In the wake of major disasters, the failure of existing communications infrastructure and the subsequent lack of an effective communication solution results in increased risks, inefficiencies, damage and casualties. Currently available options such as satellite communication are expensive and have limited functionality. A robust communication solution should be affordable, easy to deploy, require little infrastructure, consume little power and facilitate Internet access. Researchers have long proposed the use of ad hoc wireless networks for such scenarios. However such networks have so far failed to create any impact, primarily because they are unable to handle network transience and have usability constraints such as static topologies and dependence on specific platforms. LifeNet is a WiFi-based ad hoc data communication solution designed for use in highly transient environments. After presenting the motivation, design principles and key insights from prior literature, the dissertation introduces a new routing metric called Reachability and a new routing protocol based on it, called Flexible Routing. Roughly speaking, reachability measures the end-to-end multi-path probability that a packet transmitted by a source reaches its final destination. Using experimental results, it is shown that even with high transience, the reachability metric - (1) accurately captures the effects of transience (2) provides a compact and eventually consistent global network view at individual nodes, (3) is easy to calculate and maintain and (4) captures availability. Flexible Routing trades throughput for availability and fault-tolerance and ensures successful packet delivery under varying degrees of transience. With the intent of deploying LifeNet on field we have been continuously interacting with field partners, one of which is Tata Institute of Social Sciences India. We have refined LifeNet iteratively refined base on their feedback. I conclude the thesis with lessons learned from our field trips so far and deployment plans for the near future.

Current network architectures, as well as mobility management protocols, are generally deployed in a centralized manner. Moreover, these protocols are designed to be always activated, even when not needed. As the number of mobile users and the volume of their traffic increase, such centralized architectures are expected to encounter scalability issues as well as performance issues. Recently, mobile network operators are experiencing a rapid increase in mobile data traffic. In order to cope with this, a new trend is to flatten networks architectures and hence IP mobility management protocols need to be adapted for such evolution. Therefore, there is a need to define novel mobility management mechanisms that are both distributed and offered dynamically. In order to cope with this context, the thesis concerns designing, analyzing, and evaluating novel IPv6 network architectures and mobility protocols that are distributed and dynamic, and in particular Distributed Mobility Management (DMM). Before proposing any extension, we categorize the existing mobility schemes and carry out a comparative analysis on each category. Then, we propose a new distributed dynamic mobility management scheme based on the Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) protocol, with an optional extension for the joint use with the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). After, we carry out a performance analysis in terms of mobility costs, handover, and quality-of-service. Finally, we study the impacts on other aspects such as security considerations and location management.

This work describes the process of the design of a flight software for a space-qualified device, outlines the development and testing of the SW, and provides a description of the final product. The flight software described in this work has been developed for the project Demise Observation Capsule (DOC). DOC is a device planned to be attached to an upper stage of a launch vehicle and observe its demise during atmospheric re-entry at the end of its mission. Due to constraint on communication time during the mission and the need to maximize the amount of transferred data, a custom communication protocol has been developed. / Demise Observation Capsule

This work is concerned with an implementation of a software framework for usability testing. This extensive network framework and its protocol allow for integration of libraries for data collection from the basic peripherals like mouse, keyboard, camera, etc. If the protocol rules are implemented, these libraries can be platform independent. The client-server architecture allows for management of all collected data in a central database. The data in this database can be queried for evaluating the usability of applications.

<div>Multiparty computation refers to a scenario in which multiple distinct yet connected parties aim to jointly compute a functionality. Over recent decades, with the rapid spread of the internet and digital technologies, multiparty computation has become an increasingly important topic. In addition to the integrity of computation in such scenarios, it is essential to ensure that the privacy of sensitive information is not violated. Thus, secure multiparty computation aims to provide sound approaches for the joint computation of desired functionalities in a secure manner: Not only must the integrity of computation be guaranteed, but also each party must not learn anything about the other parties' private data. In other words, each party learns no more than what can be inferred from its own input and its prescribed output.</div><div><br></div><div> This thesis considers secure two-party computation over arithmetic circuits based on additive secret sharing. In particular, we focus on efficient and secure solutions for fundamental functionalities that depend on the equality of private comparands. The first direction we take is providing efficient protocols for two major problems of interest. Specifically, we give novel and efficient solutions for <i>private equality testing</i> and multiple variants of <i>secure wildcard pattern matching</i> over any arbitrary finite alphabet. These problems are of vital importance: Private equality testing is a basic building block in many secure multiparty protocols; and, secure pattern matching is frequently used in various data-sensitive domains, including (but not limited to) private information retrieval and healthcare-related data analysis. The second direction we take towards a performance improvement in equality-based secure two-party computation is via introducing a generic functionality-independent secure preprocessing that results in an overall computation and communication cost reduction for any subsequent protocol. We achieve this by providing the first precise functionality formulation and secure protocols for replacing original inputs with much smaller inputs such that this replacement neither changes the outcome of subsequent computations nor violates the privacy of sensitive inputs. Moreover, our input-size reduction opens the door to a new approach for efficiently solving Private Set Intersection. The protocols we give in this thesis are typically secure in the semi-honest adversarial threat model.</div>

Among the low-power wireless technologies that have emerged in recent years, ultra-wideband (UWB) has successfully established itself as the reference for accurate ranging and localization, both outdoors and indoors. Due to its unprecedented performance, paired with relatively low energy consumption, UWB is going to play a central role in the next wave of location-based applications. As the trend of integration in smartphones continues, UWB is also expected to reach ordinary users, revolutionizing our lives the same way GPS and similar technologies have done. But the impact of UWB may not be limited to ranging and localization. Because of its considerable data rate, and its robustness to obstacles and interference, UWB communication may hold untapped potential for sensing and control applications. Nevertheless, several research questions still need to be answered to assess whether UWB can be adopted widely in the communication and localization landscapes. On one hand, the rapid evolution of UWB radios and the release of ever more efficient chips is a clear indication of the growing market for this technology. However, for it to become pervasive, full-fledged communication and localization systems must be developed and evaluated, tackling the shortcomings affecting current prototypes. UWB systems are typically single-hop networks designed for small areas, making them impractical for large-scale coverage. This limitation is found in communication and localization systems alike. Specifically for communication systems, energy-efficient multi-hop protocols are hitherto unexplored. As for localization systems, they rely on mains-powered anchors to circumvent the issue of energy consumption, in addition to only supporting small areas. Very few options are available for light, easy to deploy infrastructures using battery-powered anchors. Nonetheless, large-scale systems are required in common settings like industrial facilities and agricultural fields, but also office spaces and museums. The general goal of enabling UWB in spaces like these entails a number of issues. Large multi-hop infrastructures exacerbate the known limitations of small, single-hop, networks; notably, reliability and latency requirements clash with the need to reduce energy consumption. Finally, when device mobility is a factor, continuity of operations across the covered area is a challenge in itself. In this thesis, we design energy-efficient UWB systems for large-scale areas, supporting device mobility across multi-hop infrastructures. As our opening contribution, we study the unique interference rejection properties of the radio to inform our design. This analysis yields a number of findings on the impact of interference in communication and distance estimation, that are directly usable by developers to improve UWB solutions. These findings also suggest that concurrent transmissions in the same frequency channel are a practical option in UWB. While the overlapping of frames is typically avoided to prevent collisions, concurrent transmissions have counter-intuitively been used to provide highly reliable communication primitives for a variety of traffic patterns in narrowband radios. In our first effort to use concurrent transmissions in a full system, we introduce the UWB version of Glossy, a renowned protocol for efficient network-wide synchronization and data dissemination. Inspired by the success of concurrency-based protocols in narrowband, we then apply the same principles to define a novel data collection protocol, Weaver. Instead of relying on independent Glossy floods like state-of-the-art systems, we weave multiple data flows together to make our collection engine faster, more reliable and more energy-efficient. With Glossy and Weaver supporting the communication aspect in large-scale networks, we then propose techniques for large-scale localization systems. We introduce TALLA, a TDoA solution for continuous position estimation based on wireless synchronization. We evaluate TALLA in an UWB testbed and in simulations, for which we replicate accurately the behavior of the clocks in our real-world platforms. We then offer a glimpse of what TALLA can be employed for, deploying an infrastructure in a science museum to track visitors. The collected movement traces allow us to analyze fine-grained stop-move mobility patterns and infer the sequence of visited exhibits, which is only possible because of the high spatio-temporal granularity offered by TALLA. Finally, with SONAR, we tackle the issue of large-scale ranging and localization when the infrastructure cannot be mains-powered. By blending synchronization and scheduling operations into neighbor discovery and ranging, we drastically reduce energy consumption and ensure years-long system lifetime. Overall, this thesis enhances UWB applicability in scenarios that were previously precluded to the technology, by providing the missing communication and localization support for large areas and battery-powered devices. Throughout the thesis, we follow an experiment-driven approach to validate our protocol models and simulations. Based on the evidence collected during this research endeavor, we develop full systems that operate in a large testbed at our premises, showing that our solutions are immediately applicable in real settings.

In the wake of major disasters, the failure of existing communications infrastructure and the subsequent lack of an effective communication solution results in increased risks, inefficiencies, damage and casualties. Currently available options such as satellite communication are expensive and have limited functionality. A robust communication solution should be affordable, easy to deploy, require little infrastructure, consume little power and facilitate Internet access. Researchers have long proposed the use of ad hoc wireless networks for such scenarios. However such networks have so far failed to create any impact, primarily because they are unable to handle network transience and have usability constraints such as static topologies and dependence on specific platforms. LifeNet is a WiFi-based ad hoc data communication solution designed for use in highly transient environments. After presenting the motivation, design principles and key insights from prior literature, the dissertation introduces a new routing metric called Reachability and a new routing protocol based on it, called Flexible Routing. Roughly speaking, reachability measures the end-to-end multi-path probability that a packet transmitted by a source reaches its final destination. Using experimental results, it is shown that even with high transience, the reachability metric - (1) accurately captures the effects of transience (2) provides a compact and eventually consistent global network view at individual nodes, (3) is easy to calculate and maintain and (4) captures availability. Flexible Routing trades throughput for availability and fault-tolerance and ensures successful packet delivery under varying degrees of transience. With the intent of deploying LifeNet on field we have been continuously interacting with field partners, one of which is Tata Institute of Social Sciences India. We have refined LifeNet iteratively refined base on their feedback. I conclude the thesis with lessons learned from our field trips so far and deployment plans for the near future.

No description available.

Depuis quelques années le trafic de l'internet mobile ne cesse d'augmenter. Cette croissance soutenue est liée à plusieurs facteurs, parmi lesquels l'évolution des terminaux, la grande diversité des services et des applications disponibles et le déploiement des nouvelles technologies d'accès radio mobile (3G/4G). À cet égard, le standard 3GPP pour les réseaux LTE propose une architecture offrant une gestion fine de la QoS (par flux). Ce modèle, hérité des réseaux mobiles traditionnels orientés connexion, soulève des problèmes en termes de scalabilité, efficacité et performances. Les travaux entrepris dans cette thèse ont pour objectif principal de proposer des solutions plus simples et moins coûteuses pour la gestion de la QoS dans les réseaux mobiles. À cette fin, à l'issue d'une étude et de l'évaluation de l'impact de la signalisation associée au modèle de QoS standard, deux modèles alternatifs ont été proposés. Nous proposons tout d'abord un modèle basée sur les mécanismes IP inspiré de l'approche DiffServ (par agrégat) largement étudié dans les réseaux IP fixes. Ce modèle fournit une gestion de la QoS simple, efficiente et rentable, tout en garantissant des performances équivalentes au modèle standard. Cependant, elle nécessite une remise à niveau de tous les eNB, et donc une longue phase de transition. En conséquence, nous proposons SloMo qui vise à améliorer l'expérience des clients mobiles, mais avec un objectif de déploiement plus rapide. SloMo est une solution de gestion implicite de la QoS depuis un point unique situé sur le chemin des communications. SloMo exploite la dynamique instaurée par le mécanisme de contrôle de flux de TCP. Il vise à recréer un goulot d'étranglement dynamique dans un équipement contrôlé par l'opérateur lorsque les points de congestion réels ne sont pas accessibles. Une fois ce goulot d'étranglement déporté, il est alors aisé d'effectuer une gestion de la qualité IP classique dans l'équipement supportant Slo-Mo. / The mobile data landscape is changing rapidly and mobile operators are today facing the daunting challenge of providing cheap and valuable services to ever more demanding customers. As a consequence, cost reduction is actively sought by operators as well as Quality of Service (QoS) preservation. Current 3GPP standards for LTE/EPC networks offer a fine tuning QoS (per-flow level), which inherits many characteristics of legacy telco networks. In spite of its good performance, such a QoS model reveals costly and cumbersome and finally, it remains very rarely deployed, thereby giving way to basic best-effort hegemony. This thesis aims at improving QoS in mobile networks through cost-effective solutions; To this end, after an evaluation of the impact and cost of signaling associated with the standard QoS model, alternative schemes are proposed, such as the IP-centric QoS model (per aggregate) inspired from the DiffServ approach widely used in fixed IP networks. This model provides a simple, efficient and cost-effective IP level QoS management with a performance level similar to standardized solutions. However, as it requires enhancements in the eNB, this scheme cannot be expected in mobile networks before a rather long time.Thus, we introduce Slo-Mo, which is a lightweight implicit mechanism for managing QoS from a distant point when the congestion point (e.g. eNB) is not able to do it. Slo-Mo creates a self-adaptive bottleneck which adjusts dynamically to the available resources taking advantage of TCP native flow control. Straightforward QoS management at IP level is then performed in the Slo-Mo node, leading to enhanced customer experience at a marginal cost and short term.

Current research on HIV therapy is diverse and multi-disciplinary. Engineers however, were late in joining the research movement and as such, engineering literature related to HIV chemotherapy is limited. Control engineers in particular, should have risen to the challenge, as it is apparent that HIV chemotherapy and control engineering have a lot in common. From a control theoretic point of view, HIV chemotherapy is control of a time varying nonlinear dynamical system with constrained controls. Once a suitable model has been developed or identified, control system theoretical concepts and design principles can be applied. The adopted control approach or strategy depends primarily on the control objectives, performance specifications and the control constraints. In principle, the designed control system can then be validated with clinical data. Obtaining measurements of the controlled variables however, has the potential to hinder effective control. The first part of this research focused on the application of control system analytical tools to HIV/AIDS models. The intention was to gain some insights into the HIV infection dynamics from a control theoretic perspective. The issues that needed to be addressed are: Persistent virus replication under potent HAART, variability in response to therapy between individuals on the same regimen, transient rebounds of plasma viremia after periods of suppression, the attainment, or lack thereof, of maximal and durable suppression of the viral load. The questions to answer were: When are the above mentioned observed responses to therapy most likely to occur as the HIV infection progresses, and does attaining one necessarily imply the other? Furthermore, the prognostic markers of virologic success, the possibility of individualizing therapy and timing the initiation of antiretroviral therapy such that the benefits of therapy are maximized, are matters that were also investigated. The primary objective of this thesis was to analyze models for the eventual control of the HIV infection. HIV therapy has multiple and often conflicting objectives, and these objectives had to be prioritized. The intention of the proposed control strategy was to produce practical solutions to the current antiretroviral problems. To this end, the second part of the research focused on addressing the HIV/AIDS control issues of sampling for effective control given the invasive nature of drawing blood from a patient and the derivation of drug dosage sequences to strike a balance between maximal suppression and toxicity reduction, when multiple drugs are concomitantly used to treat the infection. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / Unrestricted