DDPG-based data collection for AoI in multi-UAV-assisted IoT networks

DaaS: Towards Energy-Efficient Data Collection Optimization for Data as a Service in IoT networks

This paper aims to advance the field of data anonymization within the context of Internet of Things (IoT), an environment where data collected may contain sensitive information about users. Specifically, we propose a privacy-preserving data publishing alternative that extends the privacy requirement to the data collection phase. Because our proposal offers privacy-preserving conditions in both the data collecting and publishing, it is suitable for scenarios where a central node collects personal data supplied by a set of devices, typically associated with individuals, without these having to assume trust in the collector. In particular, to limit the risk of individuals' re-identification, the probabilistic k-anonymity property is satisfied during the data collection process and the k-anonymity property is satisfied by the data set derived from the anonymization process. To carry out the anonymous sending of personal data during the collection process, we introduce the delocalized-record chain, a new mechanism of anonymous communication aimed at multi-user environments to collaboratively protect information, which by not requiring third-party intermediaries makes it especially suitable for private IoT networks (besides public IoT networks).

Internet of Things network being recently implemented in a wide variety of domains of human activities consists of multiple sensor nodes and mobile network supporting communications between the nodes and base station. Data collected by mobile devices is becoming more dynamic and complex. While solving the task of data collection in a dynamic network it becomes necessary to find the optimal balance of security, data transmission network latency and energy consumption. Taking these requirements into account a method for cluster heads selection and data collection model based on a modified LEACH-M routing protocol were developed and presented in this paper. Proposed approach ensures both secure selection of the cluster heads when collecting data and energy efficient routing. The model was evaluated by using various performance metrics such as security of data collection by cluster heads, power consumption, number of active nodes and network latency. According to the simulation results the performance of the proposed clustering model is better than that of the existing clustering models in several aspects.

This paper investigates the energy transfer and data collection problem of multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted wireless-powered Internet of Things (IoT) networks. To ensure information freshness for IoT devices and reduce UAVs’ energy consumption, we minimize the average Age of Information (AoI) of IoT devices by jointly optimizing the energy harvesting (EH) and data collection time for IoT devices, the selection of data collection points (DCPs), DCP-IoT associations, and task assignment, flight speed, and trajectories of UAVs, subject to the limited endurance of UAVs. As this problem is nonconvex, we propose a novel DCP association and trajectory-planning scheme that seeks age-optimal solutions through an iterative three-step process. First, we calculate the EH and data collection time for IoT devices using Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions. Then, we introduce an optimal hovering time allocation-based affinity propagation (OHTAP) clustering algorithm to determine optimal DCP locations and establish DCP-IoT associations. Finally, we develop two algorithms to optimize UAVs’ trajectories: an improved partheno-genetic algorithm with enhancement mechanisms (EIPGA) and a hybrid algorithm that combines improved MinMax k-means clustering with EIPGA. Numerical results confirm that our scheme consistently outperforms benchmark schemes in AoI performance and solution stability across diverse scenarios.

The Internet of Things (IoT) represents a major change in sensor data collection. It is predicted that 50 billion devices will produce a large amount of data by 2020. This data needs to be stored efficiently so that it can be efficiently retrieved on demand for real-time application. Most of the Cloud-IoT solutions focus on centralized data collection and storage which is not appropriate for efficient data collection and utilization. For addressing such diverse set of requirements,resources are placed near to the data sources for processing and fast real-time decision making instead of sending all the data to the Cloud. The gateway is such a type of edge device that collects data from smart sensors, but it does not have any pre-processing or decision-making capabilities. Therefore, the gateway has to be made smarter with Fog capabilities and named as Fog Smart Gateway(FSG). We represent the distributed Cloud-IoT solution where data optimally distributed among mini-clouds/Fog nodes. The processing of IoT traffic is taken care of by Virtual Machines(VMs) facilitated by distributed mini-clouds/Fog nodes and located within the edge devices. We optimized the number of mini-clouds placement to reduce the total latency and power consumption induced by traffic aggregation and processing. However, there has been little research on fog node placement. Our results show that the optimal distribution of mini-clouds in the IoT network could yield a total energy saving and reduction in latency compared to processing IoT data in a conventional cloud system.

Building Energy Management System (BEMS) is a vital approach in constructing a global energy-efficient environment. It can be operated by analyzing data collected from sensors located in designated indoor areas. The key is to improve the data processing results while reducing the total data processing/communication volume required in the whole Internet of Things (IoT) networks as much as possible. In this work, a novel in-network self-learning algorithm for BEMS through a collaborative Fog platform is proposed. In particular, we devise an emerging Fog computing enabled IoT network architecture, where most of data can be processed in the Sensor-to-Fog and Fog-to-Fog layers. Data processing on Cloud is only required if anomalous sensor data are detected, and thus, the energy consumption due to heavy data processing on Cloud will be significantly reduced. The proposed algorithm makes the best use of Fog node capability to realize distributed data collection and processing. Via Fog-to-Fog connections, it can examine the sensor data by collecting them from different search ranges, whose values are meanwhile optimized. Numerical experiments conducted in a real indoor environment demonstrate that our algorithm achieve a high prediction accuracy for anomaly detection even with relatively small sensor data for processing. The effectiveness of Fog node placement is also verified. The overall scheme is expected to be a feasible solution to construct a cost-effective IoT network to minimize energy consumption while maximizing the indoor user's comfort, from the perspective of achieving a high prediction accuracy in BEMS data monitoring.

The proliferation of the internet of things (IoT) has significantly enhanced the convenience and functionality of various applications ranging from personal devices to industrial systems. However, this expansion has also escalated the vulnerability of these networks to sophisticated malware attacks, posing a critical threat to the security and reliability of IoT systems. This chapter introduces an innovative defense framework based on the local outlier factor (LOF) technique for effective malware detection in IoT networks. The framework employs a systematic approach, starting from data collection and preprocessing to the application of LOF for anomaly detection. The research demonstrates through empirical analysis that the LOF-based method outperforms traditional malware detection techniques, offering higher precision, recall, and lower false positive rates. The comparative analysis with existing IoT malware detection methods such as Mobile-net IoT and Image-net IoT further validates the superiority of the LOF approach.

The Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge Computing (EC) are now pervasive. IoT networks are made up of several objects, deployed in an area of interest (AoI), that can communicate with each other and with a remote computing centre for decision-making. EC reduces latency and data congestion by bringing data processing closer to the source. In this paper, we address the problems of network coverage and data collection in IoT-based EC networks. Several solutions exist designed to solve these problems unfortunately, they are either not energy-efficient or do not consider connectivity and they do not cover AoI. The proposed routing mechanisms are often not suited for AoI coverage schemes and lead to poor data routing delay or high packet losses. To address these shortcomings, we propose ATENA, a periodic, lightweight and energy-efficient protocol that aims to improve network coverage based on the two new schemes used to define a few number of objects to be kept awake at each period it also uses an adaptive routing scheme to send the collected data to the computing centre. This protocol is designed to take into account the limited resources of objects and ensures a longer network lifetime. A comparison of ATENA’s simulation results with recent existing protocols shows that it significantly improves network coverage, network lifetime and end-to-end delay to the computing centre.

Abstract: This review paper offers a comprehensive exploration of the multifaceted applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in various domains, showcasing their transformative impact in addressing complex challenges. The evaluation of cloud-based UAV systems' stability reveals their robustness and reliability, underlining their significance in numerous industries. Additionally, their role in enhancing robot navigation in intricate environments signifies a substantial advancement in robotics and automation. The integration of blockchain technology for secure Internet of Things (IoT) data transfer emphasizes the critical importance of data integrity and confidentiality in the IoT era. Furthermore, the optimization of energy-efficient data collection in IoT networks through UAVs demonstrates their potential to revolutionize data-driven decision-making processes, particularly in fields reliant on data accuracy and timeliness. The paper also highlights the application of deep reinforcement learning to enhance UAV-assisted IoT data collection, showcasing the synergy between advanced machine learning techniques and UAV technology. Finally, the discussion underscores the pivotal role of UAVs in precision agriculture, where they facilitate ecological farming practices and monitor environmental conditions, contributing to the pursuit of sustainable and efficient agriculture. This review reaffirms UAVs' status as transformative tools, reshaping industries and unlocking new frontiers of innovation and problem-solving. With ongoing technological advancements, UAVs are poised to play an increasingly central role in a wide range of applications, promising a future marked by ground breaking possibilities. Key findings include the dominance of the United States and China in the field, exploration of characteristics such as crop production, and innovative UAV-based methods for grassland mapping, maize growth assessment, and Arctic plant species monitoring. The research underscores the potential of UAVs in bridging field data and satellite mapping, providing valuable insights into diverse applications, from soil analysis to yield predictions, highlighting their transformative role in environmental monitoring and precision agriculture

Internet of Things (IoT) technology has been incorporated into the majority of people’s everyday lives and places of employment due to the quick development in information technology. Modern agricultural techniques increasingly use the well-known and superior approach of managing a farm known as “smart farming”. Utilizing a variety of information and agricultural technologies, crops are observed for their general health and productivity. This requires monitoring the condition of field crops and looking at many other indicators. The goal of smart agriculture is to reduce the amount of money spent on agricultural inputs while keeping the quality of the final product constant. The Internet of Things (IoT) has made smart agriculture possible through data collection and storage techniques. For example, modern irrigation systems use effective sensor networks to collect field data for the best plant irrigation. Smart agriculture will become more susceptible to cyber-attacks as its reliance on the IoT ecosystem grows, because IoT networks have a large number of nodes but limited resources, which makes security a difficult issue. Hence, it is crucial to have an intrusion detection system (IDS) that can address such challenges. In this manuscript, an IoT-based privacy-preserving anomaly detection model for smart agriculture has been proposed. The motivation behind this work is twofold. Firstly, ensuring data privacy in IoT-based agriculture is of the utmost importance due to the large volumes of sensitive information collected by IoT devices, including on environmental conditions, crop health, and resource utilization data. Secondly, the timely detection of anomalies in smart agriculture systems is critical to enable proactive interventions, such as preventing crop damage, optimizing resource allocation, and ensuring sustainable farming practices. In this paper, we propose a privacy-encoding-based enhanced deep learning framework for the difficulty of data encryption and intrusion detection. In terms of data encoding, a novel method of a sparse capsule-auto encoder (SCAE) is proposed along with feature selection, feature mapping, and feature normalization. An SCAE is used to convert information into a new encrypted format in order to prevent deduction attacks. An attention-based gated recurrent unit neural network model is proposed to detect the intrusion. An AGRU is an advanced version of a GRU which is enhanced by an attention mechanism. In the results section, the proposed model is compared with existing deep learning models using two public datasets. Parameters such as recall, precision, accuracy, and F1-score are considered. The proposed model has accuracy, recall, precision, and F1-score of 99.9%, 99.7%, 99.9%, and 99.8%, respectively. The proposed method is compared using a variety of machine learning techniques such as the deep neural network (DNN), convolutional neural network (CNN), recurrent neural network (RNN), and long short-term memory (LSTM).

The explosive growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has generated considerable data in diverse networks. This poses serious challenges in collecting timely information and managing frequency resources optimally. In particular, unauthorized access, measurement constraints, and variable channel conditions cause interference, performance degradation, and security compromise, especially in distributed IoT systems. This research presents a comprehensive system for improving data collection in heterogeneous IoT networks. Using complex mathematical models and machine learning algorithms, the system aims to increase the efficiency of frequency resource utilization and reduce interference in network access. A Q-based reinforcement learning method is designed along with an intelligent MAC protocol. Simulation results show that this method increases channel utilization efficiency by 25%, reduces interference probability by 30% compared to traditional methods such as ALOHA, and provides a flexible and scalable solution for frequency resource management. The performance of the proposed system is significantly better than traditional methods, increasing channel utilization efficiency by 25% and reducing the probability of interference by 30%. The system's self-learning capability enables effective frequency resource management even in complex and dense environments. This research presents an innovative method for data collection in IoT networks that combines machine learning and mathematical modeling, providing a secure and scalable solution for the next generation of heterogeneous networks. This system paves the way for designing more stable and efficient networks in various fields, including smart cities and industries.

Block-HRG: Block-based differentially private IoT networks release

A UAV-assisted CH election framework for secure data collection in wireless sensor networks

Thanks to smart manufacturing and artificial intelligence technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are envisioned to play a critical role in future Internet of things (IoT) networks to execute data collection tasks. In this article, we leverage age of information (AoI) to measure the freshness of data packets received by the UAV from IoT sensors. Considering the heterogeneity of IoT devices, we aim to minimize the weighted sum AoI by jointly optimizing the UAV's trajectory and IoT devices association in UAV-assisted IoT networks, where the UAV's cumulative propulsion energy cost is limited by the battery capacity. Since the optimization object is confined by a set of short-term constraints and a long-term constraint, this problem is modeled as a constrained Markov decision process (CMDP). We leverage safe actor-critic (Safe-AC) to solve the CMDP. To satisfy the mixed constraints, the safe policy set of Safe-AC is induced by a Lyapunov function, thereafter, a policy distillation technology is leveraged to search the optimal policy. Experimental results indicate that our proposed scheme can strictly satisfy the propulsion energy cost budget requirement at the expense of around 2% loss of the reward compared to baseline methods.

With the growth of wireless network technology-based devices, identifying the communication behaviour of wireless connectivity enabled devices, e.g. Internet of Things (IoT) devices, is one of the vital aspects, in managing and securing IoT networks. Initially, devices use frames to connect to the access point on the local area network and then, use packets of typical communication protocols through the access point to communicate over the Internet. Toward this goal, network packet and IEEE 802.11 media access control (MAC) frame analysis may assist in managing IoT networks efficiently, and allow investigation of inclusive behaviour of IoT devices. This paper presents network traffic traces data of D-Link IoT devices from packet and frame levels. Data collection experiment has been conducted in the Network Systems and Signal Processing (NSSP) laboratory at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). All the required devices, such as IoT devices, workstation, smartphone, laptop, USB Ethernet adapter, and USB WiFi adapter, have been configured accordingly, to capture and store network traffic traces of the 14 IoT devices in the laboratory. These IoT devices were from the same manufacture (D-Link) with different types, such as camera, home-hub, door-window sensor, and smart-plug.