Papers by Pietro Paglierani
Secret Underwater Acoustic Key Generation Challenged by Eve's Simulator
IEEE journal of oceanic engineering, 2024
Connecting the new to the past: The Color‐Material‐Finish design approach applied to the Fortezza da Basso
Color research & application/Color research and application, Mar 12, 2024
arXiv (Cornell University), Oct 6, 2023
This paper presents a comprehensive review of the current state of the art in quantum navigation ... more This paper presents a comprehensive review of the current state of the art in quantum navigation systems, with a specific focus on their application in maritime navigation. Quantum technologies have the potential to revolutionise navigation and positioning systems due to their ability to provide highly accurate and secure information. The review covers the principles of quantum navigation and highlights the latest developments in quantum-enhanced sensors, atomic clocks, and quantum communication protocols. The paper also discusses the challenges and opportunities of using quantum technologies in maritime navigation, including the effects that the maritime environment and the specificity of marine applications can have on the performance of quantum sensors. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion on the future of quantum navigation systems and their potential impact on the maritime industry. This review aims at providing a valuable resource for researchers and engineers interested in the development and deployment of quantum navigation systems.
The growing importance of Underwater Networks (UNs) in mission-critical activities at sea enforce... more The growing importance of Underwater Networks (UNs) in mission-critical activities at sea enforces the need for secure Underwater Communications (UCs). Classical encryption techniques can be used to achieve secure data exchange in UNs. However, the advent of Quantum Computing will pose threats to classical cryptography, thus challenging also UCs. Currently, underwater crypto-systems mostly adopt symmetric ciphers, which are considered computationally quantum-robust, but pose the challenge of distributing the secret key upfront. Post-Quantum Public-Key (PQPK) protocols promise to overcome the key distribution problem. The security of PQPK protocols, however, only relies on the assumed computational complexity of some underlying mathematical problems. Moreover, the use of resource hungry PQPK algorithms in resource-constrained environments such as UNs can require non-trivial hardware/software optimization efforts. An alternative approach is underwater Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), which promises unconditional security built upon the physical principles of Quantum Mechanics. This tutorial provides a basic introduction to free-space Underwater QKD (UQKD). At first, the basic concepts of QKD are presented, based on a fully worked out QKD example. A thorough state-of-the-art analysis of UQKD is carried out. The paper subsequently provides a theoretical analysis of the QKD performance through free-space underwater channels, and its dependence on the key optical parameters of the system and seawater. Finally, open challenges, points of strength and perspectives of UQKD are identified and discussed.
In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity in the 5G Era: the 5G ESSENCE Experimental Platform
Currently, there is relentless activity to conduct trials of 5G technology in realistic situation... more Currently, there is relentless activity to conduct trials of 5G technology in realistic situations, targeting use cases that are driven by vertical stakeholders. Aligned with this strand and capitalizing on the recent standardization efforts of 3GPP that recently froze Release 15, we provide overview of an industry grade 5G experimental platform that targets the next generation of In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity (IFEC) services, when considering the airplane as a self-contained edge environment. The platform is developed as part of the 5G ESSENCE project activities. The contributions of this paper are multiple: describe the IFEC market from a general standpoint, show the hardware and software constituents of the 5G platform and present two virtualized services, namely virtualized video transcoding and caching, which are forecast to play an important role for the future of IFEC on commercial flights.
IEEE Photonics Journal
As threats in the maritime domain diversify, securing data transmission becomes critical for unde... more As threats in the maritime domain diversify, securing data transmission becomes critical for underwater wireless networks designed for the surveillance of critical infrastructure and maritime border protection. This has sparked interest in underwater Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). In this paper, we present an FPGA-based real-time implementation of an underwater QKD system based on the BB84 protocol. The QKD unit is built on a hybrid computation system consisting of an FPGA and an on-board computer (OBC) interfaced with optical front-ends. A real-time photon counting module is implemented on FPGA. The transmitter and receiver units are powered with external UPS and all system parameters can be monitored from the connected computers. The system is equipped with a visible laser and an alignment indicator to validate successful manual alignment. Secure key distribution at a rate of 100 qubits per second was successfully tested over a link distance of 7 meters. Index Terms-Quantum key distribution, underwater communication, BB84 protocol. I. INTRODUCTION D ESPITE the increasing deployment of underwater sensor networks (USNs) and a growing relevant literature, cyber security aspects have received relatively low attention. Particularly for maritime applications such as the surveillance of critical infrastructure (i.e., harbors, ports, offshore oil platforms, underwater pipelines etc) and border protection, secure communication is the key to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and authentication of the transmitted information. Some countermeasures for cyber attacks have been investigated for USNs [1]. However, all potential solutions offer only computational security based on some mathematical complexity of the encryption. In the quest for quantum advantage, the realization of sufficiently powerful
The growing importance of Underwater Networks (UNs) in mission-critical activities at sea enforce... more The growing importance of Underwater Networks (UNs) in mission-critical activities at sea enforces the need for secure Underwater Communications (UCs). Classical encryption techniques can be used to achieve secure data exchange in UNs. However, the advent of Quantum Computing will pose threats to classical cryptography, thus challenging also UCs. Currently, underwater crypto-systems mostly adopt symmetric ciphers, which are considered computationally quantum-robust, but pose the challenge of distributing the secret key upfront. A promising approach to overcome the key distribution problem is based on Post-Quantum Public-Key (PQPK) protocols. The security of PQPK protocols, however, only relies on the assumed computational complexity of some underlying mathematical problems. Moreover, the use of resource hungry PQPK algorithms in resource-constrained environments such as UNs can require non-trivial hardware/software optimization efforts. An alternative approach is underwater Quantum ...
2016 European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC), 2016
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has become a widely acclaimed approach to facilitate the ma... more Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has become a widely acclaimed approach to facilitate the management and orchestration of network services. However, after rapidly achieving a widespread success, NFV is now challenged by the overwhelming demand of computing power originated by the never-ending growth of innovative applications coming from the Internet world. To overcome this problem, the use of h/w acceleration combined with NFV has been proposed. This way, the computing performance of commodity servers can be greatly enhanced, without losing the advantages offered by NFV in service management. In this paper, to demonstrate the potentialities of NFV and h/w acceleration, a Virtual Network Function for video coding (video Transcoding Unit-vTU) is presented. The vTU is accelerated by a General Purpose GPU, and is based on Open Source software packages for media processing. The vTU architecture is firstly described in details. A thorough characterization of its computing performance is then reported, and the obtained results are compared to those achieved with non-accelerated and/or non-virtualized versions of the vTU itself. Also, the performance provided by an original, GPU accelerated version of the VP8 encoder is presented. The activities described in this paper have been carried out within the EU FP7 T-NOVA project.
Real-Time Implementation of an Underwater Quantum Key Distribution System
2022 Sixth Underwater Communications and Networking Conference (UComms)
A Secure Cross-Layer Communication Stack for Underwater Acoustic Networks
OCEANS 2021: San Diego – Porto, 2021
Underwater Acoustic Networks (UANs) have long been recognized as an instrumental technology in va... more Underwater Acoustic Networks (UANs) have long been recognized as an instrumental technology in various fields, from ocean monitoring to defense settings. Their security, though, has been scarcely investigated despite the strategic areas involved and the intrinsic vulnerability due to the broadcast nature of the wireless medium. In this work, we focus on attacks for which the attacker has partial or total knowledge of the network protocol stack. Our strategy uses a watchdog layer that allows upper layers to gather knowledge of overheard packets. In addition, a reputation system that is able to label nodes as trustful or suspicious is analyzed and evaluated via simulations. The proposed security mechanism has been implemented in the DESERT Underwater framework and a simulation study is conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed solution against resource exhaustion and sinkhole attacks.
— In this paper, we analyze a real-life application
Are Small Cells and Network Intelligence at the Edge the Drivers for 5G Market Adoption? The SESAME Case
Although 5G promises advanced features such as low latency, high data rates and reliability as we... more Although 5G promises advanced features such as low latency, high data rates and reliability as well as high socio-economic value, the business opportunities of the proposed solutions have not yet been examined. In this paper, the SESAME approach along with spectrum sharing options and indicative use cases are initially described. The incentives for SESAME adoption along with the value proposition and creation are analyzed. Finally, a reference model describing the role and interactions of the involved players as well as the revenue streams is provided.
To respond to the users’ demand for immersive and personalized media services, the 5G and the Mul... more To respond to the users’ demand for immersive and personalized media services, the 5G and the Multi-access Edge Computing initiatives are proposing novel network architectures. In this context, we present the Video Transcoding Unit (VTU) system, which exploiting the Cloud Enable Radio Access Network proposed by the EU 5G-PPP Sesame project, brings immersive video functionalities to the edge of networks, thus greatly improving User Experience with mobile terminals. A use case is discussed, in which the VTU is deployed in a Stadium or in a large public venue during a Crowded Event, to offer Immersive Video Services. In the proposed architecture, the VTU video processing component can be implemented as a Software-only Virtual Network Function running on different Hardware platforms (X86 or ARM architectures), eventually accelerated by a Graphics Processing Unit. Specific tests are described and discussed and specific Key Performance Indicators are introduced, showing the benefits of th...
This paper analyzes the problem of converting Munsell color notations (hue, value and chroma) int... more This paper analyzes the problem of converting Munsell color notations (hue, value and chroma) into CIE 1931 Yxy coordinates using the graphical method outlined in 1943 by the Optical Society of America (OSA). Various software programs can now perform this task, running on computers or color control instruments. Nonetheless, the OSA graphical technique remains the reference procedure to transform Munsell notations into CIE coordinates. The ASTM “Standard Practice for Specifying Color by the Munsell System” provides the data and charts needed to perform such conversion. Accordingly, Munsell value can be easily transformed into CIE luminance Y through a search in a data table. However, a guided procedure to graphically convert hue and chroma into CIE chromaticity coordinates is not available yet. To fill this gap, this paper proposes a graphical technique, which can use simple drawing computer programs such as PowerPoint, or more sophisticated tools for Computer Aided Design or Graphic...
2018 Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exposition (OFC), 2018
The economic feasibility of a 5G media service in converged optical/wireless networks for crowded... more The economic feasibility of a 5G media service in converged optical/wireless networks for crowded events in venues shows a ∼6.5years payback period. Sensitivity analysis highlights the impact of tariffs and CAPEX on net present value.
PCIe-BASED NETWORK ARCHITECTURES OVER OPTICAL FIBER LINKS: AN INSIGHT FROM THE ADVENT PROJECT
PCI Express based innovative architectures designed for datacentre connections are proposed explo... more PCI Express based innovative architectures designed for datacentre connections are proposed exploiting fiber communications for remote very high-speed connectivity. According with the ADVENT project approach a disruptive scenario based on an unique PCIe fabric is described, assuring convergent, storage/analytics functionalities mapped to a global shared memory. In particular, the hardware configuration of this kind of the proposed architecture is presented for inter-host remote communications, showing the intrinsic advantages in terms of connectivity and applications. Moreover, experimentation of PCIe Gen3 interconnections over up to 2-km standard fiber is demonstrated strictly compliant with the standard.
Funding information EC H2020 5G-PPP, Grant/Award Number: 671596 Abstract Fifth generation (5G) en... more Funding information EC H2020 5G-PPP, Grant/Award Number: 671596 Abstract Fifth generation (5G) envisages a “hyperconnected society” with an enormous number of interconnected devices, anywhere and at any time. Edge computing plays a pivotal role in this vision, enabling low latency, large traffic volumes, and improved quality of experience. The advent of 5G and edge computing encourages vertical industries to develop innovative services, which can meet the challenging demands coming from consumers. However, economic feasibility is the ultimate factor that determines the viability of a new service. Hence, effective techniques for the economic assessment of such services are needed. This paper analyzes the provision of immersive media services in crowded events, through a cloud-enabled small cell network owned by a neutral host, and offered in multitenancy to different mobile network operators. We initially develop a planning model to predict the required compute, storage, and radio re...
In this paper, we analyze a real-life application of virtualization: the Italtel Virtual Session ... more In this paper, we analyze a real-life application of virtualization: the Italtel Virtual Session Border Controller (VSBC). The measurements obtained in ad hoc loading experiments show that the VSBC performance is not linear with respect to variations in the call rate. Such a behavior is not in accordance with the theoretical results predicted by standard statistical tools based on queuing theory. As a consequence, particular attention must be paid to accurately assess the VSBC performance, because inaccurate estimates could lead to undue costs, or under-performing solutions. To overcome this problem, a novel approach to accurately predict the VSBC performance is proposed, which allows optimizing the system behavior and minimizing its costs. Keywords-Virtualization; Telephony; SBC; RTP; Erlang.
Security is an important service of Underwater Acoustic Networks (UANs). In this work, we investi... more Security is an important service of Underwater Acoustic Networks (UANs). In this work, we investigate the impact of four different replay attacks and propose two counteracting methods. The first method is based on the observation of the packet generation timestamp and the second method uses the HASH value of the packet generation timestamp combined with the address of the source node. These two methods are implemented between the routing and Media Access Control (MAC) layers of the DESERT communications protocol stack. Our simulation results show that the proposed countermeasures almost neutralise the attacks for two different network topologies.
The exponential growth of video traffic and the outburst of novel video-based services is reveali... more The exponential growth of video traffic and the outburst of novel video-based services is revealing the inadequacy of the traditional mobile network infrastructure. To respond to this and to many other demands coming from today’s society, the 5G and the Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) initiatives are proposing novel network architectures. In this context, this paper proposes the Video Transcoding Unit (VTU) application, which, leveraging on MEC principles, brings several functionalities to the edge of networks, greatly improving User Experience with mobile terminals. The VTU can be implemented as a SW (Software)-only Virtual Network Function, or be accelerated by a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Specific tests are described and discussed, showing the clear superiority of the HW (Hardware)-accelerated implementation in terms of computing performance and efficiency. A possible use case is presented, in which the VTU is used in a Stadium or in large public venues during crowded even...
Uploads
Papers by Pietro Paglierani