Explore PETRAS's research knowledge base of peer reviewed, multidisciplinary publications.
351. Chen, Shanshan; Lach, John; Lo, Benny P. L.; Yang, Guang-Zhong: Toward Pervasive Gait Analysis With Wearable Sensors: A Systematic Review. In: IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 1521–1537, 2016. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric) @article{art-chen_pervasive_2016,
title = {Toward Pervasive Gait Analysis With Wearable Sensors: A Systematic Review},
author = {Shanshan Chen and John Lach and Benny P. L. Lo and Guang-Zhong Yang},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1109%2Fjbhi.2016.2608720},
doi = {10.1109/jbhi.2016.2608720},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics},
volume = {20},
number = {6},
pages = {1521--1537},
publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)},
abstract = {After decades of evolution, measuring instruments for quantitative gait analysis have become an important clinical tool for assessing pathologies manifested by gait abnormalities. However, such instruments tend to be expensive and require expert operation and maintenance besides their high cost, thus limiting them to only a small number of specialized centers. Consequently, gait analysis in most clinics today still relies on observation-based assessment. Recent advances in wearable sensors, especially inertial body sensors, have opened up a promising future for gait analysis. Not only can these sensors be more easily adopted in clinical diagnosis and treatment procedures than their current counterparts, but they can also monitor gait continuously outside clinics - hence providing seamless patient analysis from clinics to free-living environments. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of current techniques for quantitative gait analysis and to propose key metrics for evaluating both existing and emerging methods for qualifying the gait features extracted from wearable sensors. It aims to highlight key advances in this rapidly evolving research field and outline potential future directions for both research and clinical applications.},
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After decades of evolution, measuring instruments for quantitative gait analysis have become an important clinical tool for assessing pathologies manifested by gait abnormalities. However, such instruments tend to be expensive and require expert operation and maintenance besides their high cost, thus limiting them to only a small number of specialized centers. Consequently, gait analysis in most clinics today still relies on observation-based assessment. Recent advances in wearable sensors, especially inertial body sensors, have opened up a promising future for gait analysis. Not only can these sensors be more easily adopted in clinical diagnosis and treatment procedures than their current counterparts, but they can also monitor gait continuously outside clinics - hence providing seamless patient analysis from clinics to free-living environments. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of current techniques for quantitative gait analysis and to propose key metrics for evaluating both existing and emerging methods for qualifying the gait features extracted from wearable sensors. It aims to highlight key advances in this rapidly evolving research field and outline potential future directions for both research and clinical applications.352. Lo, Benny P. L.; Ip, Henry; Yang, Guang-Zhong: Transforming Health Care: Body Sensor Networks, Wearables, and the Internet of Things. In: IEEE Pulse, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 4–8, 2016. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric) @article{art-lo_transforming_2016,
title = {Transforming Health Care: Body Sensor Networks, Wearables, and the Internet of Things},
author = {Benny P. L. Lo and Henry Ip and Guang-Zhong Yang},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1109%2Fmpul.2015.2498474},
doi = {10.1109/mpul.2015.2498474},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {IEEE Pulse},
volume = {7},
number = {1},
pages = {4--8},
publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)},
abstract = {This paper talks about body sensor networks, wearables, and the Internet of Things.},
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This paper talks about body sensor networks, wearables, and the Internet of Things.353. Jhumka, Arshad; Mottola, Luca: Neighborhood View Consistency in Wireless Sensor Networks. In: ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 1–41, 2016. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric) @article{art-jhumka_neighborhood_2016,
title = {Neighborhood View Consistency in Wireless Sensor Networks},
author = {Arshad Jhumka and Luca Mottola},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145%2F2901296},
doi = {10.1145/2901296},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks},
volume = {12},
number = {3},
pages = {1--41},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)},
abstract = {Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are characterized by localized interactions, that is, protocols are often based on message exchanges within a node's direct radio range. We recognize that for these protocols to work effectively, nodes must have consistent information about their shared neighborhoods. Different types of faults, however, can affect this information, severely impacting a protocol's performance. We factor this problem out of existing WSN protocols and argue that a notion of neighborhood view consistency (NVC) can be embedded within existing designs to improve their performance. To this end, we study the problem from both a theoretical and a system perspective. We prove that the problem cannot be solved in an asynchronous system using any of Chandra and Toueg's failure detectors. Because of this, we introduce a new software device called pseudocrash failure detector (PCD), study its properties, and identify necessary and sufficient conditions for solving NVC with PCDs. We prove that, in the presence of transient faults, NVC is impossible to solve with any PCDs, thus define two weaker specifications of the problem. We develop a global algorithm that satisfies both specifications in the presence of unidirectional links, and a localized algorithm that solves the weakest specification in networks of bidirectional links. We implement the latter atop two different WSN operating systems, integrate our implementations with four different WSN protocols, and run extensive micro-benchmarks and full-stack experiments on a real 90-node WSN testbed. Our results show that the performance significantly improves for NVC-equipped protocols; for example, the Collection Tree Protocol (CTP) halves energy consumption with higher data delivery.},
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Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are characterized by localized interactions, that is, protocols are often based on message exchanges within a node's direct radio range. We recognize that for these protocols to work effectively, nodes must have consistent information about their shared neighborhoods. Different types of faults, however, can affect this information, severely impacting a protocol's performance. We factor this problem out of existing WSN protocols and argue that a notion of neighborhood view consistency (NVC) can be embedded within existing designs to improve their performance. To this end, we study the problem from both a theoretical and a system perspective. We prove that the problem cannot be solved in an asynchronous system using any of Chandra and Toueg's failure detectors. Because of this, we introduce a new software device called pseudocrash failure detector (PCD), study its properties, and identify necessary and sufficient conditions for solving NVC with PCDs. We prove that, in the presence of transient faults, NVC is impossible to solve with any PCDs, thus define two weaker specifications of the problem. We develop a global algorithm that satisfies both specifications in the presence of unidirectional links, and a localized algorithm that solves the weakest specification in networks of bidirectional links. We implement the latter atop two different WSN operating systems, integrate our implementations with four different WSN protocols, and run extensive micro-benchmarks and full-stack experiments on a real 90-node WSN testbed. Our results show that the performance significantly improves for NVC-equipped protocols; for example, the Collection Tree Protocol (CTP) halves energy consumption with higher data delivery.354. Mikusz, Mateusz; Noulas, Anastasios K.; Davies, Nigel; Clinch, Sarah; Friday, Adrian: Next Generation Physical Analytics for Digital Signage. In: WPA '16: Proceedings of the 3rd International on Workshop on Physical Analytics, ACM Press, 2016. (Type: Inproceedings | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric) @inproceedings{proc-in-mikusz_next_2016,
title = {Next Generation Physical Analytics for Digital Signage},
author = {Mateusz Mikusz and Anastasios K. Noulas and Nigel Davies and Sarah Clinch and Adrian Friday},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145%2F2935651.2935658},
doi = {10.1145/2935651.2935658},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
booktitle = {WPA '16: Proceedings of the 3rd International on Workshop on Physical Analytics},
publisher = {ACM Press},
abstract = {Traditional digital signage analytics are based on a display-centric view of the world, reporting data on the content shown augmented with frequency of views and possibly classification of the audience demographics. What these systems are unable to provide, are insights into viewers' overall experience of content. This is problematic if we want to understand where, for example, to place content in a network of physically distributed digital signs to optimise content exposure. In this paper we propose a new approach that combines mobility simulations with comprehensive signage analytics data to provide viewer-centric physical analytics. Our approach enables us to ask questions of the analytics from the viewer's perspective for the first time, including estimating the exposure of different user groups to specific content across the entire signage network. We describe a proof of concept implementation that demonstrates the feasibility of our approach, and provide an overview of potential applications and analytics reports.},
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Traditional digital signage analytics are based on a display-centric view of the world, reporting data on the content shown augmented with frequency of views and possibly classification of the audience demographics. What these systems are unable to provide, are insights into viewers' overall experience of content. This is problematic if we want to understand where, for example, to place content in a network of physically distributed digital signs to optimise content exposure. In this paper we propose a new approach that combines mobility simulations with comprehensive signage analytics data to provide viewer-centric physical analytics. Our approach enables us to ask questions of the analytics from the viewer's perspective for the first time, including estimating the exposure of different user groups to specific content across the entire signage network. We describe a proof of concept implementation that demonstrates the feasibility of our approach, and provide an overview of potential applications and analytics reports.355. Mikusz, Mateusz; Bates, Oliver; Clinch, Sarah; Davies, Nigel; Friday, Adrian; Noulas, Anastasios K.: Poster: Understanding Mobile User Interactions with the IoT. In: MobiSys '16 Companion: Proceedings of the 14th Annual International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services Companion, ACM Press, 2016. (Type: Inproceedings | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric) @inproceedings{proc-in-mikusz_poster_2016,
title = {Poster: Understanding Mobile User Interactions with the IoT},
author = {Mateusz Mikusz and Oliver Bates and Sarah Clinch and Nigel Davies and Adrian Friday and Anastasios K. Noulas},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145%2F2938559.2938607},
doi = {10.1145/2938559.2938607},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
booktitle = {MobiSys '16 Companion: Proceedings of the 14th Annual International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services Companion},
publisher = {ACM Press},
abstract = {The increasing reach of the Internet of Things (IoT) is leading to a world rich in sensors [3] that can be used to support physical analytics -- analogous to web analytics but targeted at user interactions with physical devices in the real-world (e.g. [2]). In contrast to web analytics, physical analytics systems typically only provide data relating to sensors and objects without consideration of individual users. This is mainly a consequence of an inability to track individual mobile user interactions across multiple physical objects (or across sessions of interaction with a single object) using, for example, an analogue of a web cookie. Indeed, such a "physical analytics cookie" could raise significant privacy concerns.
However, in many cases a more "human-centric" approach to analytics would enable us to provide new and interesting insights into interactions between mobile users and the physical world [1]. In our work we endeavour to leverage synthetic user traces of human mobility, and data from real IoT systems, to provide such insights.},
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The increasing reach of the Internet of Things (IoT) is leading to a world rich in sensors [3] that can be used to support physical analytics -- analogous to web analytics but targeted at user interactions with physical devices in the real-world (e.g. [2]). In contrast to web analytics, physical analytics systems typically only provide data relating to sensors and objects without consideration of individual users. This is mainly a consequence of an inability to track individual mobile user interactions across multiple physical objects (or across sessions of interaction with a single object) using, for example, an analogue of a web cookie. Indeed, such a "physical analytics cookie" could raise significant privacy concerns.
However, in many cases a more "human-centric" approach to analytics would enable us to provide new and interesting insights into interactions between mobile users and the physical world [1]. In our work we endeavour to leverage synthetic user traces of human mobility, and data from real IoT systems, to provide such insights.356. Pavlovic, Mirjana; Zacharatou, Eleni Tzirita; Sidlauskas, Darius; Heinis, Thomas; Ailamaki, Anastasia: Space odyssey: efficient exploration of scientific data. In: ExploreDB '16: Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Exploratory Search in Databases and the Web, ACM, 2016. (Type: Inproceedings | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric) @inproceedings{proc-in-pavlovic_space_2016,
title = {Space odyssey: efficient exploration of scientific data},
author = {Mirjana Pavlovic and Eleni Tzirita Zacharatou and Darius Sidlauskas and Thomas Heinis and Anastasia Ailamaki},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145%2F2948674.2948677},
doi = {10.1145/2948674.2948677},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
booktitle = {ExploreDB '16: Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Exploratory Search in Databases and the Web},
publisher = {ACM},
abstract = {Advances in data acquisition---through more powerful supercomputers for simulation or sensors with better resolution---help scientists tremendously to understand natural phenomena. At the same time, however, it leaves them with a plethora of data and the challenge of analysing it. Ingesting all the data in a database or indexing it for an efficient analysis is unlikely to pay off because scientists rarely need to analyse all data. Not knowing a priori what parts of the datasets need to be analysed makes the problem challenging.
Tools and methods to analyse only subsets of this data are rather rare. In this paper we therefore present Space Odyssey, a novel approach enabling scientists to efficiently explore multiple spatial datasets of massive size. Without any prior information, Space Odyssey incrementally indexes the datasets and optimizes the access to datasets frequently queried together. As our experiments show, through incrementally indexing and changing the data layout on disk, Space Odyssey accelerates exploratory analysis of spatial data by substantially reducing query-to-insight time compared to the state of the art.},
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Advances in data acquisition---through more powerful supercomputers for simulation or sensors with better resolution---help scientists tremendously to understand natural phenomena. At the same time, however, it leaves them with a plethora of data and the challenge of analysing it. Ingesting all the data in a database or indexing it for an efficient analysis is unlikely to pay off because scientists rarely need to analyse all data. Not knowing a priori what parts of the datasets need to be analysed makes the problem challenging.
Tools and methods to analyse only subsets of this data are rather rare. In this paper we therefore present Space Odyssey, a novel approach enabling scientists to efficiently explore multiple spatial datasets of massive size. Without any prior information, Space Odyssey incrementally indexes the datasets and optimizes the access to datasets frequently queried together. As our experiments show, through incrementally indexing and changing the data layout on disk, Space Odyssey accelerates exploratory analysis of spatial data by substantially reducing query-to-insight time compared to the state of the art.357. Mittelstadt, Brent Daniel; Allo, Patrick; Taddeo, Mariarosaria; Wachter, Sandra; Floridi, Luciano: The ethics of algorithms: Mapping the debate. In: Big Data & Society, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 1–21, 2016. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric) @article{art-mittelstadt_ethics_2016,
title = {The ethics of algorithms: Mapping the debate},
author = {Brent Daniel Mittelstadt and Patrick Allo and Mariarosaria Taddeo and Sandra Wachter and Luciano Floridi},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2053951716679679},
doi = {10.1177/2053951716679679},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {Big Data & Society},
volume = {3},
number = {2},
pages = {1--21},
publisher = {SAGE Publications},
abstract = {In information societies, operations, decisions and choices previously left to humans are increasingly delegated to algorithms, which may advise, if not decide, about how data should be interpreted and what actions should be taken as a result. More and more often, algorithms mediate social processes, business transactions, governmental decisions, and how we perceive, understand, and interact among ourselves and with the environment. Gaps between the design and operation of algorithms and our understanding of their ethical implications can have severe consequences affecting individuals as well as groups and whole societies. This paper makes three contributions to clarify the ethical importance of algorithmic mediation. It provides a prescriptive map to organise the debate. It reviews the current discussion of ethical aspects of algorithms. And it assesses the available literature in order to identify areas requiring further work to develop the ethics of algorithms.},
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In information societies, operations, decisions and choices previously left to humans are increasingly delegated to algorithms, which may advise, if not decide, about how data should be interpreted and what actions should be taken as a result. More and more often, algorithms mediate social processes, business transactions, governmental decisions, and how we perceive, understand, and interact among ourselves and with the environment. Gaps between the design and operation of algorithms and our understanding of their ethical implications can have severe consequences affecting individuals as well as groups and whole societies. This paper makes three contributions to clarify the ethical importance of algorithmic mediation. It provides a prescriptive map to organise the debate. It reviews the current discussion of ethical aspects of algorithms. And it assesses the available literature in order to identify areas requiring further work to develop the ethics of algorithms.358. Lundbaek, Leif-Nissen; D'Iddio, Andrea Callia; Huth, Michael: Optimizing Governed Blockchains for Financial Process Authentications. In: arXiv.org, 2016. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | BibTeX) @article{art-lundbaek_optimizing_2016,
title = {Optimizing Governed Blockchains for Financial Process Authentications},
author = {Leif-Nissen Lundbaek and Andrea Callia D'Iddio and Michael Huth},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1612.00407v2},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {arXiv.org},
abstract = {We propose the formal study of governed blockchains that are owned and controlled by organizations and that neither create cryptocurrencies nor provide any incentives to solvers of cryptographic puzzles. We view such approaches as frameworks in which system parts, such as the cryptographic puzzle, may be instantiated with different technology. Owners of such a blockchain procure puzzle solvers as resources they control, and use a mathematical model to compute optimal parameters for the cryptographic puzzle mechanism or other parts of the blockchain. We illustrate this approach with a use case in which blockchains record hashes of financial process transactions to increase their trustworthiness and that of their audits. For Proof of Work as cryptographic puzzle, we develop a detailed mathematical model to derive MINLP optimization problems for computing optimal Proof of Work configuration parameters that trade off potentially conflicting aspects such as availability, resiliency, security, and cost in this governed setting. We demonstrate the utility of such a mining calculus by solving some instances of this problem. This experimental validation is strengthened by statistical experiments that confirm the validity of random variables used in formulating our mathematical model. We hope that our work may facilitate the creation of domain-specific blockchains for a wide range of applications such as trustworthy information in Internet of Things systems and bespoke improvements of legacy financial services.},
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We propose the formal study of governed blockchains that are owned and controlled by organizations and that neither create cryptocurrencies nor provide any incentives to solvers of cryptographic puzzles. We view such approaches as frameworks in which system parts, such as the cryptographic puzzle, may be instantiated with different technology. Owners of such a blockchain procure puzzle solvers as resources they control, and use a mathematical model to compute optimal parameters for the cryptographic puzzle mechanism or other parts of the blockchain. We illustrate this approach with a use case in which blockchains record hashes of financial process transactions to increase their trustworthiness and that of their audits. For Proof of Work as cryptographic puzzle, we develop a detailed mathematical model to derive MINLP optimization problems for computing optimal Proof of Work configuration parameters that trade off potentially conflicting aspects such as availability, resiliency, security, and cost in this governed setting. We demonstrate the utility of such a mining calculus by solving some instances of this problem. This experimental validation is strengthened by statistical experiments that confirm the validity of random variables used in formulating our mathematical model. We hope that our work may facilitate the creation of domain-specific blockchains for a wide range of applications such as trustworthy information in Internet of Things systems and bespoke improvements of legacy financial services.359. Watson, Jeremy Daniel McKendrick; Lupu, Emil C.: PETRAS: Cyber Security Of The Internet Of Things. In: Centre for Research and Ecidence On Security Threats, 2016. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | BibTeX) @article{art-watson_petras_2016,
title = {PETRAS: Cyber Security Of The Internet Of Things},
author = {Jeremy Daniel McKendrick Watson and Emil C. Lupu},
url = {https://crestresearch.ac.uk/comment/petras-cyber-security-of-the-internet-of-things/},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {Centre for Research and Ecidence On Security Threats},
abstract = {PETRAS is a research hub to fill knowledge gaps and promote safe and secure use of the Internet of Things.
At the beginning of 2016, the PETRAS Hub consortium of nine leading UK universities was awarded GBP 9.8m by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC). PETRAS brings the universities together with around 50 user partners representing both the private and public sectors.
Strategic review of IoT
Following a strategic review by the UK Government, 'The Internet of Things: making the most of the Second Digital Revolution' was published in 2014. It emphasised the economic importance of the Internet of Things (IoT), which would only be realised by ensuring its cybersecurity and trustworthiness while not standing in the way of vibrant technical and business development. The government response was to create the GBP 40m IoTUK initiative, which funds the PETRAS hub amongst other initiatives.
Principles of the PETRAS hub
The review highlighted a knowledge and capability gap in the ability to look at IoT (or indeed other) cybersecurity from an integrated socio-technical viewpoint. Collaborative thinking across social and physical science disciplines was needed from project identification to execution. This principle has guided the vision for PETRAS.
PETRAS stands for Privacy, Ethics, Trust, Reliability, Acceptability and Security --- headings that have relevance to both technical and social science. They are all important in ensuring the successful adoption of the Internet of Things. The PETRAS hub is founded on these six themes and emphasises in equal measure, the physical and social science aspects of the adoption of new IoT technology. The academic partners are made up of a cross-disciplinary Hub team of UCL, Imperial College, Oxford, Leicester and Warwick, augmented by four Spoke contributors at Surrey, Southampton, Cardiff and Edinburgh, who provide specialist contributions. Additionally, PETRAS boasts a large cohort of user and research partners in the private sector (ranging across banking, through healthcare to mobile telecommunications), the public and NGO sectors. 'Impact Champions' working in the PETRAS management team ensure good bidirectional connections between these and the academic partners.
Planned projects
In order to best represent and investigate the opportunities and challenges of the wide span of IoT applications, the partners have created a project structure which feeds into the generic themes of interest; Privacy & Trust, Safety & Security, Harnessing Economic Value, Standards, Governance & Public Policy, and Adoption & Acceptability. A number of projects will provide evidence under these headings; these we have grouped by type or sector into areas of applications or 'Constellations'. Around 20 initial projects cover the constellation themes. PETRAS has been designed so that further internal calls for projects can be shaped to fill the research gaps identified with user partners and then consolidate the research outcomes into concrete demonstrators. PETRAS plans to become the go-to place for research in cybersecurity of the IoT in the UK by creating an inclusive technical and social platform for innovation that will continue beyond the end of the funded period.
Examples of projects within these constellations include:
Transport & Mobility where projects will include smart street planning, pricing and road maintenance, and security and privacy solutions for communicating autonomous and semi-autonomous cars and infrastructures.
The Health & Care constellation will include modelling and analysis for body sensor networks, security mechanisms for miniaturised low power chips, and an investigation of the factors of user trust in medical applications of IoT.
Design & Behaviour explores the role Design plays in influencing the adoption of IoT. In particular, how Design and Engineering can actively encourage or discourage behaviours so that Privacy and Trust are enhanced and adoption is promoted.
Projects under the Infrastructure heading look, from a policy angle, at approaches in various countries and across borders to manage IoT threats and increased attack surfaces. These projects include tools to analyse threats in many contexts.
Identification constellation projects deal with the trustworthiness of identification systems and evaluating identification technologies, protocols, and procedures alongside privacy strategies, to identify robust solutions that deliver a balance between identifiability and privacy of IoT technology.
Supply & Control Systems projects cover secure IoT-augmented control systems for industry and buildings and explore the economic value of IoT data in cyber-physical supply chains.
The Ambient Environments constellation investigates the impact of security on adaptability within cross-layered network-wide protocols for low powered IoT devices. A combination of 'In the Wild' experiments on the Olympic Park and focus groups will explore the boundaries of privacy, trust and personalisation.},
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PETRAS is a research hub to fill knowledge gaps and promote safe and secure use of the Internet of Things.
At the beginning of 2016, the PETRAS Hub consortium of nine leading UK universities was awarded GBP 9.8m by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC). PETRAS brings the universities together with around 50 user partners representing both the private and public sectors.
Strategic review of IoT
Following a strategic review by the UK Government, 'The Internet of Things: making the most of the Second Digital Revolution' was published in 2014. It emphasised the economic importance of the Internet of Things (IoT), which would only be realised by ensuring its cybersecurity and trustworthiness while not standing in the way of vibrant technical and business development. The government response was to create the GBP 40m IoTUK initiative, which funds the PETRAS hub amongst other initiatives.
Principles of the PETRAS hub
The review highlighted a knowledge and capability gap in the ability to look at IoT (or indeed other) cybersecurity from an integrated socio-technical viewpoint. Collaborative thinking across social and physical science disciplines was needed from project identification to execution. This principle has guided the vision for PETRAS.
PETRAS stands for Privacy, Ethics, Trust, Reliability, Acceptability and Security --- headings that have relevance to both technical and social science. They are all important in ensuring the successful adoption of the Internet of Things. The PETRAS hub is founded on these six themes and emphasises in equal measure, the physical and social science aspects of the adoption of new IoT technology. The academic partners are made up of a cross-disciplinary Hub team of UCL, Imperial College, Oxford, Leicester and Warwick, augmented by four Spoke contributors at Surrey, Southampton, Cardiff and Edinburgh, who provide specialist contributions. Additionally, PETRAS boasts a large cohort of user and research partners in the private sector (ranging across banking, through healthcare to mobile telecommunications), the public and NGO sectors. 'Impact Champions' working in the PETRAS management team ensure good bidirectional connections between these and the academic partners.
Planned projects
In order to best represent and investigate the opportunities and challenges of the wide span of IoT applications, the partners have created a project structure which feeds into the generic themes of interest; Privacy & Trust, Safety & Security, Harnessing Economic Value, Standards, Governance & Public Policy, and Adoption & Acceptability. A number of projects will provide evidence under these headings; these we have grouped by type or sector into areas of applications or 'Constellations'. Around 20 initial projects cover the constellation themes. PETRAS has been designed so that further internal calls for projects can be shaped to fill the research gaps identified with user partners and then consolidate the research outcomes into concrete demonstrators. PETRAS plans to become the go-to place for research in cybersecurity of the IoT in the UK by creating an inclusive technical and social platform for innovation that will continue beyond the end of the funded period.
Examples of projects within these constellations include:
Transport & Mobility where projects will include smart street planning, pricing and road maintenance, and security and privacy solutions for communicating autonomous and semi-autonomous cars and infrastructures.
The Health & Care constellation will include modelling and analysis for body sensor networks, security mechanisms for miniaturised low power chips, and an investigation of the factors of user trust in medical applications of IoT.
Design & Behaviour explores the role Design plays in influencing the adoption of IoT. In particular, how Design and Engineering can actively encourage or discourage behaviours so that Privacy and Trust are enhanced and adoption is promoted.
Projects under the Infrastructure heading look, from a policy angle, at approaches in various countries and across borders to manage IoT threats and increased attack surfaces. These projects include tools to analyse threats in many contexts.
Identification constellation projects deal with the trustworthiness of identification systems and evaluating identification technologies, protocols, and procedures alongside privacy strategies, to identify robust solutions that deliver a balance between identifiability and privacy of IoT technology.
Supply & Control Systems projects cover secure IoT-augmented control systems for industry and buildings and explore the economic value of IoT data in cyber-physical supply chains.
The Ambient Environments constellation investigates the impact of security on adaptability within cross-layered network-wide protocols for low powered IoT devices. A combination of 'In the Wild' experiments on the Olympic Park and focus groups will explore the boundaries of privacy, trust and personalisation.360. Beaumont, Paul; Day, Edward; Evans, Neil; Haworth, Sam; Huth, Michael; Plant, Toen; Roberts, Catherine: An in-depth case study: modelling an information barrier with Bayesian Belief Networks. In: 57th Institute of Nuclear Materials Management Annual Meeting, 2016. (Type: Inproceedings | Abstract | Links | BibTeX) @inproceedings{proc-in-beaumont_depth_2016,
title = {An in-depth case study: modelling an information barrier with Bayesian Belief Networks},
author = {Paul Beaumont and Edward Day and Neil Evans and Sam Haworth and Michael Huth and Toen Plant and Catherine Roberts},
url = {https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk:8443/handle/10044/1/41828},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
booktitle = {57th Institute of Nuclear Materials Management Annual Meeting},
abstract = {We present in detail a quantitative Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) model of the use of an information barrier system during a nuclear arms control inspection, and an analysis of this model using the capabilities of a Satisfiability Modulo Theory (SMT) solver. Arms control verification processes do not in practice allow the parties involved to gather complete information about each other, and therefore any model we use must be able to cope with the limited information, subjective assessment and uncertainty in this domain. We have previously extended BBNs to allow this kind of uncertainty in parameter values (such as probabilities) to be reflected; these constrained BBNs (cBBNs) offer the potential for more robust modelling, which in that study we demonstrated with a simple information barrier model. We now present a much more detailed model of a similar verification process, based on the technical capabilities and deployment concept of the UK-Norway Initiative (UKNI) Information Barrier system, demonstrating the scalability of our previously-presented approach. We discuss facets of the model itself in detail, before analysing pertinent questions of interest to give examples of the power of this approach.},
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We present in detail a quantitative Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) model of the use of an information barrier system during a nuclear arms control inspection, and an analysis of this model using the capabilities of a Satisfiability Modulo Theory (SMT) solver. Arms control verification processes do not in practice allow the parties involved to gather complete information about each other, and therefore any model we use must be able to cope with the limited information, subjective assessment and uncertainty in this domain. We have previously extended BBNs to allow this kind of uncertainty in parameter values (such as probabilities) to be reflected; these constrained BBNs (cBBNs) offer the potential for more robust modelling, which in that study we demonstrated with a simple information barrier model. We now present a much more detailed model of a similar verification process, based on the technical capabilities and deployment concept of the UK-Norway Initiative (UKNI) Information Barrier system, demonstrating the scalability of our previously-presented approach. We discuss facets of the model itself in detail, before analysing pertinent questions of interest to give examples of the power of this approach.361. Vishik, Claire; Balduccini, Marcello: Making Sense of Future Cybersecurity Technologies: Using Ontologies for Multidisciplinary Domain Analysis. In: ISSE 2015, pp. 135–145, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2015. (Type: Incollection | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric) @incollection{col-in-vishik_making_2015,
title = {Making Sense of Future Cybersecurity Technologies: Using Ontologies for Multidisciplinary Domain Analysis},
author = {Claire Vishik and Marcello Balduccini},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-3-658-10934-9_12},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-10934-9_12},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-01-01},
booktitle = {ISSE 2015},
pages = {135--145},
publisher = {Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden},
abstract = {Security experts have difficulties achieving quick vulnerability mitigation because cybersecurity is a complex multi-disciplinary subject that yields itself with great difficulty to traditional methods of risk analysis. In particular, the effectiveness of mitigation strategies depends on an accurate understanding of the relationships among the components of systems that need to be protected, their functional requirements, and of the trade-off between security protection and core functionality. Mitigation strategies may have undesired ripple-effects, such as unexpectedly modifying functions that other system components rely upon. If some of the side-effects of a mitigation strategy are not clearly understood by a security expert, the consequences may be costly. Thus, vulnerability mitigation requires a deep understanding of the subtle interdependencies that exist between domains that are different in nature. This is especially difficult for new technology use models, such as Cloud-based computing and IoT, in which cyber and physical components are combined and interdependent. By their own design, ontologies and the associated inference mechanisms permit us to reason about connections between diverse domains and contexts that are pertinent for the general threat picture, and to highlight the effects and ramifications of the mitigation strategies considered. In this paper, we position ontologies as crucial tools for understanding the threat space for new technology space, for increasing security experts' situational awareness, and, ultimately, as decision-support tools for rapid development of mitigation strategies. We follow with the discussion of the new information and insights gleaned from the ontology-based study of the root of trust in cyber-physical systems.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Security experts have difficulties achieving quick vulnerability mitigation because cybersecurity is a complex multi-disciplinary subject that yields itself with great difficulty to traditional methods of risk analysis. In particular, the effectiveness of mitigation strategies depends on an accurate understanding of the relationships among the components of systems that need to be protected, their functional requirements, and of the trade-off between security protection and core functionality. Mitigation strategies may have undesired ripple-effects, such as unexpectedly modifying functions that other system components rely upon. If some of the side-effects of a mitigation strategy are not clearly understood by a security expert, the consequences may be costly. Thus, vulnerability mitigation requires a deep understanding of the subtle interdependencies that exist between domains that are different in nature. This is especially difficult for new technology use models, such as Cloud-based computing and IoT, in which cyber and physical components are combined and interdependent. By their own design, ontologies and the associated inference mechanisms permit us to reason about connections between diverse domains and contexts that are pertinent for the general threat picture, and to highlight the effects and ramifications of the mitigation strategies considered. In this paper, we position ontologies as crucial tools for understanding the threat space for new technology space, for increasing security experts' situational awareness, and, ultimately, as decision-support tools for rapid development of mitigation strategies. We follow with the discussion of the new information and insights gleaned from the ontology-based study of the root of trust in cyber-physical systems.362. Dianati, Mehrdad; Shen, Xeumin Sherman; Naik, Kshirasagar: Efficient scheduling for the downlink of CDMA cellular networks using base station selection diversity. In: 2nd International Conference on Broadband Networks, 2005, IEEE, 2005. (Type: Inproceedings | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric) @inproceedings{proc-in-dianati_efficient_2005,
title = {Efficient scheduling for the downlink of CDMA cellular networks using base station selection diversity},
author = {Mehrdad Dianati and Xeumin Sherman Shen and Kshirasagar Naik},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1109%2Ficbn.2005.1589640},
doi = {10.1109/icbn.2005.1589640},
year = {2005},
date = {2005-01-01},
booktitle = {2nd International Conference on Broadband Networks, 2005},
publisher = {IEEE},
abstract = {Efficient packet scheduling in CDMA cellular networks is a challenging problem due to the time variant and stochastic nature of the channel fading process. Selection diversity is one of the most effective techniques utilizing random and independent variations of diverse channels to improve the performance of communication over fading channels. Exploiting base station selection diversity, in this paper, we propose two scheduling schemes for the downlink of CDMA cellular networks. The proposed schemes rely on the limited instantaneous Channel State Information to transmit to the best user from the best serving base station in each time slot. This technique increases the system throughput by increasing multi-user diversity gain and reducing the effective interference among adjacent base stations. Results of Monte Carlo simulations are given to demonstrate the improvement of system throughput using the proposed scheduling schemes. We also investigate the issue of fairness analysis of wireless scheduling schemes. Due to the unique characteristics of wireless scheduling schemes, the existing fairness indexes fail to provide a proper comparison among different scheduling schemes. We propose a new fairness index to compare the overall satisfaction of the network users among different wireless scheduling schemes. This approach complies with the definition of max-min fairness which is a widely accepted notion of fairness for data communication networks.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Efficient packet scheduling in CDMA cellular networks is a challenging problem due to the time variant and stochastic nature of the channel fading process. Selection diversity is one of the most effective techniques utilizing random and independent variations of diverse channels to improve the performance of communication over fading channels. Exploiting base station selection diversity, in this paper, we propose two scheduling schemes for the downlink of CDMA cellular networks. The proposed schemes rely on the limited instantaneous Channel State Information to transmit to the best user from the best serving base station in each time slot. This technique increases the system throughput by increasing multi-user diversity gain and reducing the effective interference among adjacent base stations. Results of Monte Carlo simulations are given to demonstrate the improvement of system throughput using the proposed scheduling schemes. We also investigate the issue of fairness analysis of wireless scheduling schemes. Due to the unique characteristics of wireless scheduling schemes, the existing fairness indexes fail to provide a proper comparison among different scheduling schemes. We propose a new fairness index to compare the overall satisfaction of the network users among different wireless scheduling schemes. This approach complies with the definition of max-min fairness which is a widely accepted notion of fairness for data communication networks.363. Dianati, Mehrdad; Shen, Xeumin Sherman; Naik, Kshirasagar: A new fairness index for radio resource allocation in wireless networks. In: IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, 2005, IEEE, 2005. (Type: Inproceedings | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric) @inproceedings{proc-in-dianati_new_2005,
title = {A new fairness index for radio resource allocation in wireless networks},
author = {Mehrdad Dianati and Xeumin Sherman Shen and Kshirasagar Naik},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1109%2Fwcnc.2005.1424595},
doi = {10.1109/wcnc.2005.1424595},
year = {2005},
date = {2005-01-01},
booktitle = {IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, 2005},
publisher = {IEEE},
abstract = {In this paper, we investigate the measurement of fairness, discuss well known fairness notions, and propose a new utility-based framework to evaluate the degree of fairness of resource allocation schemes in wireless access networks. The proposed framework has certain desirable features. It offers clear definitions and relevant methodology, takes into account both effort and service unfairness, and can be customized for different application types with different QoS requirements. Numerical examples and case studies are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
In this paper, we investigate the measurement of fairness, discuss well known fairness notions, and propose a new utility-based framework to evaluate the degree of fairness of resource allocation schemes in wireless access networks. The proposed framework has certain desirable features. It offers clear definitions and relevant methodology, takes into account both effort and service unfairness, and can be customized for different application types with different QoS requirements. Numerical examples and case studies are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.