Project
Synergy: Collaborative: CPS-Security: End-to-End Security for the Internet of Things
Computation is everywhere. Greeting cards have processors that play songs. Fireworks have processors for precisely timing their detonation. Computers are in engines, monitoring combustion and performance. They are in our homes, hospitals, offices, ovens, planes, trains, and automobiles. These computers, when networked, will form the Internet of Things (IoT). The resulting applications and services have the potential to be even more transformative than the World Wide Web. The security implications are enormous. Internet threats today steal credit cards. Internet threats tomorrow will disable home security systems, flood fields, and disrupt hospitals. The root problem is that these applications consist of software on tiny low-power devices and cloud servers, have difficult networking, and collect sensitive data that deserves strong cryptography, but usually written by developers who have expertise in none of these areas. The goal of the research is to make it possible for two developers to build a complete, secure, Internet of Things applications in three months. The research focuses on four important principles. The first is "distributed model view controller." A developer writes an application as a distributed pipeline of model-view-controller systems. A model specifies what data the application generates and stores, while a new abstraction called a transform specifies how data moves from one model to another. The second is "embedded-gateway-cloud." A common architecture dominates Internet of Things applications. Embedded devices communicate with a gateway over low-power wireless. The gateway processes data and communicates with cloud systems in the broader Internet. Focusing distributed model view controller on this dominant architecture constrains the problem sufficiently to make problems, such as system security, tractable. The third is "end-to-end security." Data emerges encrypted from embedded devices and can only be decrypted by end user applications. Servers can compute on encrypted data, and many parties can collaboratively compute results without learning the input. Analysis of the data processing pipeline allows the system and runtime to assert and verify security properties of the whole application. The final principle is "software-defined hardware." Because designing new embedded device hardware is time consuming, developers rely on general, overkill solutions and ignore the resulting security implications. The data processing pipeline can be compiled into a prototype hardware design and supporting software as well as test cases, diagnostics, and a debugging methodology for a developer to bring up the new device. These principles are grounded in Ravel, a software framework that the team collaborates on, jointly contributes to, and integrates into their courses and curricula on cyberphysical systems.
1505684
Off
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Dutta Prabal
-
National Science Foundation
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1505684&HistoricalAwards=false
Submitted by Dutta Prabal on April 4th, 2016
Event
MoCS 2016
Sixth Workshop on Management of Cloud and Smart City Systems (MoCS 2016) Organized in association with The Twenty-First IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC 2016) Sponsored by IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Communications Society
Submitted by Anonymous on March 25th, 2016
Announcement
Call for Proposals - Global City Teams Challenge Funding Opportunities

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) launched the 2016 Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC; see http://www.nist.gov/cps/sagc.cfm) with a kickoff meeting on November 12-13, 2015, in Gaithersburg, MD. This meeting brought together city planners and representatives from technology companies, academic institutions, and non-profits with the aim of fostering teams that will contribute to an overall vision for Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) - effectively integrating networked information systems, sensing and communication devices, data sources, decision-making, and physical infrastructure to transform communities by improving quality of life, environmental health, social well-being, educational achievement, or overall economic growth and stability.

NIST's GCTC builds upon the National Science Foundation's (NSF) longstanding investments in cyber-physical systems (CPS). NSF established the CPS program in 2008 to develop the principles, methodologies, and tools needed to deeply embed computational intelligence, communications, and control, along with new mechanisms for sensing, actuation, and adaptation, into physical systems. The NSF CPS program, which today includes the participation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Transportation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and National Institutes of Health, has funded a strong portfolio of projects that together have pushed the boundaries of fundamental knowledge and systems engineering in core science and technology areas needed to support an ever-growing set of application domains. CPS investments are enabling systems that are central to emerging S&CC infrastructure and services, including in areas such as intelligent transportation systems (ground, aviation, and maritime), building control and automation, advanced manufacturing (including cyber-manufacturing), healthcare and medical devices, and the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT). Dependability, security, privacy, and safety continue to be central priorities for the program in pursuing the vision of a world in which CPS dramatically improve quality of life. Along the way, the CPS program has also nurtured a vibrant CPS research community.

With this Dear Colleague letter (DCL), NSF is announcing its intention to fund EArly-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) proposals to support NSF researchers participating in the NIST GCTC, with the goal of pursuing novel research on the effective integration of networked computing systems and physical devices that will have significant impact in meeting the challenges of Smart and Connected Communities. Researchers must be members of, or be seeking to establish, GCTC teams that build upon the results of previous or active NSF-funded projects, and must provide evidence of active team membership and participation as part of the submission. [Note that, while this DCL is aligned with NSF’s broader efforts in Smart and Connected Communities (see http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf15120), a key requirement for this DCL is active participation in a GCTC team.] Proposals should emphasize the fundamental research inherent to the real-world problems being addressed; the manner in which the proposed solutions will be adopted by one or more local communities; and the potential challenges with respect to both research and deployment. Successful proposals will quantify the magnitude of potential societal impacts; and will result in transformative, long-term benefits rather than incremental advances. Finally, proposals must address why the work is appropriate for EAGER funding (see details below), including what key risks will be mitigated to facilitate future high-reward advances and why the timing of the project will maximize the potential for success.

The deadline for submission of EAGERs is April 1, 2016, but earlier submissions are encouraged, and decisions will be made on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Submission of EAGER proposals will be via Fastlane or Grants.gov. EAGER submissions should follow the NSF's Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) II.D.2 (see http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg). (As noted in the GPG, EAGER is a funding mechanism for supporting exploratory work in its early stages on untested, but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches. This work may be considered especially "high-risk/high-reward," for example, in the sense that it involves radically different approaches, applies new expertise, or engages novel disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspectives.)

An investigator may be included in only one submission in response to this DCL; if more than one is submitted, only the first one will be considered.

For further information, please contact the cognizant CPS program directors:

  • David Corman, CISE/CNS/CPS, dcorman@nsf.gov
  • Kishan Baheti, ENG/ECCS/EPCN, rbaheti@nsf.gov
  • Sylvia Spengler, CISE/IIS/CPS, sspengle@nsf.gov
  • Gurdip Singh, CISE/CNS/CSR, gsingh@nsf.gov
General Announcement
Not in Slideshow
Submitted by Anonymous on February 12th, 2016
Project
GASP: Geolocated Allergen Sensing Platform
A wide range of health outcomes is affected by air pollution. In March 2014 the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report that in 2012 alone, a staggering 7 million people died as a result of air pollution exposure, one in eight of total global deaths. A major component of this pollution is airborne particulate matter, with approximately 50 million Americans have allergic diseases. This project will develop and field the first integrated IoT in-situ sensor package tracking pollution and pollen to provide airborne particulate mapping for Chattanooga. Longer term it is hoped that the data collection approach and initial visualization tools developed in Chattanooga can be used to support a nationwide, open access dissemination platform on the order of Google's StreetView, but called PollutionView. Such scaling of the project's pilot results through a PollutionView tool will contribute significantly to a transformation of the Environmental Public Health field in the United States. The project involves real-time big data analysis at a fine-grain geographic level. This will involve trades with sensing and computing especially if the sensor package is to be deployed at scale. The project will help determine if real-time allergen collection and visualization can improve health and wellness. Thus, this project will combine Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and gigabit networks to address major health concerns due to air pollution. A working demonstration of this project will be presented during the Global City Teams meeting in June 2015 with an update in June 2016. Airborne particulate matter particularly affects the citizens of Chattanooga, TN. The objectives of this project are twofold: first, to develop and deploy an array of Internet of Things (IoT) in-situ sensors within Chattanooga capable of comprehensively characterizing air quality in real time, including location, temperature, pressure, humidity, the abundance of 6 criterion pollutants (O3, CO, NO, NO2, SO2, and H2S), and the abundance of airborne particulates (10-40 µm), both pollen-sized and smaller PM2.5 (<2.5 µm) particles; and second, to have a pollen validation campaign by deploying an in-situ pollen air sampler in Chattanooga to identify specific pollen types.
1541227
Off
University of Texas at Dallas
David Lary
-
National Science Foundation
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1541227&HistoricalAwards=false
David Lary Submitted by David Lary on December 22nd, 2015
Project
EAGER: Cyber-Physical Fingerprinting for Internet of Things Authentication: Accelerating IoT Research and Education Under the Global City Teams Challenge
Device authentication and identification has been recently cited as one of the most pressing security challenges facing the Internet of things (IoT). In particular, the open-access nature of the IoT renders it highly susceptible to insider attacks. In such attacks, adversaries can capture or forge the identity of the small, resource constrained IoT devices and, thus, bypass conventional authentication methods. Such attacks are challenging to defend against due to the apparent legitimacy of the adversaries' devices. The primary goal of this research is to overcome this challenge by developing new authentication methods that supplement traditional security solutions with cyber-physical fingerprints extracted from the IoT devices' environment. This project will develop a novel machine learning framework that enables the IoT to dynamically identify, classify, and authenticate devices based on their cyber-physical environment and with limited available prior data. This will result in the creation of environment-based IoT device credentials that can serve as a means of attestation, not only on the legitimacy of a device's identity, but also on the validity of the physical environment it claims to monitor and the actions it claims to be performing over time. The framework will also encompass an experimental IoT software platform that will be built to validate the proposed research. Owing to a partnership with the NIST Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) project "Bringing Internet of Things Know-How to High School Students", a collaboration with IoT-DC, Arlington County, VA, and other entities, the proposed research will train high school students, STEM educators, and a broad community on a variety of research topics that will include IoT security, cyber-physical systems, and data analytics. The broader impacts will also include the creation of an interdisciplinary workforce focused on securing tomorrow's smart cities.
1524634
Off
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Walid Saad
-
National Science Foundation
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1524634&HistoricalAwards=false
Submitted by Walid Saad on December 22nd, 2015
Event
IUPT 2016
CALL FOR PAPERS The 6th International Symposium on Internet of Ubiquitous and Pervasive Things (IUPT 2016) To be held in conjunction with Ambient Systems, Networks and Technologies Conference (ANT'16) May 23-26, 2016, Madrid, Spain |  Website: http://cs.adelaide.edu.au/~iupt2016/ IMPORTANT DATES
Submitted by Anonymous on November 10th, 2015
Subscribe to Internet of Things (IoT)