• Issue 1 (2017)
• Issue 2 (2017)

Content-aware and QoE Optimization of Video Stream Scheduling over LTE Networks using Genetic Algorithm and Random Neural Networks

JUSPN, volume-09 , Issue 2 (2017), PP 21 - 33

Published: 09 May 2017

DOI: 10.5383/JUSPN.09.02.003

by Tarik Ghaluta, Hadi Larijani from Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Rd, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK

Abstract: Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks support Quality of Service (QoS) of multimedia services with fast communication connectivity, high data transfer speed and high level of security. Video streaming over LTE networks is one of the highest proportions of global mobile data traffic and is growing; this has led to the development of several scheduling algorithms aimed at improving the performance of these networks. The performance analysis and evaluation of existing scheduling algorithms are generally limited to QoS parameters. It is not clear how these scheduling algorithms perform in terms of Quality of Experience (QoE) which is the overall acceptability of a service or application, as perceived subjectively by end users. Video content has a major impact on QoE; thus its analysis in scheduling algorithms performance is critical. The aim of this study is to classify video content based on the impact of video content on quality over LTE networks. This classification is then used to develop novel QoE-aware optimization scheduling of video traffic in order to achieve maximum QoE. Our approach focuses on the development of optimization downlink scheduling based on a novel integration between random neural networks (RNN) and genetic algorithms (GA) to learn complex non-linear mapping of QoE and to search for the optimal parameters, respectively. An open source simulation tool for LTE networks (LTE-Sim) has been used to collect unique RNN training database based on existing scheduling algorithms. A comparison between the proposed scheduler and state-of-the-art LTE downlink scheduling algorithms (FLS, EXP-rule, and LOG-rule) has been made under different network conditions. Simulation results showed an increase in performance of about 15% in terms of QoE and throughput while maintaining fairness. read more... read less...

Keywords: Content Classification, GA, RNN, QoE, Scheduling Algorithm

Evaluation of Privacy Preserving In-Network Aggregation for Different Routing Structures in WSNs

JUSPN, volume-09 , Issue 2 (2017), PP 15 - 19

Published: 09 May 2017

DOI: 10.5383/JUSPN.09.02.002

by Vishal Krishna Singh, Saurabh Verma, Manish Kumar from Indian Institute of Information Technology, Devghat, Jhalwa, Allahabad, 211012, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: Designing secure aggregation protocols for efficient data collection is driven mainly by preserving the privacy and integrity of the network data. Targeting the false data injection attack in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), a secure innetwork aggregation scheme for preserving the privacy of the data, is proposed in this work. The proposed scheme is able to compute the SUM, MEAN and COUNT of the network data based on an encryption scheme which uses pallier cryptosystem. Extensive analysis with different routing structures (cluster, tree and chain) are used for validating the efficacy of the proposed scheme over existing approaches. read more... read less...

Keywords: In-network data aggregation, Network lifetime, Pallier cryptosystem, Privacy, Wireless sensor networks

Virtual Resources & Blockchain for Configuration Management in IoT

JUSPN, volume-09 , Issue 2 (2017), PP 01 - 13

Published: 09 May 2017

DOI: 10.5383/JUSPN.09.02.001

by Mayra Samaniego, Ralph Deters from University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, S7N 5C9

Abstract: Until now, most systems for Internet of Things (IoT) management, have been designed in a Cloud-centric manner, getting benefits from the unified platform that the Cloud offers. However, a Cloud-centric infrastructure mainly achieves static sensor and data streaming systems, which do not support the direct configuration management of IoT components. To address this issue, a virtualization of IoT components (Virtual Resources) is introduced at the edge of the IoT network. This research also introduces permission-based Blockchain protocols to handle the provisioning of Virtual Resources directly onto edge devices. The architecture presented by this research focuses on the use of Virtual Resources and Blockchain protocols as management tools to distribute configuration tasks towards the edge of the IoT network. Results from lab experiments demonstrate the successful deployment and communication performance (response time in milliseconds) of Virtual Resources on two edge platforms, Raspberry Pi and Edison board. This work also provides performance evaluations of two permission-based blockchain protocol approaches. The first blockchain approach is a Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) in the Cloud, Bluemix. The second blockchain approach is a private cluster hosted in a Fog network, Multichain. read more... read less...

Keywords: IoT, Configuration Management, Virtual Resource, Blockchain, Fog, REST

Improved SingleTapBraille: Developing a single tap text entry method based on Grade 1 and 2 braille encoding

JUSPN, volume-09 , Issue 1 (2017), PP 23 - 31

Published: 09 May 2017

DOI: 10.5383/JUSPN.09.01.003

by Mrim Alnfiaia, Srinivas Sampalli from Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, B3H 1W5, Canada

Abstract: Touchscreen technology has brought about significant improvements for both normal sighted and visually impaired people. Visually impaired people tend to use touchscreen devices because these devices support a screen reader function, providing a cheaper, smaller alternative to screen reader machines. However, most of the available touchscreen keyboards are still largely inaccessible to blind and visually impaired people because they require the user to find an object location on a touchscreen in order to interact with an application. In this paper, we describe SingleTapBraille, a novel nonvisual text input approach for touchscreen devices. With SingleTapBraille, a user enters characters including text, numbers, and punctuations by tapping anywhere on the screen with one finger or a thumb several times based on braille patterns. This paper presents our initial keyboard design to enter Grade 1 and our explorative evaluation of SingleTapBraille conducted with braille instructors and visually impaired users. It also presents the implementation of Grade 2 and an initial evaluation of the improved SingleTapBraille keyboard with a blind user. read more... read less...

Keywords: Accessibility, text entry, blindness, braille, touchscreens, mobile devices, single-touch interaction techniques, speech output

The AREA Framework for Location-Based Smart Mobile Augmented Reality Applications

JUSPN, volume-09 , Issue 1 (2017), PP 13 - 21

Published: 17 Jul 2017

DOI: 10.5383/JUSPN.09.01.002

by Rüdiger Pryss, Philip Geiger, Marc Schickler, Johannes Schobel, Manfred Reichert from Institute of Databases and Information Systems, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany, 89081

Abstract: During the last years, the computational capabilities of smart mobile devices have been continuously improved by hardware vendors, raising new opportunities for mobile application engineers. Mobile augmented reality can be considered as one demanding scenario demonstrating that smart mobile applications are becoming more and more mature. In the AREA (Augmented Reality Engine Application) project, we developed a powerful kernel that enables location-based, mobile augmented reality applications. On top of this kernel, mobile application developers can realize sophisticated individual applications. The AREA kernel, in turn, allows for both robustness and high performance. In addition, it provides a flexible architecture that fosters the development of individual location-based mobile augmented reality applications. As a particular feature, the kernel allows for the handling of points of interests (POI) clusters. Altogether, advanced concepts are required to realize a location-based mobile augmented reality kernel that are presented in this paper. Furthermore, results of an experiment are presented in which the AREA kernel was compared to other location-based mobile augmented reality applications. To demonstrate the applicability of the kernel, we apply it in the context of various mobile applications. As a lesson learned, sophisticated mobile augmented reality applications can be efficiently run on present mobile operating systems and be effectively realized by engineers using the AREA framework. We consider mobile augmented reality as a killer application for mobile computational capabilities as well as the proper support of mobile users in everyday life. read more... read less...

Keywords: Mobile Augmented Reality, Location-based Algorithms, Mobile Application Engineering, Augmented Reality

Safety-Critical Mobile Systems – The RESCUER Interaction Evaluation Approach

JUSPN, volume-09 , Issue 1 (2017), PP 01 - 10

Published: 09 May 2017

DOI: 10.5383/JUSPN.09.01.001

by Konstantin Holl, Claudia Nass, Vaninha Vieira, Karina Villela from Fraunhofer IESE, Kaiserslautern, Germany, 67663 Fraunhofer Project Center, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil, 40110-170

Abstract: The infrastructure organization of large-scale events involves high safety requirements for the visitors and is a central issue for the officials in charge. To assist in dealing with this, we developed the RESCUER Mobile Crowdsourcing App, which runs on smartphones and allows the crowd to report an emergency, thereby improving the process for rescuing humans in an emergency. For the evaluation of the app, we faced the problem that people participating in a large event, such as a soccer match, are not willing to spend time on completing a long survey or interview. Also, people experiencing an emergency situation may have their cognitive capabilities affected by emotional burden, so a mobile app should be easy and intuitive to interact with. Hence, the goal of this contribution was to select and perform an on-site mobile evaluation approach that allows us to evaluate the user interaction. Two main evaluations were performed using two different versions of our application. The first evaluation took place during the FIFA World Cup 2014 and tested the app’s usability with 112 users in Brazil and in Germany. As a result of this evaluation, we found severe usability issues and gained concrete insights into how to solve them. The second, follow-up evaluation, using an improved version of our app, was performed during emergency exercises in Brazil, with 31 experts in emergency management. For our evaluation approach, the results indicated that on-site mobile evaluation is an appropriate method for improving the usability and interaction of safety-critical software systems. read more... read less...

Keywords: Mobile app, Emergency management, Evaluation, Usability