Cistel has taken the challenge of embracing and conducting scientific research in various cutting-edge networking areas such as wireless sensor networks, voice over IP and multimedia services, as well as middleware architecture for bridge infrastructure management.  Cistel has been working closely with best-in-class Canadian researchers from Carleton University, University of Ottawa and Concordia University in advancing new technologies in these areas.

Wireless Sensor Network

This research specifically aims at developing a suite of novel algorithms which can be used in sensor wireless networks for routing information about the nodes which are critical for wireless communications. To a broader scale, the research approach is also towards development of an advanced position based routing, allowing a user to make peer-to-peer multimedia communications without any infrastructure available. An on-demand network is to be established that is secure, robust and reliable in realistic physical wireless media which is prone to limited channel capacity, dynamic and changing positions of nodes, signal degradation and fading, nodes going to sleep mode to preserve power and interference of the signal. The sophisticated position based networking layer routing will allow the users of existing MAC layer and link layer nodes to establish and reliably forward multimedia traffic in this hostile and dynamic environment. The advanced features of the routing algorithm will be such that the various requirements are properly met such as (i) reliability (there should be always reachability, the algorithm must be guaranteed to find a route, if there exists any), (ii) fault-tolerant (nodes in an ad-hoc network can come and go at any point in time or malfunction, but the routing algorithm must work), (iii) energy efficient (nodes cannot be computationally too intensive, need to ensure low energy consumption), (iv) secured (the algorithm must take into account the security aspect as an ad-hoc network is more vulnerable to attacks). Developing and characterizing a suite of novel algorithms would definitely help in realizing the ad-hoc networks with sensors for different practical applications. These algorithms will be developed such that they can be easily applied in various different applications given the requirements. The scientific and technology advancements in this research would lead to many practical applications where an optimum routing solution is a must. Different case studies will be also conducted to validate these algorithms against different practical applications.

 Voice and Multimedia Services over IP

Cistel has conducted research into methodologies and knowledge-based tools which can be used to develop, test and manage VoIP gateway products. The vision and design of a knowledge-based software tool mainly for testing VoIP gateway applications is in progress. The rapid technological advancement in many telecommunication areas such as in the area of voice over IP creates an enormous challenge to the tester.  Effective and efficient testing depends on the knowledge of the testers on the technology to a great extent and it is extremely challenging to keep up with the new technology with the time to market pressure and thereby tight delivery schedule.  In a unique way, the tool acts as a subject matter expert in VoIP and as an experienced tester helping junior testers and/or testers new to this field develop excellent test plans with suites of test cases to test various functionalities of the VoIP gateway products. Cistel has been also looking into methodologies to test voice/video quality in a simulation test bed. This would enable research in voice and video over IP quality. Extensive research has been also done towards providing cost-effective VoIP PBX solutions to Small to Medium size Business (SMB).

Bridge Infrastructure Management

Bridge Infrastructure Management using the advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure is extremely important. Currently, the bridge infrastructure problem is addressed in a compartmentalized fashion. Solutions are researched in isolated areas of design, maintenance and repair, monitoring, asset management, policy and planning.  But, the existing approach in bridge engineering practice neither facilitates the transfer of information and knowledge, nor does it encourage collaboration among bridge engineers and researchers, owners and other stakeholders.  Effective monitoring, management and maintenance of these infrastructures are important for the safety of the public as well as for reducing the cost associated with the operation and maintenance.

In recent years, the progress in information and communication technology, which includes cost-effective ubiquitous network technology and the availability of various distributed system engineering techniques (e.g. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) tools), provides tremendous opportunity to address these complex problems in a distributed and cost effective manner. Essentially, it is necessary to network enable and manage various resources such as sensors, computing and storage devices, databases of historic data regarding the state and maintenance of the infrastructure and software tools so that these resources can be remotely accessed and shared through various user interfaces. The key to the solution of the infrastructure management problem is middleware that will provide the connectivity and inter-operability among diverse resources and manage these resources in an effective manner.  Although the focus of the research is on a middleware that will integrate a variety of different geographically dispersed resources for improving the current practice in bridge management in a cost-effective manner, the middleware is envisioned to be generic in nature and can be adapted to other infrastructure management problems with a modest effort.

Publications

Zaman, M., Goel N. and Shaw, G.,”A Knolwledge-Base Tool for VoIP Gateway Testing”, Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, (CCECE) 2010.

Liu, X., Casteigts, A., Nayak, A., Goel, N., Stojmenovic, I., Multiratecast in wireless fault-tolerant sensor and actuator networks, Int. Conference on Computer Science and its Applications, Jeju Island, Korea, December 2009.

2009. Zhao, C.-H. Lung, I. Lambadaris, and N. Goel, “Improving Location Identification in Wireless Ad Hoc/Sensor Networks Using GDOP Theory,” Proc. of SENSORCOMM, July 2009.

2009. Zhao, C.-H. Lung, I. Lambadaris, and N. Goel, “A Hybrid Location Identification Method in Wireless Ad Hoc/Sensor Networks,” Proc. of International Workshop on Data Management in Ad Hoc and Pervasive Computing, in conjunction with the 10th Int’l Conference on Mobile Data Management, May 2009.

Naik, K., Nayak, A., Goel, N., HMAC: A Universal Hash Function Based MAC Protocol for Vehicular Networks, Proc. 1st  Int. Conference on Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE), USA, December 2008.

Vukojevik, B., Goel, N. and Kalaichelvan, K., “Depth First Search-based and power-aware geo-routing in ad hoc and sensor wireless network”, Int. J. Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2008.

Goel, N., Kalaichelvan, K. Karmouch, E., Nayak, A., Stojmenovic, I., Villanueva-Pena, E., “Physical layer impact on finding local knowledge information in ad hoc and sensor networks”, International  Journal of Computational Science,  2(2):233-249, 2008.

Mohandas, B.K., Nayak, A., Naik, K., Goel, N., ABSRP – A Service Discovery Approach for Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks, Proc. 1st IEEE Int. Workshop on Vehicular Networking, Taiwan, December 2008.

Vukojevic, B., Goel, N., Kalaichelvan, K.,  Nayak, A., Stojmenovic, I., Power aware depth first search based geo-routing in ad hoc and sensor wireless networks, Proc. IFIP/IEEE International Conference on Mobile and Wireless Communications Networks, Ireland, September 2007.

Chawla, M., Goel, N., Kalaichelvan, K., Nayak, A., Stojmenovic, I.  , “Beaconless Position-based  Routing with Guaranteed Delivery for Wireless Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks”, Acta Automatica Sinica, 32(6), Nov. 2006.