Thomas Rist

Covert Channels and Their Prevention in Building Automation Protocols: A Prototype Exemplified Using BACnet

Security in building automation systems (BAS) recently became a topic in the security community. BAS form a part of enterprise networks and can be utilized to gain access to a company network or to violate a security policy. Up to now, the threat of covert channels in BAS protocols was not discovered. While a first available solution can limit ``high level covert channels in BAS, there is no solution available to prevent covert channels on the lower level (i.e., in BAS protocols). In this paper, we present network covert storage and network covert timing channels in the network and application layer of the BACnet protocol stack to show that protocol-level covert channels in BAS are feasible. Additionally, we introduce the first means enabling a BAS to become multi-level secure on the network and application layer to prevent covert channels. We built a prototype based on the BACnet firewall router (BFR) to implement multi-level security in BACnet environments.

Architecture of a ubiquitous smart energy management system for residential homes

A range of technology for monitoring electricity consumption at residential homes is gradually becoming available to users. Almost all of these systems, however, only aim to assist users with reducing their total power consumption, without being concerned too much about how those savings are actually made. Our research, aims to provide a basis for design of systems that give users control over management of power usage, so that savings in energy consumption can be made more intelligently. This paper describes the requirements of such a system, and proposes an architecture for these types of ubiquitous systems for residential homes.

Exploring Digital Image Frames for Lifestyle Intervention to Improve Well-being of Older Adults

This contribution addresses the development of technology for senior users with the aim to improve their general wellbeing. We present a prototype system named CARE that is used for in-situ testing in a seniors home and combines functionality of a digital image frame with an active recommender mode. The purpose of the recommender is to provide the user with context-specific recommendations. Recommendations are chosen on the basis of sensor data and a well-being model to carefully decide on at which point in time what kind of activity will be most suitable to suggest.

Design of a lifestyle recommender system for the elderly: requirement gatherings in Germany and Greece

As overaging is becoming a main societal challenge, the development of AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) systems has become the centre of many research projects the last years. Our own work is targeted towards the development of an AAL system -called CARE- that provides assistance in form of recommendations helping its users overcome typical difficulties of everyday life, and contributes positively to their well-being. To inform the design of the envisioned CARE system we recruited two peer groups of potential users, a group of 20 Greek seniors, and a group of 27 German seniors, and conducted structured interviews which were focused on the seniors life-style, medical needs, attitude towards AAL technologies, and, more specifically, on desired functions and system configurations of a recommendation-giving CARE system. We discuss outcomes of the conducted interviews and sketch a first CARE prototype which appears as an augmented digital picture frame that interleaves the display of photos with recommendations and interventions to improve the seniors life-style and well-being.

xioScreen: Experiences Gained from Building a Series of Prototypes of Interactive Public Displays

xioScreen stands for a series of prototype installations of interactive public displays that have been developed, deployed, and evaluated at Hochschule Augsburg over the last 5 years. On the one hand xioScreen installations are part of an emerging digital signage system that informs students and campus visitors about events, talks, etc. On the other hand, xioScreen installations serve as testbeds for exploring new forms of interactive entertainment. Our initial working hypothesis was that students would take advantage of public screens as shared playgrounds for new gaming experiences. In terms of user participation, however, this did not work out so far – therefore other forms of active user participation have been explored as well. In this paper, we report on a number of conducted design-deployment-evaluation cycles and discuss lessons learned so far.

A secure interoperable architecture for building-automation applications

Building-automation systems enable building administrators and inhabitants to monitor and control their buildings from within the building itself, as well as from outside using remote access tools. In recent years, many such control systems have been developed for both residential and nonresidential buildings, with increasing levels of functionality. Due to the growing number of building-automation system manufacturers, which use different network and communication protocols with no interoperability, it is often not possible to integrate the use of components from different manufacturers in a single building. To overcome this major limitation, we have developed a multilayer architecture for building-automation, designed to allow remote management of buildings, while making it possible to use components from different manufacturers. Our architecture implements an advanced secure interface for building-automation software, using secure event-handling and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). The architecture is designed to provide energy consumption and monitoring applications with an interface protecting their privacy.

Providing Life-Style-Intervention to Improve Well-Being of Elderly People

We report on a user-centered approach towards the development of an augmented digital picture frame - called “CARE” - for senior users with the aim to improve their general well-being. The central idea is to interleave the display of pictures with the provision of recommendations of activities that seniors may perform in addition to their ordinary daily routines. We also report on our attempt to encourage durable use of the CARE system by introducing reward schemes for recommended activities. Feedback from users suggests that reward schemes should be made individually configurable.

Co-Designing a Recommender System for the Elderly

To promote a healthy life-style and to increase well-being of elderly people, we have extended a digital picture frame - the CARE system - that interleaves a picture display mode with a recommender mode. In recommender mode, CARE encourages its users to engage in physical and mental training activities. The success of such a system essentially depends on the extent to which given recommendations are followed. The current paper investigates in how far rewarding schemes as known from computer games could be deployed in order to increase user appreciation of the CARE system. To this end, we prepared and ran a co-design workshop with a peer-group of senior citizens. Finally, we draw conclusions that will guide our work towards a gamified version of CARE.

Towards a Gamified Recommender System for the Elderly

Starting from our previous work on a digital picture frame - the CARE system - that interleaves a picture display mode with a recommender mode to promote a healthy life-style and to increase well-being of elderly people, this paper investigates the use of gamification as a means to increase user appreciation of the CARE system. To this end, we arranged two co-design workshops with peer-groups of senior citizens. We report on outcomes of the workshops and draw conclusions for a gamified version of CARE.

Fostering Smart Energy Applications

There is an increasing need for smart applications with interactive visual interfaces that allow users to better manage and monitor their energy generation and consumption. This workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners from interaction design, human-computer interaction, visualization, computer games, and media technology to foster research, design, development, and deployment of energy-related applications, tools, services, games, and persuasive technologies.