Centralized Network Control Research Articles

Three Dimensional Multiscalar Neurovascular Nephron Connectivity Map of the Human Kidney Across the Lifespan.

The human kidney is a vital organ with a remarkable ability to coordinate the activity of up to a million nephrons, its main functional tissue unit (FTU), and maintain homeostasis. We developed tissue processing and analytical methods to construct a 3D map of neurovascular nephron connectivity of the human kidney and glean insights into how this structural organization enables coordination of various functions of the nephron, such as glomerular filtration, solute and water absorption, secretion by the tubules, and regulation of blood flow and pressure by the juxtaglomerular apparatus, in addition to how these functions change across disease and lifespans. Using light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) and morphometric analysis we discovered changes in anatomical orientation of the vascular pole, glomerular density, volume, and innervation through postnatal development and ageing. The extensive nerve network exists from cortex FTUs to medullary loop of Henle, providing connectivity within segments of the same nephron, and between separate nephrons. The nerves organize glomeruli into discreet communities (in the same network of nerves). Adjacent glomerular communities are connected to intercommunal "mother glomeruli" by nerves, a pattern repeating throughout the cortex. These neuro-nephron networks are not developed in postnatal kidneys and are disrupted in diseased kidneys (diabetic or hydronephrosis). This structural organization likely poises the entire glomerular and juxtaglomerular FTUs to synchronize responses to perturbations in fluid homeostasis, utilizing mother glomeruli as network control centers.

AHA-BV: Access and handover authentication protocol with batch verification for satellite–terrestrial integrated networks

At present, the rapid development of satellite capabilities has prompted the proposal of satellite–terrestrial integrated networks (STIN), which solves the problem of limited signal coverage of terrestrial cellular networks, further promotes the globalization process, and realizes global data sharing and on-demand use. However, due to the high openness of satellite-to-ground links in STIN, users are vulnerable to attacks such as eavesdropping, replay, tampering, and impersonation when requesting access to satellite nodes and obtaining subscription services. To ensure the security and reliability, many authentication protocols have been proposed, but there are still some shortcomings, such as high authentication overhead, vulnerability to certain attacks. In addition, for inter-satellite handovers caused by the highly dynamic topology of satellites, the computational overhead of existing handover authentication mechanisms is too high to be applied to frequent inter-satellite handover scenarios in STIN. To address the above issues, in this paper, we propose a new access and handover authentication protocol with batch verification for STIN, namely the AHA-BV protocol. The AHA-BV protocol not only realizes mutual authentication and key negotiation between users and satellite access points without the participation of the network control center, but also ensures the conditional anonymity of users during the access authentication phase. Furthermore, the lightweight batch verification mechanism reduces the risk of computing bottlenecks when resource-constrained satellites receive a large number of access authentication requests. Not only that, the AHA-BV protocol can also achieve sustained trust in subscription services from STIN with low computational overhead during the inter-satellite handover authentication phase. Formal and heuristic security analysis show that the AHA-BV protocol can meet the security requirements of STIN. Performance analysis indicates that the AHA-BV protocol has low authentication overhead while ensuring security, and is more suitable for users under satellite dynamic topology to access and obtain subscription services from STIN.

Cryptanalysis with improvement on lattice‐based authenticated key exchange protocol for mobile satellite communication networks

SummaryThe mobile satellite communication (MSC) system represents a crucial means of communication, facilitating connections between mobile users and network control centres through satellites. Given the wireless nature of satellite communication, ensuring communication security is paramount for maintaining accountability. Key exchange and authentication (KEA) mechanisms are commonly employed to secure data transmitted over insecure or open channels. Developing a lattice‐based KEA protocol for MSC systems is imperative to achieve both quantum security and efficient communication. In this direction, Yadav et al. devised ring learning with an error‐based KEA technique to ensure a quantum‐safe environment. Their scheme is quantum‐safe and satisfies desirable security attributes but has low efficiency in computation. Moreover, we have identified that their scheme is susceptible to denial of service attack and session key established at user and NCC ends is different. To overcome the flaws of Yadav et al., we propose a lattice‐based KEA protocol for the MSC system to improve computation efficiency, and get resistance against key mismatch attack. The security analysis of the proposed scheme is presented in the random oracle model. Comparative study is also presented to observe advantages in computation efficiency.

Efficient and quantum‐secure authenticated key exchange scheme for mobile satellite communication networks

SummaryThe mobile satellite communication (MSC) system is a vital communication method in which mobile users and network control centers connect via satellites. Since the satellite's communication is wireless, communication security is a critical factor to ensure accountable communication. Key exchange and authentication (KEA) mechanism is widely used to achieve data security for data transmitted in an insecure or open channel. Different authentication systems are suggested in the last many years to establish safe communication, whereas most existing security protocols are based on factorization or discrete logarithm. However, these systems are no longer reliable by Shor's algorithm as any discrete logarithm and factorization can be resolved in polynomial time on quantum computers. Thus, developing a quantum secure KEA protocol for MSC systems is necessary. In this direction, recently a ring learning with an error‐based KEA technique is proposed to ensure a quantum‐safe environment. This scheme is quantum‐safe and satisfies desirable security attributes but has low efficiency in computation and communication. Moreover, establishing a secure session requires six communications among involved entities. As a result, replay attack detection at an early stage is not possible for the central authority (server), which could delay the server response, and the adversary gets the advantage of drawing a denial of service scenario for authorized entities. We propose a lattice‐based KEA protocol for the MSC system to improve computation, communication efficiency, and early‐stage replay attack detection. The security analysis of the proposed scheme is presented in the random oracle model. Calculation of performance is also presented to observe advantages in computation and communication overhead.

Access authentication via blockchain in space information network.

Space Information Network (SIN) has significant benefits of providing communication anywhere at any time. This feature offers an innovative way for conventional wireless customers to access enhanced internet services by using SIN. However, SIN's characteristics, such as naked links and maximum signal latency, make it difficult to design efficient security and routing protocols, etc. Similarly, existing SIN authentication techniques can't satisfy all of the essentials for secure communication, such as privacy leaks or rising authentication latency. The article aims to develop a novel blockchain-based access authentication mechanism for SIN. The proposed scheme uses a blockchain application, which has offered anonymity to mobile users while considering the satellites' limited processing capacity. The proposed scheme uses a blockchain application, which offers anonymity to mobile users while considering the satellites' limited processing capacity. The SIN gains the likelihood of far greater computational capacity devices as technology evolves. Since authenticating in SIN, the technique comprises three entities: low Earth orbit, mobile user, and network control centre. The proposed mutual authentication mechanism avoids the requirement of a ground station, resulting in less latency and overhead during mobile user authentication. Finally, the new blockchain-based authentication approach is being evaluated with AVISPA, a formal security tool. The simulation and performance study results illustrate that the proposed technique delivers efficient security characteristics such as low authentication latency, minimal signal overhead and less computational cost with group authentication.

The control patterns of affective processing and cognitive reappraisal: insights from brain controllability analysis.

Perceiving and modulating emotions is vital for cognitive function and is often impaired in neuropsychiatric conditions. Current tools for evaluating emotional dysregulation suffer from subjectivity and lack of precision, especially when it comes to understanding emotion from a regulatory or control-based perspective. To address these limitations, this study leverages an advanced methodology known as functional brain controllability analysis. We simultaneously recorded electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 17 healthy subjects engaged in emotion processing and regulation tasks. We then employed a novel EEG/fMRI integration technique to reconstruct cortical activity in a high spatiotemporal resolution manner. Subsequently, we conducted functional brain controllability analysis to explore the neural network control patterns underlying different emotion conditions. Our findings demonstrated that the dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex exhibited increased controllability during the processing and regulation of negative emotions compared to processing of neutral emotion. Besides, the anterior cingulate cortex was notably more active in managing negative emotion than in either controlling neutral emotion or regulating negative emotion. Finally, the posterior parietal cortex emerged as a central network controller for the regulation of negative emotion. This study offers valuable insights into the cortical control mechanisms that support emotion perception and regulation.

The contribution of granger causality analysis to our understanding of cardiovascular homeostasis: from cardiovascular and respiratory interactions to central autonomic network control.

Homeostatic regulation plays a fundamental role in maintenance of multicellular life. At different scales and in different biological systems, this principle allows a better understanding of biological organization. Consequently, a growing interest in studying cause-effect relations between physiological systems has emerged, such as in the fields of cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory regulations. For this, mathematical approaches such as Granger causality (GC) were applied to the field of cardiovascular physiology in the last 20years, overcoming the limitations of previous approaches and offering new perspectives in understanding cardiac, vascular and respiratory homeostatic interactions. In clinical practice, continuous recording of clinical data of hospitalized patients or by telemetry has opened new applicability for these approaches with potential early diagnostic and prognostic information. In this review, we describe a theoretical background of approaches based on linear GC in time and frequency domains applied to detect couplings between time series of RR intervals, blood pressure and respiration. Interestingly, these tools help in understanding the contribution of homeostatic negative feedback and the anticipatory feedforward mechanisms in homeostatic cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory controls. We also describe experimental and clinical results based on these mathematical tools, consolidating previous experimental and clinical evidence on the coupling in cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory studies. Finally, we propose perspectives allowing to complete the understanding of these interactions between cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory systems, as well as the interplay between brain and cardiac, and vascular and respiratory systems, offering a high integrative view of cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory homeostatic regulation.

AI-Oriented Two-Phase Multifactor Authentication in SAGINs: Prospects and Challenges

Space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGINs), which have emerged as an expansion of terrestrial networks, provide flexible access, ubiquitous coverage, high-capacity backhaul, and emergency/disaster recovery for mobile users (MUs). While the massive benefits brought by SAGIN may improve the quality of service, unauthorized access to SAGIN entities is potentially dangerous. At present, conventional crypto-based authentication is facing challenges, such as the inability to provide continuous and transparent protection for MUs. In this article, we propose an AI-oriented two-phase multi-factor authentication scheme (ATMAS) by introducing intelligence to authentication. The satellite and network control center collaborate on continuous authentication, while unique spatial-temporal features, including service features and geographic features, are utilized to enhance the system security. Our further security analysis and performance evaluations show that ATMAS has proper security characteristics which can meet various security requirements. Moreover, we shed light on lightweight and efficient authentication mechanism design through a proper combination of spatial-temporal factors.

A deep learning technique to detect distributed denial of service attacks in software-defined networks

Software-Defined Network (SDN) is an established networking paradigm that separates the control plane from the data plane. It has central network control, and programmability facilities, therefore SDN can improve network flexibility, management, performance, and scalability. The programmability and control centralization of SDN have improved network functions but also exposed it to security challenges such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that target both control and data planes. This paper proposes an effective detection technique against DDoS attack in SDN control plane and data plane. For the control plane, the technique detects DDoS attacks through a Deep Learning (DL) model using new features extracted from traffic statistics. A DL method (AE-BGRU) for DDoS detection uses Autoencoder (AE) with Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Unit (BGRU). The proposed features for the control plane include unknown IP destination address, packets inter-arrival time, Transport layer protocol (TLP) header, and Type of service (ToS) header. For the data plane, the technique tracks the switch's average arrival bit rate with an unknown destination address in the data plane. Then, the technique detects DDoS attacks through a DL-based model which also uses AE with BGRU. The proposed features in the data plane include the switch's stored capacity, the average rate of packets with unknown destination addresses, the IP Options header, and the average number of flows. The dataset is generated from feature extraction and computations from normal and attack packets and used with the classifier. Also, additional Machine Learning (ML) methods are used to enhance the detection process. If the model detects an attack, the technique mitigates DDoS effects by updating the user's trust value and blocking suspicious senders based on the trust value. The experimental results proved that compared to related techniques, the suggested method had a higher accuracy and lower false alarm rate.

Quality of Service Management Solution Becomes a Software-Defined Network Challenge

The use of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has created a huge leap in the management of computer networks. SDN offers flexibility and the ability to dynamically manage networks, but along with its advantages, it also brings significant challenges in managing quality of service (QoS). QoS is critical to maintaining performance and user experience in increasingly complex and distributed network environments. The research method uses Solution Development to address a quality of service (QoS) management challenge and solution in Software Defined Networking with the approach of designing and developing practical solutions to address QoS management issues and challenges in SDN environments. Control Separation and Data Plane are centralized network control at the SDN controller, while the data plane reside in the networks hardware, both capable of maintaining QoS and a challenges in SDN with a computer network approach that separates the control layer from the data layer, enabling more flexible and centralized network management. Research conclusions related to SDN Software Defined Networking quality of service management problems and solutions, focusing on the problem of separating management and data levels. The separations of control and data plane concept in SDN has great potential to improve flexibility, scalability and more efficient network management.

An ergonomic focus evaluation of work-related musculoskeletal disorders amongst operators in the UAE network control centres

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) have rapidly increased during the last decade, but only a few descriptive surveys have been conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study investigated the prevalence of WMSDs and analysed their ergonomic risks amongst operators in the network control rooms across two government organisations, X and Y, in the UAE. Essential data were collected by the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and the Maastricht Upper Extremity Questionnaire (MUEQ) from online surveys and direct observations based on the Rapid Office Strain Assessment (ROSA) and the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) form and ergonomic measurements for the working environments, respectively. Fifty-three and eighteen operators participated from Organisations X and Y. This study found a high presence of WMSDs in both organisations over the past 12 months. In Organisation X, individual, work-related physical and psychosocial risk factors of high BMI, educational level, morning work shift, high job duration, lack of exercise habit, awkward body posture, high job demand, low job control, and low work social support were associated with WMSDs in different body areas (p < 0.05). In Organisation Y, older age, high BMI, high job duration, lack of exercise habits, unergonomic workstations, awkward body posture, low break time, high job demand, and stress level were associated with WMSDs in different body areas (p < 0.05). The control room operators' most affected body areas were the back, eyes, and neck. Several efficient ergonomic intervention ideas were explored to lessen the detrimental effects of WMSDs and preclude the development of WMSDs amongst the control centre operators.

ОПТИМІЗАЦІЯ КОМП’ЮТЕРНОЇ ТЕХНІКИ ПРИ МОДЕРНІЗАЦІЇ ЄДИНОЇ СИСТЕМИ ЦЕНТРАЛІЗОВАНОГО КОНТРОЛЮ І ВИМІРІВ МЕРЕЖІ СКС-7 З ВИКОРИСТАННЯМ РЕСУРСІВ ЦЕНТРУ ОБРОБКИ ДАНИХ

The architecture of the unified system of centralized control and measurements of the SKS-7 network is outdated, the technologies used to organize its work and implement data storage need to be updated and optimized, because the current state of the system causes a decrease in speed and performance, as well as a critical drop in reliability. Considering the factors, there is also a need to modernize the software and hardware of the IP protocol analysis and monitoring system. The system does not provide the full range of functions necessary for a full-fledged analysis of the VoIP network, at the moment. Updating the system architecture became a necessity to improve efficiency and reliability. The work describes the process of modernization of the SKS-7 network control and measurement system using data center resources by optimizing computer equipment and expanding the capabilities of the systems used to monitor the OKS-7 network. The system of analysis and control and measurements of the SKS-7 network is presented and its main functionalities are defined. The main signaling protocols were analyzed and a system of analysis and monitoring of IP protocols was developed. The modernized control and measurement system of the SKS-7 network allows to identify deficiencies when testing elements of telecommunication networks and analyzing their impact on operation, analyzing the information and signal load of SKS-7 and VoIP networks in real time and in previous periods.

Detection and Mitigation of (D)DoS Attacks in SDN Environment Using Entropy

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a paradigm for the networks, where the control planes and data planes are separated. It provides centralized network control by separating the network’s control logic from the underlying hardware devices. However, like traditional networks SDN is also susceptible to Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. This paper aims to detect and mitigate DoS and DDoS attacks in an SDN environment using an entropy-based approach. The proposed mechanism calculates the entropy of the network over the collected traffic, and derives a dynamic threshold according to the network traffic conditions to determine whether the environment is subject to DoS or DDoS attacks. In the event of the attack, the proposed mechanism installs a drop flow rule into underlying forwarding devices, discarding the traffic sent from attacking host to victim host

Ride-Hailing Networks with Strategic Drivers: The Impact of Platform Control Capabilities on Performance

Problem definition: Motivated by ride-hailing platforms such as Uber, Lyft and Didi, we study the problem of matching riders with self-interested drivers over a spatial network. We focus on the performance impact of two operational platform controls—demand-side admission control and supply-side repositioning control—considering the interplay with two practically important challenges: (i) spatial demand imbalances prevail for extended periods of time; and (ii) self-interested drivers strategically decide whether to join the network, and, if so, whether to reposition when not serving riders. Methodology/results: We develop and analyze the steady-state behavior of a novel game-theoretic fluid model of a two-location, four-route loss network. First, we fully characterize and compare the steady-state system equilibria under three control regimes, from minimal control to centralized control. Second, we provide insights on how and why platform control impacts equilibrium performance, notably with new findings on the role of admission control: the platform may find it optimal to strategically reject demand at the low-demand location even if drivers are in excess supply, to induce repositioning to the high-demand location. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for this policy. Third, we derive upper bounds on the platform’s and drivers’ benefits caused by increased platform control; these are more significant under moderate capacity and significant cross-location demand imbalance. Managerial implications: Our results contribute important guidelines on the optimal operations of ride-hailing networks. Our model can also inform the design of driver compensation structures that support more centralized network control. Supplemental Material: The e-companion and Supplemental Material are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2023.1221 .

A Security Enforcement Framework for SDN Controller Using Game Theoretic Approach

Software-defined networking (SDN) has gained significant attention as the future deployment platform for the Internet and enterprise networks. The major advantages of SDN include effective traffic management, dynamic configuration of policy and flow rules, and better scalability with heterogeneous traffic requirements. However, centralized network control and the use of OpenFlow protocols introduce various security challenges for the underlying network. The attacks on the SDN controller is critical as it hosts all network control functions. Motivated by a systematic analysis of different attack scenarios in SDN using the STRIDE attack model, this article presents an effective security enforcement framework for proactive prevention of potential attacks on SDN controllers. First, based on a signaling game approach, we design a trust-based controller attack detection (TCAD) model that calculates the trust value of each incoming packet to take necessary action. Next, we propose a risk-based attack prevention (RAP) model that detects and filters malicious traffic flows in the network. Finally, we evaluate our proposed security enforcement framework on different scenarios with varying traffic requirements and by injecting attacks based on the STRIDE model. Experimental results show 95% accuracy in the potential attack detection and prevention.

Secure Control Design for Networked Control Systems With Nonlinear Dynamics Under Time-Delay-Switch Attacks

A continuous controller is developed for a centralized network control system (NCS), which is composed of agents with nonlinear dynamics subject to a time-delay-switch (TDS) attack and additive disturbances. Since the state tracking error is unmeasurable during TDS attacks, controllers cannot use the state tracking error to coordinate the NCS. Therefore, a novel error signal is designed to address this unique challenge and enable the NCS to achieve a formation control objective. Furthermore, a TDS attack mitigation strategy is developed, which uses both learning- and model-based approaches to estimate an agent’s state for TDS attack detection and compensation. Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals are used in the stability analysis to prove that the tracking errors converge to a steady-state residual, which is a function of the system uncertainty and TDS attack properties. The leader–follower formation control problem for unmanned aerial vehicles based on a pure pursuit guidance law is selected for a simulation study to validate the performance of the proposed method.

Enhancing the security of Software-Defined Networks (SDNs)

Software-defined networking (SDN) is an emerging paradigm, which breaks the vertical integration in traditional networks to provide the flexibility to program the network through (logical) centralized network control. SDN has the capability to adapt its network parameters on the fly based on its operating environment. The decoupled structure of SDN serves as a solution for managing the network with more flexibility and ease. In SDN, the centralized cost effective architecture provides network visibility which helps to achieve efficient resource utilization and high performance. Due to the increasingly pervasive existence of smart programmable devices in the network, SDN provides security, and network virtualization for enhancing the overall network performance. The work presents various security threats that are resolved by SDN and new threats that arise as a result of SDN implementation. The recent security attacks and countermeasures in SDN are also summarized in the form of tables. Also provided a survey on the different strategies that are implemented to achieve energy efficiency and network security through SDN implementation. In an effort to anticipate the future evolution of this new paradigm, were discussed the main ongoing research efforts, challenges, and research trends in this area. With this work, researchers and students can have a more thorough understanding of SDN architecture, different security attacks and countermeasures.

Segment Routing v6 - Security Issues and Experimental Results

SRv6 can provide hybrid cooperation between a centralized network controller and network nodes. IPv6 routers maintain multi-hop ECMP-aware segments, whereas the controller establishes a source-routed path through the network. Since the state of the flow is defined at the ingress to the network and then is contained in a specific packet header, called Segment Routing Header (SRH), the importance of such a header itself is vital. Motivated by the need to study and investigate this technology, this paper discusses some security-related issues of Segment Routing. A SRv6 capable experimental testbed is built and detailed. Finally, an experimental test campaign is performed and results are evaluated and discussed

An Intrusion Detection System Based on Genetic Algorithm for Software-Defined Networks

A SDN (Software-Defined Network) separates the control layer from the data layer to realize centralized network control and improve the scalability and the programmability. SDN also faces a series of security threats. An intrusion detection system (IDS) is an effective means of protecting communication networks against traffic attacks. In this paper, a novel IDS model for SDN is proposed to collect and analyze the traffic which is generally at the control plane. Moreover, network congestion will occur when the amount of data transferred reaches the data processing capacity of the IDS. The suggested IDS model addresses this problem with a probability-based traffic sampling method in which the genetic algorithm (GA) is used to approach the sampling probability of each sampling point. According to the simulation results, the suggested IDS model based on GA is capable of enhancing the detection efficiency in SDNs.

Asynchronous Time-Aware Shaper for Time-Sensitive Networking

The Time Sensitive Networking Task Group of the IEEE 802.1 Working Group has developed a number of enhancements to the priority queueing architecture used by Ethernet. Perhaps the most notable one is the time-aware shaper (TAS), which can perfectly isolate priority classes in time with periodically scheduled traffic gates, thereby enabling ultra low latency applications to coexist with lower priority traffic on the same network. It requires near-perfect clock synchronization across the entire network, though, and a central network controller to calculate the timings for the traffic gates, based on known propagation delays on the network links. As a cheaper alternative, we have developed the asynchronous TAS that needs no clock synchronization, network planning, or a central controller. It uses local processes at each switch port to track the high priority streams, predict the arrival times of their next frames, and control the traffic gates such that the low priority streams are not interfering. We show how a simple predictor with minimal computation requirements can be used to track the high priority streams, and we demonstrate via simulations that this gating mechanism can protect the high priority traffic from interference.