Tusher Chakraborty

Poster: Infrastructure Independent Indoor Localization for Post-Disaster Rescue Mission

The post-disaster rescue work demands a real-time localization of the trapped workers in factories and industries for rapid evacuation. This real-time localization helps first-responders in targeting survivors by escalating post-disaster rescue work. However, existing literature is yet to address indoor localization in disaster affected settings. In this study, we address this issue and perform a testbed experiment. Our preliminary experimental results suggest that our infrastructure independent indoor localization achieves localizing error as low as 4m in indoor environment using Wi-Fi carried by first-responders.

Supercrypt: a technique for quantum cryptography through simultaneously improving both security level and data rate

Secured data transmission has always been a matter of great interest and several encryption techniques for secured data transmission have been devised till now in this regard. However, with rapidly developing technology, the available encryption techniques are becoming more prone to attack every day. Focusing this issue, in this paper, we propose a new technique of encryption that will enhance the security level by a significant margin with the help of quantum computing. Additionally, our proposed technique also enhances data transmission rate through exploiting the notion of Superdense Coding. Such simultaneous improvement in both security level and data transmission rate, which we achieve through our proposed technique, is a rare trait for currently available encryption technique. We name our proposed technique SuperCrypt. We elaborate implementation issues pertinent for SuperCrypt such as recycling qubits and re-establishing entanglement. We also implement SuperCrypt in a discrete-event network simulator ns-2 and evaluate the performance of SuperCrypt through analyzing the simulation results. The simulation results demonstrate significant performance improvement through SuperCrypt compared to available classical alternative. Further, we briefly present a more sophisticated and synchronized version of SuperCrypt that we plan to investigate in future.

EyePen: Ease of Reading for Less-Privileged Visually-Impaired People

People with visual impairment use Braille as a medium of textual representation having palpable dots. While the more privileged among us use OCR based text readers as preferential alternative, the lesser privileged ones are still bundling with conventional Braille tools. Our endeavor in this paper is to develop a low-cost and easy-to-use solution for less-privileged people. Here, we propose EyePen, a system that enables less-privileged visually-impaired people reading Braille characters, printed using conventional ink-jet and laser printers. The use of printed Braille characters using ink-jet printers offers a cost-effective alternative in place of the more expensively printed conventional palpable Braille dots. Besides, EyePen demands a very short learning period and offers a smooth learning experience ensuring ease-of-use while being in operation. We perform user evaluation over our developed system to confirm these findings. The user evaluation results show that the accuracy of reading printed Braille characters using EyePen converges to 100% within a very short period of time for all users. Finally, we present a potential writing aid that can facilitate low-cost and easy writing of Braille characters on normal paper exploiting our system.

Can You Get into the Middle of Near Field Communication

A recent development emanating from the widely used RFID technology is Near Field Communication (NFC). Basically, NFC is a popular short range (

A testbed implementation of hybrid decision model based seamless lightweight vertical handover

The next generation ubiquitous wireless networks will comprise of mobile users moving between heterogeneous networks with terminals having multiple access interfaces and services. Vertical handover techniques deal with the scenario where a user seamlessly moves between different network access technologies. The most crucial issue in such environment is seamless connectivity. Earlier works demand for infrastructural modification with cumbersome implementations. Here, we propose an automated, transparent, seamless, hybrid decision model based easy-to-implement vertical handover mechanism between WiFi and cellular network. The implementation of the mechanism does not supplant the current infrastructure. We carry out experiments on a testbed to demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed scheme. Experimental results show that a handover-held communication slightly differs from a handoverless communication in terms of diversified network metrics.

Sparse mat: A tale of devising a low-cost directional system for pedestrian counting

Pedestrian counting is required in diversified places such as shopping malls, touristic spots, etc., however, a low-cost solution to this problem is yet to be proposed in the literature. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new solution for pedestrian counting that exploits only a small number of COTS sensors (94% less than that used in the existing Eco-Counter [1] solution). To do so, we propose detail designs and two different algorithms for separately sensing step-down and step-up phenomena that we find while walking. User evaluation of real implementations of both our algorithms confirms an average accuracy of up to 93% through sensing the step-up phenomena.

Devising a novel visible light based low-cost ultra-low-power gesture recognition system

In recent times, migrating from touch-based input systems to gesture recognition based touchless input systems has become one of the major research problems, considering the health hazards exposed in public usages of the devices. The problem still remains mostly unsolved as such a system having the properties of being low-cost, ultra-low-power and easy-to-use is yet to be proposed in the literature. As a remedy to this situation, in this paper, we propose a visible light based gesture recognition system retaining all the properties mentioned above. Its operational algorithm makes it functioning in a well-lit room and guarantees robustness against undefined noisy gestures. Real implementation of the system along with its rigorous evaluation through interaction with several users confirm its efficacy and existences of all the mentioned properties in it.

Low-cost finger gesture recognition system for disabled and elderly people

Gesture recognition is increasingly being used to design systems that assist the disabled people and elderly people, who struggle with motor control and motor functionality. In this paper, we propose a device which helps people with severe motor disabilities, however, have full functionality in their fingers even if they can not move or lift their arms. The proposed device tracks the movement of the fingers of the users and classifies them as gestures. The classified gestures can be used to control various electrical devices such as switches, electrical appliances, wheelchairs, etc. and can also be used to signal the need for human assistance. The device is robust, easy to use, highly accurate, and low power consuming. Therefore, it can be used for an extended period of time and is reliable for helping the disabled people and elderly people.

FLight: A Low-Cost Reading and Writing System for Economically Less-Privileged Visually-Impaired People Exploiting Ink-based Braille System

Reading printed documents and writing on a paper pose a great challenge for visually-impaired people. Existing studies that attempt to solve these challenges are expensive and not feasible in low-income context. Moreover, these studies solve reading and writing problems separately. On the contrary, in this study, we propose FLight, a low-cost reading and writing system for economically less-privileged people. FLight uses ink-based Braille characters as the medium of textual representation. This helps in keeping a compact spatial representation of texts, yet achieving a low-cost status. Additionally, FLight utilizes a low-cost wearable device to enhance ease of reading by visually-impaired people. We conduct a participatory design and iterative evaluation involving five visually-impaired children in Bangladesh for more than 18 months. Our user evaluation reveals that FLight is easy-to-use, and exhibits a potential low-cost solution for economically less-privileged visually-impaired people.

Towards defending eavesdropping on NFC

Abstract Successful defense against eavesdropping on near-field communication (NFC) vastly depends on careful analysis of eavesdropping and adopting a suitable defense mechanism based on the analysis. However, such an analysis and such an adoption of a defense mechanism are yet to be attempted in the literature, even though eavesdropping is considered as one of the foremost security breaches on NFC. As a remedy to this situation, we propose an analytical model for analyzing the notion of eavesdropping, and also propose pragmatic defense mechanisms based on the model. In our formulation of the analytical model, we attempt to consider all the parameters related to eavesdropping. Based on the formulated model, we analyze individual impacts of the parameters. Our analysis reveals a key finding: the maximum possible distance of eavesdropping on near-field communication is significantly controlled by both conductivity and permeability of the material over which the wave propagates. Exploiting this finding, we propose to judiciously utilize coating with materials having high conductivity and high permeability to defend against eavesdropping. To further enhance the defense level against eavesdropping, we propose another defense mechanism using active jamming. We perform a set of real experiments to confirm effectiveness of both the mechanisms.