Research Areas

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

A thing, in the Internet of Things, can be a person with a heart monitor implant, a farm animal with a biochip transponder, an automobile that has built-in sensors to alert the driver when tire pressure is low — or any other natural or man-made object that can be assigned an IP address and provided with the ability to transfer data over a network. [definition from techtarget]

Currently, two versions of the Internet Protocol are in use, IPv4 and IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 4 and 6) as addressing system of the Internet. IPv4 was designed to support up to 4.3 billion (4.3 x 10⁹) Internet hosts. However, the exponential growth of the Internet has led to IPv4 address exhaustion. The Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA) pool of unallocated IPv4 Internet addresses was completely exhausted on 3rd February 2011 and the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) unallocated IPv4 address pool exhaustion date is predicted to happen a month or two on either side of 1st July 2011. It is a matter of time before the RIRs and ISPs will be unable to grant any requests for new IPv4 addresses. The successor Internet addressing scheme IPv6, developed in the mid 1990s, is being deployed actively worldwide.

Key IPv6 features include: Expanded addressing to improve scalability, hierarchical routing facilitating route aggregation, enhanced performance and extensibility through more efficient routing made possible through simplified and extension headers respectively, QoS support for Multimedia services, built-in and mandatory authentication and encryption for better security, auto-configuration of IP enabled devices for plug-and-play and mobility through Mobile IPv6 support that eliminates the complexity of triangular routing of Mobile IPv4.

The need for users to access information ‘on demand’ regardless of where they are has spawned the development of various wireless based technologies such as cellular phones and two-way email devices, Wi-Fi enabled notebooks, as well as digital road maps on Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) enabled devices that enable users to retrieve data and communicate with others on the go.

Nonetheless, most of these technologies are stuck in digital communications ‘islands’ where devices based on one type of technology (e.g., 3G) cannot communicate with another device using a different type of wireless technology (e.g., WiFi) easily. The goal of MoWiSat Research is to interconnect these isolated ‘digital islands’ so as to enable seamless access to wireless communications regardless of the type of technology used.

Broadband Internet Connectivity remains a major hurdle for Rural and Remote Areas with no existing infrastructure. In addition, there is a need to quickly deploy new telecommunications infrastructure after natural disasters and wars, for rescue, recovery and reconstruction efforts, where the terrestrial telecommunications network infrastructure has been destroyed. Satellite-based technologies are one of the quickest ways to address these needs. Wireless technologies have also enabled new capabilities in terms of location-based services, easy access to information on the go, as well as telecommunications, telemedicine and distance education for rural areas. In addition, Wireless Sensor Networks makes advanced precision agriculture and environmental monitoring possible. Consequently, MoWiSat Research focuses on four wireless technology profiles

The governance issues concerning the Internet can be broadly classified in to two, namely, how the Internet can be managed so it can continue to grow, and how to legally govern activity conducted on the Internet. Internet Governance is an important area to explore and contribute as the entities governing the Internet are new and open compared to traditional domestic and inter-governmental forums. Internet governance affects a wide range of social, political and environmental issues that affects economy and economies for sustainable development. It affects intellectual property rights, privacy and security policies/guidelines, and determines who gets preferential access to certain key Internet resources.

The Internet is open for development and innovation. The more the society depends on the Internet, more will be the relevance of Internet Governance. By engaging in research, analysis and participation in discussions on Internet policy issues at the International, regional and national levels; expertise can be developed to shape Internet public policies, and find ways to improve the governance of the Internet and the entities governing the Internet.

Research Areas:

1.  Infrastructure & Standardization

2.  Legal and Cyber Law

3.  Online Economy and Commerce

4.  Digital Divide and Universal Access

5.  Socio-Cultural Elements

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

A thing, in the Internet of Things, can be a person with a heart monitor implant, a farm animal with a biochip transponder, an automobile that has built-in sensors to alert the driver when tire pressure is low — or any other natural or man-made object that can be assigned an IP address and provided with the ability to transfer data over a network. [definition from techtarget]

Green ICT is a new research area that looks at various issues of ICT contributing to carbon footprint and how this can be reduced. Our proposed framework endeavors to address the reduce energy wastage by optimizing various parts of the overall ICT architecture. The optimization should be able to reduce power usage to a certain extent if not significantly. Figure 2 illustrates some of the issues addressed by the framework.

Significant energy and financial savings can be made by choosing the right ICT equipment and configuring and using it in energy efficient ways. We also believe by educating users to be aware of ways that can help to conserve energy when they use the computer and the Internet. Policy and regulation also plays a crucial role in creating a sustainable and green.