A lightweight and secure online/offline cross-domain authentication scheme for VANET systems in Industrial IoT

In heterogeneous wireless networks, the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is an essential contributor to increasing productivity and effectiveness. However, in various domains, such as industrial wireless scenarios, small cell domains, and vehicular ad hoc networks, an efficient and stable authentication algorithm is required (VANET). Specifically, IoT vehicles deal with vast amounts of data transmitted between VANET entities in different domains in such a large-scale environment. Also, crossing from one territory to another may have the connectivity services down for a while, leading to service interruption because it is pervasive in remote areas and places with multipath obstructions. Hence, it is vulnerable to specific attacks (e.g., replay attacks, modification attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and insider attacks), making the system inefficient. Also, high processing data increases the computation and communication cost, leading to an increased workload in the system. Thus, to solve the above issues, we propose an online/offline lightweight authentication scheme for the VANET cross-domain system in IIoT to improve the security and efficiency of the VANET. The proposed scheme utilizes an efficient AES-RSA algorithm to achieve integrity and confidentiality of the message. The offline joining is added to avoid remote network intrusions and the risk of network service interruptions. The proposed work includes two different significant goals to achieve first, then secure message on which the data is transmitted and efficiency in a cryptographic manner. The Burrows Abdi Needham (BAN logic) logic is used to prove that this scheme is mutually authenticated. The system’s security has been tested using the well-known AVISPA tool to evaluate and verify its security formally. The results show that the proposed scheme outperforms the ID-CPPA, AAAS, and HCDA schemes by 53%, 55%, and 47% respectively in terms of computation cost, and 65%, 83%, and 40% respectively in terms of communication cost.

A Fault Diagnostic Scheme for Predictive Maintenance of AC/DC Converters in MV/LV Substations

The reliability of systems and components is a fundamental need for the efficient development of a smart distribution grid. In fact, the presence of a fault in one component of the grid could potentially lead to a service interruption and loss of profit. Since faults cannot be avoided, the introduction of a diagnostic scheme could predict the fault of a component in order to carry out predictive maintenance. In this framework, this paper proposes a novel Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI) scheme for AC/DC converters in MV/LV substations. In order to improve the reliability of the FDI procedure, the system architecture includes also an Instrument Fault Detection and Isolation section for identifying faults that could occur on the instruments and sensors involved in the monitoring process of the AC/DC converter. The proposed architecture is scalable, easily upgradable, and uses cost-effective sensors. Tests, carried out on a real test site, have demonstrated the efficacy of the proposal showing very good IFDI diagnostic performance for the 12 types of faults tested. Furthermore, as the FDI diagnostic performance regards, it shows a detection rate close to 100%.

The Smart Meter Challenge: Feasibility of Autonomous Indoor IoT Devices Depending on Its Energy Harvesting Source and IoT Wireless Technology

Most smart meters are connected and powered by the electric mains, requiring the service interruption and qualified personnel for their installation. Wireless technologies and energy harvesting techniques have been proved as alternatives for communications and power supply, respectively. In this work, we analyse the energy consumption of the most used IoT wireless technologies nowadays: Sigfox, LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, Wi-Fi, BLE. Smart meters’ energy consumption accounts for metering, standby and communication processes. Experimental measurements show that communication consumption may vary upon the specific characteristics of each wireless communication technology—payload, connection establishment, transmission time. Results show that the selection of a specific technology will depend on the application requirements (message payload, metering period) and location constraints (communication range, infrastructure availability). Besides, we compare the performance of the most suitable energy harvesting (EH) techniques for smart meters: photovoltaic (PV), radiofrequency (RF) and magnetic induction (MIEH). Thus, EH technique selection will depend on the availability of each source at the smart meter’s location. The most appropriate combination of IoT wireless technology and EH technique must be selected accordingly to the very use case requirements and constraints.

Resilience of Interdependent Water and Power Systems: A Literature Review and Conceptual Modeling Framework

As increasing pressures of population growth and climate change arise, water and power systems (WPS) are becoming increasingly interdependent. This interdependency has resulted in an increased potential for cascading failures, whereby the service interruption of one system can propagate to interdependent ones. This paper makes four contributions. First, we present an extensive literature review in the field of integrated water and power resilience, leveraging both institutional and technical literature research landscapes. We compare various modeling approaches used to model interdependent WPS and discuss the different metrics and definitions that are typically employed to quantify and define resilience. Relevant challenges and gaps related to modeling tools and metrics are also discussed, and appropriate recommendations are made. Second, the paper presents a visualization prototype for interdependent WPS to showcase water and power system interdependencies and reveal co-managed resilience strategies that can be used to improve resilience under different types of common threats. Third, we provide a conceptual decision support framework that simultaneously optimizes a portfolio of co-managed resilience strategies in the face of multiple, uncertain threats and addresses WPS interdependencies. Finally, we present future trends regarding digitalization, integrated planning, collaborative governance, and equity needs for building more resilient WPS.

An FPGA-based network system with service-uninterrupted remote functional update

The recent emergence of 5G network enables mass wireless sensors deployment for internet-of-things (IoT) applications. In many cases, IoT sensors in monitoring and data collection applications are required to operate continuously and active at all time (24/7) to ensure all data are sampled without loss. Field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based systems exhibit a balanced processing throughput and datapath flexibility. Specifically, datapath flexibility is acquired from the FPGA-based system architecture that supports dynamic partial reconfiguration feature. However, device functional update can cause interruption to the application servicing, especially in an FPGA-based system. This paper presents a standalone FPGA-based system architecture that allows remote functional update without causing service interruption by adopting a redundancy mechanism in the application datapath. By utilizing dynamic partial reconfiguration, only the updating datapath is temporarily inactive while the rest of the circuitry, including the redundant datapath, remain active. Hence, there is no service interruption and downtime when a remote functional update takes place due to the existence of redundant application datapath, which is critical for network and communication systems. The proposed architecture has a significant impact for application in FPGA-based systems that have little or no tolerance in service interruption.

Improvement Methods for Supply Performance in Emergency Interconnection Plans

When operating a water supply network (WSN), pipe failures and water service interruptions are inevitable. A large-scale water service interruption decreases the reliability of a WSN; therefore, an emergency interconnection plan (EIP) is adopted to prevent it. To establish an EIP involving emergency interconnection pipes, in most cases, only the operation plan is considered. However, it is required to evaluate possible interconnected supply areas (PISAs) from the EIP to achieve the purpose of the EIP. It is obvious that PISA is dependent on the structure of the WSN, elevation difference between the adjacent interconnected blocks, size and location of the emergency interconnection pipes, and inline pumping station. In this study, we categorized the reasons resulting in insufficient PISA from the EIP and suggested improvement methods such as increasing the pipe diameter, new pumping stations, adding emergency interconnection pipes, and adding pressure relief valves. To quantify the effect of the improvement methods on the performance of the EIP, we applied them to a real WSN and estimated the emergency supply rate for each improvement method by using Pressure Driven Analysis (PDA) was used as the hydraulic simulation tool. Consequently, each improvement method increased the PISA and the emergency supply rate on the network. Thus, the suggested method will be used in the design and operation of EIPs to improve their performance.

Retrofiting Existing Optical Fiber Infrastructure to Mitigate Geohazard Risk: The TGP Case

Optical fiber cables (OFC) are well known for their use in communications. They offer long distance and fast transmission rate capabilities. OFC are the perfect companion of hydrocarbon and water transport system as part of the physical layer of the communication services and SCADA of the operating companies. As an example, the TGP system has more than 1400 km of cables laid in its Right-of-Way (ROW) which are in use since the beginning of its operation in 2004. More recently OFC started to be used as sensors. In such applications, a communication cable (CC) can be turned into a continuous temperature sensor allowing for leak and erosion detection. A strain monitoring cable (SMC) can also be spliced to the CC for landslide and subsidence detection in selected areas. In the case of very large soil displacement, it is common to observe the strain induced on the CC. From what precedes, existing OFC infrastructures can be taken advantage of to retrofit pipelines with monitoring instrumentation. The current work describes how an existing CC is retrofitted to provide information about the TGP transport system’s integrity. When accurate monitoring of a landslide is required, a dedicated sensing cable is installed locally and connected to the CC. Elsewhere the CC is being measured to detect and locate events as erosion or landslide in position where the geohazard risk present lower probability. Such approach not only improves geohazard risk management, but it also indicates early sign of stress on the cable that can lead to its rupture, mitigating service interruption probability.

HIV service interruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic in China: the role of HIV service challenges and institutional response from healthcare professional's perspective

Background: The healthcare system in China was largely overwhelmed during the unprecedented pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). HIV-related services have been unavoidably interrupted and impacted. However, the nature and scope of HIV service interruptions due to COVID-19 has rarely been characterized in China and how HIV service challenges affect the service interruptions are also unclear. The current study aimed at characterize HIV service interruption levels and analyzed its associated factors related to service challenges and institutional response from HIV healthcare providers' viewpoint. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 1,029 HIV healthcare providers in Guangxi, China, from April to May 2020. Latent class analysis (LCA) was first used to identify HIV service interruption levels. Then hierarchical multinomial logistic regression was conducted to analyze the relationships of HIV care service challenges and institutional response with HIV service interruption levels. Simple slope analysis was employed to examine interaction effects between HIV service challenges and institutional response to COVID-19. Results: Four classes of HIV service interruption were identified using LCA, with 22.0% complete interruption (class 1), 15.4% moderate interruption (class 2), 21.9% minor interruption (class 3) and 40.7% almost no interruption (class 4). Using class 4 as a reference group, HIV care service challenges were positively associated with the probabilities of service interruptions (Class 1: AOR=1.23, 95%CI: 1.19~1.26; Class 2: AOR= 1.10, 95%CI: 1.08~1.13; Class 3: AOR= 1.10, 95%CI: 1.08~1.12). Institutional response to HIV healthcare delivery was negatively associated with the probabilities of being classified into Class 1 ("Complete interruption") (AOR=0.97, 95%CI: 0.93~1.00) and Class 3 ("minor interruption [Outreach service]") (AOR=0.96, 95%CI: 0.93~0.99) as compared to Class 4 ("almost no interruption"). Institutional response to HIV healthcare delivery moderated the association of HIV service challenges with complete interruption, but not with the moderate or minor interruption when comparing with no interruption group. Conclusions: A substantial HIV service interruptions occurs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly services that require face-to-face interactions, such as VCT counselling, follow up and outreach services. HIV service challenges largely hinder the HIV service delivery. Institutional response to HIV healthcare delivery could marginally buffer the negative effect of service challenges on complete HIV service interruptions. To maintain continuity of core HIV services in face of a pandemic, build a resilient health care system with adequate preparedness is necessary.