Special issue: Belief functions and uncertainty management in networks and telecommunication

By Issues

belief-functions

Vol. 69, n° 3-4, March-April 2014
Content available on Springerlink

Guest editors
Abdelhamid Mellouk, Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), France
Latifa Oukhellou, IFSTTAR, Marne-la-Vallée, France
Lei Shu, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, China
Glenn Shafer, Rutgers Business School, Newark, USA

Foreword

Abdelhamid Mellouk, Latifa Oukhellou, Lei Shu, Glenn Shafer

Belief functions in telecommunications and network technologies: an overview

Mustapha Reda Senouci1, Abdelhamid Mellouk2, Mohamed Abdelkrim Senouci2, Latifa Oukhellou3

(1) Ecole militiaire polytechnique, Algiers, Algeria
(2) Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), France
(3) IFSSTAR, Marne-la-Vallée, France

Abstract In the last few years, evidence theory, also known as Dempster-Shafer theory or belief functions theory, have received growing attention in many fields such as artificial intelligence, computer vision, telecommunications and networks, robotics, and finance. This is due to the fact that imperfect information permeates the real-world applications, and as a result, it must be incorporated into any information system that aims to provide a complete and accurate model of the real world. Although, it is in an early stage of development relative to classical probability theory, evidence theory has proved to be particularly useful to represent and reason with imperfect information in a wide range of real-world applications. In such cases, evidence theory provides a flexible framework for handling and mining uncertainty and imprecision as well as combining evidence obtained from multiple sources and modeling the conflict between them. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, it introduces the basics of the belief functions theory with emphasis on the transferable belief model. Second, it provides a practical case study to show how the belief functions theory was used in a real network application, thereby providing guidelines for how the evidence theory may be used in telecommunications and networks. Lastly, it surveys and discusses a number of examples of applications of the evidence theory in telecommunications and network technologies.

Keywords Belief Functions – Dempster-Shafer theory – Evidence – Uncertainty Imprecision – Telecommunications and networks applications

A second-order Markov model to synchronize a quasi-chaotic sequence:
application of synchronization and decoding problem with belief propagation

Frédéric Launay and Patrick Coirault

Université de Poitiers, France

Abstract The use of chaotic codes in transmission systems presents many advantages, not only in term of security, but also to combat multi-path propagations and to allow multiple access. Nevertheless, the main problem of communication with chaos is the design of an experimental and real-time synchronization decoder between transmitter and receiver. In this paper, we suggest to use the belief propagation algorithm as a new approach for synchronizing quasi-chaotic signals. In this approach, the transmitter contains a digital chaotic oscillator which is perturbed by the information signal. The receiver consists in a dual system augmented with a belief propagation processing, whose aim is to recover the information signal. We suppose that the channel is Gaussian and synchronization is forced in a first step. Once synchronization is achieved, the information signal modulated the chaotic system and is transmitted on the Gaussian channel. An adaptative belief propagation algorithm is processed to recover the signal information.

Keywords Chaos – Communications with chaos – Synchronization – Belief propagation

A novel traffic identification approach based on multifractal analysis and combined neural network

Hongtao Shi , Gang Liang and Hai Wang

Qingdao Agricultural University, China

Abstract An accurate identification of Internet traffic of different applications is highly relevant for a broad range of network management and measurement tasks, including traffic engineering, service differentiation, performance monitoring, and security. Traditional traffic identification approaches have become increasingly inaccurate due to restrictions of port numbers, protocol signatures, traffic encryption, and etc. In this paper, a new traffic identification approach based on multifractal analysis of wavelet energy spectrum and classification of combined neural network models is proposed. The proposed approach is able to achieve the identification of different Internet application traffic by performing classification over the wavelet energy spectrum coefficients that were inferred from the original traffic. Without using any payload information, the proposed approach has more advantages over traditional methods. The experiment results illustrate that the proposed approach has satisfactory identification results.

Keywords Multifractal analysis – Discrete wavelet transform – Wavelet energy spectrum – Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm – Combined neural network models

Dempster–Shafer theory-based human activity recognition in smart home environments

Faouzi Sebbak1, 3 , Farid Benhammadi1, Abdelghani Chibani2 , Yacine Amirat2  and Aicha Mokhtari3 

(1) Ecole Militaire Polytechnique, Algiers, Algeria
(2) Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), France
(3) University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene (USTHB), Algiers, Algeria

Abstract Context awareness and activity recognition are becoming a hot research topic in ambient intelligence (AmI) and ubiquitous robotics, due to the latest advances in wireless sensor network research which provides a richer set of context data and allows a wide coverage of AmI environments. However, using raw sensor data for activity recognition is subject to different constraints and makes activity recognition inaccurate and uncertain. The Dempster–Shafer evidence theory, known as belief functions, gives a convenient mathematical framework to handle uncertainty issues in sensor information fusion and facilitates decision making for the activity recognition process. Dempster–Shafer theory is more and more applied to represent and manipulate contextual information under uncertainty in a wide range of activity-aware systems. However, using this theory needs to solve the mapping issue of sensor data into high-level activity knowledge. The present paper contributes new ways to apply the Dempster–Shafer theory using binary discrete sensor information for activity recognition under uncertainty. We propose an efficient mapping technique that allows converting and aggregating the raw data captured, using a wireless senor network, into high-level activity knowledge. In addition, we propose a conflict resolution technique to optimize decision making in the presence of conflicting activities. For the validation of our approach, we have used a real dataset captured using sensors deployed in a smart home. Our results demonstrate that the improvement of activity recognition provided by our approaches is up to of 79 %. These results demonstrate also that the accuracy of activity recognition using the Dempster–Shafer theory with the proposed mappings outperforms both naïve Bayes classifier and J48 decision tree.
Keywords Dempster–Shafer theory – Context reasoning – Evidential mapping – Activity recognition – Smart home

A high-level application using belief functions for exchanging and managing
uncertain events on the road in vehicular ad hoc networks

Mira Bou Farah1, 2, David Mercier1, 2 , Éric Lefèvre1, 2 and François Delmotte1, 2

(1) Université Lille Nord de France, France
(2) UArtois, France

Abstract This article introduces a high-level system using belief functions for exchanging and managing imperfect information about events on the road in vehicular ad hoc networks. The main purpose of this application is to provide the most reliable information for the driver from multiple messages received informing the driver about events on the roads. This system and some variants are tested using a MATLAB™ simulator. An implementation with Android smartphones using a Bluetooth technology to exchange the messages is also introduced.

Keywords Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) – Events on the road – Imperfect information exchange – Belief functions Information fusion

An energy aware algorithm for OLSR clustering

Ahmed Loutfi1, Mohammed Elkoutbi1, Jalel BenOthman2  and Abdellatif Kobbane1  

(1) University Mohammed V-Souissi, Rabat, Morocco
(2) University of Paris 13, France

Abstract One of the important aspects of a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is the limitation of the amount of available energy and the network lifetime. The tremendous amount of using mobile nodes in wireless communication medium makes energy efficiency a fundamental requirement for MANETs. In this paper, we propose a novel energy aware clustering algorithm for the optimized link state routing (OLSR) routing protocol. This algorithm takes into account the node density and mobility and gives major improvements regarding the number of elected cluster heads. Our objective is to elect a reasonable number of cluster heads that will serve for hierarchical routing based on OLSR. The proposed algorithm aims to increase the network lifetime by considering the ad hoc residual energy while taking routing decisions. It also optimizes the delay of carried flows by adopting a selective forwarding approach based on a hierarchical routing model.

Keywords Ad hoc routing protocol – Clustering Energy – Hierarchical routing – Cluster head election

Investigating quality routing link metrics in Wireless Multi-hop Networks

N. Javaid1, A. Bibi1, A. Javaid2, Z. A. Khan3, K. Latif1 and M. Ishfaq4

(1) COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
(2) COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Wah Cant, Pakistan
(3) Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
(4) King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract In this paper, we propose a new Quality Link Metric (QLM), “Inverse Expected Transmission Count (InvETX),” in Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol. Then, we compare performance of three existing QLMs which are based on loss probability measurements: Expected Transmission Count (ETX), Minimum Delay (MD), and Minimum Loss (ML) in Static Wireless Multi-hop Networks (SWMhNs). A novel contribution of this paper is enhancement in conventional OLSR to achieve high efficiency in terms of optimized routing load and routing latency. For this purpose, first we present a mathematical framework, and then to validate this frame work, we select three performance parameters to simulate default and enhanced versions of OLSR. The three chosen performance parameters are throughput, Normalized Routing Load, and End-to-End Delay. From the simulation results, we conclude that adjusting the frequencies of topological information exchange results in high efficiency.

Keywords Routing link metric – ETX – Inverse ETX – Minimum Delay – Minimum Loss – Wireless Multi-hop Networks

A fault-tolerant structural health monitoring protocol using wireless sensor networks

M. Abdullah-Al-Wadud1,  and Md. Abdul Hamid2  

(1) Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Yongin, Korea
(2) Green University of Bangladesh, Dhaka

Abstract In wireless sensor network-based event detection approaches, when the decision is taken based on the measurements of sensors, sensor-fault and noise-related measurement error should be taken into account. Using Bayesian approach to form a judgment is problematic without additional information or assumptions (for example, the difficulty of knowing prior probabilities in practice). In making the final decision using the majority decision rule (as well as the k-out-of-n rule), measurement of every sensor is considered as fully reliable. However, due to sensor fault and environmental noise, the preciseness of all measurements may not be guaranteed in real-life applications. This paper presents a Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence-based structural health monitoring protocol using wireless sensor networks that overcome these limitations. Our proposal effectively discounts the unreliable observer’s (sensor’s) measurements. Extensive simulations show significant improvement in terms of detection accuracy as compared to other well-known approaches.

Keywords Wireless sensor networks – Structural health monitoring – Dempster–Shafer theory – Bayesian theory k-out-of-n rule

Open Topics

Optimal space-time coding under iterative processing

Pierre-Jean Bouvet1 and Maryline Hélard2  

(1) ISEN Brest, France
(2) INSA, Rennes, France

Abstract In this paper, we deal with the design of a full-rate space-time block coding (STBC) scheme optimized for linear iterative decoding over fast fading multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel. A general and simple coding scheme called diagonal threaded space-time (DTST) code is presented for an arbitrary number of transmit and receive antennas. Theoretical analysis shows that DTST code associated with linear iterative decoding tends towards full diversity performance while providing maximum MIMO multiplexing gain. Simulation results confirm the ability of DTST to outperform the state-of-the-art STBC and conventional spatial data multiplexing schemes under iterative processing.

Keywords MIMO – Space-time coding – Iterative receiver

A handover-aware seamless video streaming scheme in heterogeneous wireless networks

Sangki Ko1, and Kwangsue Chung1 

Kwangwoon University, Seoul, Korea

Abstract With the development of wireless technologies, video streaming services over heterogeneous wireless networks have become more popular in recent years. Video streaming schemes for heterogeneous networks should consider vertical handover in which the link capacity is varied significantly, because the quality experienced for a video streaming service is affected by the network status. When a vertical handover occurs, an abrupt bandwidth change and substantial handover latency lead to bursty packet loss and discontinuity of the video playback. In this paper, we propose a handover-aware video streaming scheme to provide seamless video streaming services over heterogeneous wireless networks. The proposed scheme adjusts its sending rate and the quality level of the transmitted video streams according to the significant bandwidth variation that occurs in a vertical handover. To expedite the response to the bandwidth variation due to a handover, our scheme uses an explicit notification message that informs the streaming server of a client’s handover occurrence. In order to evaluate the performance, we use a simulation environment for a vertical handover between wireless local area networks and cellular networks. Through the simulation results, we prove that our scheme improves the experienced quality of video streaming in vertical handovers.
 
Keywords Seamless video streaming – Heterogeneous wireless network – Video streaming scheme – Handover – Quality of service