SATNAC 2009 Conference Papers
Work in Progress – Oral Presentations
Title: Direct Feedback Based on Cellular Technology to
Support Demand-Side Energy Management
Authors: Muhammad Abdullah
(
Abstract: The century-old
power grids do not meet many of the requirements of modern economies. The
invisibility of the details of electricity consumption is the prime cause
behind much of the wastage of domestic electricity. Utilities are also not able
to log detailed information about the consumption patterns of each of their
electricity consumers. Direct feedback has proven to be effective. This paper proposes a system that can be used as a way
of reducing the consumption and wastage of electricity. The solution proposed
is to use cell phones or other handheld devices as a tool to both display
information and allow consumers to control appliances in their homes. The paper
presents a concept that is still to be implemented and tested.
Title: Characterisation of the Ionospheric Electron
Density Using Advanced Bayesian Estimation Techniques
Authors: Etienne Ackermann (
Abstract: The accurate determination of the electron density
profile for sections of the ionosphere is of critical importance in a number of
scientific and engineering applications, including high frequency (HF)
direction finding and navigation. The ionospheric total electron content (TEC)
can be derived from dual frequency global positioning satellite (GPS) signals,
which may then be used to estimate the electron density profiles through
tomographic inversion. This inverse formulation is ill-posed; and leads to an
extremely ill-conditioned operator matrix after discretization. This operator
matrix is also expected to be highly rank deficient. We will attempt to
uniquely reconstruct the electron density distribution by applying nonlinear
numerical Bayesian estimation methods such as Gaussian Processes (GP) to the
highly multimodal problem.
Title: Enhanced Open Content Collaborative Video
Annotation Wikipedia for South African Sign Language
Authors: Jameel Adam (
Abstract: The SASL
project at the University of the
Title: Solar Driven Hydrogen Generation for a
Telecommunications Fuel Cell Power Plant
Authors: Akinlawon Amoo (
Abstract: Hydrogen which is the major fuel employed in fuel cells can be generated
from various sources. Its production from fossil fuels such as coal or natural
gas has negative environmental impacts like greenhouse effects, air pollution,
and ozone layer depletion. It is therefore imperative to find an alternative
and environmentally friendly means of generating hydrogen for fuel cells. For
these reasons, research and design is being focused on the generation of
hydrogen from renewable such as solar and wind. This paper presents work in
progress for research on the solar-photovoltaic generation of hydrogen.
Authors: Frans Böning (
Abstract: This document proposes research on the arrangement of nodes
in wireless networks containing network coding suitable topologies. Optimal
node placement as well as the boundaries of topologies will be identified.
Simulation and implementation of the resulting topologies will follow. The
obtained knowledge can be used during the practical implementation of network
coding in wireless networks.
Title: The Bi-directional Approach for Logical Traffic
Isolation Forensic Model
Authors: Innocentia Dlamini (
Abstract: Network forensics involves capturing,
recording and analyzing network activity in discovering the source of security
policy violations or information assurance. The network forensic system that is
described in this paper is called "Catch-it-as-you-can" system, which
seizes all packets passing through certain traffic point, captures and writes
them to the storage. The main aim of this paper is to address some of the
Logical Traffic Isolation (LTI) model challenges, more specifically the
incompleteness of evidence gathering process. This study proposes the
Bidirectional Logical Traffic Isolation model (BLTI) to improve evidence
completeness by recording both the request and the response of the suspicious
communication; instead of the request (suspicious data) only as LTI did. The
BLTI uses indexing method to improve information recording and retrieval. This
research will continue with the evaluation of the BLTI model performance which
is not covered in this paper.
Title: Optimization Of Handover Latency In Fmipv6 Using Predictive Layer 2 Triggers
Authors: Sabelo Dlamini (
Abstract: Next-generation wireless systems are envisioned to have an all-IP-based
infrastructure with the support for heterogeneous access technologies. The
design of intelligent mobility management techniques is one of the key research
challenges these systems. In this paper we will outline the current challenges
in FMIPv6 as a mobility management technique for next-generation wireless
systems. We will analyse the solutions that have been proposed to solve these
mobility management challenges. In addition, we will look at the issues that
the current solutions did not address. We will then propose a cross-layer
design approach utilising the IEEE 802.21 MIH services such as predictive layer
2 triggers to optimize FMIPv6.
Title: Towards Designing Energy-Efficient Routing
Protocol for Wireless Mesh Networks
Authors: Angeline
Dludla (
Abstract: Different studies have proposed number of routing
protocols to overcome data transmission challenges. Very few of these
protocols consider node energy. In this study, the state of art work from
various studies is reviewed and compared based on the some design criteria that
are proposed in this paper. This paper proposes a new routing protocol that
will prioritizes on energy efficiency. This protocol will be formulated using
the HWMN protocol as the default protocol, together with other two protocols
that has better characteristics on the other criteria. The formulated protocol
is hoped to assist in saving energy in the WMN.
Title: Development of a Modular Low Power IEEE
802.15.4 Compliant Wireless Module
Authors: Gerhard du Plessis (
Abstract: Wireless
Sensor Networks (WSN) are used more and more in modern day applications that
involve wireless communication and the monitoring and/or control of an
environmental parameter. In this paper the development of a modular wireless
network node, based upon the systems engineering approach, is discussed. This
new node will use the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol as basic communication method. A
comparison between a proprietary routing protocol and the ZigBee standard will
also be made during the development of the new node.
Title: Visual Tracking Using Particle Filtering and
GPU for General User Applications
Authors: Mark Evans (
Abstract: Due to the ongoing development of low cost
computational power it is now plausible to execute image processing techniques
on modern workstations. New advances in video processing algorithms provide
methods for computer vision functions to be applied in general applications.
One useful function is object tracking. The use of visual tracking to follow
hand gestures for a user interface is plausible with the use of a common
graphics processing unit (GPU). This work in progress explores the components
and factors required to implement a visual target tracking system.
Title: Augmented User
Interfaces for Access for Illiterate and Semi-literate Users
Authors: Takayedzwa Gavaza (
Abstract: The digital divide is a term often used to describe differences between
rich and poor communities. This term however is more encompassing than that, as
it relates to the divide between those who have access to information and
communication technologies (ICTs) and those who don’t. Since their
appearance in the early 1980s, Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) have become the
standard paradigm for human computer interaction [1]. Although their name
suggests a move away from text, GUIs are designed primarily for use by literate
users, with their reliance on text across all interface components, including
icons, menu options and buttons. This heavy use of text on everything poses
access barrier to illiterate and semi-literate users. Although there is growing
interest in research focused on providing user interface (UI) alternatives for
illiterate and semi-literate users, but as of yet there has been no consistent
way of providing augmented UIs to bridge this digital divide. This paper
describes an investigation into UIs to develop an augmented user interface
(AUI) that can be used by illiterate and semi-literate users. The main
objective is to develop a standard toolkit and a set of guidelines that can be
used by developers to design UIs such that even novice, illiterate users
require no intervention to use them.
Title: Spam Detection with Generalised Additive Neural
Networks
Authors: Hannes Goosen (
Abstract: With the rapid growth of internet
users and e-commerce in the past few years, spam has become an even bigger
problem. Consequently, for Internet Service Providers, it has become more
important to identify and filter spam efficiently in order to keep their client
base satisfied. Gen-eralized Additive Neural Networks (GANNs) have proven to be
a good method for pattern recognition and can be used for detecting spam
messages. In this paper, GANNs are discussed and applied to a spam dataset to
determine their predictive accuracy. Compared to other techniques found in the
literature, GANNs perform favourably and may be used to increase the accuracy
by which spam are detected.
Title: The Case for a Simplified NGN Application Layer
Infrastructure
Authors: Doron Horwitz (
Abstract: The current approach to services in the Next
Generation Network can be overly complex. The interfaces into the service
signalling are tied to the technology of the underlying core network. To
simplify the development of modern multimedia services, direct application
layer signalling in proposed. This results in the focus of service development
being moved into the application layer and the service environment being better
structured with abstracted, object-oriented and technology neutral APIs which
cater well for IT software developers. The locus of bearer connectivity control
is also moved into the service layer to centralise control of multimedia
sessions. These changes to the current approach to service development result
in a robust efficient framework for modern telecommunication services creation.
Authors: Sarah Kabahuma (
Abstract: Heterogeneous networks are
the next generation of wireless networks. They are envisioned to offer high
data rates and multimedia services. Additionally, they are intended to offer
services to users regardless of the access technology. Provision of multimedia
services to users will result in high demand for radio resources, which are
scarce. It is therefore important to manage radio resources effectively so as
to meet users’ QoS requirements. Call admission control has been used in
heterogeneous networks to ensure efficient utilisation by determining how
resources are allocated. However variation in users’ demand for services
with time and across individual networks can cause traffic imbalance and poor
QoS in heterogeneous wireless networks. Pricing can be used with admission
control to improve the effectiveness of admission control. Pricing affects the
behaviour of users, and therefore can be used for QoS provisioning in
heterogeneous wireless networks. However pricing also affects network
operators’ revenues. This research is intended to determine what revenues
are obtainable for network operators when pricing is incorporated with
admission control for QoS provisioning in heterogeneous wireless networks. This
will be achieved by analysing pricing in admission control in heterogeneous
wireless networks, and comparing different pricing scenarios; flat and dynamic
pricing.
Title: Development of a Cross-Layer Protocol for the
Improvement of Performance in Wireless Networks
Authors: Conraad Maree (
Abstract: Wireless networks
are becoming more popular and many network users prefer wireless infrastructure
above the wired infrastructure because wireless networks are easy to install,
maintain and use. One problem however, is that the network model used to
develop protocols for the wireless network is the same layered model used for
wired networks. This paper proposes research on cross-layer protocols which
will improve the performance of wireless networks. The Open Systems
Interconnected (OSI) model will be studied to determine candidate layers for
cross-layer interaction and existing cross-layer protocols will be evaluated
and considered for the development of a cross-layer protocol which will improve
the performance of a wireless adhoc network.
Title: Energy-Aware Path Selection Metric for IEEE
802.11s Wireless Mesh Networking
Authors: Martin Mhlanga (
Abstract: The IEEE 802.11s working group has
commenced activities, which would lead to the development of a standard for
wireless mesh networks (WMNs). The draft of 802.11s introduces a new path
selection metric called airtime link metric. However, there are various types
of restrictions. The biggest restriction is the confined energy of the
batteries. Thus, energy consumption is crucial in the design of new mesh
routing protocols. To design such protocols, we have to look away from the
traditional minimum hop routing schemes. This paper presents an energy-aware
routing metric for HWMP to balance the energy consumption among the nodes of
the network.
Title: An integrated Presence Aggregator Based on Open
Mobile Alliance (OMA) Specifications
Authors: Takonewa
Moyo (University of
Abstract: Instant Messaging (IM) and Presence are some of the technologies that
fast making their ways into corporate settings. Their growth could be
attributed to the immediacy with which they enhance communication between two
or more present entities. Currently there are many IM and Presence clients on
the market, each of them implementing its own protocol which are mostly company
confidential and hardly communicate with a different protocol. Open Mobile
Alliance was created to address this problem by providing interoperable service
enablers working across different platforms and operators. This work seeks to
build a presence system using an open protocol, XMPP (Extensible Messaging and
Presence Protocol).
Authors: Vitalis Musara (
Abstract: Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) contributions along the fibre length
have been measured qualitatively and quantitatively through the backscattering
polarization optical time domain reflectometry technique (P-OTDR). In this
paper, we use the forward propagation state of polarization (SOP) monitoring
technique to detect the dominance of PMD contributions by a fibre segment
situated along a buried fibre network system. This technique is cost effective
in design (unlike the P-OTDR) but does not provide information on the exact
location of the dominant PMD fibre segment along the fibre link length; rather,
it gives a clue about its presence. Results show a reduction in the range of
the output SOP spread with an increase in the PMD of the high PMD (HiPMD)
segment till it becomes uniform at ~ 0.4o i.e. when the digital delay line (the
HiPMD segment) is greater than 35 ps. This means the output SOPs over the entire wavelength scan only populate a
smaller portion (a spot) on the Poincaré sphere.
Title: Composite Services Charging for a Multiple
Service Provider Environment in the IMS
Authors: Joyce Mwangama (University of Cape
Town), Neco Ventura (University of Cape Town)
Abstract: This paper seeks to discusses
work in progress to implement a preliminary mock-up of a Deaf-to-hearing
communication aid on a mobile phone. The goal is to ease communication between
a Deaf and hearing users with interpreted communication between sign language
and English on a mobile platform. The mock-up is meant to help a Deaf person
convey medical conditions to a doctor face-to-face in the office. The user interface
has pre-recorded sign language videos for the Deaf user, and English text for
the doctor. This paper introduces the background of the project and briefly
discusses related technology. Results from a preliminary trial of the PC-based
mock-up with actual Deaf users are reported and discussed. Finally mapped out
is a way to implement the communication aid system on a mobile device in a
context free manner, allowing the plug and play of more communication
scenarios.
Title: An Investigation into a Web Based Visualization
Technique of Zoonotic Disease Outbreaks
Authors: Sinini Ncube (
Abstract: Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases that are transmitted from
animals to humans or vice versa. Zoonotic disease outbreaks are a constant
threat primarily to the health, but also to the economy of any country. These
outbreaks are typically amplified in developing countries where there are poor
surveillance systems, a lack of timely communication, and poor epidemiological
knowledge [3]. The rapid developmentof Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) presents an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of the
national surveillance and preparedness programs in
Title: Performance Evaluation of Routing Metrics for
Wireless Mesh Networks
Authors: Siphamandla Nxumalo (
Abstract: A routing metric
is a measure used by a routing protocol to select a best path, without a
routing metric a protocol will not know which path to use to send a packet. A
number of routing metrics exist for WMN, but routing still remains a problem
for WMN. The routing metrics have not been compared with QoS parameters. This
paper is a work in progress of our project in which we want to compare the
performance of different routing metrics in WMN using a wireless test bed. We
selected four routing metrics to be evaluated. Evaluation will reveal the best
routing metric for WMN, if there is none, it will help us recommend design
criteria for an optimal routing metric for WMN.
Title: Detection of Primary
Radio Signals in Cognitive Radio Environment
Authors: Jide Popoola (
Abstract: This paper presents a work in progress on adaptive cognitive radio
system. The paper discusses an approach towards the sensing and detection of
primary radio signals using modulation identification technique. Cognitive
radio is visualized and realized as an intelligent software package simply
referred to as a cognitive engine. In carrying out this work, cognitive radio
engine will be developed using universal software radio peripheral (USRP), GNU
radio and artificial neural network (ANN). The USRP and GNU radio will be used
to develop the software defined radio (SDR) that will be coupled with ANN for
the development of the desired cognitive radio engine that can sense the
presence of primary radio signal through its ability to classify different
modulation techniques.
Title: Secure Contactless
Smart Card Transactions on Mobile Devices
Authors: Adeola Poroye (
Abstract: This paper presents work in progress
to explore the utility of Near Field Communication technology to secure mobile
financial services. The objective is to evaluate the potential
of this approach
as an upcoming technology for mobile cash transactions. The paper argues that Near Field Communication
technology offers a feasible solution and can be integrated into a standard
cellular handset to turn it into a contactless smart card. The motivation is to
create a new secure way for the unbanked to perform financial transactions. A
prototype has been developed and tested with participants in a laboratory
environment. This paper also reports on preliminary results.
Authors: Jimmy Samalenge (University of
Abstract: The existence of web services has contributed
a lot in improving the ability to exchange and use information over the
internet. It has also contributed a lot in the socio-economical development of
humanity especially in urban communities. This paper discusses the deployment
of web services for rural communities, as one of the Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) benefits. It also describes the early stage
of the development of a localized robust system for personal communication
synchronous and asynchronous through the use of web services technologies. This
system will be deployed and tested in Dwesa, a rural community in the Eastern
Cape Province of South Africa which already has embraced ICTs through a project
called the Siyakhula Living Lab.
Title: A Comparative Investigation of XML Compression
Techniques in Mobile SOA
Authors: Evan Saunders (
Abstract: Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a business-driven concept that is
based on architecture that uses loosely coupled services and components to
support the requirements of business processes and users. The primary goal of
this paper is to discuss the importance of XML files in SOA. This paper investigates
how XML compression can be improved to solve the issue of memory in a mobile
environment, as well as to decrease the required bandwidth, storage, and
processing on a mobile device.
Title: A Modular Approach For The Development of a
Reconfigurable Access Network Architecture
Authors: Ryan van den Bergh (
Abstract: The existence of numerous competing mobile
standards forces network operators and subscribers to either upgrade or
purchase new mobile equipment whenever new standards are developed. This is an
inherent weakness within the standards development methodology. The
reconfigurability concept attempts to solve this problem by providing the means
to implement or update multiple mobile communication standards on generic
hardware platforms through the use of software. However, currently there is no
existing standard that defines a generic software architecture for all radio
access technologies. The purpose of this paper is propose the development of
such a system. To ensure that the proposed architecture is developed correctly,
a series of basic underlying principles have been identified and the tasks that
still need to be completed have been identified.
Title: Facial Authentication in Video Conferencing
Authors: Dustin
van der Haar (
Abstract: In
a typical video conference all the participants involved should be properly
identified and authenticated in some way or the other. This prevents
unauthorized and unwanted people to be part of the conference. Present existing
video conferencing systems however, have problems in this area, resulting in
some risks. These risks relate precisely to the lack of facilities to properly
identify and authenticate participants, making it possible for unwanted/unauthorised
participants to join the conference or masquerade as another participant. In
this paper a new approach is discussed that can mitigate these risks, by using
facial recognition as a means of authentication.
Title: Automatic Digital Surface Modeling Using a
Graphics Processing Unit
Authors: Dirk van der Merwe (
Abstract: Digital Surface Models (DSM) are widely used in
the earth sciences. There are a number of methods for automatic DSM generation
from satellite imagery, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses,
none of which are perfect. The generation of DSMs from satellite imagery is a
computationally complex calculation and does tend to take some time to
complete. In order to generate DSMs faster, an algorithm was implemented on a
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). This platform greatly improves the processing
speed but does have some drawbacks; namely, algorithms has to be adapted to be
usable in a stream processor environment. The GPU algorithm decreases
processing time by 900% according to preliminary results.
Title: Investigating Sensor-based Interaction
Techniques for Mobile Map-based Applications
Authors: Bradley van Tonder (
Abstract: Mobile phones have traditionally relied on keypad and touch-screen
interaction. These input modalities are not well suited to browsing map-based
information on mobile phones. Sensor-based interaction techniques take advantage
of the intrinsic mobility of mobile devices, allowing the user to interact
using natural and intuitive gestures. Device tilting and movement have been
successfully used to perform panning and zooming in mobile map-based
applications. Existing implementations suffer from several limitations,
including a lack of controllability. In addition, logic to interpret sensor
data is hard-coded into each application. This research will examine how
sensor-based interaction techniques can benefit from improved feedback and
adapting to users and their tasks. A framework for incorporating sensor-based
interaction into mobile map-based applications will also be developed.
Title: User Generated
Content for an IMS-Based IPTV
Authors: Denys Vera (
Abstract: Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is receiving a lot of attention from
Telcos who are looking into or have already implemented it. For IPTV to be
successful they need to make the service attractive to users so that it can
generate substantial revenues. Integrating IPTV with other services can achieve
this. One such service is User Generated Content (UGC). This Work-in-Progress
paper explains how UGC can bring in revenue to IPTV service provides. It also
discusses the deployment of UGC to IPTV users and proposes an architecture that
can be used.
Title: A Computational Ecology Based Approach to
Routing in Communication Networks
Authors: Frans-Willem
Vermaak (
Abstract: The routing and flow
control problems in communication networks are considered in this progress
report. The problem is cast into an agent/resource allocation model referred to
as a computational ecology. To achieve this, data packets are considered as
agents and outgoing links from nodes as resources. The report covers the basic
theoretical computational ecology model as well as its application to
telecommunication networks. Further work and applications of the computational
ecology model are also discussed.
Title: Browser-based Video Communication for Deaf
People
Authors: Yuanyuan Wang (
Abstract: This paper describes work in progress to
to provide browser-based sign language communication for Deaf users. The paper
introduces the communication requirements for a disadvantaged Deaf community in