Thomas Mundt

Indoor and Outdoor Positioning in Mobile Environments—a Review and some Investigations on WLAN-Positioning

Abstract This paper reviews existing indoor and outdoor positioning technologies for mobile users, including GPS and its extensions, wireless communication-networks and others. Accuracy and limitations of these technologies and methods are examined in more detail. Furthermore, results of own investigations concerning Wireless LAN are presented.

Location dependent digital rights management

In this paper we present a concept and an architecture for a location dependent digital rights management system. The solution is based on a trusted hardware which incorporates the decryption of digital data, a precise secure clock, and a GPS position receiver. A prototype is currently being developed in cooperation with a hardware manufacturer.

Who Refuses to Wash Hands? Privacy Issues in Modern House Installation Networks

Modern buildings are often equipped with universal bus systems. The purpose of these bus systems is to control the functions of houses such as lighting, climate control, and heating. In this paper we present a case study that shows how privacy issues evolve out of an untypical utilization of those control systems. As a controversial example, we show that we are able to tell, who does not perform proper hand washing by sampling data from the control network and applying an old-fashioned Monte-Carlo simulation to the problem.

Suitability of Cloud Computing for Scientific Data Analyzing Applications; An Empirical Study

Increasing amount of data and demand to process and analyze them induces enterprises to employ alternative computing paradigms to overcome computing capacity shortages. Cloud Computing is a new emerged computing approach that promises scalability of resources, on-demand availability and pay-as-you-go economic model instead of heavy investment on IT resources. However, to decide on choosing Cloud as computing platform, all aspects such as cost and performance trade-offs should be considered. In this paper, we conduct an experimental research to discover empirical challenges of developing a data-intensive application and compare realistic costs of Cloud development versus using local servers. We also discuss our method of calculating Cloud and local resources costs, analyze obtained experimental results and different issues of exploiting Cloud for different types of applications in two major interactive and batch categories.

Security in building automation systems - a first analysis

The purpose of building automation systems is to support all house functions, such as controlling lighting, air conditioning, heating, shading, access, and hence, increase comfort, save energy and provide easier administration. Those systems are highly complex and ubiquitous as they have interfaces to many other networks and systems in a building. This increases the risk that attackers use security gaps to affect the entire infrastructure. In this paper we report about a security analysis of building automation systems.

Adjusting the Power Consumption of a SolarEnergy powered Wireless Network Node in Accordance with Weather Forecasts

We present how weather forecasts estimating the solar radiation for the following days at a given location can be used to adjust the power consumption of a wireless network node. The node is powered by a solar panel which recharges a battery. We discuss two methods to adjust the configuration of the wireless node according to weather forecasts. We are using OLSR routing parameters and hardware adjustments to control the amount of energy needed. One method calculates the available energy, the other uses a naive Bayesian classifier to choose the optimal configuration.

Authenticated location in wireless mesh networks

Location is part of the context of an ensemble of mobile nodes in a wireless mesh network. In this paper we present a concept and an architecture for a location aware Digital Rights Management system. This system uses signal strengths in a mobile ad-hoc or mesh network to determine the position of each node and to authenticate these position information. It enables devices to control access depending on their position. We describe algorithms, protocols, security threats, and a prototype.

Experiences with voice-controlled ubiquitously networked home entertainment systems

Home entertainment components usually come with remote controls as user interfaces. When combining components from different vendors, customers end up with a zoo of remote controls at their coffee tables. Most conventional approaches aiming to solve this problem, use some kind of graphical user interface allowing the user to browse through the various functions of each device. Meanwhile, research in speech technology has reached a state where it becomes suitable for the mass market. In this paper, we present a test bed as well as the results of several tests, which we have conducted to elucidate the idea of speech control for spontaneously networked home entertainment systems. Short conclusion: ubiquitous computing and speech control complement each other very sufficiently

General Security Considerations of LoRaWAN Version 1.1 Infrastructures

We assess the security mechanisms defined in the LoRaWAN specification and describe own research to show, whether those security mechanisms are sufficient. For this, we explain typical attacks on radiobased networks. We further show which precautions are necessary not to undermine these measures and whether additional security measures may be necessary.

Evaluation of acoustical position determination in a classroom scenario

This study evaluates whether ultrasound tones can be used to determine position of mobile devices in classrooms. The aim is to use this position to find the seating scheme of students for another study in the area of e-learning. We have conducted several experiments to test mobile devices for their suitability. We have also performed experiments in real scenarios and implemented a software system that for position determination. We measure distances and apply the least-square algorithm to calculate the position of mobile devices.