Junaid Ahmed Zubairi

IoT based dynamic road traffic management for smart cities

All metropolitan cities face traffic congestion problems especially in the downtown areas. Normal cities can be transformed into “smart cities” by exploiting the information and communication technologies (ICT). The paradigm of Internet of Thing (IoT) can play an important role in realization of smart cities. This paper proposes an IoT based traffic management solutions for smart cities where traffic flow can be dynamically controlled by onsite traffic officers through their smart phones or can be centrally monitored or controlled through Internet. We have used the example of the holy city of Makkah Saudi Arabia, where the traffic behavior changes dynamically due to the continuous visitation of the pilgrims throughout the year. Therefore, Makkah city requires special traffic controlling algorithms other than the prevailing traffic control systems. However the scheme proposed is general and can be used in any Metropolitan city without the loss of generality.

Applications of computer-aided rasterstereography in spinal deformity detection

Abstract In this paper, a methodology developed for analyzing surface shapes using computer-aided rasterstereography is discussed and its applications in the field of medical science are highlighted. In this methodology, deviations are extracted from projected horizontal and vertical rasters and used in generating a profile of the surface under consideration. The magnitude and direction of deviations indicate 3-D properties of the surface. This technique is suitable for screening children for spinal deformities because it is simple, fast and non-invasive. It does not require very specific setup due to the reduction of errors using symmetry of the human back. The positive cases detected by the system can be referred to the physician for further diagnosis and treatment.

Voice Transport Techniques over MPLS

In this paper, we discuss currently evolving technologies for packet based real-time voice communication. Packet based voice has gained popularity in the toll-quality market due to its flexibility and cost effectiveness. IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) is being developed for converged voice and data services. While initially it was intended for mobile networks, it has been expanded to include support for fixed networks. In the wired network, the quality of service needed for media traffic can be provided by MPLS and related protocols. The traffic engineering and quality of service mechanisms of MPLS and Diffserv allow the differential treatment of premium traffic on predefined LSPs (Label Switched Path). Recently T-MPLS has been introduced as the transport network for connection oriented packet switched traffic, dropping some of the MPLS features that were irrelevant for connection oriented applications. We introduce IMS and then look at implementation agreements, methods and protocols for transport of voice over MPLS (multi protocol label switching) networks.

A study of profiled handoff for Diffserv-based mobile nodes

There is a growing interest in providing Internet services to the mobile nodes. When mobile nodes travel from one routers service area to another, the time-sensitive applications may see degradation in service. We investigate into the effects of handoff on service quality of mobile nodes. Several experiments are conducted using various packet metering and marking schemes with or without transferring profiles to the new router. Results indicate the relative instability period following handoff, loss of packets and delay encountered by packets in profiled or un-profiled handoffs, leading to determining suitable mix of metering and marking schemes with or without context transfer. Copyright

Cyber Security Standards, Practices and Industrial Applications: Systems and Methodologies

Junaid Ahmed Zubairi is currently an Associate Professor at Department of Computer and Information Sciences in the State University of New York at Fredonia, USA. Dr. Zubairi received his BE (Electrical Engineering) from NED University of Engineering, Pakistan and MS and Ph.D. (Computer Engineering) from Syracuse University, USA. He worked in Sir Syed University Pakistan and Intl’ Islamic University Malaysia before joining State University of New York at Fredonia. Dr. Zubairi is a recipient of many awards including Malaysian Government IRPA award, National Science Foundation MACS grant, SUNY Scholarly Incentive award, and SUNY individual development award. He has authored several chapters and scholarly articles in books, international journals, and conference proceedings. His research interests include information security, network traffic engineering, performance evaluation of networks, and network applications in medicine. Junaid Ahmed Zubairi (SUNY at Fredonia, USA) and Athar Mahboob (National University of Sciences & Technology, Pakistan)

Intrusion avoidance for SCADA security in industrial plants

In this paper we present an overview of security threats to the cyber infrastructure of industrial and power plants and the current state of affairs of industrial and SCADA cyber security. Control systems security is of prime importance especially for energy sector. North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) has issued mandatory rules which must be complied by 2010 by all registered power operators in order to ensure control systems security for power plants. Cyber security assessment was conducted on ICS (Industrial control systems) of different companies for a period of four years and several vulnerabilities were identified. Main problems included use of weak encryption, standard protocols and information disclosure using unencrypted communication among ICS hosts on the network. Exploiting these vulnerabilities, a hacker could alter the communication between ICS and controlled equipment, resulting in malfunction. Overcoming these vulnerabilities is essential in order to protect the vital power sector in any country of the world. We present important guidelines and standards in cyber security and propose a simple intrusion detection scheme for SCADA networks.

Securing SCADA systems with open source software

Industrial SCADA systems are deployed all across the globe for refineries, water treatment, nuclear power plants, oil fields and process plants. SCADA systems are vulnerable to attacks by hackers which can damage expensive equipment and jeopardize human health and safety in large areas. In this paper, we define SCADA security related issues and discuss the current security tools and techniques. Later, we describe our experiments in configuring SCADA security using open source security software tools available under Linux operating system. A systematic method of securing SCADA systems with such tools is described and the results are discussed.

Aggregation scheme implementation for vital signs data over the network

In this paper, the aggregation and transmission scheme for vital signs data in MEDTOC (Medical Data Transmission Over Cellular Network) is presented. MEDTOC has been designed for dealing with emergency medical data from disaster sites. Since some of the patients may be in critical condition, it is imperative to keep the physicians aware of the vital signs of multiple patients in transit to the hospital. Simulation studies have shown that aggregate uncompressed data of 4 – 16 patients can be transmitted reliably using 3G cellular network from a large moving ambulance. We have specified the aggregation headers and optional data reduction in MEDTOC before converting the vital signs data to suitable format for cellular network transmission. In this paper, the aggregation scheme to efficiently transmit the vital signs of 4 patients is outlined. This scheme, being a part of MEDTOC, has been implemented using data transmission between client and server in C language on Linux hosts. The algorithm and C program details are discussed and successful transmission and reception of data are presented. The OPNET simulation results are also presented that show transfer of data using 3G cellular network. Next steps include implementation of complete data transformation cycle from individual vital signs data into aggregate and optionally reduced data embedding the packets in conversational class IP traffic in 3G UMTS cellular network and conducting physical tests of the scheme with loaded cellular network and moving ambulances.

A bottom-up methodology to characterize delay faults

Inductive Fault Analysis is extended to consider localized spot defects in CMOS VLSI circuits which impact circuit timing performance. A scheme of deterministic introduction of spot defects into layouts of combinational logic circuits is described. A methodology and tool is developed to characterize delay defects resulting from missing and extra spot defects and to generate realistic delay defect distribution.<<ETX>>

Novel schemes for traffic engineering in access domains

In this paper, our approach to tackling the problem of traffic engineering in access domains is discussed. The complete solution would take into account bandwidth management, allocation, de-allocation, protection and restoration. In this work, we focus on one part of the problem, i.e. constrained routing in the MPLS access domains. We define all categories of traffic in an access domain and use CF (conjunction factor) as a figure of merit for performance evaluation of constrained routing schemes and present algorithms that control and limit CF value. The results of conducting simulations using various constrained routing algorithms are presented and conclusions are outlined.