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The Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology that can connect billions of devices or “things” to other devices (machine to machine) or even to people via an existing infrastructure. IoT applications in real-world scenarios include smart cities, smart houses, connected appliances, shipping, monitoring, smart supply chain management, and smart grids. As the number of devices all over the world is increasing (in all aspects of daily life), huge amounts of data are being produced as a result. New issues are therefore arising from the use and development of current technologies, regarding new applications, regulation, cloud computing, security, and privacy. The blockchain has shown promise in terms of securing and preserving the privacy of users and data, in a decentralized manner. In particular, Hyperledger Fabric v2.x is a new generation of blockchain that is open source and offers versatility, modularity, and performance. In this paper, a blockchain as a service (BaaS) application based on Hyperledger Fabric is presented to address the security and privacy challenges associated with the IoT. A new architecture is introduced to enable this integration, and is developed and deployed, and its performance is analyzed in real-world scenarios. We also propose a new data structure with encryption based on public and private keys for enhanced security and privacy

This article introduces a novel approach to human activity recognition (HAR) by presenting a sensor that utilizes a real-time embedded neural network. The sensor incorporates a low-cost microcontroller and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), which is affixed to the subject’s chest to capture their movements. Through the implementation of a convolutional neural network (CNN) on the microcontroller, the sensor is capable of detecting and predicting the wearer’s activities in real-time, eliminating the need for external processing devices. The article provides a comprehensive description of the sensor and the methodology employed to achieve real-time prediction of subject behaviors. Experimental results demonstrate the accuracy and high inference performance of the proposed solution for real-time embedded activity recognition

In the Internet of Things (IoT) era, the surge in Machine-Type Devices (MTDs) has introduced Massive IoT (MIoT), opening new horizons in the world of connected devices. However, such proliferation presents challenges, especially in storing and analyzing massive, heterogeneous data streams in real time. In order to manage Massive IoT data streams, we utilize analytical database software such as Apache Druid version 28.0.0 that excels in real-time data processing. Our approach relies on a publish/subscribe mechanism, where device-generated data are relayed to a dedicated broker, effectively functioning as a separate server. This broker enables any application to subscribe to the dataset, promoting a dynamic and responsive data ecosystem. At the core of our data transmission infrastructure lies Apache Kafka version 3.6.1, renowned for its exceptional data flow management performance. Kafka efficiently bridges the gap between MIoT sensors and brokers, enabling parallel clusters of brokers that lead to more scalability. In our pursuit of uninterrupted connectivity, we incorporate a fail-safe mechanism with two Software-Defined Radios (SDR) called Nutaq PicoLTE Release 1.5 within our model. This strategic redundancy enhances data transmission availability, safeguarding against connectivity disruptions. Furthermore, to enhance the data repository security, we utilize blockchain technology, specifically Hyperledger Fabric, known for its high-performance attributes, ensuring data integrity, immutability, and security. Our latency results demonstrate that our platform effectively reduces latency for 100,000 devices, qualifying as an MIoT, to less than 25 milliseconds. Furthermore, our findings on blockchain performance underscore our model as a secure platform, achieving over 800 Transactions Per Second in a dataset comprising 14,000 transactions, thereby demonstrating its high efficiency.

In the next generation modernization plan, the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) system plays a pivotal role. However, the ADS-B’s low level of security and its vulnerabilities have raised valid concerns. The main objectives of this paper are to highlight the limitations of legacy ADS-B systems and to assess the feasibility of using Format-preserving (F), Feistel-based encryption (F), with multiple implementation variances (X) (FFX) algorithms, for enhancing ADS-B’s security. The offered solution is implemented in a standard software-defined radio (SDR) ADS-B to be utilized in real-time applications. Furthermore, a new proposed blockchain scheme is used as a secured database to manage the cipher key. The metric of message entropy is used to assess an algorithm’s ability to confuse and diffuse predictable ADS-B messages; correlation and serial correlation of plain data and cipher data are deployed to evaluate the proposed method’s security level. The authors provide both MATLAB simulations and flight test outcomes to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach. Based on our security analysis, ADS-B information can be kept confidential through our scheme. The performance evaluation results reveal that the proposed scheme is achievable, compatible, and efficient for the avionics industry

This paper provides research on the enhanced NextGen ADS-B reception method and its performance in laboratory and flight tests. It sheds the light on end-to-end reception techniques to comply with key requirements. ADS-B has emerged as among the most intriguing avionics for both researchers and companies since the launch of NextGen in 2009. ADS-B provides authorities with a mechanism for use in continuously monitoring the position and track of an airplane using periodic and independent broadcast messages that transmit Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) position information. The enhanced pulse detection technique is used to detect and validated preamble pulses. Besides the utilization of multiple amplitude samples technique not only improve bit and confidence declaration accuracy but also make it capable of deploying error detection/correction algorithms which are two aspects of enhanced Extended Squitter reception. In addition, applying a slow attack automatic gain control (AGC) algorithm improves system sensitivity and performance. The implementation is done in MATLAB Simulink and C++. Software Defined Radio (SDR) module, BladeRF, is used programable platform for the communication system. Subsequently, the lab experimental and flight test results show that when applying these strategies in a real environment, significant performance is achievable.

Much research has been accomplished in the area of drone landing and specifically pose estimation. While some of these works focus on sensor fusion using GPS, or GNSS, we propose a method that uses sensors, including four Time of Flight (ToF) range sensors and a monocular camera. However, when the descending platform is unstable, for example, on ships in the ocean, the uncertainty will grow, and the tracking will fail easily. We designed an algorithm that includes four ToF sensors for calibration and one for pose estimation. The landing process was divided into two main parts, the rendezvous and the final landing. Two important assumptions were made for these two phases. During the rendezvous, the landing platform movement can be ignored, while during the landing phase, the drone is assumed to be stable and waiting for the best time to land. The current research modifies the landing part as a stable drone and an unstable landing platform, which is a Stewart platform, with a mounted AprilTag. A novel algorithm for calibration was used based on color thresholding, a convex hull, and centroid extraction. Next, using the homogeneous coordinate equations of the sensors’ touching points, the focal length in the X and Y directions can be calculated. In addition, knowing the plane equation allows the Z coordinates of the landmark points to be projected. The homogeneous coordinate equation was then used to obtain the landmark’s X and Y Cartesian coordinates. Finally, 3D rigid body transformation is engaged to project the landing platform transformation in the camera frame. The test bench used Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) to confirm the practicality of the method. The results of this work are promising for unstable landing platform pose estimation and offer a significant improvement over the single-camera pose estimation AprilTag detection algorithms (ATDA).

Numerous devices in distributed wireless sensor arrays require a high-accuracy timing reference. Although the GPS-disciplined oscillators have been developed for decades, the hardware design still has performance limitations. In this context, we present the hardware implementation for a GPS-disciplined oscillator with an automatic adaptive drift correction algorithm, which is implemented in a low-cost, high-speed field-programmable gate array (FPGA) device. The system design and the hardware implementation are presented to demonstrate the advantages of the pro- posed oscillator. To verify this oscillator in real-time applications, we tested the device in multiple environments and compared it to state-of-the-art designs. The experimental results showed that our proposed device has a low cost and high performance. This device can achieve less than 80 ns and 356 ns in 1PPS signal drift in the indoor environment test and the outdoor environment test, respectively, after 24 h of working without a GPS signal.

Accurate geolocation and tracking of Radio-Frequency Interference (RFI) sources, which affect wireless and satellite systems such as Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and Satellite Communication (SatCom) systems, are considered to be a significant issue. Several studies connected to civil and military operations on this issue have been investigated recently. The literature review has surveyed many algorithm simulations for optimizing geolocation and target-tracking estimation. Al- though most of these algorithms have their own advantages, they have weaknesses, such as accuracy, mathematical complexity, difficulties in implementation, and validation in the real environment, etc. This study has been concerned with investigating the accuracy of geolocation and tracking under high speed and powerful rotation using extracted data from the Orolia Skydel simulator, which simulates the space environment involving Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites as sensors and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) as RFI emitters. Various scenarios modeled using the Orolia Simulator for quasi-real dynamic trajectories of LEO satellites have been created. The assumed approaches have been verified by Cramer–Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) and Posterior CRLB (PCRLB) to determine the increase in Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value. The simulation scenarios have been performed using the Monte Carlo iteration. Eventually, the overall achieved results of the considered approaches using data acquired from the Orolia Simulator were presented and compared with theoretical simulation

The removal filter coefficients in this technique are dependent on the jammer’s power and its Instantaneous Frequency (IF) information, which can both be obtained in the time–frequency domain (adaptive filtering techniques). The dependence of the removing/reducing filter characteristics on the interference power is critical, as it allows an optimal trade-off between removal interference and the amount of self-noise generated by the filter. This trade-off is bounded by the two extreme cases of no notch filter (no self-noise) and full suppression (k1 = 1) for both low- and high-power jammer values. In this paper, a cascade second-order adaptive direct Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) Notch Filter (NF) with a gradient-based algorithm to suppress the Continuous-Wave (CW and MCW) interference is proposed for maximizing the receiver Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) in a Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying (QPSK)-modulated signal. The suppression approach consists of two Adaptive IIR NFs (ANFs) based on a direct-form structure: the Hd1(z) and Hd1(z). The proposal in this work presents a low-complexity Time-Domain (TD) algorithm for controlling the update filter coefficient and notch depth. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach represents an effective method for removing/reducing the impacts of CWI/MCWI, resulting in improved system performance for low- and high-power jammer values when compared with the case of full suppression (k1 = 1); furthermore, it also improves the notch filter’s output SNR for a given Jamming-to-Signal Ratio (JSR) value and Bit Error Ratio (BER) performance. For example, the SNR output of the proposed IIR NF was enhanced by 7 dB versus the case without a filter when Eb/No = 15 dB and JSR = −5 dB. The proposed method can detect and mitigate weak and strong jamming with JSR values ranging from −30 to 40 dB, and can track the hopping frequency interference. Moreover, an improved BER performance is seen as compared to the case without an IIR NF.

Radio Frequency Interferences (RFI), such as strong Continuous Wave Interferences (CWI), can influence the Quality of Service (QoS) of communications, increasing the Bit Error Rate (BER) and decreasing the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) in any wireless transmission, including in a Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-S2) receiver. Therefore, this paper presents an algorithm for detecting and mitigating a Multi-tone Continuous Wave Interference (MCWI) using a Multiple Adaptive Notch Filter (MANF), based on the lattice form structure. The Adaptive Notch Filter (ANF) is constructed using the second-order IIR NF. The approach consists in developing a robust low-complexity algorithm for removing unknown MCWI. The MANF model is a multistage model, with each stage consisting of two ANFs: the adaptive IIR notch filter Hl(z) and the adaptive IIR notch filter HN(z), which can detect and mitigate CWI. In this model, the ANF is used for estimating the Jamming-to-Signal Ratio (JSR) and the frequency of the interference (w(0)) by using an LMS-based algorithm. The depth of the notch is then adjusted based on the estimation of the JSR. In contrast, the ANF HN(z) is used to mitigate the CW interference. Simulation results show that the proposed ANF is an effective method for eliminating/reducing the effects of MCWI, and yields better system performance than full suppression (kN=1) for low JSR values, and mostly the same performance for high JSR values. Moreover, the proposed can detect low and high JSR and track hopping frequency interference and provides better Bit error ratio (BER) performance compared to the case without an IIR notch filter.

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) detection and characterization play a critical role in ensuring the security of all wireless communication networks. Advances in Machine Learning (ML) have led to the deployment of many robust techniques dealing with various types of RFI. To sidestep an unavoidable complicated feature extraction step in ML, we propose an efficient Deep Learning (DL)-based methodology using transfer learning to determine both the type of received signals and their modulation type. To this end, the scalogram of the received signals is used as the input of the pretrained convolutional neural networks (CNN), followed by a fully-connected classifier. This study considers a digital video stream as the signal of interest (SoI), transmitted in a real-time satellite-to-ground communication using DVB-S2 standards. To create the RFI dataset, the SoI is combined with three well-known jammers namely, continuous-wave interference (CWI), multi- continuous-wave interference (MCWI), and chirp interference (CI). This study investigated four well-known pretrained CNN architectures, namely, AlexNet, VGG-16, GoogleNet, and ResNet-18, for the feature extraction to recognize the visual RFI patterns directly from pixel images with minimal preprocessing. Moreover, the robustness of the proposed classifiers is evaluated by the data generated at different signal to noise ratios (SNR)

The Quality of Service (QoS) and security of Satellite Communication (Satcom) are crucial as Satcom plays a significant role in a wide range of applications, such as direct broadcast satellite, earth observation, navigation, and government/military systems. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that transmissions are incorruptible, particularly in the presence of challenges such as Radio Frequency Interference (RFI), which is of primary concern for the efficiency of communications. The security of a wireless communication system can be improved using a robust RFI detection method, which could, in turn, lead to an effective mitigation process. This paper presents a new method to recognize received signal characteristics using a hierarchical classification in a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network. The considered characteristics are signal modulation and the type of RFI. In the experiments, a real-time video stream transmitted in the direct broadcast satellite is utilized with four modulation types, namely, QPSK, 8APSK, 16APSK, and 32APSK. Moreover, it is assumed that the communication signal can be combined with one of the three significant types of interference, namely, Continuous Wave Interference (CWI), Multiple CWI (MCWI), and Chirp Interference (CI). In addition, two robust feature selection techniques have been developed to select more informative features, which leads to improving the classification precision. Furthermore, the robustness of the trained techniques is assessed to predict unknown signals at different Signal to Noise Ratios (SNRs).

The Collective Detection (CD) technique is a promising approach to meet the requirements for signal acquisition in GNSS-harsh environments. The CD approach has been proposed because of its potential to operate as both a direct positioning method and a high-sensitivity acquisition method. This paper is dedicated to the development of a new CD architecture for processing satellite signals in challenging environments. It proposes the best signal acquisition method used according to the reception conditions of the different receivers that can assist the user in difficulty. Knowing that the CD approach is beneficial in the case where the maximum of satellite signals can be combined, the proposed approach consists in choosing the best receiver(s) from several connected receivers to serve as a reference station, as smart cooperative navigation concept. New metrics of the CD with optimal weighting of visible satellites are exploited. Analysis of optimization method in order to use better satellites according to some defined parameters (elevation, C/N0 , and GDOP) were carried out. Real GPS L1 C/A signals are exploited to analyze the efficiency of the proposed approach. A comparison of the results through the accumulation of some good satellites among all visible satellites have shown the effectiveness of this method.

Using multiple IMUs allows both their distribution along vehicle structures and a reliance on integration methods, which is not possible with a single IMU. This paper addresses the issue of relying on three IMUs instead of only one of a higher quality in the context of a satellite launcher. The impact of the IMU positions was tested by comparing collocated IMUs against IMUs installed in the head of each launcher stage. For multi-IMU configurations, three integration methods were tested: all IMUs fused in a single INS, multiple INSs fused in a stacked filter, and multiple INSs fused in a stacked filter with geometrical constraints. All navigation solutions were aided by a three-axis attitude reference sensor and were tested with and without a GPS receiver. The results show that distributing IMUs along the launcher structure does not improve navigation performances compared to having them collocated. The fusion of multiple IMUs in one INS provides equivalent results as one IMU. However, fusing multiple INSs greatly reduces estimation errors. Performances are further improved with the addition of geometrical constraints. During long GPS outages, relative velocity and position constraints should not be exploited, as they may lead to filter divergence.

Nowadays, the availability of the vehicle position gets more and more important. The use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver has solved this problem. Nevertheless, this system could suffer from availability of the minimum number of visible satellite, especially in harsh environment. Thus, complementary system, such us Inertial Navigation System (INS) comes to help the GPS in order to guarantee the availability of the position in these environments. Nevertheless, low-cost Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) based INS integrated with the GPS has shown weak performances even in case of using Kalman filtering. To deal with this problem, this paper proposes a new approach based on loosely coupled GPS/INS integration using Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and aided by the map matching technique Snap To Road (STR). Experimental tests of EKF aided by STR tehcnique have shown better performances than EKF alone even in harsh environment.

New positioning applications’ availability requirements demand receivers with higher sensitivities and ability to process multiple GNSS signals. Possible applications include acquiring one signal per GNSS constellation in the same frequency band and combining them for increased sensitivity or predicting acquisition of other signals. Frequency domain processing can be used for this purpose, since it benefits from parallel processing capabilities of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), which can be efficiently implemented in software receivers. On the other hand, long coherent integration times are mainly limited due to large FFT size in receivers using frequency domain techniques. A new method is proposed to address the problems in frequency domain receivers without compromising the resources and execution time. A pre-correlation accumulation (PCA) is proposed to partition the received samples into one-code-period blocks, and to sum them together. As a result, the noise is averaged out and the correlation results will gain more power, provided that the relative phase between the data segments is compensated for. In addition to simplicity, the proposed PCA method enables the use of one-size FFT for all integration times. A post-correlation peak combination is also proposed to remove the need for double buffering. The proposed methods are implemented in a configurable Simulink model, developed for acquiring recorded GNSS signals. For weak signal scenarios, a Spirent GPS simulator is used as a source. Acquisition results for GPS L1 C/A and GLONASS L1OF are shown and the performance of the proposed technique is discussed. The proposed techniques target GNSS receivers using frequency domain processing aiming at accommodating all the GNSS signals, while minimizing resource usage. They also apply to weak signal acquisition in frequency domain to answer the availability demand of today’s GNSS positioning applications.

A limitation of GPS positioning is that the vertical component is generally two to three times less precise than the horizontal components. In a previous work by R. Santerre of Laval University and G. Beutler of University of Bern, it was shown in simulations that it is possible to improve the GPS vertical positioning precision by using a multi-antenna GPS receiver and a precise calibration technique of the relative hardware delay between the antennas and the receiver. However, no actual implementation of the system was done to prove the concept until now. A new multi-antenna, GPS-over-fiber architecture with real-time delay monitoring, designed and implemented to improve the vertical precision is presented. The improvement in vertical precision arises from the elimination of the relative receiver clock error in single difference, between antennas, and the precision real-time calibration of the relative hardware delay. Experiments were conducted with a zero baseline and a short baseline configuration. The results show, as expected by the theory and the simulations, a two to three times improvement in the precision of the vertical component such that it reached the same level of performance as the horizontal components. These promising results will enable the use of this type of configuration in several applications where the same precision in all 3D components is essential and could not be achieved before with standard GPS positioning techniques.

Target positioning systems based on MEMS gyros and laser rangefinders (LRs) have extensive prospects due to their advantages of low cost, small size and easy realization. The target positioning accuracy is mainly determined by the LR’s attitude derived by the gyros. However, the attitude error is large due to the inherent noises from isolated MEMS gyros. In this paper, both accelerometer/magnetometer and LR attitude aiding systems are introduced to aid MEMS gyros. A no-reset Federated Kalman Filter (FKF) is employed, which consists of two local Kalman Filters (KF) and a Master Filter (MF). The local KFs are designed by using the Direction Cosine Matrix (DCM)-based dynamic equations and the measurements from the two aiding systems. The KFs can estimate the attitude simultaneously to limit the attitude errors resulting from the gyros. Then, the MF fuses the redundant attitude estimates to yield globally optimal estimates. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the FKF-based system can improve the target positioning accuracy effectively and allow for good fault-tolerant capability.

This paper presents modification of Radial Basis Function Artificial Neural Network (RBF ANN)-based temperature compensation models for Interferometric Fiber Optical Gyroscopes (IFOGs). Based on the mathematical expression of IFOG output, three temperature relevant terms are extracted, which include: (1) temperature of fiber loops; (2) temperature variation of fiber loops; (3) temperature product term of fiber loops. Then, the input-modified RBF ANN-based temperature compensation scheme is established, in which temperature relevant terms are transferred to train the RBF ANN. Experimental temperature tests are conducted and sufficient data are collected and post-processed to form the novel RBF ANN. Finally, we apply the modified RBF ANN based on temperature compensation model in two IFOGs with temperature compensation capabilities. The experimental results show the proposed temperature compensation model could efficiently reduce the influence of environment temperature on the output of IFOG, and exhibit a better temperature compensation performance than conventional scheme without proposed improvements.

In order to improve the accuracy and reliability of micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) navigation systems, an orthogonal rotation method-based nine-gyro redundant MEMS configuration is presented. By analyzing the accuracy and reliability characteristics of an inertial navigation system (INS), criteria for redundant configuration design are introduced. Then the orthogonal rotation configuration is formed through a two-rotation of a set of orthogonal inertial sensors around a space vector. A feasible installation method is given for the real engineering realization of this proposed configuration. The performances of the novel configuration and another six configurations are comprehensively compared and analyzed. Simulation and experimentation are also conducted, and the results show that the orthogonal rotation configuration has the best reliability, accuracy and fault detection and isolation (FDI) performance when the number of gyros is nine.

New positioning applications’ availability requirements demand receivers with higher sensitivities and ability to process multiple GNSS signals. Possible applications include acquiring one signal per GNSS constellation in the same frequency band and combining them for increased sensitivity or predicting acquisition of other signals. Frequency domain processing can be used for this purpose, since it benefits from parallel processing capabilities of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), which can be efficiently implemented in software receivers. On the other hand, long coherent integration times are mainly limited due to large FFT size in receivers using frequency domain techniques. A new method is proposed to address the problems in frequency domain receivers without compromising the resources and execution time. A pre-correlation accumulation (PCA) is proposed to partition the received samples into one-code-period blocks, and to sum them together. As a result, the noise is averaged out and the correlation results will gain more power, provided that the relative phase between the data segments is compensated for. In addition to simplicity, the proposed PCA method enables the use of one-size FFT for all integration times. A post-correlation peak combination is also proposed to remove the need for double buffering. The proposed methods are implemented in a configurable Simulink model, developed for acquiring recorded GNSS signals. For weak signal scenarios, a Spirent GPS simulator is used as a source. Acquisition results for GPS L1 C/A and GLONASS L1OF are shown and the performance of the proposed technique is discussed. The proposed techniques target GNSS receivers using frequency domain processing aiming at accommodating all the GNSS signals, while minimizing resource usage. They also apply to weak signal acquisition in frequency domain to answer the availability demand of today’s GNSS positioning applications.

A limitation of GPS positioning is that the vertical component is generally two to three times less precise than the horizontal components. In a previous work by R. Santerre of Laval University and G. Beutler of University of Bern, it was shown in simulations that it is possible to improve the GPS vertical positioning precision by using a multi-antenna GPS receiver and a precise calibration technique of the relative hardware delay between the antennas and the receiver. However, no actual implementation of the system was done to prove the concept until now. A new multi-antenna, GPS-over-fiber architecture with real-time delay monitoring, designed and implemented to improve the vertical precision is presented. The improvement in vertical precision arises from the elimination of the relative receiver clock error in single difference, between antennas, and the precision real-time calibration of the relative hardware delay. Experiments were conducted with a zero baseline and a short baseline configuration. The results show, as expected by the theory and the simulations, a two to three times improvement in the precision of the vertical component such that it reached the same level of performance as the horizontal components. These promising results will enable the use of this type of configuration in several applications where the same precision in all 3D components is essential and could not be achieved before with standard GPS positioning techniques.