skip to main content


Title: Securing Real-Time Internet-of-Things
Modern embedded and cyber-physical systems are ubiquitous. Many critical cyber-physical systems have real-time requirements (e.g., avionics, automobiles, power grids, manufacturing systems, industrial control systems, etc.). Recent developments and new functionality require real-time embedded devices to be connected to the Internet. This gives rise to the real-time Internet-of-things (RT-IoT) that promises a better user experience through stronger connectivity and efficient use of next-generation embedded devices. However, RT-IoT are also increasingly becoming targets for cyber-attacks, which is exacerbated by this increased connectivity. This paper gives an introduction to RT-IoT systems, an outlook of current approaches and possible research challenges towards secure RT-IoT frameworks.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1718952 1544901
NSF-PAR ID:
10099224
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Sensors
Volume:
18
Issue:
12
ISSN:
1424-8220
Page Range / eLocation ID:
4356
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Driven by the expanse of Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), there is an increasing demand to process streams of temporal data on embedded devices with limited energy and power resources. Among all potential solutions, neuromorphic computing with spiking neural networks (SNN) that mimic the behavior of brain, have recently been placed at the forefront. Encoding information into sparse and distributed spike events enables low-power implementations, and the complex spatial temporal dynamics of synapses and neurons enable SNNs to detect temporal pattern. However, most existing hardware SNN implementations use simplified neuron and synapse models ignoring synapse dynamic, which is critical for temporal pattern detection and other applications that require temporal dynamics. To adopt a more realistic synapse model in neuromorphic platform its significant computation overhead must be addressed. In this work, we propose an FPGA-based SNN with biologically realistic neuron and synapse for temporal information processing. An encoding scheme to convert continuous real-valued information into sparse spike events is presented. The event-driven implementation of synapse dynamic model and its hardware design that is optimized to exploit the sparsity are also presented. Finally, we train the SNN on various temporal pattern-learning tasks and evaluate its performance and efficiency as compared to rate-based models and artificial neural networks on different embedded platforms. Experiments show that our work can achieve 10X speed up and 196X gains in energy efficiency compared with GPU. 
    more » « less
  2. Internet of Things (IoT) is a connected network of devices that exchange data using different protocols. The application of IoT ranges from intelligent TVs and intelligent Refrigerators to smart Transportation. This research aims to provide students with hands-on training on how to develop an IoT platform that supports device management, connectivity, and data management. People tend to build interconnected devices without having a basic understanding of how the IoT platform backend function. Studying the Arm Pelion will help to understand how IoT devices operate under the hood. This past summer, Morgan State University has hosted undergraduate engineering students and high school STEM teachers to conduct IoT security research in the Cybersecurity Assurance & Policy (CAP) Center. The research project involved integrating various hardware sensor devices and real-time data monitoring using the Arm Pelion IoT development platform. Some of the student/teacher outcomes from the project include: 1) Learning about IoT Technology and security; 2) Programming an embedded system using Arm Mbed development board and IDE; 3 3) Developing a network of connected IoT devices using different protocols such as LWM2M, MQTT, CoAP; 4) Investigating the cybersecurity risks associated with the platform; and 5) Using data analysis and visualization to understand the network data and packet flow. First, the student/teacher must consider the IoT framework to understand how to address the security. The IoT framework describes the essential functions of an IoT network, breaking it down into separate layers. These layers include an application layer, middleware layer, and connectivity layer. The application layer allows the users to access the platform via a smartphone or any other dashboard. The Middleware layer represents the backend system that provides edge devices with data management, messaging, application services, and authentication. Finally, the connectivity layer includes devices that connect the user to the network, including Bluetooth or WiFi. The platform consists of several commercial IoT devices such as a smart camera, baby monitor, smart light, and other devices. We then create algorithms to classify the network data flow; to visualize the packets flow in the network and the structure of the packets data frame over time. 
    more » « less
  3. Systems for Internet of Things (IoT) have generated new requirements in all aspects of their development and deployment, including expanded Quality of Service (QoS) needs, enhanced resiliency of computing and connectivity, and the scalability to support massive numbers of end devices in a variety of applications. The research reported here concerns the development of a reliable and secure IoT/cyber physical system (CPS), providing network support for smart and connected communities, to be realized by means of distributed, secure, resilient Edge Cloud (EC) computing. This distributed EC system will be a network of geographically distributed EC nodes, brokering between end-devices and Backend Cloud (BC) servers. This paper focuses on three main aspects of the CPS: a) resource management in mobile cloud computing; b) information management in dynamic distributed databases; and c) biological-inspired intrusion detection system. 
    more » « less
  4. Research in the area of internet-of-things, cyber physical- systems, and smart health often employ sensor systems at residences for continuous monitoring. Such research oriented residential monitoring systems (RRMSs) usually face two major challenges, long-term reliable operation management and validation of system functionality with minimal human effort. Targeting these two challenges, this paper describes a monitor of monitoring systems with ground-truth validation capabilities, M2G. It consists of two subsystems, the Monitor2 system and the Ground-truth validation system. The Monitor2 system encapsulates a flexible set of general-purpose components to monitor the operation and connectivity of heterogeneous sensor devices (e.g. smart watches, smart phones, microphones, beacons, etc.), a local base-station, as well as a cloud server. It provides a user-friendly interface and supports different types of RRMSs in various contexts. The system also features a ground truth validation system to support obtaining ground truth in the field. Additionally, customized alerts can be sent to remote administrators and other personnel to report any dysfunction or inaccuracy of the system in real time. M2G is applied to three very different case studies: the M2FED system which monitors family eating dynamics, an in-home wireless sensing system for monitoring nighttime agitation, and the BESI system which monitors behavioral and environmental parameters to predict health events and to provide interventions. The results indicate that M2G is a comprehensive system that (i) requires small cost in time and effort to adapt to an existing RRMS, (ii) provides reliable data collection and reduction in data loss by detecting faults in real-time, and (iii) provides a convenient and timely ground truth validation facility. 
    more » « less
  5. The Internet of Things (IoT), forming the foundation of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), connects a huge number of ubiquitous sensing and mobile computing devices. The mobile IoT systems generate an enormous volume of a variety of dynamic context data and typically count on centralized architectures to process them. However, their inability to ensure security and decline in communication efficiency and response time with the increase in the size of IoT network are some of the many concerning weaknesses that are holding back the fast-paced growth of IoT. Realizing the limitations of centralized systems, recently blockchain-based decentralized architecture is being considered as the key to redesigning the IoT systems in a way that is designed to be secure, transparent, highly resistant to outages, auditable, and efficient. However, before realizing the new promise of blockchain for IoT, there are significant challenges to address. One fundamental challenge is the scale issue around data collection, storage, and analytic as IoT sensor devices possess limited computational power and storage capabilities. In particular, since the chain is always growing, IoT devices require more and more resources. Thus, an oversized chain poses storage and scalability problems. With this in mind, the overall goal of our research is to design a lightweight scalable blockchain framework for IoT of mobile devices. This framework, coined as "Sensor-Chain", promises a new generation of lightweight blockchain management with a superior reduction in resource consumption, and at the same time capable of retaining critical information about the IoT systems of mobile devices. 
    more » « less