Carlos E. Caicedo

IPv6 Security Challenges

IPv6, the new version of the Internet protocol, has been developed to provide new services and to support the Internets growth. This paper presents an overview of the key security issues, which outlines the challenges in deploying and transitioning to IPv6.

The viability of spectrum trading markets

Spectrum trading markets are of growing interest to many spectrum management agencies. They are motivated by their desire to increase the use of market based mechanisms for spectrum management and reduce their emphasis on command and control methods. Despite the liberalization of regulations on spectrum trading in some countries, spectrum markets have not yet emerged as a key spectrum assignment component. The lack of liquidity in these markets is sometimes cited as a primary factor in this outcome. This work focuses on determining the conditions for viability of spectrum trading markets by considering scenarios with different market structures, number of trading participants and amount of tradable spectrum. We make use of Agent-Based Computational Economics (ACE) to analyze each market scenario and the behaviors of its participants. Our models indicate that spectrum markets can be viable in a service if sufficient numbers of market participants exist and the amount of tradable spectrum is balanced to the demand. We use the results of this analysis and the characteristics of the viable markets found to make recommendations for the design of spectrum trading markets. Further work will explore more complicated scenarios.

The Viability of Spectrum Trading Markets

Spectrum trading markets are of growing interest to many spectrum management agencies. They are motivated by their desire to increase the use of market-based mechanisms for spectrum management and reduce their emphasis on command and control methods. Despite the liberalization of regulations on spectrum trading in some countries, spectrum markets have not yet emerged as a key spectrum assignment component. The lack of liquidity in these markets is sometimes cited as a primary factor in this outcome. This work focuses on determining the conditions for viability of spectrum trading markets. We make use of agent-based computational economics to analyze different market scenario and the behaviors of its participants. Our results provide guidelines regarding the number of market participants and the amount of tradable spectrum that should be present in a spectrum trading market for it to be viable. We use the results of this analysis to make recommendations for the design of these markets.

Inter-domain Authentication for Seamless Roaming in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

The inter-operation among heterogeneous wireless networks is crucial to support ubiquitous mobility and seamless roaming. Handoffs across wireless networks in separate administrative domains should ensure uninterrupted service and authenticity of the entities involved. However, the re-authentication of a mobile node (MN) during a handoff across administrative domains typically involves several round trips to the home domain which produce long latencies. A new authentication protocol based on the use of proof tokens is presented in this paper which allows a MN to authenticate in a foreign domain without requiring communication with its home domain. Moreover, the foreign domain is only required to have a trust relationship with any one of MNs previously visited domains, and not necessarily with the home domain. Our objective is to provide an improved authentication approach for ubiquitous mobility and seamless roaming that does not compromise the security of the handoff process while providing low delays.

Spectrum Trading: An Analysis of Implementation Issues

The assignment of spectrum licenses through spectrum trading markets can be used as a mechanism to grant access to spectrum to those who value it most and can use it more efficiently. Although various methods for improved spectrum assignment have been proposed along the lines of Dynamic Spectrum Allocation (DSA) and others, several issues related to their implementation are still unsolved. Among them, how to deal with interference in a multi-provider environment and determining the elements and architectures for feasible implementations of spectrum trading markets. This paper analyzes several proposed kinds of trading interactions that may arise in a spectrum trading market and proposes a taxonomy of architectures that could be used to implement them. We also discuss the benefits and limitations of using a single or restricted set of wireless standards in the implementation of a spectrum trading infrastructure as a step towards Wireless Bandwidth Trading which is proposed as a possible path for a realizable instance of markets based on spectrum trading concepts.

Spectrum Markets and Sharing via Spectrum Consumption Models

The continuous development of new technologies and uses for wireless radio spectrum has prompted spectrum management agencies and wireless service providers to consider flexible spectrum assignment mechanisms as a means to be able to respond in the near future to the changing spectrum management landscape. The regulatory, technological and economic changes that are now driving the wireless services industry will spawn new technical and business models in wireless service provision, many of which will rely on Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) methods to enable efficient use of spectrum resources. However, the use of DSA methods also requires using policy-based mechanisms in radio devices to facilitate and control the assignment of spectrum given the wide range of communication scenarios in which there may be conflicting goals for the use of this resource (e.g. public safety vs. profit-based services).Spectrum consumption modeling attempts to capture spectral, spatial, and temporal consumption of spectrum of any specific transmitter, receiver, system, or collection of systems. The information contained in the models enable better spectrum management practices and allows for the identification of spectrum reuse opportunities. The characteristics and structure of spectrum consumption models are being standardized within the newly formed IEEE P1900.5.2 group in which the authors participate.Spectrum consumption models (SCM) allow for a fine grained management of spectrum resources in spectrum sharing and market scenarios. This paper presents and discusses our research in establishing a techno-economic framework for the use of SCM to enable spectrum sharing markets. We focus on exchange based spectrum trading markets where the entities wanting to use spectrum resources (spectrum users) make use of SCMs to express the characteristics of their desired spectrum use and based on them a spectrum exchange entity can determine the range of frequencies within the service area that can satisfy a particular requesting entity’s demand and the charge that it should pay. Several trading scenarios and criteria are also explained. We also discuss the use of SCMs and their integration with Policy-based spectrum management in the context of standardization efforts ongoing in IEEE and the WinForum. We hope that the results and insights of this paper are of use to regulators and policy makers and that it provides them an initial exposure to the potential uses of Spectrum Consumption Models and policy-based spectrum management.

Design of a computer networking laboratory for efficient manageability and effective teaching

Computer networking laboratories represent a key resource for ICT-oriented academic organizations. However, due to the particular nature of their users (i.e. students who must learn and experiment while working on real network equipment), it is difficult to design and implement fully functional laboratory facilities while still complying with budget, academic and management objectives. Therefore, physical laboratories are often replaced by virtual or simulated environments, which may limit the students learning experience. This paper describes an innovative approach to the development of computer networking laboratories. The approach defines a specific management infrastructure that allows efficient performance of all the required computer and equipment maintenance tasks, while still supporting a true hands-on experience. Another important feature is the distributed nature of the laboratory infrastructure, where multiple teams of students are allowed to work simultaneously; thus fostering student interaction and teamwork experiences.

A failure to communicate: Security vulnerabilities in the GridStreamX Edgeware application

Any communications network is subject to becoming the target of exploitation by criminal hackers looking to gain unauthorized access to an information system. As a computer information infrastructure, the wireless grid Edgeware technology model aims at aggregating ensembles of shared, heterogeneous and distributed wireless resources to provide transparent services of various applications, systems and devices. Currently, there is no research exploring the exploitation of technical vulnerabilities from a hackers attack against a wireless grid Edgeware application. Using a quantitative research method from the theoretical perspective of an anatomy of a network attack, the central premise of this article is to compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of a wireless grid called the GridStreamX Edgeware application for vulnerability exploitation through a laboratory experiment within the Syracuse University Wireless Grid Innovation Testbed (WiGiT). The GridStreamX Edgeware application is cloud to ‘worst case scenario’ emergency response wireless Grid resource, which can be utilized as a data communication vehicle during an enterprise network catastrophe and/or failure. This research makes a meaningful theoretical and managerial contribution because it represents the first empirical examination of researching the technical requirements of the open specifications for wireless grid Edgeware technology.

Secure the edge? Understanding the risk towards wireless grids Edgeware technology

This article contributes to the foundational understanding of the security vulnerabilities and risk towards wireless grid Edgeware technology. Since communication networks and devices are subject to becoming the target of exploitation by hackers (e.g., individuals who attempt to gain unauthorised access to computer systems), these individuals are gaining ever-increasing knowledge of the often widely-reported exploitable vulnerabilities in these types of innovative technologies; and thus are able to craft increasingly effective computer network attacks (CNA) against such technologies. This research responds to the overall proposition: what security vulnerability enumerations would contribute to the degradation and risk in using a wireless grid Edgeware application in a virtualised cloud environment? Using supporting research pertaining to cyber-attacks and vulnerabilities towards a wireless cloud (e.g., the integration of a cloud computing and a wireless grid architecture), security vulnerabilities in virtualisation environments and specific vulnerabilities exploited against a wireless grid Edgeware application, this research provides a greater understanding of the practical ways wireless grid Edgeware technology can be attacked and the risk in utilising this technology.