In the current 5G system architecture, the use cases around user plane security enforcement are oriented and limited to security configuration towards the NG-RAN, based on the integrity and/or ciphering protection activation or deactivation in the air interface between user equipment (UE) and gNB. Security features between gNB and User Plane Function (UPF) are optional, configured by the network provider, and there is no end-to-end protection for the user plane data. However, the gNB is more vulnerable to attacks due to its physical location, which leads to data and privacy leakage. Additionally, the mapping from service data flow to QoS flow is mainly based on QoS requirements rather than security, which means the service data flows with similar QoS but different security requirements will be mapped to the same QoS flow and then be processed with the same security protection on the air interface. Moreover, 3GPP only supports coarse-grained Packet Data Unit (PDU) session level integrity protection, i.e., all QoS flows in the same PDU session have to share the same security configuration at the UEgNB interface. This will lead to either high security overhead if only a few QoS flows need protection or inadequate protection if protection is disabled since the majority of the flows do not require it. In this paper, we propose a backward-compatible differentiated (per-QoS flow) end-to-end security mechanism allowing the protection of only those QoS flows that require ciphering and/or integrity protection. The security options can be changed dynamically during the QoS flow lifetime. Our numerical results show that the proposed solution allows us to decrease the computational burden imposed at UE.

In this paper, we propose a new service orchestration approach for in-network fully distributed dynamic compute composition with limited involvement from the consumer and no centralized coordinator. The service is composed fully inside the network including assembling data and software, and compute node selection, leveraging standardized NDN functionalities. The use of the proposed approach will enable smooth support of dynamic compute services over wireless/mobile edge and edge/fog NDN-based systems, where the use of conventional IP approach faces fundamental difficulties related to dynamic allocation of IP addresses. We will also outline extensions of the proposed approach for streaming data, function chaining and re-use of partially computed results. Our numerical results show that the proposed method improves service reliability at the edge by increasing the Interest satisfaction by 5-10 times depending on the considered deployment, network topology, and resources.

With the rapid growth in number of connected devices, edge and fog computing paradigms become promising solutions for handling computation with low latency and reduced bandwidth usage. They allow to execute a computation across IoT devices, e.g., cameras, an edge aggregator/processor, and on the cloud. In this paper, we consider a pervasive computing scenario where end devices such as laptops, smart phones or roadside units are willing to offer compute services along with the traditional infrastructure-based edge computing resources. Our work uses an Information Centric Network (ICN), which is a promising technique for resource-constrained end devices to offload time-sensitive computing tasks to nearby distributed network resources, e.g., to an edge server. We expand the Named Data Networking (NDN), which is an ICN implementation, to operate in a dynamic resource-constrained multi-hop environment and propose i) a fast and efficient capability discovery scheme to assist each node in discovering other nodes’ capabilities in a distributed manner; and ii) efficient schemes for server/path selection, to optimize the end-to-end latency including discovery, data transmission and computation. Our results show that the proposed solutions can improve the total latency by around 50% for most of the tasks.

Edge Computing is a new computing paradigm where applications operate at the network edge, providing low-latency services with augmented user and data privacy. A desirable goal for edge computing is pervasiveness, that is, enabling any capable and authorized entity at the edge to provide desired edge services--pervasive edge computing (PEC). However, efficient access control of users receiving services and edge servers handling user data, without sacrificing performance is a challenge. Current solutions, based on "always-on" authentication servers in the cloud, negate the latency benefits of services at the edge and also do not preserve user and data privacy. In this paper, we present APECS, an advanced access control framework for PEC, which allows legitimate users to utilize any available edge services without need for communication beyond the network edge. The APECS framework leverages multi-authority attribute-based encryption to create a federated authority, which delegates the authentication and authorization tasks to semi-trusted edge servers, thus eliminating the need for an "always-on" authentication server in the cloud. Additionally, APECS prevents access to encrypted content by unauthorized edge servers. We analyze and prove the security of APECS in the Universal Composability framework and provide experimental results on the GENI testbed to demonstrate the scalability and effectiveness of APECS.

In this paper, we propose novel approaches using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, aiming at predicting energy demand for electric vehicle (EV) networks. These methods can learn and find the correlation of complex hidden features to improve the prediction accuracy. First, we propose an energy demand learning (EDL)-based prediction solution in which a charging station provider (CSP) gathers information from all charging stations (CSs) and then performs the EDL algorithm to predict the energy demand for the considered area. However, this approach requires frequent data sharing between the CSs and the CSP, thereby driving communication overhead and privacy issues for the EVs and CSs. To address this problem, we propose a federated energy demand learning (FEDL) approach which allows the CSs sharing their information without revealing real datasets. Specifically, the CSs only need to send their trained models to the CSP for processing. In this case, we can significantly reduce the communication overhead and effectively protect data privacy for the EV users. To further improve the effectiveness of the FEDL, we then introduce a novel clustering- based EDL approach for EV networks by grouping the CSs into clusters before applying the EDL algorithms. Through experimental results, we show that our proposed approaches can improve the accuracy of energy demand prediction up to 24.63% and decrease communication overhead by 83.4% compared with other baseline machine learning algorithms.

To augment capacity of spectrum limited cellular systems, 3GPP proposed Licensed Assisted Access (LAA-LTE) while efforts are underway to standardize the standalone MulteFire (a small cell standalone version of LTE). LAA is expected to boost capacity of LTE via unlicensed spectrum (5GHz). On the other hand, recent advances in Self Interference Suppression (SIS) techniques allow radios to transmit and receive simultaneously on the same channel (i.e., in-band Full-Duplex, FD). As part of future wireless networks, Device-to-device (D2D) communications would find its great potential through this FD capability. However, due to high induced aggregate interference from FD and its impact on medium access probability, the rigorous and critical analysis is needed to find an optimum trade-off between performance efficiency and overheads. Using stochastic geometry and the random graph theory, in this article, we analyze the impact of different LTE network paradigms with HD/FD D2D devices. Moreover, the impact of state- of-the-art coexistence techniques (discontinuous transmission and listen-before-talk) recommended for LTE in unlicensed spectrum over HD/FD D2D network is also discussed. The analysis is supported with extensive simulation results that reveal insights of the coexistence mechanism efficiency employed by LTE, the impact of SIS and the cost of FD operation in D2D.

We develop cognitive resource allocation scheme to mitigate co-tier and cross-tier interference in overlay femtocell networks. By exploiting statistical models for characterizing multitier interference, our scheme avoids prohibitive exchange of realtime interference statistics in the network. The proposed scheme is independently implemented at each femtocell and allocates resources distributedly in response to the probabilistic interference conditions in the network. This “self-organizing” framework can be useful to address interference management in dense, ad-hoc, and consumer-deployed femtocell networks. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can improve the throughput of femtocell links while simultaneously reducing cross-tier interference.

Communication in decentralized wireless networks is limited by interference. Because transmissions typically last for more than a single contention time slot, interference often exhibits a strong statistical dependence over time that results in temporally correlated communication performance. The temporal dependence in interference increases as user mobility decreases and/or the total transmission time increases. We propose a network model that spans the extremes of temporal independence to long-term temporal dependence. Using the proposed model, closed-form single hop communication performance metrics are derived that are asymptotically exact in the low outage regime. The primary contributions are (i) deriving the joint temporal statistics of network interference and showing that it follows a multivariate symmetric alpha stable distribution; (ii) utilizing the joint interference statistics to derive closed-form expressions for local delay, throughput outage probability, and average network throughput; and (iii) using the joint interference statistics to redefine and analyze the network transmission capacity that captures the throughput-delay-reliability tradeoffs in single hop transmissions. Simulation results verify the closed-form expressions derived in this paper and we demonstrate up to 2× gain in network throughput and reliability by optimizing certain parameters of medium access control layer protocol in view of the temporal correlations.

This paper shows how cognitive radio (CR) can help to optimize system power consumption of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication systems. Leveraging results from information theory and capabilities of a CR (e.g., the awareness of the component capabilities and characteristics), a theoretical framework is developed to minimize the system power consumption of MIMO systems while still considering radiated power. This paper mathematically formulates the system power consumption minimization problem under a sum rate constraint for MIMO systems. The impact of channel correlation and partial channel state information at the transmitter is considered. Numerical algorithms are developed to solve the constrained optimization problem. The simulation results show that significant power savings (e.g., up to 75% for a 4 x 4 MIMO system with Class A power amplifiers) can be achieved compared to conventional power allocation schemes. The results also show that the more computationally efficient suboptimal heuristic algorithms can achieve power savings comparable to the exhaustive search algorithm.

The concept of spectrum sensing is, in the broad sense, the ability to detect and interpret other signals in the band and take appropriate actions by implementing adaptive techniques in the upper layers in addition to traditional interference cancellation techniques applied in the PHY layer. In this paper we present algorithms to detect interference from microwave oven for WLAN devices in the 2.4 GHz spectrum and methods to mitigate the impact from the interference. The concept can be extended to other coexistence issues as well as spectrum sharing between primary and secondary users.

In this paper, we show how cognitive radio can help minimize energy consumption of a wireless mobile communication device. We propose an energy optimization framework using cognitive radio for a given quality of service requirement based on the channel and the radio capabilities. The cognitive radio not only adjusts modulation, coding, and radiated power, as with conventional adaptive modulation, but also adjusts component characteristics (e.g., power amplifier characteristics) so that the radio operates with the highest energy efficient possible way. Simulation results show that significant energy savings (up to 75%) can be achieved compared to conventional adaptive modulation. This framework also can be applied to optimize radio operations to achieve additional goals.

Spectrum sensing for interference mitigation is, in the broad sense, the ability to detect and interpret other signals in the band and take appropriate actions by implementing adaptive techniques in the MAC layer in addition to traditional interference cancellation techniques applied in the PHY layer. In this paper we present algorithms to detect interference to WLAN systems in the 2.4 GHz spectrum originating from microwave ovens (MWO) or frequency hopping devices like cordless phone, and methods to mitigate the interference. The concept can be extended to other coexistence issues as well as spectrum sharing between primary and secondary users of a spectrum.

The concept of spectrum sensing is in the broad sense, the ability to detect and interpret other signals in the band and take appropriate actions by implementing adaptive techniques in the MAC layer in addition to traditional interference cancellation techniques applied in the PHY layer. In this paper we present algorithms to detect interference to WLAN systems in the 2.4GHz spectrum originating from microwave ovens or frequency hopping devices like cordless phone, and methods to mitigate the interference. The concept can be extended to other coexistence issues as well as spectrum sharing between primary and secondary users of a spectrum.