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Future Internet
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Special Issue on Cyber Physical Systems: Prospects, Challenges, and Role...
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Special Issue on Cyber Physical Systems: Prospects, Challenges, and Role in Software Defined Networking and Blockchain

A special issue of Future Internet (ISSN 1999-5903). This special issue belongs to the section "Cybersecurity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2020) | Viewed by 39789

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Uttam Ghosh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2201 West End Ave, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
Interests: cybersecurity; computer networks; wireless networks; information-centric networking and software-defined networking; machine intelligence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Deepak Tosh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA
Interests: Security and privacy in cyber-physical systems; distributed system security; blockchain; data provenance; Internet of Things (IoT) security; cyber-threat information sharing; incentivization models; cyber-insurance; risk assessment; network security; game theory and mechanism design
Dr. Nawab Muhammad Faseeh Qureshi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Member IEEE, ACM, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea
Interests: sustainable development; Internet of Things; cloud computing
Dr. Ali Kashif Bashir

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Computing and Mathematics, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BH, UK
Interests: Internet of Things; network security; cloud computing; network function virtualization; wireless networks; 5G
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Al-Sakib Khan Pathan

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Independent University, Bangladesh
Interests: wireless sensor networks; network security; cloud computing; e-services technologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Zhaolong Ning

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Dalian University of Technology, Dalina, China
Interests: vehicular networks; mobile edge computing; 5G communications; machine learning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, cyber-physical systems (CPS) have gained a lot of attention from academia, industry, and government agencies, as CPS is considered to be following the third wave of world information technology after the computer and the Internet. Software-defined networking (SDN) is an emerging technology that can be integrated with CPS to provide scalable, reliable, secure, and efficient communication in a heterogeneous infrastructure. The increasing importance of blockchain technology has clearly emerged, as it offers security solutions in various domains including CPS. Goals of CPS, its challenges, and the role of SDN and blockchain in CPS need to be identified. Therefore, this Special Issue invites researchers from academia, industry, and government agencies to focus on understanding security challenges and attacks on the surface of modern cyber-physical systems, and to construct innovative solutions with the help of cutting-edge technologies like SDN and blockchain.

The Special Issue invites submission on blockchain-based security solutions of critical infrastructures, secure and resilient system architectures, protocols and applications for softwarized CPS environment, and SDN capabilities in critical infrastructures, as well as key challenges facing the software-defined CPS of the future. Potential topics include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Trustworthy softwarized CPS architectures;
  • STP for energy-efficient green CPS;
  • Threat models and risk analysis of softwarized CPS;
  • Cryptographic protocols and smart security solutions for CPS;
  • Physical layer security for heterogeneous CPS;
  • Hardware and software vulnerability analysis of CPS;
  • Transaction privacy through anonymization in CPS;
  • Security trust and privacy (STP) of CPS in automotive, aerospace, embedded, industrial control systems, and medical devices;
  • STP issues for handheld device CPS applications, such as healthcare;
  • Application of blockchain technologies for STP-aware CPS;
  • Ethical issues in STP-aware CPS;
  • Secure system architectures, protocols, and applications for softwarized CPS environment (smart grid, healthcare, etc.);
  • Secure integration of IoT/CPS and cloud computing;
  • Energy-efficient security in softwarized IoT and CPS;
  • Role of SDN and blockchain in CPS;
  • Applications of SDN and blockchain in CPS;
  • Role of big data security applications in CPS

Dr. Uttam Ghosh
Dr. Deepak Tosh
Dr. Nawab Muhammad Faseeh Qureshi
Dr. Ali Kashif Bashir
Dr. Al-Sakib Khan Pathan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Future Internet is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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28 pages, 6436 KiB  
Article
Pulverization in Cyber-Physical Systems: Engineering the Self-Organizing Logic Separated from Deployment
by Roberto Casadei, Danilo Pianini, Andrea Placuzzi, Mirko Viroli and Danny Weyns
Future Internet 2020, 12(11), 203; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12110203 - 19 Nov 2020
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 2934
Abstract
Emerging cyber-physical systems, such as robot swarms, crowds of augmented people, and smart cities, require well-crafted self-organizing behavior to properly deal with dynamic environments and pervasive disturbances. However, the infrastructures providing networking and computing services to support these systems are becoming increasingly complex, [...] Read more.
Emerging cyber-physical systems, such as robot swarms, crowds of augmented people, and smart cities, require well-crafted self-organizing behavior to properly deal with dynamic environments and pervasive disturbances. However, the infrastructures providing networking and computing services to support these systems are becoming increasingly complex, layered and heterogeneous—consider the case of the edge–fog–cloud interplay. This typically hinders the application of self-organizing mechanisms and patterns, which are often designed to work on flat networks. To promote reuse of behavior and flexibility in infrastructure exploitation, we argue that self-organizing logic should be largely independent of the specific application deployment. We show that this separation of concerns can be achieved through a proposed “pulverization approach”: the global system behavior of application services gets broken into smaller computational pieces that are continuously executed across the available hosts. This model can then be instantiated in the aggregate computing framework, whereby self-organizing behavior is specified compositionally. We showcase how the proposed approach enables expressing the application logic of a self-organizing cyber-physical system in a deployment-independent fashion, and simulate its deployment on multiple heterogeneous infrastructures that include cloud, edge, and LoRaWAN network elements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Issue on Cyber Physical Systems: Prospects, Challenges, and Role in Software Defined Networking and Blockchain)
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18 pages, 422 KiB  
Article
A MILP Model for a Byzantine Fault Tolerant Blockchain Consensus
by Vitor Nazário Coelho, Rodolfo Pereira Araújo, Haroldo Gambini Santos, Wang Yong Qiang and Igor Machado Coelho
Future Internet 2020, 12(11), 185; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12110185 - 29 Oct 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4815
Abstract
Mixed-integer mathematical programming has been widely used to model and solve challenging optimization problems. One interesting feature of this technique is the ability to prove the optimality of the achieved solution, for many practical scenarios where a linear programming model can be devised. [...] Read more.
Mixed-integer mathematical programming has been widely used to model and solve challenging optimization problems. One interesting feature of this technique is the ability to prove the optimality of the achieved solution, for many practical scenarios where a linear programming model can be devised. This paper explores its use to model very strong Byzantine adversaries, in the context of distributed consensus systems. In particular, we apply the proposed technique to find challenging adversarial conditions on a state-of-the-art blockchain consensus: the Neo dBFT. Neo Blockchain has been using the dBFT algorithm since its foundation, but, due to the complexity of the algorithm, it is challenging to devise definitive algebraic proofs that guarantee safety/liveness of the system (and adjust for every change proposed by the community). Core developers have to manually devise and explore possible adversarial attacks scenarios as an exhaustive task. The proposed multi-objective model is intended to assist the search of possible faulty scenario, which includes three objective functions that can be combined as a maximization problem for testing one-block finality or a minimization problem for ensuring liveness. Automated graphics help developers to visually observe attack conditions and to quickly find a solution. This paper proposes an exact adversarial model that explores current limits for practical blockchain consensus applications such as dBFT, with ideas that can also be extended to other decentralized ledger technologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Issue on Cyber Physical Systems: Prospects, Challenges, and Role in Software Defined Networking and Blockchain)
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20 pages, 383 KiB  
Article
Challenges of PBFT-Inspired Consensus for Blockchain and Enhancements over Neo dBFT
by Igor M. Coelho, Vitor N. Coelho, Rodolfo P. Araujo, Wang Yong Qiang and Brett D. Rhodes
Future Internet 2020, 12(8), 129; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12080129 - 30 Jul 2020
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6838
Abstract
Consensus mechanisms are a core feature for handling negotiation and agreements. Blockchain technology has seen the introduction of different sorts of consensus mechanism, ranging from tasks of heavy computation to the subtle mathematical proofs of Byzantine agreements. This paper presents the pioneer Delegated [...] Read more.
Consensus mechanisms are a core feature for handling negotiation and agreements. Blockchain technology has seen the introduction of different sorts of consensus mechanism, ranging from tasks of heavy computation to the subtle mathematical proofs of Byzantine agreements. This paper presents the pioneer Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance (dBFT) protocol of Neo Blockchain, which was inspired by the Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT). Besides introducing its history, this study describes proofs and didactic examples, as well as novel design and extensions for Neo dBFT with multiple block proposals. Finally, we discuss challenges when dealing with strong Byzantine adversaries, and propose solutions inspired on PBFT for current weak-synchrony problems and increasing system robustness against attacks. Key Contribution: Presents an overview of the history of PBFT-inspired consensus for blockchain, highlighting its current importance on the literature, challenges and assumptions. Contributes to the field of Distributed Consensus, proposing novel extensions for the Neo dBFT (dBFT 2.0+, dBFT 3.0 and dBFT 3.0+), with new insights on innovative consensus mechanisms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Issue on Cyber Physical Systems: Prospects, Challenges, and Role in Software Defined Networking and Blockchain)
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19 pages, 3782 KiB  
Article
Improving Transaction Speed and Scalability of Blockchain Systems via Parallel Proof of Work
by Shihab Shahriar Hazari and Qusay H. Mahmoud
Future Internet 2020, 12(8), 125; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12080125 - 27 Jul 2020
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 6272
Abstract
A blockchain is a distributed ledger forming a distributed consensus on a history of transactions, and is the underlying technology for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. Its applications are far beyond the financial sector. The transaction verification process for cryptocurrencies is much slower than traditional [...] Read more.
A blockchain is a distributed ledger forming a distributed consensus on a history of transactions, and is the underlying technology for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. Its applications are far beyond the financial sector. The transaction verification process for cryptocurrencies is much slower than traditional digital transaction systems. One approach to scalability or the speed at which transactions are processed is to design a solution that offers faster Proof of Work. In this paper, we propose a method for accelerating the process of Proof of Work based on parallel mining rather than solo mining. The goal is to ensure that no more than two or more miners put the same effort into solving a specific block. The proposed method includes a process for selection of a manager, distribution of work and a reward system. This method has been implemented in a test environment that contains all the characteristics needed to perform Proof of Work for Bitcoin and has been tested, using a variety of case scenarios, by varying the difficulty level and number of validators. Experimental evaluations were performed locally and in a cloud environment, and experimental results demonstrate the feasibility the proposed method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Issue on Cyber Physical Systems: Prospects, Challenges, and Role in Software Defined Networking and Blockchain)
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16 pages, 3090 KiB  
Article
Hybrid Consensus Algorithm Based on Modified Proof-of-Probability and DPoS
by Baocheng Wang, Zetao Li and Haibin Li
Future Internet 2020, 12(8), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12080122 - 24 Jul 2020
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 4502
Abstract
As the core of blockchain technology, the consensus algorithm plays an important role in determining the security, data consistency, and efficiency of blockchain systems. The existing mainstream consensus algorithm is experiencing difficulties satisfying the needs of efficiency, security, and decentralization in real-world scenarios. [...] Read more.
As the core of blockchain technology, the consensus algorithm plays an important role in determining the security, data consistency, and efficiency of blockchain systems. The existing mainstream consensus algorithm is experiencing difficulties satisfying the needs of efficiency, security, and decentralization in real-world scenarios. This paper proposes a hybrid consensus algorithm based on modified Proof-of-Probability and Delegated Proof-of-Stake. In this method, the work of block generation and validation is, respectively, completed by the nodes using the modified Proof-of-Probability consensus algorithm and Delegated Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm. When a transaction occurs, the system sends several target hash values to the whole network. Each modified Proof-of-Probability node has a different sorting algorithm, so they have different mining priorities. Every time a hash is decrypted by a modified Proof-of-Probability node, the modulo operation is done to the value of nonce, which is then compared with the expected value given by the supernode selected by the Delegated Proof-of-Stake nodes. If they are not the same, the Proof-of-Probability node enters the waiting time and the other Proof-of-Probability nodes continue to mine. By adopting two consensus algorithms, the malicious nodes must control more than 51% of the nodes that adopt the two consensus algorithms, at the same time, to effectively attack the system, that is, they must have more than 51% of the computing power and more than 51% of the tokens. This not only increases the cost of malicious attacks, but also reduces waste of computing power. In addition, the efficiency of the DPoS algorithm makes up for the deficiency of the PoP algorithm in system efficiency, and the mining behavior based on probability in the PoP algorithm also significantly weakens the ability of supernodes in the DPoS algorithm to conduct monopoly behavior or other malicious behaviors. In a word, the combination of the two algorithms makes the system perform better in terms of security, system efficiency, and decentralization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Issue on Cyber Physical Systems: Prospects, Challenges, and Role in Software Defined Networking and Blockchain)
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12 pages, 769 KiB  
Article
Blockchain and Fog Based Architecture for Internet of Everything in Smart Cities
by Parminder Singh, Anand Nayyar, Avinash Kaur and Uttam Ghosh
Future Internet 2020, 12(4), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12040061 - 26 Mar 2020
Cited by 113 | Viewed by 7319
Abstract
Fog computing (FC) is used to reduce the energy consumption and latency for the heterogeneous communication approaches in the smart cities’ applications of the Internet of Everything (IoE). Fog computing nodes are connected through wired or wireless medium. The goal of smart city [...] Read more.
Fog computing (FC) is used to reduce the energy consumption and latency for the heterogeneous communication approaches in the smart cities’ applications of the Internet of Everything (IoE). Fog computing nodes are connected through wired or wireless medium. The goal of smart city applications is to develop the transaction relationship of real-time response applications. There are various frameworks in real-world to support the IoE in smart-cities but they face the issues like security, platform Independence, multi-application assistance, and resource management. This article is motivated from the Blockchain and Fog computing technologies and presents a secured architecture Blockchain and Fog-based Architecture Network (BFAN) for IoE applications in the smart cities. The proposed architecture secures sensitive data with encryption, authentication, and Blockchain. It assists the System-developers and Architects to deploy the applications in smart city paradigm. The goal of the proposed architecture is to reduce the latency and energy, and ensure improved security features through Blockchain technology. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed architecture performs better than the existing frameworks for smart-cities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Issue on Cyber Physical Systems: Prospects, Challenges, and Role in Software Defined Networking and Blockchain)
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Review

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15 pages, 2282 KiB  
Review
A Review of the Control Plane Scalability Approaches in Software Defined Networking
by Abdelrahman Abuarqoub
Future Internet 2020, 12(3), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12030049 - 11 Mar 2020
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5341
Abstract
Recent advances in information and communications cloud-based services hold the potential to overcome the scalability and complex maintenance limitations of traditional networks. Software Defined Networking (SDN) surfaced as a promising paradigm to mitigate such limitations while offering flexible networks management. Particularly, SDN separates [...] Read more.
Recent advances in information and communications cloud-based services hold the potential to overcome the scalability and complex maintenance limitations of traditional networks. Software Defined Networking (SDN) surfaced as a promising paradigm to mitigate such limitations while offering flexible networks management. Particularly, SDN separates the control plane from the data plane to achieve abstraction of lower-level functionality, hence, allowing more efficient network management and utilization. However, SDN suffers from various performance and scalability problems leading to significant research efforts on maximizing the scalability of the control plane. This paper aims at reviewing different SDN controller scalability, topology-based and mechanism-based approaches, as well as discussing and analyzing how they attempt to solve the scalability challenge. Furthermore, this paper elaborates on the promising research trends and challenges. Our insights are also discussed to stimulate further research efforts addressing the control plane scalability in SDN. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Issue on Cyber Physical Systems: Prospects, Challenges, and Role in Software Defined Networking and Blockchain)
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