2023. 3rd Issue
Volume XV, Number 3
MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Pal Varga
From Picosatellites to Quantum Genetic Algorithms – the latest proceedings of Infocommunications
THE 2023 autumn issue of Infocommunications Journal gives a nice mixture of the latest ”news” in our domain. The article by Hussein Taha, Péter Vári and Szilvia Nagy discusses the future of the 470-694 MHz band in Europe, as the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23) is set to decide on its use, balancing broadcasting services and mobile broadband needs. It analyzes various options, recommending secondary allocation to mobile service in a downlink-only mode to accommodate both broadcasting and mobile services without causing interference
PAPERS FROM OPEN CALL
Hussein Taha, Péter Vári, and Szilvia Nagy
Analysis of the WRC-23 Agenda Item Concerning the Future Use of the 470-694 MHz Band in Europe 
The upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23), according to the preliminary agenda item 1.5, will decide the long-term use of the 470-694 MHz band in International Telecommunication Union Region 1 and consider regulatory actions for the rest of the decade. This article attempts to inform the debate on the future use of spectrum in the 470- 694 MHz band and the status of broadcasting services at the European level and in many individual member states. This article highlights the role WRCs played by allocation of the previous digital dividend bands for mobile services. It provides an overview of the most recent trends and developments of existing services in the sub-700 MHz band. The article also explores and analyzes options for future use of the 470-694 MHz band in Europe and discusses the benefits and implications of adopting each option. Based on this analysis, it is recommended to introduce a secondary allocation to mobile service in the downlink-only mode alongside traditional broadcasting services in the sub-700 MHz band at the upcoming WRC-23.
Reference
DOI: 10.36244/ICJ.2023.3.1
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Tibor Herman and Levente Dudás
Picosatellite identification and Doppler estimation using passive radar techniques
In this article a novel method for satellite identification is presented for picosatellites. Utilizing apriori knowledge of the transmitted signals the cross-correlation of the received signal and a known transmission is calculated, from the results the Doppler shift is estimated and the satellite’s Doppler curve can be matched against the measurements of NORAD. Using this method an omnidirectional antenna can be used instead of a high gain directional antenna, and the gain difference is compensated by the processing gain of the algorithm described. The practicality of the algorithm is demonstrated through the mission of MRC-100 PocketQube.
Reference
DOI: 10.36244/ICJ.2023.3.2
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Mohamed El Amrani, Hamid Garmani, Driss Ait Omar, Mohamed Ouaskou, Abdelkarim Ait Temghart, and Mohamed Baslam
A Novel Strategic Caching and Availability Optimization for Wireless Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communication Networks
The rowing complexity in the 5G technology has created a necessity for UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)-assisted cellular networks as base stations. This is helpful for a wider coverage with higher transmission rates as it addresses three critical issues, i.e. location, performance and bandwidth. Besides, the integration of caching into conventional UAV infrastructure has received significant attentions since it can bring contents and memory storage closer to a mobile device. In a dynamic resource caching for wireless mobile networks, drone’s settings contain important options for supporting a wide variety of applications and services, including the network access fee, quality of service (QoS) , number of cached contents, cache access fee and beaconing duration. A theoretic model based on game theory is developed to study the effect of competition among UAVs that have caching and sharing revenue model. Note that an optimal usage of UAV capabilities would thus lead to a cost-effective strategy for energy consumption and QoS requirements.
Reference
DOI: 10.36244/ICJ.2023.3.3
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Ameen Al-Azzawi, and Gábor Lencse
Lightweight 4over6 Test-bed for Security Analysis
In this paper, we focus on one of the most prominent IPv6 transition technologies, namely lw4o6 (Lightweight 4over6). We emphasize the uniqueness of lw4o6 and the difference between lw4o6 and the conventional DS-Lite (Dual-Stack Lite), their topology, functionality and security vulnerabilities. We analyze the potential vulnerabilities of lw4o6 infrastructure by applying the STRIDE threat modelling technique, which stands for Spoof- ing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information Disclosure, Denial of Service, and Elevation of Privilege. Moreover, we build a test-bed for lw4o6 using Snabb, which is an open source software. We test Snabb’s tunneling and binding capabilities and most importantly, port allocation per subscriber. At the end, we present multiple attacking scenarios (Denial of Service, Information Disclosure, Spoofing, etc.) against lw4o6’s main routers and come up with mitigation methods for such attacks.
Reference
DOI: 10.36244/ICJ.2023.3.4
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János Csatár, Péter György, and Tamás Holczer
Holistic attack methods against power systems using the IEC 60870-5-104 protocol
IEC 60870-5-104 is a widely used protocol for telecontrol in European power systems. However, security was not a design goal when it was originally published: This protocol lacks built-in security features such as encryption, integrity protection, or authentication. In this paper, we describe novel types of attacks against the protocol in a holistic way. Therefore, we also enumerate the possible entry points of the threat actors and demonstrate a new technique, where the malicious actor can precisely target the attack. These methods are demonstrated both on simulated environment and actual devices and compared with already published methods.
Reference
DOI: 10.36244/ICJ.2023.3.5
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György Wersényi
Evaluation of Bone Conduction and Active-Noise-Cancellation Headsets Based on Listening Tests in a Virtual Environment
Alternative design headsets incorporating activenoise-cancellation or bone conduction were evaluated in listening tests in a virtual reality environment. Virtual sound sources in the horizontal plane had to be identified using stereo panning in the frontal hemisphere. In addition, transfer characteristics and damping effects were measured with a dummy-head. Results indicate that up to five source locations can be used in real applications with high accuracy in virtual scenarios, independent of the spectral content of the excitation signals. Furthermore, the use of noise cancellation in presence of 80 dB background noise does not improve performance. Commercially available bone conduction headsets can provide the same detection accuracy even if the subjective sound quality is lower.
Reference
DOI: 10.36244/ICJ.2023.3.6
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Abdulbasit M. A. Sabaawi, Mohammed R. Almasaoodi, Sara El Gaily, and Sándor Imre
Quantum Genetic Algorithm for Highly Constrained Optimization Problems
Quantum computing appears as an alternative solution for solving computationally intractable problems. This paper presents a new constrained quantum genetic algorithm designed specifically for identifying the extreme value of a highly constrained optimization problem, where the search space size _database is massive and unsorted_ cannot be handled by the currently available classical or quantum processor, called the highly constrained quantum genetic algorithm (HCQGA). To validate the efficiency of the suggested quantum method, maximizing the energy efficiency with respect to the target user bit rate of an uplink multi-cell massive multiple-input and multiple- output (MIMO) system is considered as an application. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed HCQGA converges rapidly to the optimum solution compared with its classical benchmark.
Reference
DOI: 10.36244/ICJ.2023.3.7
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Balázs Ádá́m Toldi, and Imre Kocsis
Blockchain-Based, Confidentiality-Preserving Orchestration of Collaborative Workflows
Business process collaboration between independent parties is challenging when participants do not completely trust each other. Tracking actions and enforcing the activity authorizations of participants via blockchain-hosted smart contracts is an emerging solution to this lack of trust, with most state-of-the-art approaches generating the orchestrating smart contract logic from Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) models. However, compared to centralized business process orchestration services, smart contract state typically leaks potentially sensitive information about the state of the collaboration, limiting the applicability of decentralized process orchestration. This paper presents a novel, collaboration confidentiality-preserving approach where the process orchestrator smart contract only stores encrypted and hashed process states and validates participant actions against a BPMN model using zero-knowledge proofs. We cover a subset of BPMN, which is sufficient from the practical point of view, support messagepassing between participants, and provide an open-source, endto-end prototype implementation that automatically generates the key software artifacts.
Reference
DOI: 10.36244/ICJ.2023.3.8
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Adrian Pekar, Laszlo A. Makara, Winston K. G. Seah, and Oscar Mauricio Caicedo Rendon
Balancing Information Preservation and Data Volume Reduction: Adaptive Flow Aggregation in Flow Metering Systems
The critical role of network traffic measurement and analysis extends across a range of network operations, ensuring quality of service, security, and efficient resource management. Despite the ubiquity of flow-level measurement, the escalating size of flow entries presents significant scalability issues. This study explores the implications of adaptive gradual flow aggre- gation, a solution devised to mitigate these challenges, on flow information distortion. The investigation maintains flow records in buffers of varying aggregation levels, iteratively adjusted based on the changing traffic load mirrored in CPU and memory utilization. Findings underscore the efficiency of adaptive gradual flow aggregation, particularly when applied to a specific buffer, yielding an optimal balance between information preservation and memory utilization. The paper highlights the particular significance of this approach in Internet of Things (IoT) and contrasted environments, characterized by stringent resource constraints. Consequently, it casts light on the imperative for adaptability in flow aggregation methods, the impact of these techniques on information distortion, and their influence on network operations. This research offers a foundation for future studies targeting the development of more adaptive and effective flow measurement techniques in diverse and resource-limited network environments.
Reference
DOI: 10.36244/ICJ.2023.3.9
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National Cooperation Fund, Hungary |
