Papers by João Paulo Barraca
Widespread use of free/libre/open source software (FLOSS) in European funded projects is vital to... more Widespread use of free/libre/open source software (FLOSS) in European funded projects is vital to innovation transfer, but often, such software doesn’t enter general use. Legal issues, lack of business drivers, incomplete documentation and lack of knowledge about FLOSS are some of the most common reasons for this. PROSE, an EU-funded project tasked with promoting FLOSS, aims to provide a common cloud platform on which open source projects can be hosted and information shared. But how would such a platform work? And what would be its main requirements and features? PROSE turned to ICT FP7 participants for answers
Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy V, 2018
The international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project to build two radio interferometers is appr... more The international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project to build two radio interferometers is approaching the end of its design phase, and gearing up for the beginning of formal construction. A key part of this distributed Observatory is the overall software control system: the Telescope Manager (TM). The two telescopes, a Low frequency dipole array to be located in Western Australia (SKA-Low) and a Mid-frequency dish array to be located in South Africa (SKA-Mid) will be operated as a single Observatory, with its global headquarters (GHQ) based in the United Kingdom at Jodrell Bank. When complete it will be the most powerful radio observatory in the world. The TM software must combine the observatory operations based at the GHQ with the monitor and control operations of each telescope, covering the range of domains from proposal submission to the coordination and monitoring of the subsystems that make up each telescope. It must also monitor itself and provide a reliable operating platform. This paper will provide an update on the design status of TM, covering the make-up of the consortium delivering the design, a brief description of the key challenges and the top level architecture, and its software development plans for
— This paper describes the Ad-hoc network integration architecture being developed inside the IST... more — This paper describes the Ad-hoc network integration architecture being developed inside the IST project Daidalos. This architecture supports the efficient delivery of services, unicast and multicast, legacy and multimedia, to users connected to the ad-hoc network. For this purpose, several functionalities need to be in place. First, efficient routing and mobility mechanisms are proposed to enable mobility of users inside and between ad-hoc networks with decreased overhead. Second, distributed QoS mechanisms need to be developed to support service differentiation and resources control responsive to nodes mobility. Finally, security, charging and rewarding mechanisms are proposed to guarantee that only authorized users access the requested services, to increase the operators interest, and to ensure the correct behaviour of the users in the ad-hoc network.
Cloud-Centric Networking Using Virtualization and Resource Sharing
User-Centric and Information-Centric Networking and Services, 2019
Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy V, 2018
The SKA project is an international effort (10 member and 10 associated countries with the involv... more The SKA project is an international effort (10 member and 10 associated countries with the involvement of 100 companies and research institutions) to build the world's largest radio telescope. The SKA Telescope Manager (TM) is the core package of the SKA Telescope aimed at scheduling observations, controlling their execution, monitoring the telescope and so on. To do that, TM directly interfaces with the Local Monitoring and Control systems (LMCs) of the other SKA Elements (e.g. Dishes), exchanging commands and data with them by using the TANGO controls framework. TM in turn needs to be monitored and controlled, in order its continuous and proper operation is ensured. This higher responsibility together with others like collecting and displaying logging data to operators, performing lifecycle management of TM applications, directly dealwhen possible-with management of TM faults (which also includes a direct handling of TM status and performance data) and interfacing with the virtualization platform compose the TM Services (SER) package that is discussed and presented in the present paper.
Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy V, 2018
The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) Telescope, is an ongoing project set to start its building phase... more The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) Telescope, is an ongoing project set to start its building phase in 2019 and achieve first light in 2022. The first part of the project, the SKA1 will be comprised of 130.000 low frequency antennas (50 MHz to 350 MHz) and approximately 200 mid frequency antennas (350 MHz to 15.5 GHz). The SKA1 will produce a raw data rate of~10 Tb/s, requiring a computing power of 100 Pflop/s and an archiving capacity of hundreds of PB/year. The next phase of the project, the SKA2, is expected to increase the number of both low and mid antennas by a factor of 10 and increase the computing requirements accordingly. The key requirements for the project are a very demanding availability of 99.9% for its operations, computing scalability and scientific outcome reproducibility. Focusing on the SKA Telescope Manager requirements and architecture, we propose an approach to enforce these requirements-with an optimal use of resources-by using highly distributed computing and virtualization technologies.
We describe an intelligent lighting solution suitable for public spaces. The proposed design opti... more We describe an intelligent lighting solution suitable for public spaces. The proposed design optimally combines sensor information, LED based lighting, and dynamic control. Departing from this set of starting objectives, project LITES (funded by the EC CIP-ICT-PSP framework) proposed the development of an intelligent lighting solution suitable for public street lighting. This solution was based on the usage of motion sensors as means to control the luminous flow. Following this approach, the lighting necessities are adapted to the actual necessities, thus enabling to reduce energy spent on lighting. The solution was designed to be compliant with enforced EU lighting regulations [1, 2] demanding a minimum lighting flux due to security reasons, and was tested under real live scenarios in three pilots spread on the European space (Municipality of Bordeaux, Riga Technical University and Universidade de Aveiro). This paper focus on the results achieved by the pilot installed in the Unive...
Fast Mobility in proactive routing protocols
ABSTRACT This paper presents an innovative extension to routing protocols using a back-tracing te... more ABSTRACT This paper presents an innovative extension to routing protocols using a back-tracing technique to improve performance of handovers in wireless mesh networks. The main purpose of this extension is to minimize disconnection time and packets losses when mobility occurs. The proposed scheme requires some minor changes to the original proactive ad-hoc routing protocol, but does not impose any modification to the current IEE 802.11 MAC protocol. Some additional changes are also required to the handover signalling, in order to better optimize the process. The back-tracing mechanism is also able to reach route convergence to a minimum route length maintaining the throughput of data packets. The results of the proposed extension show that it is able to maintain the network throughput in wireless mesh networks during mobility, minimizing the packet losses.
Advances in Space Research, 2021
Radio astronomy and Space Infrastructures in the Azores have a great scientific and industrial in... more Radio astronomy and Space Infrastructures in the Azores have a great scientific and industrial interest because they benefit from a unique geographical location in the middle of the North Atlantic allowing a vast improvement in the sky coverage. This fact obviously has a very high added value for: i) the establishment of space tracking and communications networks for the emergent global small satellite fleets ii) it is invaluable to connect the radio astronomy infrastructure networks in Africa, Europe and America continents using Very Large Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) techniques, iii) it allows excellent potential for monitoring space debris and Near Earth Objects (NEOs). There is in S. Miguel island a 32-metre SATCOM antenna that could be integrated in advanced VLBI networks and be capable of additional Deep Space Network ground support. This paper explores the space science opportunities offered by the upgrade of the S. Miguel 32-metre SATCOM antenna into a world-class infrastructure for radio astronomy and space exploration: it would enable a Deep Space Network mode and would constitute a key space facility for data production, promoting local digital infrastructure investments and the testing of cutting-edge information technologies. Its Atlantic location also enables improvements in angular resolution, provides many baseline in East-West and North-South directions connecting the emergent VLBI stations in America to Europe and Africa VLBI arrays therefore contributing for greater array imaging capabilities especially for sources or well studied fields close to or below the celestial equator, where ESO facilities, ALMA, SKA and its precursors do or will operate and observe in the coming decades.
Sensors, 2021
Physical activity contributes to the maintenance of health conditions and functioning. However, t... more Physical activity contributes to the maintenance of health conditions and functioning. However, the percentage of older adults who comply with the recommendations for physical activity levels is low when compared to the same percentages on younger groups. The SmartWalk system aims to encourage older adults to perform physical activity (i.e., walking in the city), which is monitored and adjusted by healthcare providers for best results. The study reported in this article focused on the implementation of SmartWalk security services to keep personal data safe during communications and while at rest, which were validated considering a comprehensive use case. The security framework offers various mechanisms, including an authentication system that was designed to complement the pairs of usernames and passwords with trusted execution environments and token-based features, authorization with different access levels, symmetric and asymmetric key cryptography, critical transactions review, a...
Virtual Networking for Lowering Cost of Ownership
Enabling 6G Mobile Networks, 2021
5G and beyond mobile networks hold the promise of supporting a vast emergence of new services and... more 5G and beyond mobile networks hold the promise of supporting a vast emergence of new services and increased traffic growth. This represents a challenge for mobile networks operators, which are faced with the pressure of providing a variety of these services according to the stringent requirements of future mobile network generations, while still being able to (i) preserve service resilience, (ii) sustain profitability by reducing costs, and (iii) ensuring minimal energy consumption in the infrastructure. Fortunately, emerging 5G and beyond networks are expected to adopt increasingly prominent technological drivers that can tackle the above challenges by pushing the planning and management operations logic to the limit
Communication technologies for Smart Water Grid applications: Overview, opportunities, and research directions
Computer Networks, 2021
Sensors, 2021
IoT platforms have become quite complex from a technical viewpoint, becoming the cornerstone for ... more IoT platforms have become quite complex from a technical viewpoint, becoming the cornerstone for information sharing, storing, and indexing given the unprecedented scale of smart services being available by massive deployments of a large set of data-enabled devices. These platforms rely on structured formats that exploit standard technologies to deal with the gathered data, thus creating the need for carefully designed customised systems that can handle thousands of heterogeneous data sensors/actuators, multiple processing frameworks, and storage solutions. We present the SCoT2.0 platform, a generic-purpose IoT Platform that can acquire, process, and visualise data using methods adequate for both real-time processing and long-term Machine Learning (ML)-based analysis. Our goal is to develop a large-scale system that can be applied to multiple real-world scenarios and is potentially deployable on private clouds for multiple verticals. Our approach relies on extensive service containe...
Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks, 2020
5G systems are putting increasing pressure on Telecom operators to enhance users’ experience, lea... more 5G systems are putting increasing pressure on Telecom operators to enhance users’ experience, leading to the development of more techniques with the aim of improving service quality. However, it is essential to take into consideration not only users’ demands but also service providers’ interests. In this work, we explore policies that satisfy both views. We first formulate a mathematical model to compute End-to-End (E2E) delay experienced by mobile users in Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) environments. Then, dynamic Virtual Machine (VM) allocation policies are presented, with the objective of satisfying mobile users Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, while optimally using the cloud resources by exploiting VM resource reuse.Thus, maximizing the service providers’ profit should be ensured while providing the service required by users. We further demonstrate the benefits of these policies in comparison with previous works.
Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management, 2021
Aim/Purpose: In this work, the authors propose an augmented model for human-centered Unified Comm... more Aim/Purpose: In this work, the authors propose an augmented model for human-centered Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C) product design and evaluation, which is supported by previous theoretical work. Background: Although the goal of implementing UC&C in an organization is to promote and mediate group dynamics, increasing overall productivity and collaboration; it does not seem to provide a solution for effective communication. It is clear that there is still a lack of consideration for human communication processes in the development of such products. Methodology: This paper is sustained by existing research to propose and test the application of an augmented model capable of supporting the design, development and evaluation of UC&C services that can be driven by the human communication process. To test the application of the augmented model in UC&C service development, a proof-of-concept mobile prototype was elaborated upon and evaluated, making use of User Experience (U...
MTD to set network slice security as a KPI
Internet Technology Letters, 2020
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a higher‐level characterization of the performance of a net... more Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a higher‐level characterization of the performance of a network slice, meant to be assessable at any time. Bodies such as the GSM Alliance have proposed the use of KPIs, including, but not limited to, latency, throughput, power consumption, and security. However, while latency, throughput, and power consumption are mensurable universally, security is much harder to measure. In this article, we propose using a Moving Target Defense (MTD) approach and measurable network properties to establish a new straightforward network security metric for underlying resilience against network‐centric attacks. We called it DynSec, a comprehensive model for basic network security within the network slice. Monte Carlo experimentation showed that DynSec is accurate and suitable as a KPI.
Cluster Computing, 2020
Current epidemiological changes promote a trend toward distributed care provision in the communit... more Current epidemiological changes promote a trend toward distributed care provision in the community. Digital platforms allowing the exchange of patient information are essential in optimizing community care. However, these digital platforms should present trustworthy environments. This article reports a study aiming to implement and evaluate a Logging Service based on blockchain technologies to guarantee the integrity of the activity logs of the Social Cooperation for Integrated Assisted Living platform. This platform of services was developed to support integrated care and assistance of communitydwelling older adults and uses the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources to promote information interoperability.
A Parser to Support the Definition of Access Control Policies and Rules Using Natural Languages
Journal of Medical Systems, 2019
As a consequence of the epidemiological transition towards non-communicable diseases, integrated ... more As a consequence of the epidemiological transition towards non-communicable diseases, integrated care approaches are required, not solely focused on medical purposes, but also on a range of essential activities for the maintenance of the individuals’ quality of life. In order to allow the exchange of information, these integrated approaches might be supported by digital platforms, which need to provide trustful environments and to guarantee the integrity of the information exchanged. Therefore, together with mechanisms such as authentication, logging or auditing, the definition of access control policies assumes a paramount importance. This article focuses on the development of a parser as a component of a platform to support the care of community-dwelling older adults, the SOCIAL platform, to allow the definition of access control policies and rules using natural languages.
Human-Centric Design of Unified Communications
International Journal of e-Collaboration, 2018
This article describes a co-design process in the context of user experience (UX) and usability t... more This article describes a co-design process in the context of user experience (UX) and usability testing and analysis of a first proof of concept of e-collaboration features based on unified communications, co-designed within an organization aiming to optimize users' communication cognitive load. An initial digital prototype with a detailed graphical interface, and simulated user narratives was established and the qualitative validation process is described and discussed. The implemented R&D process is mainly supported on user-centred design (UCD) methodology, namely action research with service design thinking method and co-design techniques. Qualitative data was gathered with concurrent think-aloud activities (CTA) stimulated by user experience expectation questions, observation notes, with integration in an eye tracking technology system. The UCD process and results are discussed, substantiating the added value due to the individual contributions and consequent usefulness of a...
Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, 2018
Large-scale distributed computing environments provide a vast amount of heterogeneous computing r... more Large-scale distributed computing environments provide a vast amount of heterogeneous computing resources from different sources for resource sharing and distributed computing. Discovering appropriate resources in such environments is a challenge which involves several different subjects. In this paper, we provide an investigation on the current state of resource discovery protocols, mechanisms, and platforms for large-scale distributed environments, focusing on the design aspects. We classify all related aspects, general steps, and requirements to construct a novel resource discovery solution in three categories consisting of structures, methods, and issues. Accordingly, we review the literature, analyzing various aspects for each category.
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Papers by João Paulo Barraca