Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary

A special issue of Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks (ISSN 2224-2708). This special issue belongs to the section "Actuators, Sensors and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 62565

Special Issue Editors

Director of Institute of Telematics, University of Luebeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
Interests: computer networks; distributed systems; AI in networks; Internet of Things; nanonetworks
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Interests: wireless sensor-actuator networks; smart cyber-physical systems; software-defined sensor networks; sensor network virtualization; structured and nonstructured mobility and objects grouping; movement monitoring and precision health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Engineering (ISEP/IPP), Politécnico do Porto, Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, 431, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal
Interests: QoS (reliability, timeliness, mobility) in low-power wireless networks; sensor/actuator networks; cyber-physical systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since its inception ten years ago, JSAN, the Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks, has become a fixture among the current scientific journals. The topics covered by JSAN, sensor and actuator networks, are now more relevant than ever. Networked sensors and actuators form the backbone of the Internet of Things and many applications are based on them, such as smart cities, smart environment and Industry 4.0. As important data providers, they will become much more significant in the emerging AI ecosystems.

We want to celebrate ten years of JSAN with this Special Issue. On the one hand, we want to look ahead, and therefore invite submissions of original papers. On the other hand, it is also worth looking back: which technologies have particularly influenced the field, and which form the basis of many applications today? For this purpose, we also invite submissions of review articles. Thematically, all submissions within the scope of the journal are welcome, e.g., system architecture, operating systems, and network hardware for sensor/actuator networks, smart and intelligent sensing and actuation, protocols and middleware for sensor/actuator networks, modelling simulation and virtualization tools, experimental facilities and test beds, reliability, trust, security, and privacy, software-defined WSAN systems and infrastructure.

Prof. Dr. Lei Shu
Prof. Dr. Stefan Fischer
Prof. Dr. Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues
Prof. Dr. Adnan Al-Anbuky
Prof. Dr. Mário Alves
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. Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2000 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 (19 papers)

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35 pages, 1686 KiB  
Article
The Method and Software Tool for Identification of the Machine Code Architecture in Cyberphysical Devices
by Igor Kotenko, Konstantin Izrailov and Mikhail Buinevich
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2023, 12(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan12010011 - 29 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1431
Abstract
This work solves the problem of identification of the machine code architecture in cyberphysical devices. A basic systematization of the Executable and Linkable Format and Portable Executable formats of programs, as well as the analysis mechanisms used and the goals achieved, is made. [...] Read more.
This work solves the problem of identification of the machine code architecture in cyberphysical devices. A basic systematization of the Executable and Linkable Format and Portable Executable formats of programs, as well as the analysis mechanisms used and the goals achieved, is made. An ontological model of the subject area is constructed, introducing the basic concepts and their relationships. The specificity of the machine code is analyzed, and an analytical record of the process of identifying the architecture of the machine code (MC) processor is obtained. A method for identifying the MC architecture has been synthesized, which includes three successive phases: unpacking the OS image (for a set of identified architectures); building signatures of architectures (their “digital portraits” from the position of MC instructions); identification of the MC architecture for the program under test (using the collected architecture signatures), implemented using four operating modes. A software tool for identifying the MC architecture has been developed in the form of a separate utility that implements the algorithms of the method. The principle of operation of the utility is presented in the form of functional and informational diagrams. Basic testing of the identification utility has been conducted. As a result, a probabilistic assessment of the utility’s work was obtained by assigning various programs to the Top-16 selected architectures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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25 pages, 5562 KiB  
Article
Adaptive Emergency Call Service for Disaster Management
by Vishaka Basnayake, Hakim Mabed, Dushantha Nalin K. Jayakody, Philippe Canalda and Marko Beko
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(4), 83; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11040083 - 29 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2397
Abstract
Reliable and efficient transmission of emergency calls during a massive network failure is both an indispensable and challenging task. In this paper, we propose a novel fully 3GPP and 5G compatible emergency call protocol named 5G StandalOne Service (5G-SOS). A 5G-SOS-enabled emergency service [...] Read more.
Reliable and efficient transmission of emergency calls during a massive network failure is both an indispensable and challenging task. In this paper, we propose a novel fully 3GPP and 5G compatible emergency call protocol named 5G StandalOne Service (5G-SOS). A 5G-SOS-enabled emergency service provides potential out-of-coverage victims’ devices with a way to contact the 4G/5G core network through D2D multi-hop relaying protocol. The objective of 5G-SOS is to maintain this connection even when a large fraction of the network infrastructure is destroyed. 5G-SOS is a fully distributed protocol designed to generate zero additional control traffic and to adapt its parameters based on the local emergency call congestion. Therefore, devices behave as an ad-hoc network with the common purpose to ensure the best chances for emergency call transfer within a reasonable delay. A densely populated Traverse city of Michigan, USA, with a 15,000 population, is used to evaluate 5G-SOS under extreme emergency scenarios. The performance of 5G-SOS is shown to be significant when compared with existing protocols, namely, M-HELP and FINDER, in terms of transmission success rate, end-to-end latency, network traffic control, and energy management. 5G-SOS provides satisfactory performance (success rate of 50%) even when the number of simultaneous emergency calls is very high (5000 calls over 10 min). On average, 5G-SOS performs 24.9% better than M-HELP and 73.9% than FINDER in terms of success rate. Additionally, 5G-SOS reduces the average end-end latency of the emergency calls transfer by 20.8% compared to M-HELP and 61.7% compared to FINDER. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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19 pages, 4687 KiB  
Article
Body Motion Sensor Analysis of Human-Induced Dynamic Load Factor (DLF) for Normal Walks on Slender Transparent Floors
by Chiara Bedon, Marco Fasan and Salvatore Noè
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(4), 81; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11040081 - 28 Nov 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1895
Abstract
Modern constructions are often characterized by the presence of slender and aesthetically fascinating components and assemblies. For pedestrian systems in particular, such constructions are notoriously associated with possible vibration issues, and thus require special calculations. When these slender systems are made of structural [...] Read more.
Modern constructions are often characterized by the presence of slender and aesthetically fascinating components and assemblies. For pedestrian systems in particular, such constructions are notoriously associated with possible vibration issues, and thus require special calculations. When these slender systems are made of structural glass, additional effects due to transparency may also affect human behaviours and motions. In this paper, based on a single body motion, a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensor in the body’s centre of mass (CoM) is introduced, an extended, original experimental investigation is presented, and human-induced effects on slender transparent floors are discussed. Major attention is given to the well-known dynamic load factor (DLF) induced by a single pedestrian’s normal walk; a fixed walking rate is assigned, and different substructures (with major variations in their structural dynamic parameters) are taken into account. A discussion of experimental results is proposed for rigid reinforced concrete (RC), and a laboratory contrast system (SLAB#1), which is used as a reference for the analysis of DLF trends on relatively light and flexible transparent glass flooring systems (SLAB#2 and SLAB#3). It is shown that structural frequency and mass, but also possibly transparency, can affect human motion and result in a quantitative modification of measured DLF values, especially for the first and second harmonics of vertical force components. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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20 pages, 6002 KiB  
Article
Enhancing Optical Character Recognition on Images with Mixed Text Using Semantic Segmentation
by Shruti Patil, Vijayakumar Varadarajan, Supriya Mahadevkar, Rohan Athawade, Lakhan Maheshwari, Shrushti Kumbhare, Yash Garg, Deepak Dharrao, Pooja Kamat and Ketan Kotecha
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(4), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11040063 - 03 Oct 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3561
Abstract
Optical Character Recognition has made large strides in the field of recognizing printed and properly formatted text. However, the effort attributed to developing systems that are able to reliably apply OCR to both printed as well as handwritten text simultaneously, such as hand-filled [...] Read more.
Optical Character Recognition has made large strides in the field of recognizing printed and properly formatted text. However, the effort attributed to developing systems that are able to reliably apply OCR to both printed as well as handwritten text simultaneously, such as hand-filled forms, is lackadaisical. As Machine printed/typed text follows specific formats and fonts while handwritten texts are variable and non-uniform, it is very hard to classify and recognize using traditional OCR only. A pre-processing methodology employing semantic segmentation to identify, segment and crop boxes containing relevant text on a given image in order to improve the results of conventional online-available OCR engines is proposed here. In this paper, the authors have also provided a comparison of popular OCR engines like Microsoft Cognitive Services, Google Cloud Vision and AWS recognitions. We have proposed a pixel-wise classification technique to accurately identify the area of an image containing relevant text, to feed them to a conventional OCR engine in the hopes of improving the quality of the output. The proposed methodology also supports the digitization of mixed typed text documents with amended performance. The experimental study shows that the proposed pipeline architecture provides reliable and quality inputs through complex image preprocessing to Conventional OCR, which results in better accuracy and improved performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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15 pages, 476 KiB  
Article
Safety, Security and Privacy in Machine Learning Based Internet of Things
by Ghulam Abbas, Amjad Mehmood, Maple Carsten, Gregory Epiphaniou and Jaime Lloret
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(3), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11030038 - 29 Jul 2022
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 4311
Abstract
Recent developments in communication and information technologies, especially in the internet of things (IoT), have greatly changed and improved the human lifestyle. Due to the easy access to, and increasing demand for, smart devices, the IoT system faces new cyber-physical security and privacy [...] Read more.
Recent developments in communication and information technologies, especially in the internet of things (IoT), have greatly changed and improved the human lifestyle. Due to the easy access to, and increasing demand for, smart devices, the IoT system faces new cyber-physical security and privacy attacks, such as denial of service, spoofing, phishing, obfuscations, jamming, eavesdropping, intrusions, and other unforeseen cyber threats to IoT systems. The traditional tools and techniques are not very efficient to prevent and protect against the new cyber-physical security challenges. Robust, dynamic, and up-to-date security measures are required to secure IoT systems. The machine learning (ML) technique is considered the most advanced and promising method, and opened up many research directions to address new security challenges in the cyber-physical systems (CPS). This research survey presents the architecture of IoT systems, investigates different attacks on IoT systems, and reviews the latest research directions to solve the safety and security of IoT systems based on machine learning techniques. Moreover, it discusses the potential future research challenges when employing security methods in IoT systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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15 pages, 2364 KiB  
Article
Optimization of Pico-eNB Tx Power and the Effects of Picocell Range Expansion in Multiband HetNet
by Takumi Yasaka, Kentaro Yoda and Hiroyuki Otsuka
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(2), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11020027 - 01 Jun 2022
Viewed by 2045
Abstract
The use of heterogeneous networks (HetNets) that combine macrocells and picocells in the same coverage is effective in increasing system capacity and improving user throughput. The use of high carrier frequency bands is also expected to help achieving higher data rates because it [...] Read more.
The use of heterogeneous networks (HetNets) that combine macrocells and picocells in the same coverage is effective in increasing system capacity and improving user throughput. The use of high carrier frequency bands is also expected to help achieving higher data rates because it promises vast amounts of signal bandwidth. Therefore, multiband HetNets with picocells operating at high carrier frequency bands have attracted significant attention with the aim of increasing system capacity and achieving a high user throughput in fifth-generation mobile systems and beyond. In HetNet deployments, a picocell range expansion (CRE) technique that virtually expands the picocell coverage is well known to allow more user equipment (UE) to access the picocell providing a fixed cell selection offset (CSO) for all UE. Thus far, there has not been sufficient research on optimizing the transmission (Tx) power of pico-evolved node Bs (eNBs) operating at high carrier frequency bands in multiband HetNets. In addition, the effects of CRE in multiband HetNets have not been clarified. In this paper, we first investigated the optimal Tx power of pico-eNB in a multiband HetNet combining macrocells operating at 2 GHz and picocells operating at 4.5 GHz band with a wider signal bandwidth using system-level computer simulations. Then, from the user throughput perspective, we investigated the effects of CRE providing a positive CSO for UE using two pico-eNB Tx powers close to the optimal value. Using these results, we discussed how to choose the pico-eNB Tx power when CRE was activated and validated the design method for a multiband HetNet. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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17 pages, 1960 KiB  
Article
Discrete-Time Takagi-Sugeno Stabilization Approach Applied in Autonomous Vehicles
by Mohamed Ali Jemmali and Hussein T. Mouftah
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11010012 - 09 Feb 2022
Viewed by 2516
Abstract
This paper deals with a new robust control design for autonomous vehicles. The goal is to perform lane-keeping under various constraints, mainly unknown curvature and lateral wind force. To reach this goal, a new formulation of Parallel Distributed Compensation (PDC) law is given. [...] Read more.
This paper deals with a new robust control design for autonomous vehicles. The goal is to perform lane-keeping under various constraints, mainly unknown curvature and lateral wind force. To reach this goal, a new formulation of Parallel Distributed Compensation (PDC) law is given. The quadratic Lyapunov stability and stabilization conditions of the discrete-time Takagi–Sugeno (T-S) model representing the autonomous vehicles are discussed. Sufficient design conditions expressed in terms of strict Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs) extracted from the linearization of the Bilinear Matrix Inequalities (BMIs) are proposed. An illustrative example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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16 pages, 5383 KiB  
Article
Seamless Handover Scheme for MEC/SDN-Based Vehicular Networks
by Nirmin Monir, Maha M. Toraya, Andrei Vladyko, Ammar Muthanna, Mohamed A. Torad, Fathi E. Abd El-Samie and Abdelhamied A. Ateya
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11010009 - 27 Jan 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3486
Abstract
With the recent advances in the fifth-generation cellular system (5G), enabling vehicular communications has become a demand. The vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a promising paradigm that enables the communication and interaction between vehicles and other surrounding devices, e.g., vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and [...] Read more.
With the recent advances in the fifth-generation cellular system (5G), enabling vehicular communications has become a demand. The vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a promising paradigm that enables the communication and interaction between vehicles and other surrounding devices, e.g., vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. However, enabling such networks faces many challenges due to the mobility of vehicles. One of these challenges is the design of handover schemes that manage the communications at the intersection of coverage regions. To this end, this work considers developing a novel seamless and efficient handover scheme for V2X-based networks. The developed scheme manages the handover process while vehicles move between two neighboring roadside units (RSU). The developed mechanism is introduced for multilane bidirectional roads. The developed scheme is implemented by multiple-access edge computing (MEC) units connected to the RSUs to improve the implementation time and make the handover process faster. The considered MEC platform deploys an MEC controller that implements a control scheme of the software-defined networking (SDN) controller that manages the network. The SDN paradigm is introduced to make the handover process seamless; however, implementing such a controlling scheme by the introduction of an MEC controller achieves the process faster than going through the core network. The developed handover scheme was evaluated over the reliable platform of NS-3, and the results validated the developed scheme. The results obtained are presented and discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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26 pages, 1629 KiB  
Article
SDMob: SDN-Based Mobility Management for IoT Networks
by Iliar Rabet, Shunmuga Priyan Selvaraju, Hossein Fotouhi, Mário Alves, Maryam Vahabi, Ali Balador and Mats Björkman
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11010008 - 21 Jan 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3640
Abstract
Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications are envisaged to evolve to support mobility of devices while providing quality of service in the system. To keep the connectivity of the constrained nodes upon topological changes, it is of vital importance to enhance the standard protocol stack, including [...] Read more.
Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications are envisaged to evolve to support mobility of devices while providing quality of service in the system. To keep the connectivity of the constrained nodes upon topological changes, it is of vital importance to enhance the standard protocol stack, including the Routing Protocol for Lossy Low-power Networks (RPL), with accurate and real-time control decisions. We argue that devising a centralized mobility management solution based on a lightweight Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller provides seamless handoff with reasonable communication overhead. A centralized controller can exploit its global view of the network, computation capacity, and flexibility, to predict and significantly improve the responsiveness of the network. This approach requires the controller to be fed with the required input and to get involved in the distributed operation of the standard RPL. We present SDMob, which is a lightweight SDN-based mobility management architecture that integrates an external controller within a constrained IoT network. SDMob lifts the burden of computation-intensive filtering algorithms away from the resource-constrained nodes to achieve seamless handoffs upon nodes’ mobility. The current work extends our previous work, by supporting multiple mobile nodes, networks with a high density of anchors, and varying hop-distance from the controller, as well as harsh and realistic mobility patterns. Through analytical modeling and simulations, we show that SDMob outperforms the baseline RPL and the state-of-the-art ARMOR in terms of packet delivery ratio and end-to-end delay, with an adjustable and tolerable overhead. With SDMob, the network provides close to 100% packet delivery ratio (PDR) for a limited number of mobile nodes, and maintains sub-meter accuracy in localization under random mobility patterns and varying network topologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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31 pages, 544 KiB  
Article
A Survey of Outlier Detection Techniques in IoT: Review and Classification
by Mustafa Al Samara, Ismail Bennis, Abdelhafid Abouaissa and Pascal Lorenz
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11010004 - 04 Jan 2022
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 6782
Abstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a fact today where a high number of nodes are used for various applications. From small home networks to large-scale networks, the aim is the same: transmitting data from the sensors to the base station. However, these [...] Read more.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a fact today where a high number of nodes are used for various applications. From small home networks to large-scale networks, the aim is the same: transmitting data from the sensors to the base station. However, these data are susceptible to different factors that may affect the collected data efficiency or the network functioning, and therefore the desired quality of service (QoS). In this context, one of the main issues requiring more research and adapted solutions is the outlier detection problem. The challenge is to detect outliers and classify them as either errors to be ignored, or important events requiring actions to prevent further service degradation. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive literature review of recent outlier detection techniques used in the IoTs context. First, we provide the fundamentals of outlier detection while discussing the different sources of an outlier, the existing approaches, how we can evaluate an outlier detection technique, and the challenges facing designing such techniques. Second, comparison and discussion of the most recent outlier detection techniques are presented and classified into seven main categories, which are: statistical-based, clustering-based, nearest neighbour-based, classification-based, artificial intelligent-based, spectral decomposition-based, and hybrid-based. For each category, available techniques are discussed, while highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each of them. The related works for each of them are presented. Finally, a comparative study for these techniques is provided. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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22 pages, 1476 KiB  
Article
New Multipath OLSR Protocol Version for Heterogeneous Ad Hoc Networks
by Chaimae Benjbara, Ahmed Habbani and Nada Mouchfiq
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11010003 - 28 Dec 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2938
Abstract
From a basic refrigerator to a self-driving car, emerging technologies are increasingly involving various facets of our daily lives. These bring together many regularly used devices, each with its own characteristics, to communicate and collaborate within the same system. Computer network experts regard [...] Read more.
From a basic refrigerator to a self-driving car, emerging technologies are increasingly involving various facets of our daily lives. These bring together many regularly used devices, each with its own characteristics, to communicate and collaborate within the same system. Computer network experts regard this so-called structure as a heterogeneous network made up of several connected objects that do not speak the same language. Communication is therefore ensured by additional types of nodes, such as gateways or converters. In this case, we can detect an increased complexity and a decreased level of security. And thus, the need to adopt a common slang for these kinds of networks has been brought to life. In this work, we compare two different routing protocols: optimized link-state routing (OLSR) and the multipath heterogeneous ad hoc network OLSR (MHAR-OLSR). The latter is an OLSR extension with new functionalities: nodes identification, paths calculation, paths classification, and paths choice that we designed for heterogeneous ad hoc networks composed of MANET, VANET, and FANET devices; it ensures direct communication between these diverse components. We verify and explain all the elements of our solution using colored Petri nets. We also present a global evaluation of Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), End-To-End Delay, and energy consumption as QoS measures with different numbers of nodes in a heterogeneous scenario. To do this, we use NS-3 and BonnMotion as a tool-set of simulation. Experimental results show improvement in performance when compared to the classical routing protocol. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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18 pages, 6766 KiB  
Article
Upgrading a Legacy Manufacturing Cell to IoT
by João Cunha, Nelson Batista, Carlos Cardeira and Rui Melicio
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2021, 10(4), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan10040065 - 17 Nov 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2353
Abstract
Many industries, such as aeronautics construction are still equipped with legacy machines and are not keen to change old, however fully functional, equipment to new ones. Hence, an upgrade must be found to cope the legacy and fully functional machines to IoT technologies. [...] Read more.
Many industries, such as aeronautics construction are still equipped with legacy machines and are not keen to change old, however fully functional, equipment to new ones. Hence, an upgrade must be found to cope the legacy and fully functional machines to IoT technologies. This paper is a contribution to embrace those challenges in a new IoT architecture able to support the creation of solutions for Smart Industries. Internet of Things is increasing acceptance and the infrastructure for them is becoming available. This leads to an insurgence on investments and development of new dedicated IoT infrastructures. Industries need to adapt quickly to this constant technological evolution, implementing measures and connecting machines and robots at critical points to the Internet, instrumenting them using the concept of IoT, with the major goal of implementing a flexible, secure, easy to maintain and capable to evolve infrastructure, when legacy equipment is involved. The availability of machines and other critical assets directly affects the effectiveness of manufacturing operations. The architecture design offers security, flexibility, simplicity of implementation and maintenance, and is resilient to failures or attacks and technologically independent. Field tests are reported to evaluate key aspects of the proposed architecture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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19 pages, 3860 KiB  
Article
Distributed Algorithms for Multiple Path Backbone Discovery in Thick Linear Sensor Networks
by Imad Jawhar, Sheng Zhang, Jie Wu, Nader Mohamed and Mohammad M. Masud
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2021, 10(3), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan10030049 - 16 Jul 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1963
Abstract
Continued advancements in microprocessors, electronics, and communication technology have led to the design and development of sensing devices with increased functionalities, smaller sizes, larger processing, storage, and communication capabilities, and decreased cost. A large number of these sensor nodes are used in many [...] Read more.
Continued advancements in microprocessors, electronics, and communication technology have led to the design and development of sensing devices with increased functionalities, smaller sizes, larger processing, storage, and communication capabilities, and decreased cost. A large number of these sensor nodes are used in many environmental, infrastructure, commercial, and military monitoring applications. Due to the linearity of a good number of the monitored structures such as oil, gas, and water pipelines, borders, rivers, and roads, the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that are used to monitor them have a linear topology. This type of WSN is called a linear sensor network (LSN). In this paper, two distributed algorithms for topology discovery in thick LSNs are presented: the linear backbone discovery algorithm (LBD) and the linear backbone discovery algorithm with x backbone paths (LBDx). Both of them try to construct a linear backbone for efficient routing in LSNs. However, the LBD algorithm has the objective of minimizing the number of messages used during the backbone discovery process. On the other hand, the LBDx algorithm focuses on reducing the number of hops of the data messages transmitted from the nodes to the sink. LBD and LBDx exhibit good properties and efficient performance, which are confirmed by extensive simulations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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14 pages, 6178 KiB  
Article
Visible Light Communications through Diffusive Illumination of Sculptures in a Real Museum
by Marco Meucci, Marco Seminara, Fabio Tarani, Cristiano Riminesi and Jacopo Catani
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2021, 10(3), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan10030045 - 07 Jul 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2937
Abstract
The recent, massive diffusion of LED-based illumination devices makes Visible Light Communications (VLC) a widely recognised wireless communication technology with large potential impact in many indoor and outdoor applications. In the indoor scenario, one of the most promising VLC implementations is foreseen in [...] Read more.
The recent, massive diffusion of LED-based illumination devices makes Visible Light Communications (VLC) a widely recognised wireless communication technology with large potential impact in many indoor and outdoor applications. In the indoor scenario, one of the most promising VLC implementations is foreseen in museums, exhibitions and cultural heritage sites. In this context, digital data can be transmitted by the specific lighting system of each artwork and received by the nearby standing visitors, allowing a complete set of dedicated services such as augmented reality (AR) and real-time indoor positioning, exploiting the directionality of the optical channel. In this work, we achieve, for the first time, VLC transmission through diffusive LED illumination of three-dimensional artworks (wooden and marble sculptures) in a real museum, exploiting the available LED illumination system, demonstrating the feasibility of VLC technology also when complex three-dimensional artworks, such as sculptures or bas-reliefs, are involved. In our experimental campaign, performed inside the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, we perform extensive Packet Error Rate (PER) and Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) tests on two important wooden and marble sculptures (Crucifix by Brunelleschi and the Holy Water Font by Bordoni, respectively), for different distances, view angles and configurations, in order to mimic a wide set of situations that visitors may encounter in a realistic scenario. We achieve successful VLC transmission for distances up to 8 m from artworks, at baud rate of 28 kBaud. We also provide detailed results on the characterization of the transmission Field of View (FoV) for our prototype, as well as the effect of side shifts of the observer’s position on the quality of VLC transmission, providing essential information for future implementations of positioning protocols and dedicated services in realistic, indoor scenarios. Our work represents an important step forward towards the deployment of VLC technology in museums and, more in general, it opens for far-reaching developments in a wide set of real indoor environments, including the cultural heritage sector, where diffusive VLC links exploiting illumination of three-dimensional objects could represent a ground-breaking innovation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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19 pages, 479 KiB  
Article
Design, Analysis, and Experimental Evaluation of a New Secure Rejoin Mechanism for LoRaWAN Using Elliptic-Curve Cryptography
by Stefano Milani and Ioannis Chatzigiannakis
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2021, 10(2), 36; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan10020036 - 18 Jun 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2725
Abstract
LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) is a Low-Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) technology with very rapid uptake during the previous years, developed by the LoRa (Long Range) Alliance as an open standard operating over the unlicensed band. Current LoRaWAN architecture foresees specific [...] Read more.
LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) is a Low-Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) technology with very rapid uptake during the previous years, developed by the LoRa (Long Range) Alliance as an open standard operating over the unlicensed band. Current LoRaWAN architecture foresees specific techniques for bootstrapping end-to-end encryption during network initialization. In particular, this work focuses on the Over-The-Air Activation (OTAA) method, which uses two keys (Network key (NwkKey) and Application key (AppKey)) that are hard-coded into the device and do not change throughout the entire lifetime of the deployment. The inability to refresh these two keys is as a weak point in terms of the overall security of the network especially when considering deployments that are expected to operate for at least 10–15 years. In this paper, the security issues of OTAA are presented in detail highlighting the vulnerabilities against the specific type of attacks. A new scheme for network activation is proposed that builds upon the current LoRaWAN architecture in a way that maintains backwards compatibility while resolving certain vulnerabilities. Under the new mechanism, the devices periodically negotiate new keys securely based on elliptic-curve cryptography. The security properties of the proposed mechanism are analyzed against a specific type of attacks. The analysis indicates that the new secure rejoin mechanism guarantees (i) computational key secrecy, (ii) decisional key secrecy, and (iii) key independence, forward and backward, for both root keys thus properly addressing the considered security vulnerabilities of LoRaWAN. Moreover, the method is implemented in software using the RIOT-OS, a hardware-independent operating system that supports many different architectures for 8 bit, 16 bit, 32 bit and 64 bit processors. The resulting software is evaluated on the FIT IoT-Lab real-world experimentation facility under a diverse set of ARM Cortex-M* devices targeting a broad range of IoT applications, ranging from advanced wearable devices to interactive entertainment devices, home automation and industrial cyber-physical systems. The experiments indicate that the overall overhead incurred in terms of energy and time by the proposed rejoin mechanism is acceptable given the low frequency of execution and the improvements to the overall security of the LoRaWAN1.1 OTAA method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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Review

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26 pages, 869 KiB  
Review
An Overview of Knowledge Graph Reasoning: Key Technologies and Applications
by Yonghong Chen, Hao Li, Han Li, Wenhao Liu, Yirui Wu, Qian Huang and Shaohua Wan
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(4), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11040078 - 22 Nov 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5943
Abstract
In recent years, with the rapid development of Internet technology and applications, the scale of Internet data has exploded, which contains a significant amount of valuable knowledge. The best methods for the organization, expression, calculation, and deep analysis of this knowledge have attracted [...] Read more.
In recent years, with the rapid development of Internet technology and applications, the scale of Internet data has exploded, which contains a significant amount of valuable knowledge. The best methods for the organization, expression, calculation, and deep analysis of this knowledge have attracted a great deal of attention. The knowledge graph has emerged as a rich and intuitive way to express knowledge. Knowledge reasoning based on knowledge graphs is one of the current research hot spots in knowledge graphs and has played an important role in wireless communication networks, intelligent question answering, and other applications. Knowledge graph-oriented knowledge reasoning aims to deduce new knowledge or identify wrong knowledge from existing knowledge. Different from traditional knowledge reasoning, knowledge reasoning methods oriented to knowledge graphs are more diversified due to the concise, intuitive, flexible, and rich knowledge expression forms in knowledge graphs. Based on the basic concepts of knowledge graphs and knowledge graph reasoning, this paper introduces the latest research progress in knowledge graph-oriented knowledge reasoning methods in recent years. Specifically, according to different reasoning methods, knowledge graph reasoning includes rule-based reasoning, distributed representation-based reasoning, neural network-based reasoning, and mixed reasoning. These methods are summarized in detail, and the future research directions and prospects of knowledge reasoning based on knowledge graphs are discussed and prospected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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29 pages, 856 KiB  
Review
The Definitive Guide to Actual Sensor Network Deployments in Research Studies from 2013–2017: A Systematic Review
by Janis Judvaitis, Valters Abolins, Artis Mednis, Rihards Balass and Krisjanis Nesenbergs
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(4), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11040068 - 21 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1280
Abstract
The research community has been working on sensor networks for more that seven decades and altogether more than a million research articles on sensor networks have been published, with this number growing every day. In this article, we try to provide a thorough [...] Read more.
The research community has been working on sensor networks for more that seven decades and altogether more than a million research articles on sensor networks have been published, with this number growing every day. In this article, we try to provide a thorough and complete systematic review on the sensor network field resulting from representative subset of more than 3000 articles which include actual sensor network deployments. After a thorough analysis of these data, we provide a definitive overview of the trends in sensor network deployment described in published research articles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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18 pages, 517 KiB  
Review
Decentralized Blockchain-Based IoT Data Marketplaces
by John Christidis, Panagiotis A. Karkazis, Pericles Papadopoulos and Helen C. (Nelly) Leligou
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(3), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11030039 - 29 Jul 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3058
Abstract
In present times, the largest amount of data is being controlled in a centralized manner. However, as the data are in essence the fuel of any application and service, there is a need to make the data more findable and accessible. Another problem [...] Read more.
In present times, the largest amount of data is being controlled in a centralized manner. However, as the data are in essence the fuel of any application and service, there is a need to make the data more findable and accessible. Another problem with the data being centralized is the limited storage as well as the uncertainty of their authenticity. In the Internet of Things (IoT) sector specifically, data are the key to develop the most powerful and reliable applications. For these reasons, there is a rise on works that present decentralized marketplaces for IoT data with many of them exploiting blockchain technology to offer security advantages. The main contribution of this work is to review the existing works on decentralized IoT data marketplaces and discuss important design aspects and options so as to guide (a) the prospective user to select the IoT data marketplace that matches their needs and (b) the potential designer of a new marketplace to make insightful decisions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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36 pages, 612 KiB  
Review
Blockchain as IoT Economy Enabler: A Review of Architectural Aspects
by Diego Pennino, Maurizio Pizzonia, Andrea Vitaletti and Marco Zecchini
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2022, 11(2), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan11020020 - 29 Mar 2022
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3996
Abstract
In the IoT-based economy, a large number of subjects (companies, public bodies, or private citizens) are willing to buy data or services offered by subjects that provide, operate, or host IoT devices. To support economic transactions in this setting, and to pave the [...] Read more.
In the IoT-based economy, a large number of subjects (companies, public bodies, or private citizens) are willing to buy data or services offered by subjects that provide, operate, or host IoT devices. To support economic transactions in this setting, and to pave the way for the implementation of decentralized algorithmic governance powered by smart contracts, the adoption of the blockchain has been proposed both in scientific literature and in actual projects. The blockchain technology promises a decentralized payment system independent of (and possibly cheaper than) conventional electronic payment systems. However, there are a number of aspects that need to be considered for an effective IoT–blockchain integration. In this review paper, we start from a number of real IoT projects and applications that (may) take advantage of blockchain technology to support economic transactions. We provide a reasoned review of several architectural choices in light of typical requirements of those applications and discuss their impact on transaction throughput, latency, costs, limits on ecosystem growth, and so on. We also provide a survey of additional financial tools that a blockchain can potentially bring to an IoT ecosystem, with their architectural impact. In the end, we observe that there are very few examples of IoT projects that fully exploit the potential of the blockchain. We conclude with a discussion of open problems and future research directions to make blockchain adoption easier and more effective for supporting an IoT economy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks: 10th Year Anniversary)
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