Luiz Fernando Rust da Costa Carmo

A Service Approach for Architecting Application Independent Wireless Sensor Networks

The current sensor networks are assumed to be designed for specific applications, having data communication protocols strongly coupled to applications. The future sensor networks are envisioned as comprising heterogeneous devices assisting to a large range of applications. To achieve this goal, a new architecture approach is needed, having application specific features separated from the data communication protocol, while influencing its behavior. We propose a Web Services approach for the design of sensor network, in which sensor nodes are service providers and applications are clients of such services. Our main goal is to enable a flexible architecture in which sensor networks data can be accessed by users spread all over the world.

Intrusion Detection System for Wireless Sensor Networks Using Danger Theory Immune-Inspired Techniques

An IDS framework inspired in the Human Immune System to be applied in the wireless sensor network context is proposed. It uses an improved decentralized and customized version of the Dendritic Cell Algorithm, which allows nodes to monitor their neighborhood and collaborate to identify an intruder. The work was implemented and tested both in simulation and in real sensor platform scenarios, comparing them to each other and was also compared to a Negative Selection Theory implementation in order to demonstrate its efficiency in detecting a denial-of-sleep attack and in energy consumption. Results demonstrated the success of the proposal.

A flexible middleware system for wireless sensor networks

The current wireless sensor networks (WSN) are assumed to be designed for specific applications, having data communication protocols strongly coupled to applications. The future WSNs are envisioned as comprising of heterogeneous devices assisting to a large range of applications. To achieve this goal, a flexible middleware layer is needed, separating application specific features from the data communication protocol, while allowing applications to influence the WSN behavior for energy efficiency. We propose a service-based middleware system for WSNs. In our proposal, sensor nodes are service providers and applications are clients of such services. Our main goal is to enable an interoperability layer among applications and sensor networks, among different sensors in a WSN and eventually among different WSN spread all over the world.

SUTIL - Network selection based on utility function and integer linear programming

This work presents SUTIL, a mechanism for network selection in the context of next generation networks (NGN). SUTIL selection mechanism prioritizes networks with higher relevance to the application and lower energy consumption and it enables full and seamless connectivity to mobile user devices and applications. Consequently, SUTIL contributes to realize the vision of ubiquitous computing, in which services, devices, and sensor-enriched environments interact anytime, anywhere to accomplish human designed tasks. The provided solution is based on utility function and integer linear programming and it aims at: (i) maximizing the user satisfaction while meeting application QoS and (ii) minimizing the energy consumption of devices when connecting to a target network. The solution is global since it considers for a given base station all devices that are simultaneously candidate for handoff. Simulation results showed the benefits of SUTIL usage in NGN environments.

A Control and Decision System for Smart Buildings

The employment of a control and decision process supported by wireless sensor and actuator networks (WSANs) is a promising way to improve energy efficiency of Smart Buildings. We present and evaluate CONDE, a decentralized system for decision and control for Smart Building applications based on WSANs. Performed experiments shown that since data is processed within the network instead of transmitted to a central location, there is a gain in terms of the system response time and resource consumption. Therefore, CONDE improves the energy efficiency of both the monitored building and the WSAN infrastructure, when compared to centralized approaches. Moreover, it exploits integration of applications at the decision level to further improve the system efficiency.

Software evaluation of smart meters within a Legal Metrology perspective: A Brazilian case

Induced by a very unfavorable scenario of nontechnical losses (electricity theft), some electrical distribution companies in Brazil have moved from the traditional one meter per residence measurement process to a centralized multi-residences meter with two-way communication features, enabling both automatic reads and remote connect/disconnect of energy supplies. Those improvements can be seen as a natural transition toward an effective Smart grid, and have brought together the needs of a deep revision on regulatory procedures for the electrical meters evaluation conducted by the Brazilian Metrology Office. This paper shows that the increasing complexity from those new electrical grid equipments, particularly conveyed by additional software procedures, is a major issue and needs to be rapidly assimilated by metrological controls to avoid the appearance of stepping stones in the smart grid pathway. This paper aims to describe the whole set of relevant aspects revealed in this particular Brazilian experience, discussing the real scene and the respective challenges opposed.

A Decentralized Damage Detection System for Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks

The unprecedented capabilities of monitoring and responding to stimuli in the physical world of wireless sensor and actuator networks (WSAN) enable these networks to provide the underpinning for several Smart City applications, such as structural health monitoring (SHM). In such applications, civil structures, endowed with wireless smart devices, are able to self-monitor and autonomously respond to situations using computational intelligence. This work presents a decentralized algorithm for detecting damage in structures by using a WSAN. As key characteristics, beyond presenting a fully decentralized (in-network) and collaborative approach for detecting damage in structures, our algorithm makes use of cooperative information fusion for calculating a damage coefficient. We conducted experiments for evaluating the algorithm in terms of its accuracy and efficient use of the constrained WSAN resources. We found that our collaborative and information fusion-based approach ensures the accuracy of our algorithm and that it can answer promptly to stimuli (1.091 s), triggering actuators. Moreover, for 100 nodes or less in the WSAN, the communication overhead of our algorithm is tolerable and the WSAN running our algorithm, operating system and protocols can last as long as 468 days.

COMFIT: A development environment for the Internet of Things

Abstract This paper presents COMFIT (Cloud and Model based IDE for the Internet of Things), a development environment for the Internet of Things that was built grounded on the paradigms of model driven development and cloud computing. COMFIT is composed of two different modules: (1) the App Development Module, a model-driven architecture (MDA) infrastructure, and (2) the App Management and Execution Module, a module that contains cloud-based web interface connected to a server hosted in the cloud with compilers and simulators for developing Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The App Development Module allows the developers to design IoT applications using high abstraction artifacts (models), which are tailored to either the application perspective or the network perspective, thus creating a separation between these two concerns. As models can be automatically transformed into code through the App Development Module, COMFIT creates an environment where there is no need of additional configurations to properly compile or simulate the generated code, integrating the development lifecycle of IoT applications into a single environment partially hosted in the client side and partially in the cloud. In its current version, COMFIT supports two operating systems, namely Contiki and TinyOS, which are widely used in IoT devices. COMFIT supports automatic code generation, execution of simulations, and code compilation of applications for these platforms with low development effort. Finally, COMFIT is able to interact with IoT-lab, an open testbed for IoT applications, which allows the developers to test their applications with different configurations without the need of using local IoT devices. Several evaluations were performed to assess COMFIT’s key features in terms of development effort, quality of generated code, and scalability.

Mobile agents applications

Automatic, autonomous browsing has an increasingly important task in information discovery and assisted browsing on the Internet. Where users could once keep up to date with information of interest on the Internet, the recursive growth of the network has made this process increasingly time consuming and less rewarding. Presents two possible solutions to this problem: Data Agents and CollaborAgents which were developed with IBM’s Aglet Workbench – a particular implementation of mobile agents. Also surveys the agent technology and discusses the agent building package used to develop both mentioned applications. Concludes that the future of local interaction, reduced network loading, server flexibility and application autonomy which are supported by mobile agent technology, all help to provide a level agility above distributed problem solving.

Covert Attacks in Cyber-Physical Control Systems

The advantages of using communication networks to interconnect controllers and physical plants motivate the increasing number of networked control systems in industrial and critical infrastructure facilities. However, this integration also exposes such control systems to new threats, typical of the cyber domain. In this context, studies have been conducted, aiming to explore vulnerabilities and propose security solutions for cyber-physical systems. In this paper, a covert attack for service degradation is proposed, which is planned based on the intelligence gathered by another attack, herein proposed, referred as system identification attack. The simulation results demonstrate that the joint operation of the two attacks is capable to affect, in a covert and accurate way, the physical behavior of a system.