multidimensional model for phubbing considering psychological dimensions and information and [...] Read more.

Phubbing could be defined as a new form of addiction; however, checking the phone and ignoring the speaker could also be linked to the increased availability of virtual social environments. We developed a multidimensional model for phubbing considering psychological dimensions and information and communication technology related habits. We collected data through online questionnaires and surveys. The best model obtained from our data was constituted by Information and Communication Technologies’ (ICTs) usage behaviours, Trait Anxiety, Virtual Sense of Community and Neuroticism. Finally, our study confirmed a strong connection between phubbing and online addiction behaviours. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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17 pages, 906 KiB

Open AccessArticle

ESCAPE: Evacuation Strategy through Clustering and Autonomous Operation in Public Safety Systems

by Georgios Fragkos, Pavlos Athanasios Apostolopoulos and Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou

Future Internet 2019, 11(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11010020 - 17 Jan 2019

Cited by 31 | Viewed by 5429

Abstract

Natural disasters and terrorist attacks pose a significant threat to human society, and have stressed an urgent need for the development of comprehensive and efficient evacuation strategies. In this paper, a novel evacuation-planning mechanism is introduced to support the distributed and autonomous evacuation [...] Read more.

Natural disasters and terrorist attacks pose a significant threat to human society, and have stressed an urgent need for the development of comprehensive and efficient evacuation strategies. In this paper, a novel evacuation-planning mechanism is introduced to support the distributed and autonomous evacuation process within the operation of a public safety system, where the evacuees exploit the capabilities of the proposed ESCAPE service, towards making the most beneficial actions for themselves. The ESCAPE service was developed based on the principles of reinforcement learning and game theory, and is executed at two decision-making layers. Initially, evacuees are modeled as stochastic learning automata that select an evacuation route that they want to go based on its physical characteristics and past decisions during the current evacuation. Consequently, a cluster of evacuees is created per evacuation route, and the evacuees decide if they will finally evacuate through the specific evacuation route at the current time slot or not. The evacuees’ competitive behavior is modeled as a non-co-operative minority game per each specific evacuation route. A distributed and low-complexity evacuation-planning algorithm (i.e., ESCAPE) is introduced to implement both the aforementioned evacuee decision-making layers. Finally, the proposed framework is evaluated through modeling and simulation under several scenarios, and its superiority and benefits are revealed and demonstrated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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13 pages, 475 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adaptive Downward/Upward Routing Protocol for Mobile-Sensor Networks

by Jinpeng Wang, Gérard Chalhoub and Michel Misson

Future Internet 2019, 11(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11010018 - 15 Jan 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4140

Abstract

Recently, mobility support has become an important requirement in various Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Low-power and Lossy Networks (LLNs) are a special type of WSNs that tolerate a certain degree of packet loss. However, due to the strict resource constraints in the computation, [...] Read more.

Recently, mobility support has become an important requirement in various Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Low-power and Lossy Networks (LLNs) are a special type of WSNs that tolerate a certain degree of packet loss. However, due to the strict resource constraints in the computation, energy, and memory of LLNs, most routing protocols only support static network topologies. Data collection and data dissemination are two basic traffic modes in LLNs. Unlike data collection, data dissemination is less investigated in LLNs. There are two sorts of data-dissemination methods: point-to-multipoint and point-to-point. In this paper, we focus on the point-to-point method, which requires the source node to build routes to reach the destination node. We propose an adaptive routing protocol that integrates together point-to-point traffic and data-collection traffic, and supports highly mobile scenarios. This protocol quickly reacts to the movement of nodes to make faster decisions for the next-hop selection in data collection and dynamically build routes for point-to-point traffic. Results obtained through simulation show that our work outperforms two generic ad hoc routing protocols AODV and flooding on different performance metrics. Results also show the efficiency of our work in highly mobile scenarios with multiple traffic patterns. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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19 pages, 778 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Forecasting E-Commerce Products Prices by Combining an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) Model and Google Trends Data

by Salvatore Carta, Andrea Medda, Alessio Pili, Diego Reforgiato Recupero and Roberto Saia

Future Internet 2019, 11(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11010005 - 24 Dec 2018

Cited by 42 | Viewed by 10269

Abstract

E-commerce is becoming more and more the main instrument for selling goods to the mass market. This led to a growing interest in algorithms and techniques able to predict products future prices, since they allow us to define smart systems able to improve [...] Read more.

E-commerce is becoming more and more the main instrument for selling goods to the mass market. This led to a growing interest in algorithms and techniques able to predict products future prices, since they allow us to define smart systems able to improve the quality of life by suggesting more affordable goods and services. The joint use of time series, reputation and sentiment analysis clearly represents one important approach to this research issue. In this paper we present Price Probe, a suite of software tools developed to perform forecasting on products’ prices. Its primary aim is to predict the future price trend of products generating a customized forecast through the exploitation of autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. We experimented the effectiveness of the proposed approach on one of the biggest E-commerce infrastructure in the world: Amazon. We used specific APIs and dedicated crawlers to extract and collect information about products and their related prices over time and, moreover, we extracted information from social media and Google Trends that we used as exogenous features for the ARIMA model. We fine-estimated ARIMA’s parameters and tried the different combinations of the exogenous features and noticed through experimental analysis that the presence of Google Trends information significantly improved the predictions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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16 pages, 1477 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Real Case of Implementation of the Future 5G City

by Dania Marabissi, Lorenzo Mucchi, Romano Fantacci, Maria Rita Spada, Fabio Massimiani, Andrea Fratini, Giorgio Cau, Jia Yunpeng and Lucio Fedele

Future Internet 2019, 11(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11010004 - 22 Dec 2018

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 9687

Abstract

The fifth generation (5G) of wireless communication systems is considered the key technology to enable a wide range of application scenarios and the effective spreading of the smart city concept. Vertical business use cases, specifically designed for the future 5G city, will have [...] Read more.

The fifth generation (5G) of wireless communication systems is considered the key technology to enable a wide range of application scenarios and the effective spreading of the smart city concept. Vertical business use cases, specifically designed for the future 5G city, will have a strong economical and social impact. For this reason, ongoing 5G field trials have to test newly deployed technologies as well as the capability of 5G to create a new digital economy. This paper describes the 5G field trial environment that was launched in Italy at the end of 2017. The aim is to evaluate the capability of the 5G network of supporting innovative services with reference to suitably designed key performance indicators and to evaluate the opportunities offered by these services. Indeed, vertical business use cases, specifically designed for the future 5G city, with a strong economic and social impact, are under implementation and will be evaluated. In particular, the paper provides a detailed description of the deployment of an actual complete integrated 5G network. It shows how 5G is effective enabling technology for a wide range of vertical business and use cases. Indeed, its flexibility allows to satisfy completely different performance requirements of real services. Some preliminary results, obtained during the first phase, are presented for a smart mobility scenario. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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12 pages, 221 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Privacy and Security Issues in Online Social Networks

by Shaukat Ali, Naveed Islam, Azhar Rauf, Ikram Ud Din, Mohsen Guizani and Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues

Future Internet 2018, 10(12), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi10120114 - 22 Nov 2018

Cited by 73 | Viewed by 24056

Abstract

The advent of online social networks (OSN) has transformed a common passive reader into a content contributor. It has allowed users to share information and exchange opinions, and also express themselves in online virtual communities to interact with other users of similar interests. [...] Read more.

The advent of online social networks (OSN) has transformed a common passive reader into a content contributor. It has allowed users to share information and exchange opinions, and also express themselves in online virtual communities to interact with other users of similar interests. However, OSN have turned the social sphere of users into the commercial sphere. This should create a privacy and security issue for OSN users. OSN service providers collect the private and sensitive data of their customers that can be misused by data collectors, third parties, or by unauthorized users. In this paper, common security and privacy issues are explained along with recommendations to OSN users to protect themselves from these issues whenever they use social media. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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22 pages, 2314 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quality of Experience in Cyber-Physical Social Systems Based on Reinforcement Learning and Game Theory

by Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou, George Kousis, Athina Thanou, Ioanna Lykourentzou and Symeon Papavassiliou

Future Internet 2018, 10(11), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi10110108 - 7 Nov 2018

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3797

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of museum visitors’ Quality of Experience (QoE) optimization by viewing and treating the museum environment as a cyber-physical social system. To achieve this goal, we harness visitors’ internal ability to intelligently sense their environment and make choices that [...] Read more.

This paper addresses the problem of museum visitors’ Quality of Experience (QoE) optimization by viewing and treating the museum environment as a cyber-physical social system. To achieve this goal, we harness visitors’ internal ability to intelligently sense their environment and make choices that improve their QoE in terms of which the museum touring option is the best for them and how much time to spend on their visit. We model the museum setting as a distributed non-cooperative game where visitors selfishly maximize their own QoE. In this setting, we formulate the problem of Recommendation Selection and Visiting Time Management (RSVTM) and propose a two-stage distributed algorithm based on game theory and reinforcement learning, which learns from visitor behavior to make on-the-fly recommendation selections that maximize visitor QoE. The proposed framework enables autonomic visitor-centric management in a personalized manner and enables visitors themselves to decide on the best visiting strategies. Experimental results evaluating the performance of the proposed RSVTM algorithm under realistic simulation conditions indicate the high operational effectiveness and superior performance when compared to other recommendation approaches. Our results constitute a practical alternative for museums and exhibition spaces meant to enhance visitor QoE in a flexible, efficient, and cost-effective manner. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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22 pages, 1474 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reframing HRI Design Opportunities for Social Robots: Lessons Learnt from a Service Robotics Case Study Approach Using UX for HRI

by Sara Khan and Claudio Germak

Future Internet 2018, 10(10), 101; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi10100101 - 10 Oct 2018

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 7657

Abstract

Over the last few decades, semi-autonomous machine’s technology started to promote awareness towards the importance of human–robot interaction (HRI) for improving daily activities. More affordable social robots are being commercially released and in order to implement viable applications of HRI, a combination human-computer [...] Read more.

Over the last few decades, semi-autonomous machine’s technology started to promote awareness towards the importance of human–robot interaction (HRI) for improving daily activities. More affordable social robots are being commercially released and in order to implement viable applications of HRI, a combination human-computer interaction and user experience methodologies could play a pivotal role in assessing new scenarios and evaluating new investigations. However, literature shows that it is still challenging to reach an optimal user experience with robotic companions. The aim of the study was to determine the chance to enhance the user experience with a semi-autonomous social robot, using user experience and human–computer interaction methodologies. In this study, a social robotic companion has been developed and prototyped in order to be adopted in a specific public environment such as a company workspace. The challenges emerged from this peculiar environment triggered the need for a more productive and comfortable office for the employees, and, at the same time, the usability, acceptance and likeability of the robotic companion have been evaluated. The results emphasize that, since HRI is highly interdisciplinary, the benefits of combining approaches from other fields could positively benefit from a meaningful social interaction with the users. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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18 pages, 4223 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Agile Service Engineering in the Industrial Internet of Things

by Thomas Usländer and Thomas Batz

Future Internet 2018, 10(10), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi10100100 - 9 Oct 2018

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5823

Abstract

The emerging Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will not only leverage new and potentially disruptive business models but will also change the way software applications will be analyzed and designed. Agility is a need in a systematic service engineering as well as a [...] Read more.

The emerging Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will not only leverage new and potentially disruptive business models but will also change the way software applications will be analyzed and designed. Agility is a need in a systematic service engineering as well as a co-design of requirements and architectural artefacts. Functional and non-functional requirements of IT users (in smart manufacturing mostly from the disciplines of mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) need to be mapped to the capabilities and interaction patterns of emerging IIoT service platforms, not to forget the corresponding information models. The capabilities of such platforms are usually described, structured, and formalized by software architects and software engineers. However, their technical descriptions are far away from the thinking and the thematic terms of end-users. This complicates the transition from requirements analysis to system design, and hence the re-use of existing and the design of future platform capabilities. Current software engineering methodologies do not systematically cover these interlinked and two-sided aspects. The article describes in a comprehensive manner how to close this gap with the help of a service-oriented analysis and design methodology entitled SERVUS (also mentioned in ISO 19119 Annex D) and a corresponding Web-based Platform Engineering Information System (PEIS). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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17 pages, 444 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Based Trust Management in Heterogeneous Federated Future Internet Testbeds

by Dimitrios Dechouniotis, Ioannis Dimolitsas, Konstantinos Papadakis-Vlachopapadopoulos and Symeon Papavassiliou

Future Internet 2018, 10(7), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi10070058 - 25 Jun 2018

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4295

Abstract

A federation of heterogeneous testbeds, which provides a wide range of services, attracts many experimenters from academia and industry to evaluate novel future Internet architectures and network protocols. The candidate experimenter reserves the appropriate testbeds’ resources based on various diverse criteria. Since several [...] Read more.

A federation of heterogeneous testbeds, which provides a wide range of services, attracts many experimenters from academia and industry to evaluate novel future Internet architectures and network protocols. The candidate experimenter reserves the appropriate testbeds’ resources based on various diverse criteria. Since several testbeds offer similar resources, a trust mechanism between the users and the providers will facilitate the proper selection of testbeds. This paper proposes a fuzzy reputation-based trust framework that is based on a modification of the fuzzy VIKOR multi-criteria decision making method and combines the user’s opinion from previously-conducted experiments with retrieved monitoring data from the utilized testbeds, in order to quantify the reputation of each testbed and the credibility of the experimenter. The proposed framework can process various types of numeric and linguistic data in an on-line fashion and can be easily extended for new types of testbeds and services. Data from active federated testbeds are used to evaluate the performance of the fuzzy reputation-based trust framework under dynamic conditions. Furthermore, a comparison of the proposed framework with another existing state of the art trust framework for federated testbeds is presented, and its superiority is demonstrated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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Review

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31 pages, 1036 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Computational Social Science of Disasters: Opportunities and Challenges

by Annetta Burger, Talha Oz, William G. Kennedy and Andrew T. Crooks

Future Internet 2019, 11(5), 103; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11050103 - 26 Apr 2019

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 11736

Abstract

Disaster events and their economic impacts are trending, and climate projection studies suggest that the risks of disaster will continue to increase in the near future. Despite the broad and increasing social effects of these events, the empirical basis of disaster research is [...] Read more.

Disaster events and their economic impacts are trending, and climate projection studies suggest that the risks of disaster will continue to increase in the near future. Despite the broad and increasing social effects of these events, the empirical basis of disaster research is often weak, partially due to the natural paucity of observed data. At the same time, some of the early research regarding social responses to disasters have become outdated as social, cultural, and political norms have changed. The digital revolution, the open data trend, and the advancements in data science provide new opportunities for social science disaster research. We introduce the term computational social science of disasters (CSSD), which can be formally defined as the systematic study of the social behavioral dynamics of disasters utilizing computational methods. In this paper, we discuss and showcase the opportunities and the challenges in this new approach to disaster research. Following a brief review of the fields that relate to CSSD, namely traditional social sciences of disasters, computational social science, and crisis informatics, we examine how advances in Internet technologies offer a new lens through which to study disasters. By identifying gaps in the literature, we show how this new field could address ways to advance our understanding of the social and behavioral aspects of disasters in a digitally connected world. In doing so, our goal is to bridge the gap between data science and the social sciences of disasters in rapidly changing environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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25 pages, 616 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Edge Computing: A Survey On the Hardware Requirements in the Internet of Things World

by Maurizio Capra, Riccardo Peloso, Guido Masera, Massimo Ruo Roch and Maurizio Martina

Future Internet 2019, 11(4), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11040100 - 23 Apr 2019

Cited by 98 | Viewed by 10666

Abstract

In today’s world, ruled by a great amount of data and mobile devices, cloud-based systems are spreading all over. Such phenomenon increases the number of connected devices, broadcast bandwidth, and information exchange. These fine-grained interconnected systems, which enable the Internet connectivity for an [...] Read more.

In today’s world, ruled by a great amount of data and mobile devices, cloud-based systems are spreading all over. Such phenomenon increases the number of connected devices, broadcast bandwidth, and information exchange. These fine-grained interconnected systems, which enable the Internet connectivity for an extremely large number of facilities (far beyond the current number of devices) go by the name of Internet of Things (IoT). In this scenario, mobile devices have an operating time which is proportional to the battery capacity, the number of operations performed per cycle and the amount of exchanged data. Since the transmission of data to a central cloud represents a very energy-hungry operation, new computational paradigms have been implemented. The computation is not completely performed in the cloud, distributing the power load among the nodes of the system, and data are compressed to reduce the transmitted power requirements. In the edge-computing paradigm, part of the computational power is moved toward data collection sources, and, only after a first elaboration, collected data are sent to the central cloud server. Indeed, the “edge” term refers to the extremities of systems represented by IoT devices. This survey paper presents the hardware architectures of typical IoT devices and sums up many of the low power techniques which make them appealing for a large scale of applications. An overview of the newest research topics is discussed, besides a final example of a complete functioning system, embedding all the introduced features. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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35 pages, 4451 KiB

Open AccessReview

Wireless Mesh Networking: An IoT-Oriented Perspective Survey on Relevant Technologies

by Antonio Cilfone, Luca Davoli, Laura Belli and Gianluigi Ferrari

Future Internet 2019, 11(4), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11040099 - 17 Apr 2019

Cited by 101 | Viewed by 24378

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT), being a “network of networks”, promises to allow billions of humans and machines to interact with each other. Owing to this rapid growth, the deployment of IoT-oriented networks based on mesh topologies is very attractive, thanks to their [...] Read more.

The Internet of Things (IoT), being a “network of networks”, promises to allow billions of humans and machines to interact with each other. Owing to this rapid growth, the deployment of IoT-oriented networks based on mesh topologies is very attractive, thanks to their scalability and reliability (in the presence of failures). In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey of the following relevant wireless technologies: IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.15.4-oriented, and Sub-GHz-based LoRa. Our goal is to highlight how various communication technologies may be suitable for mesh networking, either providing a native support or being adapted subsequently. Hence, we discuss how these wireless technologies, being either standard or proprietary, can adapt to IoT scenarios (e.g., smart cities and smart agriculture) in which the heterogeneity of the involved devices is a key feature. Finally, we provide reference use cases involving all the analyzed mesh-oriented technologies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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23 pages, 458 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Review of Machine Learning and IoT in Smart Transportation

by Fotios Zantalis, Grigorios Koulouras, Sotiris Karabetsos and Dionisis Kandris

Future Internet 2019, 11(4), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11040094 - 10 Apr 2019

Cited by 422 | Viewed by 33345

Abstract

With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), applications have become smarter and connected devices give rise to their exploitation in all aspects of a modern city. As the volume of the collected data increases, Machine Learning (ML) techniques are applied to [...] Read more.

With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), applications have become smarter and connected devices give rise to their exploitation in all aspects of a modern city. As the volume of the collected data increases, Machine Learning (ML) techniques are applied to further enhance the intelligence and the capabilities of an application. The field of smart transportation has attracted many researchers and it has been approached with both ML and IoT techniques. In this review, smart transportation is considered to be an umbrella term that covers route optimization, parking, street lights, accident prevention/detection, road anomalies, and infrastructure applications. The purpose of this paper is to make a self-contained review of ML techniques and IoT applications in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and obtain a clear view of the trends in the aforementioned fields and spot possible coverage needs. From the reviewed articles it becomes profound that there is a possible lack of ML coverage for the Smart Lighting Systems and Smart Parking applications. Additionally, route optimization, parking, and accident/detection tend to be the most popular ITS applications among researchers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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11 pages, 214 KiB

Open AccessReview

Worldwide Connectivity for the Internet of Things Through LoRaWAN

by Lorenzo Vangelista and Marco Centenaro

Future Internet 2019, 11(3), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11030057 - 2 Mar 2019

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4867

Abstract

The low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) paradigm is gradually gaining market acceptance. In particular, three prominent LPWAN technologies are emerging at the moment: LoRaWAN™ and SigFox™, which operate on unlicensed frequency bands, and NB-IoT, operating on licensed frequency bands. This paper deals with LoRaWAN™, [...] Read more.

The low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) paradigm is gradually gaining market acceptance. In particular, three prominent LPWAN technologies are emerging at the moment: LoRaWAN™ and SigFox™, which operate on unlicensed frequency bands, and NB-IoT, operating on licensed frequency bands. This paper deals with LoRaWAN™, and has the aim of describing a particularly interesting feature provided by the latest LoRaWAN™ specification—often neglected in the literature—i.e., the roaming capability between different operators of LoRaWAN™ networks, across the same country or even different countries. Recalling that LoRaWAN™ devices do not have a subscriber identification module (SIM) like cellular network terminals, at a first glance the implementation of roaming in LoRaWAN™ networks could seem intricate. The contribution of this paper consists in explaining the principles behind the implementation of a global LoRaWAN network, with particular focus on how to cope with the lack of the SIM in the architecture and how to realize roaming. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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9 pages, 196 KiB

Open AccessReview

SAES: An Introduction to Self-Adapting Exploratory Structures

by Giovanni Maria Sacco

Future Internet 2019, 11(3), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11030054 - 26 Feb 2019

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3710

Abstract

Self-adapting exploratory structures (SAESs) are the basic components of exploratory search. They are abstract structures which allow searching or querying of an information base and summarizing of results using a uniform representation. A definition and a characterization of SAES is given, as well [...] Read more.

Self-adapting exploratory structures (SAESs) are the basic components of exploratory search. They are abstract structures which allow searching or querying of an information base and summarizing of results using a uniform representation. A definition and a characterization of SAES is given, as well as a discussion of structures that are SAES or can be modified in order to become SAES. These include dynamic taxonomies (also known as faceted search), tag clouds, continuous sliders, geographic maps, and dynamic clustering methods, such as Scatter-Gather. Finally, the integration of these structures into a single interface is discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

19 pages, 2119 KiB

Open AccessReview

Consistency Models of NoSQL Databases

by Miguel Diogo, Bruno Cabral and Jorge Bernardino

Future Internet 2019, 11(2), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11020043 - 14 Feb 2019

Cited by 48 | Viewed by 20618

Abstract

Internet has become so widespread that most popular websites are accessed by hundreds of millions of people on a daily basis. Monolithic architectures, which were frequently used in the past, were mostly composed of traditional relational database management systems, but quickly have become [...] Read more.

Internet has become so widespread that most popular websites are accessed by hundreds of millions of people on a daily basis. Monolithic architectures, which were frequently used in the past, were mostly composed of traditional relational database management systems, but quickly have become incapable of sustaining high data traffic very common these days. Meanwhile, NoSQL databases have emerged to provide some missing properties in relational databases like the schema-less design, horizontal scaling, and eventual consistency. This paper analyzes and compares the consistency model implementation on five popular NoSQL databases: Redis, Cassandra, MongoDB, Neo4j, and OrientDB. All of which offer at least eventual consistency, and some have the option of supporting strong consistency. However, imposing strong consistency will result in less availability when subject to network partition events. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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13 pages, 322 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Interoperability of the Time of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things

by Francesco Lelli

Future Internet 2019, 11(2), 36; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11020036 - 3 Feb 2019

Cited by 53 | Viewed by 6829

Abstract

Industry 4.0 demands a dynamic optimization of production lines. They are formed by sets of heterogeneous devices that cooperate towards a shared goal. The Internet of Things can serve as a technology enabler for implementing such a vision. Nevertheless, the domain is struggling [...] Read more.

Industry 4.0 demands a dynamic optimization of production lines. They are formed by sets of heterogeneous devices that cooperate towards a shared goal. The Internet of Things can serve as a technology enabler for implementing such a vision. Nevertheless, the domain is struggling in finding a shared understanding of the concepts for describing a device. This aspect plays a fundamental role in enabling an “intelligent interoperability” among sensor and actuators that will constitute a dynamic Industry 4.0 production line. In this paper, we summarize the efforts of academics and practitioners toward describing devices in order to enable dynamic reconfiguration by machines or humans. We also propose a set of concepts for describing devices, and we analyze how present initiatives are covering these aspects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

26 pages, 4161 KiB

Open AccessReview

Percolation and Internet Science

by Franco Bagnoli, Emanuele Bellini, Emanuele Massaro and Raúl Rechtman

Future Internet 2019, 11(2), 35; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11020035 - 2 Feb 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 6374

Abstract

Percolation, in its most general interpretation, refers to the “flow” of something (a physical agent, data or information) in a network, possibly accompanied by some nonlinear dynamical processes on the network nodes (sometimes denoted reaction–diffusion systems, voter or opinion formation models, etc.). Originated [...] Read more.

Percolation, in its most general interpretation, refers to the “flow” of something (a physical agent, data or information) in a network, possibly accompanied by some nonlinear dynamical processes on the network nodes (sometimes denoted reaction–diffusion systems, voter or opinion formation models, etc.). Originated in the domain of theoretical and matter physics, it has many applications in epidemiology, sociology and, of course, computer and Internet sciences. In this review, we illustrate some aspects of percolation theory and its generalization, cellular automata and briefly discuss their relationship with equilibrium systems (Ising and Potts models). We present a model of opinion spreading, the role of the topology of the network to induce coherent oscillations and the influence (and advantages) of risk perception for stopping epidemics. The models and computational tools that are briefly presented here have an application to the filtering of tainted information in automatic trading. Finally, we introduce the open problem of controlling percolation and other processes on distributed systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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23 pages, 1209 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Surveying Human Habit Modeling and Mining Techniques in Smart Spaces

by Francesco Leotta, Massimo Mecella, Daniele Sora and Tiziana Catarci

Future Internet 2019, 11(1), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11010023 - 19 Jan 2019

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4765

Abstract

A smart space is an environment, mainly equipped with Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies, able to provide services to humans, helping them to perform daily tasks by monitoring the space and autonomously executing actions, giving suggestions and sending alarms. Approaches suggested in the literature may [...] Read more.

A smart space is an environment, mainly equipped with Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies, able to provide services to humans, helping them to perform daily tasks by monitoring the space and autonomously executing actions, giving suggestions and sending alarms. Approaches suggested in the literature may differ in terms of required facilities, possible applications, amount of human intervention required, ability to support multiple users at the same time adapting to changing needs. In this paper, we propose a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) that classifies most influential approaches in the area of smart spaces according to a set of dimensions identified by answering a set of research questions. These dimensions allow to choose a specific method or approach according to available sensors, amount of labeled data, need for visual analysis, requirements in terms of enactment and decision-making on the environment. Additionally, the paper identifies a set of challenges to be addressed by future research in the field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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42 pages, 2380 KiB

Open AccessReview

MAC Layer Protocols for Internet of Things: A Survey

by Luiz Oliveira, Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues, Sergei A. Kozlov, Ricardo A. L. Rabêlo and Victor Hugo C. de Albuquerque

Future Internet 2019, 11(1), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11010016 - 14 Jan 2019

Cited by 100 | Viewed by 21057

Abstract

Due to the wide variety of uses and the diversity of features required to meet an application, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are moving forward at a strong pace to meet this demand while at the same time trying to meet the time-to-market [...] Read more.

Due to the wide variety of uses and the diversity of features required to meet an application, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are moving forward at a strong pace to meet this demand while at the same time trying to meet the time-to-market of these applications. The characteristics required by applications, such as coverage area, scalability, transmission data rate, and applicability, refer to the Physical and Medium Access Control (MAC) layer designs of protocols. This paper presents a deep study of medium access control (MAC) layer protocols that are used in IoT with a detailed description of such protocols grouped (by short and long distance coverage). For short range coverage protocols, the following are considered: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth IEEE 802.15.1, Bluetooth Low Energy, IEEE 802.15.4, Wireless Highway Addressable Remote Transducer Protocol (Wireless-HART), Z-Wave, Weightless, and IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ah. For the long range group, Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT), Long Term Evolution (LTE) CAT-0, LTE CAT-M, LTE CAT-N, Long Range Protocol (LoRa), and SigFox protocols are studied. A comparative study is performed for each group of protocols in order to provide insights and a reference study for IoT applications, considering their characteristics, limitations, and behavior. Open research issues on the topic are also identified. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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Other

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15 pages, 268 KiB

Open AccessEssay

Environmental Hazards: A Coverage Response Approach

by Paul J. Croft

Future Internet 2019, 11(3), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11030072 - 14 Mar 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4756

Abstract

The rapid rise and implementation of Smart Systems (i.e., multi-functional observation and platform systems that depict settings and/or identify situations or features of interest, often in real-time) has inversely paralleled and readily exposed the reduced capacity of human and societal systems to effectively [...] Read more.

The rapid rise and implementation of Smart Systems (i.e., multi-functional observation and platform systems that depict settings and/or identify situations or features of interest, often in real-time) has inversely paralleled and readily exposed the reduced capacity of human and societal systems to effectively respond to environmental hazards. This overarching review and essay explores the complex set of interactions found among Smart, Societal, and Environmental Systems. The resulting rise in the poorly performing response solutions to environmental hazards that has occurred despite best practices, detailed forecast information, and the use and application of real-time in situ observational platforms are considered. The application of Smart Systems, relevant architectures, and ever-increasing numbers of applications and tools development by individuals as they interact with Smart Systems offers a means to ameliorate and resolve confounding found among all of the interdependent Systems. The interactions of human systems with environmental hazards further expose society’s complex operational vulnerabilities and gaps in response to such threats. An examination of decision-making, the auto-reactive nature of responses before, during, and after environmental hazards; and the lack of scalability and comparability are presented with regard to the prospects of applying probabilistic methods, cross-scale time and space domains; anticipated impacts, and the need to account for multimodal actions and reactions—including psycho-social contributions. Assimilation of these concepts and principles in Smart System architectures, applications, and tools is essential to ensure future viability and functionalities with regard to environmental hazards and to produce an effective set of societal engagement responses. Achieving the promise of Smart Systems relative to environmental hazards will require an extensive transdisciplinary approach to tie psycho-social behaviors directly with non-human components and systems in order to close actionable gaps in response. Pathways to achieve a more comprehensive understanding are given for consideration by the wide diversity of disciplines necessary to move forward in Smart Systems as tied with the societal response to environmental hazards. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary Feature Papers)

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