[EN] Wireless mobile ad ho networks, also known as MANETs, are omposed by independent mobile stations that ommuni ate without requiring any sort of infrastru ture for support. These networks are hara terized by variable bandwidth values and frequent path breaks, whi h are due to hannel noise, interferen e between stations and mobility. Su h fa tors require significant adaptation apabilites at different levels of the proto ol suites employed, enabling stations to qui kly respond to fast- hanging network onditions. Resear h on the most adequate proto- ols for the physi al, MAC and routing layers is still on-going, though some basi onsensus has already been rea hed and several testbeds have been setup around the world. To deploy real-time multimedia servi es, namely voi e and video, on top of su h an unreliable network environment is a very hallenging task. In this thesis we propose to a hieve that goal starting from urrently available Wi-Fi te hnology, and gradually finding the most adequate enhan ements to ea h proto ol layer of interest; we then ombine these enhan ements until we a hieve a omplete QoS framework for ad ho networks. By using urrently available te hnology we assure that the proposal of this thesis has an inherent high-level of appli ability on real life environments. Sin e our working field fo uses on video transmission over wireless ad ho networks, we will show how it is possible to support several QoS- onstrained video streams in MANET environments hara terized by moderate to high mobility levels, and by a significant amount of best efort traffic / [ES] Las redes inalámbricas ad hoc, también conocidas como redes MANET, están compuestas por un conjunto de estaciones móviles independientes capaces de omunicarse entre sí sin necesidad de ningún tipo de infraestructura común de comunicaciones. Estas redes se caracterizan por tener un ancho de banda variable y pérdidas frecuentes de ruta que se pueden atribuir al ruido del anal inalámbrico, a la interferencia entre las estaciones móviles o bien a la movilidad de las estaciones. Dichos factores requieren una gran capacidad de adaptación en las diferentes capas de la arquitectura de protocolos, permitiendo a una estación responder rápidamente a posibles cambios bruscos en las condiciones de la red. A pesar de que aún se están realizando trabajos de investigación en bus a de los protocolos más adecuados para las capas físicas, a eso al medio (MAC) y encaminamiento, ha sido posible llegar a un nivel básico de consenso, lo cual ha permitido el despliegue de plataformas y entornos aplicados que utilizan tecnología de red MANET. Ofrecer servicios multimedia, como voz y vídeo, en redes con tan poca habilidad es un desafío importante. En esta tesis nos proponemos alcanzar este objetivo partiendo de la tecnología Wi-Fi actualmente disponible, encontrando de forma paulatina las mejoras más importantes en las diferentes capas de la arquitectura de red, para llegar, finalmente, a una solución integrada capaz de ofrecer calidad de servicio (QoS) en las redes MANET. Al utilizar la tecnología que disponemos actualmente nos aseguramos que las propuestas de esta tesis tengan un alto grado de aplicabilidad en entornos reales. Ya que la línea de trabajo de la tesis está aplicada a la transmisión de vídeo en redes MANET, demostraremos que es posible ofrecer calidad de servicio a varios flujos de vídeo en una red MANET caracterizada por altos grados de movilidad en sus nodos y un nivel significativo de tráfico o de tipo best effort / Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM. (2006). Analysis and design of efficient techniques for video transmission in IEEE 802.11 wireless ad hoc networks [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/135282 / TESIS

Long time ago, there were developed methods which can allow fast exchange of information at the longest distance possible. Until recent time, the possibilities of long way communications were very limited. There were technological and financial limitations mainly. With telegraph, telephone and the newest – computer networks invention, the telecommunication services became cheaper and much more comprehensive. With accession and high scale spread of internet, the role of communications is much more important. The most actual trend is mobile internet and connected multimedia networks and their instant accessibility from anywhere. On the first side there are classical telecommunication networks as GSM, UMTS, on the other side there is very strong alternative in shape of WiMAX and WiFi networks combination. For the usage of multimedia services in that networks is very important to handle their prefferization over other traffic, which is very difficult task even on wireless media. For the finding of new processes and methods, which can allow it, there is, at fist, the need for highly accurate and authentic mathematical models. In this doctoral thesis is mapped actual state of the art and proposed the new mathematical model of Distribution Coordination Function, which is much-frequent used as access method in 802.11 networks, Wi-Fi.

The usage of public Wi-Fi and hotspots has witnessed a substantial increase in recent times, providing convenient connectivity in various public areas. Public wireless networks are now widely accessible, especially in smart cities. However, utilising public Wi-Fi exposes individuals to potential threats to their privacy and security. Hackers can exploit vulnerabilities present in public Wi-Fi networks, such as the "Evil Twin" attack, to deceive users and unlawfully obtain their personal information. The main objective of the research was to investigate people's awareness of the security risks associated with public Wi-Fi usage and to identify the factors that contribute to their willingness to take such risks. The research adopted a qualitative approach, utilising semi-structured interviews with 14 participants to gain valuable insights into their understanding and knowledge of the risks connected with public Wi-Fi. The majority of respondents employed public Wi-Fi for educational purposes, browsing the Internet, and engaging with social media platforms. Additionally, the findings of the study explored the motivations and influences that lead individuals to take risks when using public Wi-Fi. Factors such as convenience, cost-effectiveness, saving mobile data usage, limited mobile network coverage, and a lack of awareness concerning privacy and security risks emerged as the most significant reasons and influences behind the utilisation of public Wi-Fi.

Traditional methods for locating books and resources in libraries often entail browsing catalogsor manual searching that are time-consuming and inefficient. This thesis investigates thepotential of automated digital services to streamline this process, by utilizing Wi-Fi signal datafor precise indoor localization. Central to this study is the development of a model that employsWi-Fi signal strength (RSSI) and round-trip time (RTT) to estimate the locations of library userswith arm-length accuracy. This thesis aims to enhance the accuracy of location estimation byexploring the complex, nonlinear relationship between Received Signal Strength Indicator(RSSI) and Round-Trip Time (RTT) within signal fingerprints. The model was developed usingan artificial neural network (ANN) to capture the relationship between RSSI and RTT. Besides,this thesis introduces and evaluates the performance of a novel variant of the Particle SwarmOptimization (PSO) algorithm, named Randomized Particle Swarm Optimization (RPSO). Byincorporating randomness into the conventional PSO framework, the RPSO algorithm aims toaddress the limitations of the standard PSO, potentially offering more accurate and reliablelocation estimations. The PSO algorithms, including RPSO, were integrated into the trainingprocess of ANN to optimize the network’s weights and biases through direct optimization, aswell as to enhance the hyperparameters of the ANN’s built-in optimizer. The findings suggestthat optimizing the hyperparameters yields better results than direct optimization of weights andbiases. However, RPSO did not significantly enhance the performance compared to thestandard PSO in this context, indicating the need for further investigation into its application andpotential benefits in complex optimization scenarios.

The industrial needs in the production of goods and control of processes within the factory keep leapfrogging daily by the necessities to fulfil the needs of the ever-growing population. In recent times, the industries are looking towards Industry 4.0 to improve their overall productivity and scalability. One of the significant aspects that are required to meet the requirements of Industry 4.0 is communication networks among industrial applications. Nowadays, industries from the cross markets are looking to replace their existing wired networks with wireless networks, which indeed brings many use-cases and a lot of new business models into existence. To make all these options possible, wireless networks need to meet the stringent requirements of these industrial applications in the form of reliability, latency, and service availability. This thesis focuses on a systematic methodology to integrate wireless networks like 5G, Wi-Fi 6, etc., into real-life automation devices. It also describes a methodology to evaluate their communication and control performance by varying control parameters like topology, cycle time, and type of networks. It also devises some techniques and methods that can improve the overall performance, i.e., both control and communication performance of the control applications. The method used to implement this work is a case study. This work integrates and tests the industrial applications in a real-life scenario. It is the best effort to bring a unique perspective of communication engineers and control engineers together regarding the performance of the industrial applications. This work tries to verify the suitability of the wireless in mission-critical control application scenarios with respect to their communication and control performance. Software for data analysis and visualization and its methodology for analyzing the traffic flow of the control applications via different wireless networks is demonstrated by varying different control parameters. It is shown that it is challenging for 5G to support the shorter cycle time values, and performance will get better and more stable with the increase in the cycle time of the control application. It is also found that the 1-Hop wireless topologies have a comparatively better control performance than 2-Hop wireless topologies. In the end, it is found that the communication and control performance of the motion control application can be improved by using the hybrid topology, which is a mixture of 5G and Wi-Fi 6, by modifying some key aspects. The thesis work helps to introduce a novel systematic methodology for measuring and analyzing the communication and control applications via different wireless networks. It also gives a better idea for the control engineers in the industry about which cycle times the different wireless networks and their topologies support when integrated with industrial automation devices. It also describes which wireless networks support industrial applications better. It ends with a novel methodology that could improve the performance of the mission-critical motion applications by using existing wireless technologies.

Background: Novel intraoperative imaging techniques, namely, hyperspectral (HSI) and fluorescence imaging (FI), are promising with respect to reducing severe postoperative complications, thus increasing patient safety. Both tools have already been used to evaluate perfusion of the gastric conduit after esophagectomy and before anastomosis. To our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating both modalities simultaneously during esophagectomy. Methods: In our pilot study, 13 patients, who underwent Ivor Lewis esophagectomy and gastric conduit reconstruction, were analyzed prospectively. HSI and FI were recorded before establishing the anastomosis in order to determine its optimum position. Results: No anastomotic leak occurred during this pilot study. In five patients, the imaging methods resulted in a more peripheral adaptation of the anastomosis. There were no significant differences between the two imaging tools, and no adverse events due to the imaging methods or indocyanine green (ICG) injection occurred. Conclusions: Simultaneous intraoperative application of both modalities was feasible and not time consuming. They are complementary with regard to the ideal anastomotic position and may contribute to better surgical outcomes. The impact of their simultaneous application will be proven in consecutive prospective trials with a large patient cohort.

Innovations and new advancements in intraoperative real-time imaging have gained significant importance in the field of gastric cancer surgery in the recent past. Currently, the most promising procedures include indocyanine green fluorescence imaging (ICG-FI) and hyperspectral imaging or multispectral imaging (HSI, MSI). ICG-FI is utilized in a broad range of clinical applications, e.g., assessment of perfusion or lymphatic drainage, and additional implementations are currently investigated. HSI is still in the experimental phase and its value and clinical relevance require further evaluation, but initial studies have shown a successful application in perfusion assessment, and prospects concerning non-invasive tissue and tumor classification are promising. The application of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies might enable an automatic evaluation of the acquired image data in the future. Both methods facilitate the accurate visualization of tissue characteristics that are initially indistinguishable for the human eye. By aiding surgeons in optimizing the surgical procedure, image-guided surgery can contribute to the oncologic safety and reduction of complications in gastric cancer surgery and recent advances hold promise for the application of HSI in intraoperative tissue diagnostics.

Numerous mobile applications have the potential to collect and share userspecific information on top of the essential data handling. This is made possible through poor application design and its improper implementation. The lack of security and privacy in an application is of main concern since the spread of sensitive and personal information can cause both physical and emotional harm, if it is being shared with unauthorized people. This thesis investigates how to confidentially transfer user information in such a way that the user remains anonymous and untraceable in a mobile application. In order to achieve that, the user will first authenticate itself to a third party, which provides the user with certificates or random generated tokens. The user can then use this as its communication credentials towards the server, which will be made through the Tor network. Further, when the connection is established, the WiFi details are sent periodically to the server without the user initiating the action. The results show that it is possible to establish connection, both with random tokens and certificates. The random tokens took less time to generate compared to the certificate, however the certificate took less time to verify, which balances off the whole performance of the system. Moreover, the results show that the implementation of Tor is working since it is possible for the system to hide the real IP address, and provide a random IP address instead. However, the communication is slower when Tor is used which is the cost for achieving anonymity and improving the privacy of the user. Conclusively, this thesis proves that combining proper implementation and good application design improves the security in the application thereby protecting the users’  privacy. / Många mobilapplikationer har möjlighet att samla in och dela användarspecifik information, utöver den väsentliga datahanteringen. Det här problemet möjliggörs genom dålig applikationsdesign och felaktig implementering. Bristen på säkerhet och integritet i en applikation är därför kritisk, eftersom spridning av känslig och personlig information kan orsaka både fysisk och emotionell skada, om den delas med obehöriga personer. Denna avhandling undersöker hur man konfidentiellt kan överföra användarinformation på ett sätt som tillåter användaren av mobilapplikationen att förbli både anonym och icke spårbar. För att uppnå detta kommer användaren först att behöva autentisera sig till en tredje part, vilket förser användaren med slumpmässigt genererade tecken eller med ett certifikat. Användaren kan sedan använda dessa till att kommunicera med servern, vilket kommer att göras över ett Tor-nätverk. Slutligen när anslutningen upprättats, kommer WiFi-detaljerna att skickas över periodvis till servern, detta sker automatiskt utan att användaren initierar överföringen. Resultatet visar att det är möjligt att skapa en anslutning både med ett certifikat eller med slumpmässiga tecken. Att generera de slumpmässiga tecknen tog mindre tid jämfört med certifikaten, däremot tog certifikaten mindre tid att verifiera än tecknen. Detta resulterade i att de båda metoderna hade en jämn prestanda om man ser över hela systemet. Resultatet visar vidare att det implementeringen av Tor fungerar då det är möjligt för systemet att dölja den verkliga IPadressen och att istället tillhandahålla en slumpmässig IP-adress. Kommunikationen genom Tor gör dock systemet långsammare, vilket är kostnaden för att förbättra användarens integritet och uppnå anonymitet. Sammanfattningsvis visar denna avhandling att genom att kombinera korrekt implementering och bra applikationsdesign kan man förbättra säkerheten i applikationen och därmed skydda användarnas integritet.

Sharing a band of frequencies in the radio spectrum among multiple wireless systems has emerged as a viable solution for alleviating the severe capacity crunch in next-generation wireless mobile networks such as 5th generation mobile networks (5G). Spectrum sharing can be achieved by enabling multiple wireless systems to coexist in a single spectrum band. In this dissertation, we discuss the following coexistence problems in spectrum bands that have recently been raising notable research interest: 5G and Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) at 27.5-28.35 GHz (28 GHz); 5G and Fixed Service (FS) at 71-76 GHz (70 GHz); vehicular communications and Wi-Fi at 5.85-5.925 GHz (5.9 GHz); and mobile broadband communications and radar at 3.55-3.7 GHz (3.5 GHz). The results presented in each of the aforementioned parts show comprehensively that the coexistence methods help achieve spectrum sharing in each of the bands, and therefore contribute to achieve appreciable increase of bandwidth efficiency. The proposed techniques can contribute to making spectrum sharing a viable solution for the ever evolving capacity demands in the wireless communications landscape. / Ph. D.

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is the fourth generation (4G) wireless communications standard and its evolution is paving the path for the fifth generation (5G) technology. LTE is also considered for supporting public safety networks, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, and many other applications. Hence, it is critical to ensure that the LTE system performs effectively even in harsh signaling environments. Unfortunately, LTE is vulnerable to intentional interference at the physical layer. We define the term LTE control channel spoofing, which refers to the case when an adversary sets a fake LTE-like base station (evolved NodeB or eNodeB) that transmits a partial or full LTE downlink frame to deceive LTE devices and hinder them from attaching to a real cell. Based on analyzing the initial cell selection process in the LTE specifications, we identify three different level of LTE control channel spoofing. We have built a testbed to demonstrate the feasibility of such an attack. The experimental results show that LTE control channel spoofing can cause permanent denial of service for LTE devices during the cell selection process. We propose effective mitigation techniques to enhance the immunity of LTE systems against all the three forms of LTE control channel spoofing, and ensure that it is secure and available when and where needed. Moreover, the commercial success of LTE and the resulting growth in mobile data demand have motivated cellular network operators to strive for new innovations. LTE-Unlicensed has been recently proposed to allow cellular network operators to offload some of their data traffic by accessing the unlicensed 5 GHz frequency band. There are three variants of LTE-Unlicensed that have been proposed in the industry. These variants differ in their operational features, but they enhance the capacity of LTE and represent a big milestone in its evolution toward 5G. However, LTE-Unlicensed faces several challenges when operating in the 5 GHz bands, as this spectrum is mainly occupied by Wi-Fi and by various radar systems. Therefore, we analyze the algorithms proposed in the industry for the LTE-Unlicensed and Wi-Fi coexistence, and we develop a new spectrum sharing technique for the coexistence between LTE-Unlicensed and radar systems. In order to analyze LTE-Unlicensed and Wi-Fi coexistence, we first explain the technical details of each of the three variants of LTE-Unlicensed, and we provide a comparative analysis of them in terms of their operational features. Then we develop an unbiased and objective evaluation of their proposed coexistence mechanisms with Wi-Fi systems, and numerically compare their performance. In order to emphasize the need for developing a new spectrum sharing technique for the coexistence between LTE-Unlicensed and radar systems, we first present the different regulatory requirements for the 5 GHz unlicensed bands in several world regions, and we perform a comprehensive survey on the different radar types within the 5 GHz sub-bands. Then we develop a novel spectrum sharing technique based on chance-constrained stochastic optimization to allow the LTE-Unlicensed eNodeB to share the spectrum efficiently with a radar system. The optimization problem is formulated to guarantee the minimum performance criteria for the radar operation, and at the same time allows the LTE-Unlicensed eNodeB to control its transmit power to maximize the performance for the serving LTE-Unlicensed device. A mathematical model is used to transform the stochastic optimization problem into a deterministic one, and an exhaustive search is used to solve the resulting optimization problem. Due to the power control mechanism resulting from the proposed algorithm, numerical results show a significant reduction in the protection distance required between the radar and the LTE-Unlicensed network for the two to coexist, as the proposed algorithm can allow the two systems to operate effectively with a protection distance of only 3.95% of the one imposed by the regulations.