Daniel Granlund

M 2 C 2 : A mobility management system for mobile cloud computing

Mobile devices have become an integral part of our daily lives. Applications running on these devices may avail storage and compute resources from the cloud(s). Further, a mobile device may also connect to heterogeneous access networks (HANs) such as WiFi and LTE to provide ubiquitous network connectivity to mobile applications. These devices have limited resources (compute, storage and battery) that may lead to service disruptions. In this context, mobile cloud computing enables offloading of computing and storage to the cloud. However, applications running on mobile devices using clouds and HANs are prone to unpredictable cloud workloads, network congestion and handoffs. To run these applications efficiently the mobile device requires the best possible cloud and network resources while roaming in HANs. This paper proposes, develops and validates a novel system called M2C2 which supports mechanisms for: i.) multihoming, ii.) cloud and network probing, and iii.) cloud and network selection. We built a prototype system and performed extensive experimentation to validate our proposed M2C2. Our results analysis shows that the proposed system supports mobility efficiently in mobile cloud computing.

Bandwidth Efficient Mobility Management for Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

An important feature of the upcoming fourth generation wireless networks is support for heterogeneous radio access technologies in combination with an all-IP type of overall architecture. Operators and users will benefit from a smooth technology transition leveraging existing investments and use a variety of access technologies simultaneously. This paper describes and evaluates an innovative mobility management scheme in such an environment. It does not require any changes to the IP stack in the mobile node and does not introduce any additional overhead to the payload traffic over air interfaces. Furthermore, it does not add any signaling overhead and outperforms existing mobility management schemes for heterogeneous environments in terms of bandwidth consumption. The architecture uses a make-before-break principle for vertical handovers and bidirectional tunneling using various tunneling mechanisms connecting mobile nodes through access networks to a home network. Also, it proposes a packet inspection routine for timely handover execution in the home network. The architecture is evaluated both through analytical calculations and experiments using a voice over IP traffic model.

A Case Study of Application Development for Mobile and Location-Based Services

In this paper we present a case study of a location-dependent service, aimed for tourists. Two applications are developed, one based on native technologies, the other on HTML5 and related frameworks. We provide implementation details and compare the different solutions in terms of location support, compliance with required features, and cross-platform functionality. Our experiments show that web-based approaches may lead to significant benefits over using native technologies; both versions of the application displayed comparable location support and compliance with required features, while the web version superseded its native counterpart in cross-platform functionality.

A Scalability Study of AAA Support in Heterogeneous Networking Environments with Global Roaming Support

In this paper, we present a scalability study of AAA support in mobile heterogeneous access networks with respect to server and network load related to AAA processes using the RADIUS protocol. Technologies such as IEEE 802.11, CDMA 2000 and UMTS which all support the RADIUS protocol for AAA handling are discussed and analyzed. Typical performance data are gathered and complemented with a theoretical study in order to achieve an overview of what parameters will affect the performance and scalability of the network. Also, guidelines are developed for network design in order to achieve the desired performance for a given number of users. Results of this study include the conclusion that the main bottleneck of the AAA procedure is not necessarily the AAA server CPU power. Aside the cases with a high proportion of computationally intensive WiFi sign-ons with strong encryption, performance issues may be caused by AAA server network connection bandwidth, and RAM memory. In cases where a high number of users reside in the same user database, database performance becomes a significant issue. In order to achieve better performance, CPU load balancing over several servers may be performed.

A uniform AAA handling scheme for heterogeneous networking environments

Starting with an efficient mobility management scheme for heterogeneous wireless networks, this paper proposes a solution for AAA handling using a common database for storing user information. Regardless of the access technology selected, user@realm identities are used for authentication, authorization, and accounting. In particular, a new function is introduced in which port-based network access control is used in combination with dynamic host configuration protocol mechanisms for IP address allocation. This way, PPP-based and Ethernet-based access technologies are handled uniformly. Advantages with the proposed solution include: using only standardized mechanisms in the mobile node, as well as in the access networks. Only an additional plug-in in the AAA server (located in the access networks) needs to be deployed. The proposed AAA architecture has been implemented and evaluated in a live experimental environment. Results show authentication and authorization to perform efficiently and seamlessly.

Smart City: The smart sewerage

This paper describes a sensor-based system for monitoring of sewer flooding. A global trend in Smart Cities is the installation of sensors for surveillance of the city infrastructure. The presented system is mounted in a number of strategic sewers for initial evaluation. In order to monitor the natural variations of the sewer (including daily variations) the system should be able to integrate into normal monitoring/alarm systems. The communication channel and mounting position (sewer well in the ground) put limitations on the system.

EAP-Swift: an efficient authentication and key generation mechanism for resource constrained WSNs

Technological advances within the area of wireless sensor technology allow WSNs to be used in a increasing number of measurement scenarios. As new application areas are emerging, such as infrastructure monitoring and smart cities, the need for sensor mobility handling requires efficient and secure authentication protocols. This paper presents EAP-Swift, a novel EAP based authentication protocol with a focus on lightweight processing and faster response. It supports end-to-end session encryption key generation and mutual authentication. By utilizing lightweight hashing algorithms, the challenge-response authentication mechanism uses only two round trips to the AAA server for the complete authentication procedure leading to the reduction of latency by 33% compared to the baseline protocols. Further, using extensive experimentation, we validate that the authentication time can be kept below 250 ms and the power consumption can be kept below 15 mJ. Furthermore, we show that a battery lifetime of more than four years can be achieved when running the system on a regular button cell battery. Finally, the protocol was verified in terms of security using the AVISPA tool.

Opportunistic Mobility Support for Resource Constrained Sensor Devices in Smart Cities

A multitude of wireless sensor devices and technologies are being developed and deployed in cities all over the world. Sensor applications in city environments may include highly mobile installations that span large areas which necessitates sensor mobility support. This paper presents and validates two mechanisms for supporting sensor mobility between different administrative domains. Firstly, EAP-Swift, an Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)-based sensor authentication protocol is proposed that enables light-weight sensor authentication and key generation. Secondly, a mechanism for handoffs between wireless sensor gateways is proposed. We validate both mechanisms in a real-life study that was conducted in a smart city environment with several fixed sensors and moving gateways. We conduct similar experiments in an industry-based anechoic Long Term Evolution (LTE) chamber with an ideal radio environment. Further, we validate our results collected from the smart city environment against the results produced under ideal conditions to establish best and real-life case scenarios. Our results clearly validate that our proposed mechanisms can facilitate efficient sensor authentication and handoffs while sensors are roaming in a smart city environment.