Ah-Lian Kor

Critical Issues for Data Center Energy Efficiency

This book chapter is based on a project entitled ‘Measuring Data Centre Efficiency’ (Pattinson and Cross, 2013) funded under the JISC Greening ICT initiative, call for projects 14/10 of October 2010. More specifically, it resides under initiative I of that call, “Rapid Innovation in ICT”. The metering methodology employed for this project fostered metering at varying granularity (e.g. measurement of energy use for individual devices/location of the data center; measurement of energy use for aggregated devices/locations). The project provided real experimental data relating to the accurate measurements of energy consumption in different parts of the data centre. Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) was calculated based on the collated data and used to provide trends and comparative analysis of the data center efficiency.

SMART-ITEM: IoT-enabled smart living

The main goal of this proposed project is to harness the emerging IoT technology to empower elderly population to self-manage their own health, stay active, healthy, and independent as long as possible within a smart and secured living environment. An integrated open-sourced IoT ecosystem will be developed. It will encompass the entire data lifecycle which involves the following processes: data acquisition, data transportation; data integration, processing, manipulation and computation; visualisation; data intelligence and exploitation; data sharing; data storage. This innovative cloud-based IoT ecosystem will provide a one-stop shop for integrated smart IoT-enabled services to support older people (greater or equal to 65 years old) who live alone at home (or care homes). Another innovation of this system is the design and implementation of an integrated IoT gateway for wellbeing wearable and home automation system sensors with varying communication protocols. The SMART-ITEM system and services will appropriately address the following (i) smart health and care; (ii) smart quality of life; (iii) SMART-ITEM social community. The development of the system will be based on the User Centred Design methodology so as to ensure active user engagement throughout the entire project lifecycle and necessary standards as well as compliances will be adhered to (e.g. security, trust and privacy) in order to enhance user acceptance.

A belief rule-based environmental responsibility assessment for small and medium-sized enterprise

This research proposes the use of a Belief Rule-Based (BRB) approach to assess an enterprises level commitment to environmental issues. Participating companies will have to complete a structured questionnaire. An automated analysis of their responses will determine their environmental responsibility level. This is followed by a recommendation on how to progress to the next level. The recommended best practices will help promote understanding, increase awareness, and make the organization greener. BRB systems consist of two parts: Knowledge Base and Inference Engine, which are used to derive valid conclusions from rules, established by experts with domain-specific knowledge. The knowledge base in this research is constructed after an in-depth literature review, critical analyses of existing environmental performance assessment models and primarily guided by the EU Draft Background Report for the development of an EMAS (Environmental Management and Audit Scheme) Sectoral Reference Document on “Best Environmental Management Practice in the Telecommunications and ICT Services Sector”. The reasoning algorithm of a selected Drools JBoss BRB inference engine is forward chaining. However, the forward chaining mechanism is not equipped with uncertainty handling. Therefore, a decision is made to deploy an evidential reasoning and forward chaining with a hybrid knowledge representation inference scheme to accommodate imprecision, ambiguity and fuzzy types of uncertainties. It is believed that such a system generates well balanced, sensible and Green ICT readiness adapted results, to help enterprises focus on making improvements on more sustainable business operations.

Performance monitoring of Virtual Machines (VMs) of type I and II hypervisors with SNMPv3

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is the protocol which has the capability to monitor the performance of IP based devices. Also it can monitor components installed on these devices to determine whether they are working or not. In an environment with hundreds of installed servers, it is not possible to check if each machine is working properly. SNMP can also be a used in cloud computing environment for the monitoring of the hardware, infrastructure or virtual machines. To date, not much work has been done on cloud computing monitoring with SNMP. In this research, empirical results of using SNMPv3 to monitor Virtual Machines configured on Type I and II hypervisors and the hypervisor itself vmware ESXi 5.5 resources. Additionally, this research involved the exploration of efficient ways for monitoring the resources and this will lead to the customisation of MIB with Agent X to provide some management features using SNMPv3. The completed research work will consists of four components: (1). Network Management System (NMS), where Zabbix will be used as NMS; (2). SNMP Agent, which will be installed on the devices which need to be monitored; (3). Virtual Machines; (4). Type I and II Hypervisor.

Environmental Responsibility Assessment using Belief Rule Based Inference

This book chapter is an extension of (Bazarhanova et al., Belief rule-based environmental responsibility assessment for small and medium-sized enterprises (note: this includes a comparison with fuzzy logic), Proceedings of 2016 IEEE Future Technologies Conference, 6–7 December, San Francisco, US, 2016; Bazarhanova et al., A Belief Rule-Based Environmental Responsibility Assessment System for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (note: without comparison with fuzzy logic), International SEEDS Conference, 14–15th September, 2016, Leeds. (Won Highly Commended Award for Green Infrastructure Category, 2016)) and adaptation from (Bazarhanova, A Belief Rule-Based Environmental Responsibility Assessment System for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, An unpublished Masters Degree Dissertation, Leeds Beckett University. URL: https://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/124773/Thesis%20Bazarhanova.pdf?sequence=2, 2016). This chapter proposes the use of belief rule-based (BRB) inference engine for Environmental Responsibility assessment in small- and medium-sized enterprises. Such a context-adapted approach is believed to generate well-balanced, sensible, and Green ICT readiness-adapted results, to help enterprises focus on making improvement on more sustainable business operations.

IoT-Enabled Smart Living

This book chapter is an extended version of (Kor et al., SMART-ITEM: IoT-Enabled Living. Proceedings of IEEE Future Technologies Conference 2016, San Francisco, 6–8 December, 2016). The main goal of this proposed project is to harness the emerging IoT technology to empower elderly population to self-manage their own health and stay active, healthy, and independent as long as possible within a smart and secured living environment. An integrated open-sourced IoT ecosystem will be developed. It will encompass the entire data life cycle which involves the following processes: data acquisition and data transportation; data integration, processing, manipulation, and computation; visualization; data intelligence and exploitation; data sharing; and data storage. This innovative cloud-based IoT ecosystem will provide a one-stop shop for integrated smart IoT-enabled services to support older people (greater or equal to 65 years old) who live alone at home (or care homes). Another innovation of this system is the design and implementation of an integrated IoT gateway for well-being wearable and home automation system sensors with varying communication protocols. The SMART-ITEM system and services will appropriately address the following: (i) smart health and care, (ii) smart quality of life, and (iii) SMART-ITEM social community. The development of the system will be based on the user-centered design methodology so as to ensure active user engagement throughout the entire project life cycle and necessary standards as well as compliances will be adhered to (e.g., security, trust, and privacy) in order to enhance user acceptance.

Building Realistic Mobility Models for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a self-configuring wireless network in which each node could act as a router, as well as a data source or sink. Its application areas include battlefields and vehicular and disaster areas. Many techniques applied to infrastructure-based networks are less effective in MANETs, with routing being a particular challenge. This paper presents a rigorous study into simulation techniques for evaluating routing solutions for MANETs with the aim of producing more realistic simulation models and thereby, more accurate protocol evaluations. MANET simulations require models that reflect the world in which the MANET is to operate. Much of the published research uses movement models, such as the random waypoint (RWP) model, with arbitrary world sizes and node counts. This paper presents a technique for developing more realistic simulation models to test and evaluate MANET protocols. The technique is animation, which is applied to a realistic scenario to produce a model that accurately reflects the size and shape of the world, node count, movement patterns, and time period over which the MANET may operate. The animation technique has been used to develop a battlefield model based on established military tactics. Trace data has been used to build a model of maritime movements in the Irish Sea. Similar world models have been built using the random waypoint movement model for comparison. All models have been built using the ns-2 simulator. These models have been used to compare the performance of three routing protocols: dynamic source routing (DSR), destination-sequenced distance-vector routing (DSDV), and ad hoc n-demand distance vector routing (AODV). The findings reveal that protocol performance is dependent on the model used. In particular, it is shown that RWP models do not reflect the performance of these protocols under realistic circumstances, and protocol selection is subject to the scenario to which it is applied. To conclude, it is possible to develop a range of techniques for modelling scenarios applicable to MANETs, and these simulation models could be utilised for the evaluation of routing protocols.

Геп-аналіз оцінювання кібербезпеки за допомогою кейсів запевнення: техніка та приклад використання

Предметом вивчення в статті є процеси оцінювання кібербезпеки інформаційно-керуючих систем (ІКС). Метою є розробка техніки аналізу розрив процесу проведенні аналізу кібербезпеки. Завдання: розробити метод аналізу розривів у процесі оцінювання нефункціональних вимог до функціональної та кібербезпеки ІКС, заснований на класифікації вимог з урахуванням можливості їх декомпозиції, який включає в себе побудову поліпшеного кейса запевнення інформаційної безпеки і визначення контрзаходів щодо усунення виявлених розривів. Висновки. Наукова новизна отриманих результатів полягає в наступному: отримав подальшого розвитку метод забезпечення інформаційної безпеки цифрових компонентів ІКС шляхом проведення аналізу невідповідностей вимог з використанням процедур опису вразливостей і оцінки критичності наслідків вторгнень, а також визначення множини контрзаходів за критерієм «безпека-вартість», що дозволяє зменшити ризики до прийнятного рівня.

Energy Efficiency of 4th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor Versus 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ Processor

This paper is an extended version of Azmi et al. (The 2015 International Conference on Embedded Systems and Applications, 2015 [1]). This research aims to compare the energy efficiency in between two generations Intel processors; the 4th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor and 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ Processor. It also surveys the technologies that provide better energy performance for both of the processors. The methodology used for this research is a physical experiment conducted in an Intel production plant. The results obtained from the experiment show that the 4th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor is more energy efficient than the 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ Processor.

Introducing Controlling Features in Cloud Environment by Using SNMP

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an application-layer protocol that is used to monitor IP based devices. Also it can monitor and manage IP based devices without impacting their performance. SNMP is also used in a cloud computing environment to monitor and control virtual machines. However, currently, there is limited published research work on the deployment of SNMP for monitoring and controlling virtual machines in such type of environment. This would allow load balancing in cloud environment during peak hours leading to reduced power consumption helping in Green IT cause. This paper discusses the deployment SNMP for monitoring and controlling Type 1 hypervisor (in a cloud environment). This is followed by the customization of MIB and net-snmp with Agent X to provide more SNMP management features. The completed research work will provide a rigorous physical experimentation involving SNMP monitoring and management for Type I hypervisor Xen.