Mohammad S. Hasan

Co-simulation of wireless networked control systems over mobile ad hoc network using SIMULINK and OPNET

Wireless networked control systems (WNCS) over mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a new area of research and has many potential applications, for instance, military or rescue missions, exploring hazardous environments, and so on. For performance evaluation, researchers mostly rely on computer simulations as WNCS experiments are expensive to execute. It will generate a significant benefit to conduct performance analysis of WNCS over MANET using co-simulation that utilises SIMULINK and OPtimised Network Engineering Tool (OPNET) to simulate plant/controller behaviour and the MANET, respectively. Previous conference papers by the authors reported the initial SIMULINK-OPNET co-simulation for only one network size. Here the authors present an extention of their previous work, and presents the SIMULINK-OPNET co-simulation, methodology and comprehensive simulation results that have not been reported previously. It also considers the impact of five network sizes with stationary and mobile nodes. The proposed SIMULINK-OPNET co-simulation is applied to WNCS over MANET using a realistic wireless communication model. It investigates the impact of network data rates, node mobility, the packet delay, packet drop on the system stability and performance.

Simulation of Distributed Wireless Networked Control Systems over MANET using OPNET

This paper investigates the simulation of distributed wireless networked control systems (WNCS) over mobile ad-hoc network (MANET). The simulation model includes multiple plants with a single controller and random node mobility. The widely used network simulation software optimised network engineering tool (OPNET) has been utilised to implement a realistic wireless signal propagation model using path loss and fading effects. System performances for two ad-hoc network routing protocols: DSR and AODV have been explored.

Review of modelling and remote control for excavators

An excavator is a typical hydraulic heavy-duty human-operated machine used in general versatile construction operations, such as digging, ground levelling, carrying loads, dumping loads and straight traction. However, there are many tasks, such as hazard environment (nuclear decomposition, earthquake, etc.) which is not suitable for human to work on site. The remotely controllable excavators are required to work in such environment. In this paper, we report the current progress of the ongoing project. We investigate modelling and remote control issues of industry excavators. After reviewing the literature on the related work, architecture for remotely controllable excavators is proposed. The architecture covers actuators, modelling, sensors, image signal processing, communication networks, controllers, task and path planning, human computer interaction, optimal design, co-simulation and virtual training environment. The details of modelling, communication and control of a remotely controllable excavator are provided.

Design and simulation of UHF RFID tag antennas and performance evaluation in presence of a metallic surface

Passive UHF RFID system have drawn considerable attention because it can provide a long reading range, high data rate, and small antenna size. However, a passive UHF RFID system has challenges in tagging a metallic object due to effects of conducting materials on the tag antenna performance. This study presents investigation and analysis of effects of a metallic surface on the performance of commonly used label-type dipole tag antenna. The performance is evaluated based on the return loss and change in resonance frequency of the tag antenna. To conduct the performance analysis, a folded dipole and a meandered dipole antenna are proposed for a passive tag. The proposed antennas are designed on low profile antenna which can operate at 866 MHz in the UK and Europe UHF RFID frequency band. The design also takes into account of impedance matching, feeding techniques, size-reduction, and bandwidth of the passive UHF tag antenna. Finally, simulation result shows that when the tag antenna is mounted closer to a metallic surface, the return loss of tag antenna is significantly increased and the resonance frequency is also shifted from the desired frequency.

A RFID mutual authentication protocol based on AES algorithm

The emergence of RFID applications has huge influence to become pervasive in modern life. However the vulnerability of the transmission through the air and the unique identification number of RFID tag are the drawbacks that impact the popularity of RFID technology. In this paper, a mutual authentication protocol is proposed based on the challenge - response model. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is used as a cryptographic primitive to secure the data. The experimental works are carried out to validate the protocol in term of security and privacy. The timing analysis is also presented and applied to a case study of conveyor belt system.

Innovative developments in HCI and future trends

The recent developments in technology have made noteworthy positive impacts on the human-computer interaction (HCI). It is now possible to interact with computers using voice commands, touchscreen, eye movement, hand gesture, etc. This paper compiles some of the innovative HCI progresses in various areas, e.g., specialised input/output devices, virtual or augmented reality, wearable technology, etc. It also identifies some future research directions.

Lessons learned from real MANET experiments and simulation-based evaluation of UDP and TCP

Although more than a decade of research has been done but pure general-purpose MANET is still not available rather than few prototypes within laboratory due to both technical and socio-economic point of view. Lacking in appropriate guidelines for realistic user traces, mobility models, routing protocols and considering real-life challenges, it is difficult to reproduce any typical scenario in reality apart from simulation. In this paper, difficulties faced to regenerate real-life scenarios have been discussed to clearly identify the gaps in simulation and real-time experiments. Four laptops are used in an open field environment for different scenarios to evaluate a TCP based streaming video application using real OLSR implementation within a IEEE 802.11g wireless network. Corresponding simulations are performed in ns-2 based on the realistic setup parameters achieved from real experiments and finally a comprehensive analysis identifies the generic gaps between these two approaches to evaluate network protocols. Simulation results show better performance than the real-life results due to differ in external influences and protocol implementation although maintaining realistic simulation setups.

Effective task migration to reduce execution time in mobile cloud computing

With the advancements in mobile technologies, different compute-intensive tasks are emerging rapidly. However, due to resource constraints, these tasks are facing challenges to execute on mobile devices. As a solution to this problem, cloud migration has been introduced to execute a task on the cloud and then to return the results to the user mobile device. In this paper, a cloud migration decision-making algorithm for compute-intensive tasks has been proposed to determine the feasibility of execution on a cloud server instead of a mobile device. Furthermore, the performances between mobile and cloud executions have been investigated which show that the task completion time can be reduced by a factor of 6 to 8 of mobile service when a cloud server is utilised.

SHARING IDEAS AND PRACTICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Sharing Ideas and Practice in Higher Education There is a substantial literature on teaching and learning in Higher Education. The majority of this literature is student facing, focusing on the student learning experience. There is also a strand in the literature which examines teaching and learning from the tutor perspective, looking at the experience of teaching in Higher Education. In both student and tutor facing approaches, the aim is to facilitate and enhance teaching and learning and tutor facing approaches emphasise in particular the contribution of staff communication and reflection in improving teaching and learning. Tutor facing approaches include Scholarship in Teaching and Learning, Communities of Practice and Disciplinary Commons. This paper discusses the experience of a School of Computing Commons (School Commons) developed in the School of Computing in a UK university. The School Commons was inspired by the Disciplinary Commons approach but also draws on the Scholarship for Teaching and Learning and Communities of Practice approaches. Elements from these three approaches were used to develop a model which brought together teaching staff from the different disciplines in the School of Computing, creating a forum in which to share practice and expertise. The main focus of the School Commons was on process, providing space for reflection and facilitating communication and the exchange of ideas. However, the School Commons also facilitated a bottom up approach to staff development, allowing staff to feed ideas and expectations into the university framework. The paper describes the motivation for the development of the School Commons, the process of establishing the School Commons and the way in which it was structured. The operation of the School Commons is reviewed and the effectiveness and value of this type of approach in terms of contribution to teaching and learning is critically evaluated. The outcomes from the project are discussed and the paper makes a number of suggestions for building on the achievements of the School Commons and future development.

Design, simulation, prototyping and experimentation of planar micro-strip patch antenna for passive UHF RFID to tag for metallic objects

Passive radio frequency identification (RFID) system operating in the ultrahigh frequency (UHF) band ranging from 860 MHz to 960 MHz is getting considerable attention in the recent years as it provides a long reading range, high data rate, and small antenna size. However, the passive UHF RFID tag does not work when it is directly mounted on metal objects. The performance of the passive UHF RFID tag is becoming increasing important for tagging metallic objects, in particular, in the warehouse applications. In this paper, a micro-strip patch antenna is proposed for the passive UHF RFID systems to tag metallic objects. The proposed design of the micro-strip patch antenna is supplemented by simulation and reading range measurement results. The prototype antenna measurements show a maximum reading range of 4.5 m and a reliable reading range of 1.89 m on metallic objects. The experimental results show that the prototype micro-strip patch antenna works very well on the metallic objects.