ACTIVITIES

"THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE IS TO

INVENT IT"

2012-2013

SICS 2012-2013

p. 06 Panning for gold in big data streams

p. 09 Big data for genomics

p. 10 Sought-after solutions for heterogeneous embedded systems

p. 11 Doubling throughput of Ericsson EVO RNC with multithreading

p. 12 Ericsson and SICS – a long-time companionship

p. 13 SICS center for networked systems CNS turns the page

p. 14 Interviews with CNS partners

p. 30 Understanding and controlling energy consumption

p. 32 Generic Infrastructure for a Sustainable City

p. 34 Volvo and SICS pave the way for apps in vehicles

INTERNET & TELECOM

INTRO

p. 03 Our Offer

p. 04 Strategy and Excellence

p. 05 Strategic research agendas for Sweden p. 21 Yanzi builds products on Contiki OS

p. 22 A new center for consumer oriented Internet of Things

p. 25 SICS and Silva develop mobile computer support for orienteering

p. 26 A dependable framework for Internet of Things that will guarantee performance

p. 28 A cloudcentric platform for the Internet of Things

p. 29 A patented position determination solution

p. 18 Petra Sundström – lab leader with a creative perspective

p. 20 Plei-Plei - a new take on research

p. 16 Security hot topic

p. 17 Providing security guarantees for infrastructure clouds

SECURITY

EXPERIENCES & QUALITY OF LIFE

INTERNET OF THINGS

SMART ENERGY

SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY

Cover: SICS Researcher Johanna Mercurio

CONTENTS

Page 3

p. 45 SICS Startup removes multicore bottlenecks

p. 36 E-health addresses the welfare challenge

p. 37 Social alarms for a better quality of life

p. 38 Innovations for sustainable, smart, and efficient automation

p. 40 Innovations for tomorrow’s rail traffic

p. 42 Swedsoft – software for growth and innovation performance

p. 43 Catalyzing change in complex systems through “Agile”

p. 44 Automated testing – faster, stronger, and smarter

OUR OFFERE-HEALTH

AUTOMATION & INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

SME DEVELOPMENT

FACTS & FIGURES

SICS Swedish ICT is a leading research institute that provides new information and communication technology to Swedish industry. Our task is to future-proof Swedish industry and make it more competitive.

SICS consists of one hundred and thirty researchers who delve deeply into strategic areas as requested by the industry. We currently conduct world-class research in the following areas:

• User Oriented Services and Products• Networked Systems Technologies and Services• Availability and resource efficiency• Software and Systems Engineering

The expertise found at SICS is built on solid academic research and industrial experience. We are constantly seeking partnerships that will enable us to turn new technology into smart innovations, giving the customer a competitive edge.

Working with SICS entails access to a unique network. Our research is conducted in conjunction with large global enterprises, small technology-intensive companies, public institutions and the international research elite, resulting in fruitful meetings and new knowledge for all parties involved. Problems are attacked from various angles and solutions are tested immediately in practical applications.

Some projects, such as EU projects, span several years, while others solve more limited problems in a matter of weeks.

Call us and find out what we can do for you!

SICS Swedish ICTIsafjordsgatan 22, Kista

Tel: 08-633 1500E-mail: info@sics.se

SICS 2012-2013

Despite the difficult times, 2012 was again a successful year for SICS Swedish ICT. We are well positioned to strengthen Swedish industry with research and expertise in vital key ICT areas.

Current Research DemandsSICS focuses on strategic areas as requested by the Swedish industry. The most demanded competence areas are now: • sensor networks and systems • algorithms for utilizing multicore and parallel

hardware • analysis of big data• optimization and scheduling • interaction design and mobile services • software and systems engineering

These areas often represent critical parts of systems, ranging from small embedded systems to large scale industrial systems.

Strategic Agendas for SwedenSICS is involved in the task of defining and writing the governmental strategic agendas for Sweden in the ICT-area, see details on the next page. It is an important task, executed together with academia, Swedish industry, and the public sector.

As a small country, Sweden needs to focus on both strategic important areas where we are competitive on the global arena today, and identify new business and application areas where we can be competitive in the future. The challenge is thus to find the balance between these two aspects – we need to stay focused and at the same time have enough flexibility to grasp new opportunities.

Research Talent the KeyTo deliver the expected results, we need, as a country as well as a research institute, to attract both young talent and established researchers internationally and cooperate with the best institutes and universities globally. SICS boasts more than 30 nationalities

in its crew, invaluable collaboration with KTH Royal Institute of Technology and other academic partners, excellent partnerships with industry, and a large international network, all contributing to SICS’ world class research.

Through the strategic agendas and our dynamic research environment we will be able to continue delivering value to our industrial partners and customers.

Christer Norström, CEO

STRATEGY & EXCELLENCE

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Strategic research agendas are important tools for research and innovation planning as well as for communication about future investments in research, leading to innovation and growth. SICS leads the teams that develop some of the most important strategic research agendas together with academia and industry; ABB, Ericsson, HiQ, Saab, Volvo, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Mälardalen University, Chalmers University and many more.

Innovation enablers by ICTThis agenda analyzes and defines the overall perspective of future areas of strength enabling Swedish ICT business growth. The vision is that Sweden will strengthen its position to be the leading nation in ICT business and in doing so will enable growth in both ICT and non-ICT businesses. This is made possible by the fact that Sweden currently has the world’s most advanced ICT infrastructure and the world’s most ICT- and digital media-savvy population. Through a roadmap to the future, enabled by ICT, a number of innovation enablers will be developed that will provide ICT product and service enablers as well as growing the competence supply in ICT to Swedish business. Big Data Analytics and Software Development agendas are detailing the content in the specific areas.

Big Data AnalyticsWithin big data and analytics, a number of longer term challenges need to be addressed to reach the full potential of available data.

- Firstly, making use of and analyzing all available data naturally leads to new challenges within storage, computation, and networking; but also necessitates the development of stream-mining algorithms that can extract information without storage. This

also means that Big Data Analytics will happen everywhere – in the devices and in the network infrastructures – since data volumes are too large to be centralized and too sensitive to be distributed in their raw form. As most of this data is unstructured, a significant effort towards development of appropriate analysis methods is also necessary.

- Secondly, by making data and analytic services more available to potential users and services, a new service and exchange market for data analytics can be created, enabling applications and businesses not seen before. This, however, requires development of business models, incentive structures and methods for managing privacy and integrity issues. It is likely that the next few years will see a change in the way ICT infrastructure is managed, shifting the focus from connecting machines and computation to services and how to manage and extract information from data.

Software DevelopmentThe vision for the software agenda is to make Sweden the innovation center for engineering of software intensive systems. This is achieved through the strategies of open and bilateral industry-academia and cross-domain exchange, catalyzing both innovation and productivity improvements, especially in areas of strategic importance. The effects are expected to be an internationally recognized leading position for Sweden in innovation of software-intensive systems, resulting in an increased inflow of software engineering competence, research and new business, thereby providing a foundation for long term national growth.

STRATEGIC RESEARCH AGENDAS FOR SWEDEN

SICS 2012-2013

“Data is Knowledge. Knowledge is Power. Power is Money.”Dr. Daniel Gillblad, leader of the Big Data Analytics initiative.

INTERNET & TELECOM

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A new initiative at SICS Swedish ICT leads national mobilization in Big Data Analytics, an area which will have a large impact on Swedish competitiveness.

National mobilization in Big Data AnalyticsThe production of digital information in society is enormous and rapidly growing, as a result of smart phones, cloud services, the Internet of Things, and global coordination of companies via databases. Properly analyzed, these information streams can be tapped for valuable knowledge.

In the emerging field of Big Data Analytics, large amounts of data of various types are collected, stored and analyzed to uncover hidden patterns and unknown correlations. This information can improve processes in society as well as provide competitive advantages to companies. SICS is managing a research project with participants from industry, the research community, and the public sector to craft a national research agenda in Big Data Analytics.

Big Data Analytics is a research project led by SICS that brings together a broad spectrum of stakeholders from academia, industry, and the public sector. The project will result in a national research and innovation agenda for the future.

“We examine industry needs, competence and possibilities in a technology domain that will have a large impact on Swedish competitiveness,” says Daniel Gillblad at SICS, who leads the project.

Competence in all areas related to Big Data Analytics is included in the research group, spanning from data collection and storage, computational frameworks, and advanced data analysis, to service platforms and business development. The focus will be on analysis.

Potential areas for value creationToday, we produce massive amounts of data that, to a large extent, is unstructured and transient. It comes from a variety of sources and types – such as text, video, geospatial data, information captured by a sensor in a plant or a vehicle, or from social interaction via the web. When the data can be collected, stored and analyzed, it will be possible to optimize various processes within society. Some examples include: With the extensive use of smart phones, motion patterns can be analyzed on an aggregated level and be used in the planning process of new roads, railroads, electricity networks and public transport. By cross-examining data from the health report system with search terms

PANNING FOR GOLD IN BIG DATA STREAMS

SICS 2012-2013

used on the Internet, Big Data Analytics can be used to predict the spread of diseases. It can transform vehicle data into information that lets customers optimize use of their machines. It can also help us to better understand customer behavior.

Challenges to overcomeThe objective of Big Data Analytics is often to make statements about collective behavior. Since many analysis applications involve aspects of integrity, protection of privacy is a main challenge. In order to create new Big Data Analytics services, there is a need for a framework in which stakeholders can exchange data from different sources without violating the integrity of others. Another challenge is to design solutions that will not reveal business critical information when disseminated.“We need a framework that protects integrity and prevents companies from exposing proprietary and business sensitive information. Our goal is to examine a broad range of applications. Therefore, we have participants from the established, traditional industry

as well as new companies whose business concept is to analyze data and provide it as a service,” says Daniel Gillblad.

Building a strong networkDuring the research process, a multidisciplinary network of researchers and Swedish companies from different sectors will interact and attract new stakeholders in Big Data Analytics, laying the foundation for future cooperation.

Partners in the project are: SICS Swedish ICT, Viktoria Swedish ICT, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, Chalmers University of Technology, Luleå University of Technology, Halmstad University, Ericsson, IBM, Volvo Technology, SKF, Spotify, TIBCO Spotfire, Recorded Future, and Gavagai.

“When we have captured the needs and the agenda is in place, the ambition is to start new research projects together,” says Daniel Gillblad.

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We are developing a platform for the storage and analysis of genomic data. The scale of the storage requirement is huge - each full human genome consists of three billion base pairs, and a fully sequenced human genome typically requires around 100GB of storage space.

We are at the beginning of a new big data revolution involving the digitization of our genomic information for archives and analysis. Genomic data has the potential to bring about societal transformations, including curing cancer, providing targeted therapeutics, and revolutionizing agriculture. The scale of the storage requirements for genomic information, however, is huge – each full human genome consists of three billion base pairs, and a fully sequenced human genome typically requires around 100GB of storage space. In addition to the storage of genomic information, its analysis will require both massive parallel computing infrastructure and data-intensive computing tools and services to perform analyses within a reasonable timeframe.

At SICS, through the End-to-End Computing and “Europa” projects, we are developing a platform for the storage and analysis of genomic data. Our platform is an extension to the Hadoop filesystem (HDFS), where we replace the HDFS’ meta-data

server, the NameNode, with a set of highly available servers, backed by a highly available replicated, in-memory database. Our resulting version of HDFS is a high availability platform with greatly increased meta-data storage capacity. This enables us to store far more information about files, enabling features like the annotation of genomic files and parts of genomic files for efficient search. The other main thrust of our research effort is building support for virtualization into our HDFS platform, enabling our system to run as a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) on both private and public clouds. Hadoop as a PaaS significantly decreases administration complexity and lowers the barrier to entry for users installing and configuring the system. In addition, we provide tools to monitor and control our HSFS cluster. In collaboration with Karolinska Institute and Illumina, the dominant supplier of Next-Generation Sequencing machines, we are working on how to annotate genomic data so that we can write programs that efficiently search through these enormous sequenced genomes.

BIG DATA FOR GENOMICS

Each full human genome consists of three billion base pairs, and a fully sequenced human genome typically requires around 100GB of storage space.

INTERNET & TELECOM

SICS 2012-2013

A large new European project, led by SICS, will find solutions to simplify the development of future parallel and heterogeneous embedded systems.

It is widely agreed that embedded systems represent the way of the future. Intelligence and communication capacity is getting built into all kinds of items. One problem associated with this phenomenon is the lack of standards for these systems. Rather than improving over time, this problem is worsening, with an increasing use of different kinds of platforms, with a growing number of parallel processors possessing different characteristics.

To find a solution to this problem a new project called PaPP was launched in the fall of 2012. PaPP is a large European project led by SICS. It will find solutions for the development of future parallel and heterogeneous embedded systems to make them more predictable in new architectures. A special effort will be made to contribute to the development of Open Source software.

The goal is to make performance predictable in every development phase, from the modeling of the system, over its implementation, to its execution by allowing for early specification and analysis of performance

of systems, its adaptation to different hardware platforms, including an adaptive runtime system. During the project, the developed methods and tools will be evaluated on a number of industrial use cases and demonstrators in three application domains important to European industry: Multimedia, Avionics and space, and Mobile communication. This approach will guarantee that the methods and tools developed are both usable and effective.

To achieve our goals we have built a highly skilled European consortium consisting of a balanced mix of problem owners, domain experts, and technology providers: large enterprises as application drivers, platform providers and system integrators, SME’s as key-technology innovators, and research institutes and universities bringing leading edge perspectives.

Everybody will benefit from a successful outcome: The costs for designing and developing applications will go down dramatically when they no longer have to handle different hardware with different OS. Software developers will win flexibility and competitiveness when they are no longer tied to a single hardware but can develop generic solutions.

SOUGHT-AFTER SOLUTIONS FOR HETEROGENEOUS EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

INTERNET & TELECOM A large new European

project, led by SICS, will find solutions to simplify the development of future parallel and heterogeneous embedded systems.

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SICS and Ericsson have reached extraordinary results with their new multicore enabled WCDMA user plane for Ericsson’s new generation of radio network controllers.

A joint team of Ericsson engineers and researchers from SICS has developed a prototype of a new multicore enabled Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, (WCDMA) user plane for Ericsson’s new generation of radio network controllers (RNCs). The new user plane provides increased scheduling flexibility, using as many cores as needed for the current work load, as well as improving power efficiency. Peak data rates and throughput are also increased by over a factor of two in many scenarios. It also dramatically reduces the cost of setting up and terminating IP connections, which is very important for smartphones. As an added bonus, the new user plane also improves the capacity of the previous generation of RNCs. SICS has contributed to this effort with its expertise in high performance multicore programming and scheduling.

In a WCDMA (3G) network, the RNC manages up to several hundred base stations. All data transmitted or received by these pass through the RNC user plane which handles tasks such as encryption, flow control, and retransmission of lost data. With the continued rapid increases in traffic, the user plane always risks becoming a bottleneck, so its performance is of paramount importance.

DOUBLING THROUGHPUT OF ERICSSON EVO RNC WITH MULTITHREADING

SICS 2012-2013

SICS and Ericsson have enjoyed a wide-ranging and fruitful partnership since SICS was founded in 1985. Over the last three years, a major focus area has been novel software technologies for future wireless communication systems, which are explored in close cooperation with Ericsson Development Unit Radio (DURA).

Telecom system components such as base stations and radio network controllers are advanced computer systems. SICS’ expertise in areas such as parallel programming for multicore, compiler technology, virtualization, constraint programming, and machine learning, finds many applications.

In current projects, novel software technologies are being explored that offer the promise of• Higher capacity and lower energy consumption• Simplified programming• Automatic control of networks, for higher

performance• Improved modeling and analysis of traffic and

systems

The collaboration spans both pre-development and research. Pre-development activities explore new technologies in a one to three year timeframe prior to deployment in product development projects. Research projects can have longer time perspectives and higher risk, and feed results into subsequent pre-development activities.

”We witness a tremendous growth of network traffic.” says Lars-Olof Gustafsson, responsible for Pre-Development at DURA/WMR. ”Current 3G networks will be around for many years to come and we must continue to increase capacity every year. SICS is contributing here.”

The SICS-Ericsson Software Lab was formed in 2012 as a vehicle for research projects with Ericsson DURA Systems & Technology.

”We have a strategic responsibility for supplying software technologies within DURA.” says Catrin Granbom, head of Software within DURA Systems & Technology. “We have considerable expertise ourselves, but there are many challenges and opportunities, and it is very helpful to be able to work with SICS in this way.”

ERICSSON AND SICS – A LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIP

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The popular centre is reborn in a different form.

In 2012 SICS Center for Networked Systems (CNS)concluded its sixth year. The research in the center has revolved around core ICT technology for the growing market of networked systems such as web-based services on the Internet, factory automation systems, banking and other financial systems, the telecommunication systems themselves, and various forms of embedded and sensor systems. The scope has included network architecture, network management, networked embedded systems, and secure and trusted platforms.

Important results from the center in these areas are:

• Analysis of program popularity in an IPTV system that shows large differences between different types of programs, and indicates great potential for in-network caching that can significantly reduce the peak demand for network and server capacity.

• Probabilistic methods for designing network management systems, capable of managing inherent network uncertainty. Applying these methods in a mobile systems context resulted in a localization mechanism, which is being patented.

• Security mechanisms for resource-constrained embedded systems that contribute to IETF standardization in the 6LoWPAN working group, and implemented and analyzed security mechanisms for the industrial WirelessHART standard.

• Advanced hypervisors for embedded systems with high security and performance.

Networking in a double senseThe excellence center collaboration form has proved to be very successful. The center has become a meeting place, for example through workshops and seminars that stimulate discussion and interaction between the participants. Partners have collaborated closely in different constellations that in many

instances have led to follow-up projects, both directly industry-funded and publicly funded. Examples of follow-up projects that directly take on results from the center are a project in the VINNOVA challenge-driven innovation program that focusses on the eco system for future media distribution, and a project for protection of security critical information run together with Ericsson and Region Skåne, see separate article on page 16.

Partners continue successful collaborationThe center’s partners agree that the center has been very prosperous, and they have decided to continue the research collaboration with their own funding. Acreo, a sister institute of SICS’ in the Swedish ICT group, has joined in, and the center has been renamed “Center for Networked Systems”.

SICS Center for Networked Systems

Industry partners are ABB, Ericsson, Saab SDS, TeliaSonera, T2Data, Peerialism and Vendolocus Development. Academic partners are KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Mälardalen University, and Uppsala University.

In total the centre has received 38.4 MSEK from VINNOVA and an additional 3.9 MSEK from SSF. Additionally, the industrial partners have contributed about 42 MSEK both through direct funding and in their own work in the center projects.

SICS CENTER FOR NETWORKED SYSTEMS TURNS THE PAGE

SICS 2012-2013

When SICS Center for Networked Systems was on its sixth and last year as a VINNOVA center in 2012, the participant decided they wanted to continue on their own. We asked some of the partners what part of their involvement in the center has been important for them and what they expect from the continuation.

Anna Brunström, professor Karlstad UniversityIt has been both exciting and educational to share in the development of CNS and the many interesting results that have occurred. Above all, those of us on the scientific advisory board have been impressed by the successful progress of research of high scientific quality and we are establishing close industrial collaborations where all CNS partners contribute to and benefit from the results.

With more and more connected devices and with steadily growing quantities of traffic, primarily from video data, beyond the Internet, CNS’ research focus is still highly relevant. Considering the excellence and the strong collaboration that has been built up in CNS, it would be unfortunate if the operation could not be continued. We expect to be able to be constantly connected in the future, and more and more services depend on the Internet. Moving forward, CNS is well-positioned to lead Swedish research in this important field.

Börje Ohlman, EricssonWe have developed a Large Crowd Prototype that is based on informatic-centric networks. A demo app

will be available for download from the Android Market, and the app may be commercialized. CNS has given us the opportunity to develop this prototype. We have also had the chance to share our ideas. The work of others has also given us new ideas.

Many challenges remain. For our part, it’s about scalability and doing field tests. We also want to make the solutions available on the market for Swedish industry. One important component is standardization through the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF).

Edith Ngai, associate professor, Uppsala UniversityThis has been very useful and very interesting. The Internet of Things and the cloud are hot topics, and of special interest to me is how to integrate the mobile into the cloud. CNS offers good workshops, a network, the latest findings and new ideas. It has also given me increased visibility and important feedback on my work.

I would really like to see it continue. It is important to have a bigger group of people like this.

Hans Thorsen T2 Data ABA few years ago we began working on a project, Trustworthy Networked Platforms. We focus on security issues. It has been really stimulating—the work motivates both sides of the brain. We can

INTERVIEWS WITH CNS PARTNERS

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sharpen our claws and get to know what is applicable. The work helps us filter things out.

It is variable and it feels like our strategies are “taking off ”. We have networks and contacts with customers and others. We have gotten to collaborate with Ericsson.The challenge is bridging the gap from the theoretical to the practical and operative. The work in CNS means a great deal in this area.

Kjell Svensson, Saab, Chairman of the SICS CNS BoardOur participation in CNS has given us huge gains. Among other things, we’ve kept an ear to the ground for the outside research community. This has given us a shortcut in our product development.

I hope for a continuation of the work. There are still many issues to resolve. For our part, it is primarily about sensor networks, anomaly detection and connection to info‐centric networking.

Per Gunningberg, professor Uppsala UniversityCNS offers us academic collaboration and, perhaps most important of all, industry contacts that are interested in our research and who can give us feedback and share our results at the same time.

There is a major need for cutting-edge Swedish research in information centric networking to be able to understand how new applications on the Internet will be developed.

Ronny Engelin, T2 Data AB, Board member of SICS CNSI have sat on the board since the beginning. T2 Data is a consulting firm and delivers IT services and

products, including in security, where we offer our own products. I am extremely satisfied with the work in CNS. It took a few years for us to find our rhythm, but things are really starting to happen now. It’s starting to pay off.We’ve gained numerous great new contacts, and we had the opportunity to participate in the ARTEMIS project. We have many good ideas ourselves—but we’ve had a good forum to test our ideas here.

We’ve had good feedback sessions with VINNOVA, but I think six years is actually too short an amount of time. Work in the security field is in its infancy—there is a great deal left to do here. The network is growing and as a result, so is the need for secure solutions.

Ulf Johansson, SaabIt has been incredibly valuable for us. We’ve had help preparing products for the market by using research. Quite simply, we’ve received a “proof of concept” and good solutions for our product development, which gives us more to offer our customers.

There is so much left to do, so much more research we can benefit from. We also have a common infrastructure that we appreciate. There is important knowledge that we could offer our customers. For our part, the most important issues are• Security issues• Using civil services in military networks and

applications• Using civil infrastructure for our systems and

products

SICS 2012-2013

The urgent need to address security issues has resulted in a global increase in research activities in the area of computer security. In 2012, SICS established a new office in Lund. The office forms part of the SICS Security Lab, also newly established, which focuses on platform and network security issues in new networks and services. The lab has rapidly grown to eight researchers and will continue to grow in 2013.

SICS is a member of Mobile Heights in Lund, a cluster working to establish southern Sweden as a leading region in research, innovation and entrepreneurship in mobile communications. Other members of Mobile Heights include Ericsson, Lund University, Malmö University, Region Skåne, Sony Mobile, ST-Ericsson, TeliaSonera and a large number of high-tech SMEs.

SECURITY HOT TOPIC

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Within IT operations there is currently a strong trend towards the consolidation of data resources. Cloud computing, and in particular usage of cloud infrastructures, makes it possible to streamline IT operations and save energy. However, cloud computing also causes new problems. Data that were previously under control of a single administrative domain and organization, are now under the control of a third party provider. This implies that measures need to be taken to reduce the security risks when handling business critical information or, as in the case for the joint SICS, Ericsson and Region Skåne VINNOVA funded Infracloud project, patient information.

The demand for cloud services is growing, internationally as well nationally with a growth rate of about 22 percent. In 2011, the cloud service industry had a turnover of about 4 billion SEK in Sweden and it is estimated that by 2016 this will have increased to 9 billion SEK. One of the main obstacles to the growth of cloud services is the security issues when handling critical information.

If an existing system handling sensitive data is to be moved to a cloud based service, strict security and availability guarantees must be given. This applies to a very large share of the public IT services in Sweden and especially services that deal with patient data.SICS is currently running a project together with Region Skåne and Ericsson, funded by VINNOVA, that analyses the cloud model in which an entire computer infrastructure is offered to the customer, often referred to as the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model. In order for IaaS to be a real option for systems dealing with safety-critical information, there is a need for new technical solutions, which provide

guarantees for the offered cloud service. This is the focus of the project.

The aim is to develop a full-scale IaaS demonstrator and to verify that it is possible to reliably run an existing patient information system, Melior, at Region Skåne as a pilot on the demonstrator. The development utilizes and builds upon previous research at SICS on the verification of computer resources in public IaaS clouds. With the demonstrator it will be possible to show how an IaaS cloud can be designed to provide the security required to move a safety-critical IT service to a public cloud. This knowledge will mean that it will be possible to realize the cost, environmental, and other benefits offered through the IaaS model. The result will also provide important information and guidance to IT professionals and in future procurement decisions.

”For Region Skåne it is very important and interesting to elucidate how we can assimilate the technical progress made within ICT,” says Christian Isacsson, head of area Tjänsteportfölj och design and Chief Architect Region Skåne. “In our future IT systems that we will provide to the users within the region, cloud solutions are expected to be very important when we want to increase quality, reliability, and security. Through this project Region Skåne aims to clarify if and how we can use cloud services for primary information according to existing law and criteria valid in Swedish healthcare.”

PROVIDING SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE CLOUDS - THE INFRACLOUD PROJECT

SECURITY

SICS 2012-2013

“Live Your Designs!” Dr Petra Sundström, manager of the Interaction, Design and Innovation laboratory

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Petra Sundström looks at technologies as if they were design materials. A perspective that changes what we build when using this material.

Petra Sundström holds a PhD in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Last year she returned from her postdoctoral studies at the Christian Doppler Laboratory at Salzburg University. In October 2012 she was appointed Lab Manager for the Interaction Design and Innovation laboratory at SICS.

The core focus of Petra’s research is to provide evidence, tools and methods for how the field of Interaction Design can benefit from looking at technologies as if they were design materials, in the same way as concrete, textiles and wood are design materials in more traditional design practices.

Interaction Design is still a fairly young design tradition and, in contrast to Product Design, there is no difference between a material’s technical specification and what possibilities it holds for design.

Bluetooth is, for example, a technology that has a well-grounded technical specification. But that specification does not traditionally present Bluetooth as a 14-meter diameter sphere, a perspective on Bluetooth that can allow a design team to think of a whole range of interactive experiences that feed off being inside or outside such a shape and range.

EvidenceTo prove her point, Petra makes sure that she carefully documents how she uses the possibilities of various digital materials as inspiration for innovation.

She has, for instance, made use of data from the car engine to develop a series of children’s games aimed at making it more fun to sit still and secured on car trips. The engine data were used as part of the game thus as a material for the design.

ToolsOne problem is that digital materials – as opposed to concrete, textile, and wood – are active materials that only reveal their dynamic qualities when put to use and, more often than not, assembled as parts of running systems. This problem has led to the invention of “Inspirational Bits”, quick and dirty, but fully implemented systems built to expose the dynamic properties of digital materials, as a way of allowing for creative thinking when working out a new design.

MethodsAnother problem, approached by Petra, is how to communicate the possibilities of technology to potential end users, to allow for their ideas and input to the design process. End users need something to relate to when posing requests for new technical services. Petra shows the users examples of what can be done through “one-function-tech-probes”. In a current project at ABB, the control room workers are looking for a way to avoid being bored at work. Before sitting down and solving the problem together with them, Petra presents some of the technical possibilities available. This allows users to start looking at the digital material as part of the creative process, which will open up for more ideas and result in a better outcome.

PETRA SUNDSTRÖM – LAB LEADER WITH A CREATIVE PERSPECTIVE

EXPERIENCES & QUALITY OF LIFE

SICS 2012-2013

Plei-Plei is a collection of descriptions of playful research within the field of future mobile applications developed at Mobil Life Centre. Most of SICS’ research within the area of mobility and human-machine interaction is conducted at the Mobile Life Centre in close collaboration with academia and industry.

How do we play, socialize and have fun with mobile technology? How will the future of digital toys look? How do researchers go about it when they study these phenomena?

This richly illustrated book comprises experiences from researchers working on the broad theme of mobile technology for play and leisure. The presentations cover brief descriptions of research prototypes, summaries from studies and experiments in the field, as well as more theoretical texts. The aim is to highlight the importance of play in the design, use, and study of new technologies.

Plei Plei is a collaboration between SICS, Nokia, Boris Design Studio, Microsoft Research Cambridge, and Ericsson Research.

ISBN: 978-988-8151-83-7FORMAT: PaperbackPAGES: 170SIZE: 24.5 cm x 17.4 cm

PLEI-PLEI - A NEW TAKE ON RESEARCH

EXPERIENCES & QUALITY OF LIFE

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Yanzi Networks, a SME located in Kista, is developing a new product family based on Contiki OS and uIPv6, developed by SICS. SICS has been helping Yanzi with Contiki and uIPv6 porting and configuration.

For several years now, SICS has been working on research and development of standards based wireless sensor networks. Most of the results are available in Contiki operating systems such as the IPv6 network stack uIPv6 and the implementation of the recently standardized routing protocol: RPL.

Yanzi Networks, a provider of M2M and Internet of Things (IoT) services, focus on taking IP all the way to the devices. The developers at Yanzi are currently designing their next product family, a set of sensors and actuators, aimed at being low-cost, wireless, and battery powered. This is compatible with the focus and aim of Contiki OS.

SICS and Yanzi are collaborating on research projects such as the Living Nature project within the Consumer Oriented IoT Centre (see next page), and the creation of an industry-strength Contiki OS port and a set of management tools for the hardware platform selected by Yanzi. The first result from this collaboration is the Contiki OS native border router – connecting sensor nodes to the Internet – that was developed in 2012 by SICS. The native border router is not only a useful tool for Yanzi but has also been adopted by the large Contiki open-source community.

YANZI BUILDS PRODUCTS ON CONTIKI OS

INTERNET OF THINGS

An early product prototype of a wireless sensor node with temperature, humidity and motion detection. The node communicates using IPv6 over IEEE 802.15.4 and uses Contiki OS.

SICS 2012-2013

Interest in the development of the Internet of Things is enormous. SICS is now taking the initiative to make it happen in earnest. The Consumer Oriented Internet of Things is a center for entertainment and lifestyle services with all the technology necessary to put the entire value chain in place: from sensors to interaction.

The time when people sat staring at their phones will soon be past. The Internet of Things can be described as smart phones taking a giant step forward, and interest in both the technology and the actual services is growing rapidly. More than 500 people attended SICS’ first Internet of Things Day in February 2012. The basic technologies and numerous examples of services that have already been developed to test the technology were demonstrated at that time. VINNOVA is now investing SEK 6 million to help the development take off.

Spectrum of skillsSICS has an impressive spectrum of skills to bring the Internet of Things to fruition: interactive interfaces with sensors and actuators, wireless sensor networks, data analysis, network architecture, efficient data traffic, security and privacy aspects, storage of large quantities of data, visualization technology etc. The services we can create when all of this technology is connected will create a completely new, large, open market and enrich our lives.

Three example servicesThree specific services will also be delivered in the project: a sports app to improve training for skiers, a social life rhythm app based on bio sensor data of stress patterns, and a nature app that establishes contact with our most beloved places. The services test the technology and serve as an example to present an array of possibilities.

Creative consortiumAn essential aspect of the initiative is for companies in different parts of the value chain to find one

another. SICS has created a consortium for the center that lays the foundation for companies to have contacts they have not had before. IKEA has contact with telecom companies, ABB with small creative companies. The start-up world is bubbling with ideas that can provide big established companies with inspiration while simultaneously giving small companies a chance to reach a larger market.

Shared data is double the joyStorage and analysis of large quantities of data is an important component. Now, when you can gather and analyze the massive quantities of data streaming into the Internet via all of these connected devices, numerous services that people want arise. When our phone battery dies, we are happy to be able to see where other people have charged their phones in the city. When someone announces that they are stuck in a traffic jam, we can avoid that particular stretch of road. When we are sick, we want to know what others did to recover, and so forth.“We want to share information,” says Kia Höök, research leader at SICS and professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, who is leading the initiative. “Privacy is important but many people are also prepared to offer something to be part of something; just look at Facebook!”

Usefulness and entertainment“We need to consider the concept of usefulness in a new light,” says Kia Höök. “Entertainment can be incredibly beneficial, both for GDP and for the joy of living. Some of Sweden’s most successful industries are focused on entertainment: the music, game and fashion industries, just to name a few. And the big money in telecom comes from the desire to socialize. We want to offer services that people want and that make their lives better, services that enrich their lives and make them more social, creative, playful and healthy. We think this is useful!”

A NEW CENTER FOR CONSUMER ORIENTED INTERNET OF THINGS

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INTERNET OF THINGS

SICS 2012-2013

INTERNET OF THINGS

Peter Öberg, medalist in multiple world championships.

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SICS and Silva AB have received support from the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA) to develop an app for elite orienteers. The expected result is both a sensor-based prototype for interaction and analysis of running, running technique and movement, and lessons about how innovations can be developed in collaboration with elite users.

By creating the prototype together with the Swedish Orienteering Federation, the project aims to develop a methodology for innovation with a focus on skills and requirements from elite users. The methodology will be integrated with Silva’s existing product development processes.

“Orienteering is an ‘engineer’s sport’,” says Stina Nylander, researcher at SICS and project leader. It is common among orienteers to have identified specific needs and even to have developed their own systems to improve components of training or analyze performance in a competition. Consequently, one of the challenges is to integrate different types of data so that they may be combined into a useful whole. This applies to combining pulse data and other sensor data from the body and equipment with GPS data, video of terrain, training logs and so forth.

Researchers do not know exactly what kind of computer support is most in demand among orienteers, but feedback for more fact-based training is one aspect that probably interests elite orienteers as well as exercisers. The possibilities include immediate feedback on running technique while training, as well

as seeing sensor data afterwards that shows how the body worked on a run. “For us, this is another way to augment our partnerships with our customers and users, and to leverage their expertise,” says Per Wååg, product development manager at Silva.

The goal once the project is complete is for Silva to have carefully developed strategies, work structures and methodological tools in their product development processes that enhance their existing relationships with primary users (elite orienteers, elite cyclists and elite triathletes). With participation by the Swedish Orienteering Federation, the project will contribute an open innovation method that can be shared with other federations and businesses in sports movement.

SICS has several projects in the Internet of Sports area. For example, a cross-country skiing app is being developed for the Olympics with the Swedish Cross-Country Ski Team and the Swedish National Winter Sports Research Centre. SICS’ impressive knowledge of big data, data analysis, interaction design, visualization technology and wireless sensor networks are all necessary components for creating the new services. A well-developed methodology for collaboration with users puts another piece of the puzzle in place.

In September 2013 an open Internet of Sports Day is arranged by SICS within the SICS Software Week events.

SICS AND SILVA DEVELOP MOBILE COMPUTER SUPPORT FOR ORIENTEERING

SICS 2012-2013

Internet of Things – where the Internet reaches out to the physical world via wireless sensor networks – holds promises of smart cities, smart grids, and supportive applications in healthcare and industrial automation. In an Internet of Things solution, a sensor network provides real-time information about the state of things and places. But today, Internet of Things set-ups run the risk of being disturbed by the use of other wireless equipment in the near surroundings, e.g. WiFi and Bluetooth, and by outdoor parameters.

Embedded wireless sensors and actuators in Internet of Things (IoT) solutions are deeply affected by their environment. Radio interference from other wireless equipment and electrical appliances, such as Bluetooth and WiFi, causes imperfect communication, and temperature and humidity variations affect battery capacity and electronics. For dependable IoT solutions, sensor data and actuation commands must be delivered promptly and reliably and batteries powering devices must last for a given time in the order of years. Failure to meet these requirements may result in risks for humans and infrastructures, low user satisfaction, and high costs. RELYonIT is an experimentally-driven, EU-funded research project that aims to develop a generic framework and tools for a wide range of dependable IoT applications.

Multidisciplinary approach The project integrates a range of different technologies from the embedded, computing and networking worlds. A multidisciplinary approach combines competencies in internetworking of sensors, sensor networking, dependability, modeling, verification, optimization, experimentation and testing, and real-world application.

“SICS’s role is in the modeling of environmental properties and their impact on IoT and we will design the protocol that will guarantee the dependability. We are also involved in how to use and, if necessary, change the protocol. For example, if data is not distributed correctly, how can the protocol be adjusted,” explains Thiemo Voigt.

Two prototypesRELYonIT will use several existing testbeds, including the FIRE IoT facilities WISEBED and SmartSantander, with their wireless sensor networks that are connected to the Internet.

The project consortium includes six members and will last for two years. Acciona and Wordsensing are two industrial partners that will construct user cases and scenarios as the project evolves.“We will then develop two prototypes in order to demonstrate the capabilities of the techniques we use,” says Thiemo Voigt.

A DEPENDABLE FRAMEWORK FOR INTERNET OF THINGS THAT WILL GUARANTEE PERFORMANCE

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INTERNET OF THINGS

“We develop prototypes in order to demonstrate the capabilities of the techniques we use.”Thiemo Voigt is the leader of the Networked Embedded Systems group at SICS and a Professor at the Department of Information Technology at Uppsala University.

SICS 2012-2013

SicsthSense is a new cloud platform that makes it easier than ever to connect sensors, actuators, smart phones and online services. Through this new platform, users can consolidate their sensor data, share it in a secure way, look for other users’ data, set triggers and interact with objects or services.

The Internet of Things is about to connect our phones, cars, appliances, buildings, toys, cities, environment, and social networks, leading to a richer world. Leading IT companies such as Ericsson and CISCO foresee up to 50 billion connected devices by 2020. Yet, making sense of these devices and creating appropriate applications remains a challenge. Because the cloud has the potential to enable such large-scale applications, researchers at SICS are developing SicsthSense, an open platform for the Internet of Things.

SicsthSense lets people collect, share, and mash up information from their smartphones, sensors, actuators, or from online services. By giving a virtual presence to every physical object, and by storing sensor data in the cloud, it becomes easy to analyze the data, make sense of it, and trigger actions from the cloud. For example, after installing a presence sensor in a room and connecting it to the Internet, the user can log in to SicsthSense, and set a simple rule that turns off the lights when the room is vacant, or post a tweet when unexpected presence is detected. Another example would be that of a user continuously uploading her GPS location

(from a smartphone), and this information being used together with public weather information to “teach” her home thermostat when to keep the house warm or let it cool down and save energy. We are limited only by our imagination when it comes to the design possibilities of new, unforeseen applications.

The new platform enables research on how to program Internet of Things applications, how to secure interactions and preserve user’s policy, and how to efficiently connect low-power devices.

“We do tackle these challenges, in an application-driven way, to keep in mind real world needs and propose meaningful solutions. We are always excited to hear about new applications,” says Simon Ducuennoy, researcher at SICS.

An open platformThe SicsthSense platform is open source, meaning that users with specific needs can contribute to it and extend it to suit the needs of their own application. They can then deploy a new instance of SicsthSense, either internally or on the Internet, to serve their purpose. The RESTful architecture (where resources are described in a simple and modular way) makes it easy to interconnect distributed instances of SicsthSense, a key feature for Internet-like scalability and openness.

SicsthSense is publicly available for users at: http://sense.sics.se

A CLOUD-CENTRIC PLATFORM FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS

INTERNET OF THINGS

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More dynamic and less resource-intensive: Researchers at SICS have developed a new solution to determine mobile phone positioning.

People’s communication habits are becoming more and more mobile, but tracking their location within the networks is actually quite a difficult task. As researchers at SICS began analyzing the problems surrounding mobile phone positioning, they realized the solution was right in front of their eyes—in the network itself. The network has contact with the mobile devices in a variety of situations, and with the new method from SICS, the locations where that occurs can be tracked within the network. The proposed method uses many short such traces to map the collective behaviour of the users of the network, without storing longer individual trajectories.“The biggest win is that this method makes manual configuration of network parameters unnecessary: we’ve shown that with statistics and optimization, it can be done automatically. The need for this kind of technology is only going to grow very fast moving forward, especially with the introduction of more heterogenous networks”, says Per Kreuger, researcher at SICS.

An important and difficult configuration problemConfiguring the mobility management entities (MMEs) that calculate the location of a mobile phone is a resource-intensive task. Cellular networks currently rely on fixed collections of cells—tracking areas—for user equipment localization. Tracking areas are manually configured and maintained; this is therefore an important configuration and resource management problem. The imperfections of the configuration results are particularly apparent for people moving collectively over tracking area borders, for example when a conversation breaks off and the internet connection is lost on a subway ride.

It was with this background that, a few years ago, Ericsson turned to SICS to work together to develop a better method and a tool to decide how the MMEs should be configured and where the boundaries between these tracking areas should be. “Knowing

how people move is essential to determine the best placement for the boundaries. When we considered this, we came to an important realization: the network sees a lot of movements and generates the information necessary to set the parameters itself. A more radical approach would therefore be to dynamically and autonomously reconfigure the tracking areas online and make them local to each cell,” says Per Kreuger.

The research project has been successful and has now resulted in a new patent. A complete new mechanism has been designed based on a distributed algorithm to disseminate mobility information between nodes in the network, a local probabilistic model estimated from this data and an optimization mechanism to implement efficient incremental paging in each area.

Taking the solution forwardEricsson has now taken over the rights to the patent and Per Kreuger hopes to see the technology up and running soon. “Configuring the network is time-consuming and expensive for the operators and need for network solutions like this one is growing in pace with the fact that we’re more connected and we use cellular networks for more task and in new contexts. Our solution shows that configuration efficiency can be improved considerably, and it’s currently an excellent example of the benefits of Probabilistic Network Management.”

Mobility is only one of the areas in which SICS is currently developing Probabilistic Network Management (PNM) approaches. The Probabilistic Network Management paradigm specifies non-deterministic methods in which decisions are based on probabilistic objectives and richer statistical monitoring information, rather than on strict performance guarantees and measurements. Compared to current network management technology, PNM approaches provide new effective means of resource-efficient and flexible network management solutions.

A PATENTED POSITION DETERMINATION SOLUTION

SICS 2012-2013

“One of the ambient displays used within the project: a multi-color lamp that dynamically changes color to warn you about current conditions that might affect your energy costs.”Dr. Emmanuel Frécon

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The ME3Gas project develops a middleware and applications to save energy in European smart homes and offices.

Energy is all around us, we produce it, we consume it, but now we also have to learn how to save it. The ME3Gas project has developed an energy aware middleware platform for sensing and actuation, with a specific focus on electricity and gas. Using Internet of Things technologies, the middleware is able to combine measurements at the micro-level with data-mining techniques and external inputs, such as weather predictions, to enable applications aiming at reducing energy usage in home and office environments. So far, the bulk of SICS’ involvement in the project has involved realizing soft-actuation, i.e. providing inhabitants with cues to understand their energy behavior, in order for them to correct misbehavior or postpone energy consuming actions. To this end, ambient displays have been coupled both to the inner workings of big energy consumers, such as heat pumps, but also to information that could affect decisions, such as the hourly price of electricity at Nord Pool Spot. As the project enters its last year, SICS has turned towards the writing of smart apps that will actuate devices to further save energy. These apps will continuously run in home gateways, while

benefiting from cloud services and in particular predictions based on inhabitants’ behavior to optimize the use of energy. For example, the project is developing algorithms that are able to predict in real-time when a household will use hot water, based on past consumption and habits. Such predictions could be used to optimize the heating process of water to benefit from lower electricity prices (and thus from green electricity sources). Another application targets all multimedia devices that are becoming ubiquitous in our homes and offices, switching them off completely when they are not in use and using cues such as habits, state of the alarm system, and so on. ME3Gas is a three year European ARTEMIS project, which started in 2010. The consortium is made up of 15 partners from five European countries including utility companies such as Gas Natural, gas meter manufacturers such as Itron and Elster, but also Telefónica, one of the world largest integrated operators in the telecommunication sector.

UNDERSTANDING AND CONTROLLING ENERGY CONSUMPTION

SMART ENERGY

SICS 2012-2013

Markus Bylund at SICS coordinates a Swedish ICT led initiative aiming to detail a generic information and communication infrastructure supporting sustainable development of Stockholm Royal Seaport, a much talked about new city district of Stockholm.

The VINNOVA-funded project, Smart ICT for sustainable living in Stockholm Royal Seaport, engages about a dozen small and large companies from the telecom sector, construction companies, and the City of Stockholm.

Simply put, the main contribution of the project is a collection of information and communication technologies that allow providers of all sizes to contribute with technology, services, and content. Contributors could, for example, include commercial organizations, the local municipal government and even the inhabitants of the city district themselves. Such an infrastructure would allow technology, service, and content providers to both collaborate and compete, thus leading to a strengthened innovation climate. Sharing an infrastructure also reduces the overall costs and opens for a system that evolves over time.

During 2012, the project has equipped a trial apartment in the first development phase of the district with an ICT infrastructure for supporting a wide range of smart home applications. Demand/

response smart grid applications were prepared for in the construction of the apartment, including an electrical installation with numerous sensors and actuators for monitoring and controlling individual electrical appliances, light dimmers, and presence detection. In contrast to traditional installations with proprietary control systems, the generic ICT infrastructure allows for an open range of control applications: through proprietary hardware, software components running on a residential gateway, or cloud-based applications. In addition, sensors and actuators based on other standards than the preinstalled installation can be added seamlessly in the future.

A key feature of the ICT infrastructure is that it supports the coexistence of other applications but the pre-installed smart grid application. Home care applications, alarm systems, and home automation services can utilize the same sensor and actuator installation already present in the apartment. From a sustainability perspective, this reduces the environmental footprint of the ICT installations dramatically. It also supports economic sustainability by allowing new actors to contribute, in part through completely new offers. From a social sustainability perspective, it provides inclusiveness and it opens for individualization to a degree that traditional vertical infrastructures fail to accommodate.

GENERIC ICT INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A SUSTAINABLE CITY

SMART ENERGY

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Image: Stockholms stad and Rosenbergs arkitekter.

SICS 2012-2013

During the last couple of years SICS has increased their efforts to collaborate with the vehicle industry in Sweden. In 2012 Eilert Johansson was recruited from Volvo to complement SICS expertise in embedded systems with deep experience of the trade. Currently SICS is involved in several projects with Volvo and Scania where SICS’ traditional expert areas including Big Data, process efficiency and networked sensor systems come into play. One of them deals with apps in cars.

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What will cars talk about when they start communicating with each other? Volvo and SICS have launched a collaborative project to open the computer systems of cars for the market of apps.

Apps provided by third parties can make the trip safer, more efficient and a lot more fun. Each vehicle will provide information that can be used by other vehicles and their drivers: It may concern the state of the road, traffic jams, fastest route, exact time of arrival, sudden stops etc.

Today, the computer systems of vehicles are completely closed for services from external suppliers. The project, initiated by SICS and Volvo, will develop, and make it possible to add, new services to the vehicle’s computer systems without compromising their security and robustness. The systems will no longer be closed, but rather will act as platforms for innovations in software. This will open an entirely new market for apps – this time for vehicles and traffic. New innovative companies will start developing apps, just like they did when third parties were allowed to create services for smart phones.

SICS will not develop the actual apps but the project leader Jakob Axelsson has a few ideas:– Apart from the most obvious services, such as better trip planning for the private car driver, it is easy to see benefits for commercial traffic as well. There is, for instance, a lot of money in lean production. Also, you can keep track of what has occurred during the trip – has the ride been rough, has the temperature been steady etc.

Volvo sees great potential for their construction equipment:– The machines will be able to coordinate their work, so that the hauler no longer has to wait for the loader, says Peter Wallin at Volvo Construction Equipment. All thanks to some simple apps! This can lead to great

cost reductions and better security at road works sites, for instance.

The new apps will not only communicate with the driver but also with the computers that control the different systems in the car, for instance the engine, transmission, or airbag. If the system has noted a stop in the traffic, the car will automatically adjust the speed to avoid a sudden halt.

The mechanism, developed by SICS, will make it easy for the car manufacturer to choose exactly which parts of the car’s system can be influenced by the apps, and which should never be touched.

– To add new software to these systems requires an entirely new level of security and robustness, compared to the system of a cellphone, says Jakob Axelsson. The great challenge here is to be able to add functionality without affecting the safety of the function of the car.

The cooperation between Volvo and SICS benefits from the fact that three of the researchers at SICS have in-depth experience of the automotive business. Moreover, the project fits well with SICS’s current initiatives in Sustainable Mobility and Internet of Things.

Volvo and SICS are forerunners in a development which will affect the entire vehicle and transportation business. The new OS standard AutoSAR, which the business has agreed on recently, will open for apps in all vehicles in the future. Notable is that the services do not have to be built in from the start, but can be downloaded as they appear on the market.

The project is funded by VINNOVA, Volvo Cars and AB Volvo. The system is expected to be ready for demonstration in real cars at the end of 2014.

PAVE THE WAY FOR APPS IN VEHICLES

SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY

SICS 2012-2013

With an aging population and scarce resources in welfare the health area is one of Sweden’s major challenges. Meanwhile, the ability to manage the challenges using IT has never been better.

We see an explosion of apps related to mobile phones designed to support the individual’s health. Increasing numbers of individuals are using these apps and are sharing more frequently their personal data.

Services targeted directly to the public healthcare organizations, however, require different considerations, and other factors become important. This leads to questions such as: Can the data be trusted? Are patients and healthcare facilities securely connected? How is privacy for patients and citizens guaranteed? How should the large volumes of data be handled and how can the data be shown in a user-friendly fashion?

SICS has expertise in a number of areas of utmost importance for current and future e-health solutions. Examples of core areas are: security, secure communication, future Internet, analysis and handling of large amounts of data, user understanding and interactive design and optimization of health care processes.

SICS is a neutral arena in e-health, and therefore operates in conjunction with the public sector, industry and other research organizations in a number of initiatives and projects. Examples include telemedicine solutions for patients at home, digital security alarm solutions, shared infrastructure for all types of services – private and public.

E-HEALTH ADDRESSES THE WELFARE CHALLENGE

E-HEALTH

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In recent years SICS has been involved in a number of projects in the social alarm area. We address social alarm issues in a broad sense and from several perspectives.

Social alarms for elderlyA number of problems have been identified regarding social alarms. It is, for example, a very complex task for the municipalities to procure new alarms. Consequently, municipalities tend to buy the same alarm systems over and over again without taking into account new user needs or new technical solutions that have become available.

Another problem with social alarms, from a user point of view, is that they are designed for indoor use only, with a very limited reach. This has the effect that some elderly people are reluctant to leave their homes. As physical activity and social contact are important to maintain health and quality of life, there is a strong need to further develop alarm solutions for outdoors. However, this progress is slow, due to the challenges in business models and responsibility for receiving and acting on alarms. Future work must address issues related to different forms of cooperation between the public sector, the private sector, social networking and non-profit efforts; and how IT can support this collaboration.

Developing social alarms for both indoor and outdoor use and a flexible organization around them is essential to assist the growing number of elderly people to live active and independent lives.

Young people and innovation One project within the social alarm area in which SICS participates is funded by VINNOVA’s program “Digital innovations in Järva”. The aim of

this program is to bring together researchers, representatives of the business community and future entrepreneurs with the community that represents user needs. The idea behind the project is to use young people’s ideas and innovations as a starting point.

The project is divided into a number of steps, from concept to prototype. It is a cooperation between SICS, InnovationQlub, and the companies OpenCare and BitSim. InnovationQlub is an organization for finding new entrepreneurs for the industry among young people in the Järva area.

This work, which is based on the ideas of young people, aims to develop a social outdoor alarm to be used within the family. In a series of projects we integrate our work within the social alarm area with young people’s ideas for innovations. These youngsters contribute to the project with suggestions for important functions for social alarms for outdoor use, and with insights into how these alarms can be used within families of different cultural backgrounds. In return, they get experience and knowledge about methods to examine user needs, and about how to analyze the material. However, the main purpose for the young people’s participation is to make contact with real research and industry, and gain insight into how an idea can be developed into a product.

SOCIAL ALARMS FOR A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE

CareIP Mobile, digital social alarm from CareTech.

SICS 2012-2013Image: ABB. Busan Newport 2-1 Terminal, Korea.

SICS collaborates closely with a number of companies in Västerås and the Mälardalen region, including ABB and Bombardier. In 2012 SICS started a new subsidiary, SICS Västerås, to contribute to the innovation system in the region. The initiative is a collaboration between SICS Västerås, Mälardalen University, and the network Automation Region supported by Länsstyrelsen Västmanland and Västerås stad.

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STREAM is a VINNOVA-funded challenge-driven innovation project, aiming at creating new and competitive automation solutions. The project is part of the growing collaboration between SICS and Automation Region.

STREAM will create new automation solutions through integration and further development of current technologies for automated condition monitoring, diagnosis, planning and optimization in existing systems.

Case studies done in participation with industry is an important part of the project and existing systems such as ABB’s system 800xA and Addiva’s and Bombardier’s systems for surveillance and data feedback from operations to construction, will be included in the studies.

One of the studies, performed together with ABB, regards condition monitoring and maintenance of cranes in container terminals. In a modern container terminal, there is a large number of automated cranes. To maintain high productivity in the terminal, the

cranes must be monitored for early detection of problems and disturbances. The researchers use logged data from the cranes to detect cranes that behave differently from the others and to predict the productivity loss associated with those cranes, as a tool to help prioritize maintenance.The results from the container case study, along with results from other case studies, will build up the STREAM toolbox. Eventually this toolbox will consist of a broad spectrum of innovative products and services for process automation with direct impact on future production and maintenance management.

The results will have effect on the international market and contribute to maintaining Sweden’s strong global position in automation.

STREAM is led by Markus Bohlin and a group of researchers from SICS and SICS Västerås, and implemented in collaboration with Mälardalen University, Blue Institute, SICS East in Linköping, ABB, Addiva, Bombardier and Prevas.

INNOVATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE, SMART, AND EFFICIENT AUTOMATION

AUTOMATION &INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

SICS 2012-2013

The Swedish Transport Administration and six academic institutions are establishing a long-term rail traffic research and innovation partnership. The program Capacity in Rail Traffic (KAJT) is a ten-year collaboration founded and primarily financed by the Swedish Transport Administration.

The participating parties are Linköping University, Uppsala University, Blekinge Institute of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SICS Swedish ICT and the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute.

Numerous bottlenecks pose a strain on the capacity of the railway system. Smarter methods for capacity planning and operating oversight are essential to improve punctuality in the railway system. The innovation program will result in increased automation in rail planning, digital decision-support systems for train dispatchers and engineers and improved traffic information for travelers and freight customers. “We are in the midst of a paradigm shift:

we’re moving from controlling trains by pen and paper to optimization and digital decision-support systems, and that means we have to connect with Sweden’s cutting edge expertise in the field,” says Magnus Wahlborg, program coordinator for the Swedish Transport Administration.

“This initiative will generate a long-term research platform to develop ideas and benefit the railway system. Coordination of skills makes us an attractive player active in international partnerships, which is increasingly important,” says KAJT’s program coordinator, Martin Joborn, SICS and Linköping University.

Collaboration with the rail industry is essential, and several companies have signed letters of intent to support the program.

INNOVATIONS FOR TOMORROW’S RAIL TRAFFIC

AUTOMATION & INDUSTRIAL

EFFICIENCY

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For over a decade SICS has been conducting research in the railway domain. The core of the work has been in the area of capacity assessment and resource utilization, such as timetabling and shunting.

“We are very pleased that Trafikverket now initiate a joint venture that will focus on how the infrastructure is utilized”, says Martin Aronsson, senior researcher at SICS.

Research at SICS has shown how the railway sector could improve its ability to meet the demand for flexibility, and how resources could be used more efficiently. As a consequence of this research, Trafikverket is currently working on changing the entire timetabling process. The new process, “Successiv Tilldelning, Incremental Allocation”, springs directly from SICS and the projects The Dynamic TrainPlan and Trainplan 2015.

Image: Green Cargo.

SICS 2012-2013

SICS hosts Swedsoft, a cross-boundary Swedish industry initiative to strengthen our country’s competitiveness in the areas of software development and engineering.

Together with Teknikföretagen, IT & Telecomföretagen, Swedsoft members and several supporting companies, Swedsoft put forward a report to the Swedish Parliament as input to the research and innovation bill in late 2011. The work was rewarded when in late 2012 the bill was announced and software development was one of the areas singled out as enabling technology for growth and innovation in Swedish industry. The bill also spelled out the need for Sweden to focus its efforts in research and innovation to areas in which the country can excel.

The next step in the process, which is driven by VINNOVA, is to identify the Strategic Innovation Areas (SIO) where this can happen. Swedsoft believe software development is well positioned to play a leading role in a SIO. Almost all companies are software companies although some might not realize it. An investment in software development will benefit everyone. During 2012 Swedsoft has been updating its Strategic Agenda to be used as input to Vinnova.

Another of Swedsoft’s tasks is to promote software development as a discipline: For instance, Every year Swedsoft supports a number of conferences for software developers. Swedsoft also acts as a catalyst between industry and academia in Software Engineering, another area of world-class research in Sweden. Swedsoft works to make sure research outcomes are being applied. The main event is the STEW conference, held for the second time in 2012, hosted by Ericsson. Special interest groups facilitate information sharing and networking. Agile Methods and Functional Safety are examples of focus areas. You can read about research on Agile Methods conducted by SICS on the next page!

Swedsoft will continue its mission to act as a voice for software intensive companies, and as a catalyst for cross-industry and industry-academia collaboration. As virtually every company today is a software company, Swedsoft will work to broaden its membership to new industries in 2013.

SWEDSOFT – SOFTWARE FOR GROWTH AND INNOVATION PERFORMANCE

AUTOMATION &INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

Image: Lindholmen Software Day 2012 gathered over 500 people in the Gothenburg region.

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Managers for the past thirty years have tightly focused on efficiency, cost cutting, and day-to-day execution — perhaps to a fault. With increasing industry disruption, efficiency is fast becoming of secondary importance to innovation and agility. Many large organizations have too little capacity for external sensing, strategic reflection, and business transformation.

In 2012, as a new recruitment, Dr. Jaana Nyfjord was responsible for bringing SICS Swedish ICT into new domains.

Over the last three decades, the clock speed of the business cycle has increased dramatically. Changes are taking place significantly faster than traditional product cycles, and markets have become unpredictable to an extent that traditional management paradigms are unable to keep up.

The software development community has reacted to these changes and managed to shorten the development cycle of software down to one or two weeks through the use of Agile development methods, such as XP and Scrum. In traditional development models, the development cycle could vary between six months and a decade. Recent achievements, such as continuous deployment, go further still, providing extremely fast and flexible reactions to ever-changing business needs. These methods remove the traditional bottleneck of software development from the business value chain

and are now well understood from a management perspective as well as from a technical viewpoint.

However, with ever increasing complexity, both technical and organizational, business units are often unable to react to the increased speed demands and fail to turn the fast development cycles into realized business value and consequent sustainable competitive advantage. These problems have led to significant friction within the enterprises and – at best – to a suboptimal utilization of the software development capabilities. As a reaction to this, the Agile community, where Dr. Nyfjord is heavily engaged through her thought leadership in Agile Alliance’s Supporting Agile Adoption Program, has started to explore alternative organizational structures that provide the benefits of fast reaction to all parts of an enterprise.

As a practitioner and researcher, Dr. Nyfjord has observed the particular challenges of large organizations in adapting to a new development approach during the last decade. This has provided a sound basis for identifying the main impediments and enablers to enterprise agility. Today, her mission is to enable successful business transformation by catalyzing change in large complex development organizations through Agile.

CATALYZING CHANGE IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS THROUGH “AGILE”

SICS 2012-2013

SICS is addressing the problem of automated testing of complex and highly configurable software-intensive systems. The primary aim is to develop, enhance, and deploy high performance methods and tools for quality assurance of large and distributed software-intensive systems.

The increasing complexity of software-intensive systems leads to new challenges for quality assurance. Verification and testing becomes more complex, time-consuming and expensive. There is an increased risk of software defects remaining undetected and causing severe system failures. To mitigate this risk, quality assurance needs to be performed earlier, more frequently, and in a more automated fashion than in traditional development processes. Hence, to keep and further extend its excellent reputation, European industry requires a combination of powerful processes, methods and tools for the quality assurance of complex software-intensive systems.

Advanced Test Automation for Complex Software-Intensive Systems (ATAC), a consortium of 15 industrial and academic partners from Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, and Sweden, aims at developing, enhancing, and deploying high performance methods and tools for quality assurance of large and distributed software-intensive systems. ATAC will provide partners and European industry with

leading edge technologies for the development of high quality software-intensive complex systems at reduced expenditures of time and money. The expected outcome of the project has a strong economic relevance: according to a recent study, the worldwide expenses for testing (including testing software, hardware and services) will exceed 100 billion Euros in 2014.

Swedish partners in the project are Bombardier Transport, Ericsson, CrossControl, SICS, and Mälardalen University. SICS is primarily focused on applying Search-based Software Testing methods on actual industrial systems from Bombardier and Ericsson, two Swedish giants in the railways and telecommunication domains.

Search-based Software Testing is a set of methods based on translating testing tasks into search problems, in which different meta-heuristic algorithms can be applied to find test data that satisfy the testing task. Search-based methods can be applied even when it is impossible to reason about parts of the system, for example due to the complexity. This is a very valuable property, as having a complete model of a complex industrial system is often too costly or practically infeasible.

AUTOMATED TESTING – FASTER, STRONGER, AND SMARTER

AUTOMATION &INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

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Multicore system-on-chips need elaborated memory architecture to fulfill performance promises, and a mechanism catering to the on-chip communication. Such a mechanism is exactly what is offered by Elsip AB, the latest startup within SICS Startup Accelerator.

Three researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology – Axel Jantsch, Ahmed Hemani and Zhonghai Lu – have been working with on-chip communication on multicore system-on-chips for over ten years. The challenge is pressing – physics won’t allow an increase in processor speed by pushing the clock frequency. The answer is rather to use more processor cores in parallel. But just adding processor cores creates new problems, not least bottlenecks in the communication between the cores and the associated memories.

The solution, as proposed by startup Elsip AB, is to use a mechanism called the DME,

Data Management Engine. This nifty little programmable building block resides next to each processor core on a chip, and takes care of all the communication issues previously handled by various add-on hardware and software. As a result, the performance of the chip increases almost linearly with the number of cores. Shorter design time, lower design risk, scalability and easy porting to new process nodes are nice bonus effects.

Elsip joined SICS’ Startup Accelerator last year, after carefully evaluating alternative incubators. A major point in favor of SICS was its role as an academic beacon in the multicore field.

“Within SICS there’s also an understanding of the semiconductor business cycles, which is necessary for a startup addressing the semiconductor companies on a global scale”, comments Adam Edström, CEO of Elsip.

SICS STARTUP REMOVES MULTICORE BOTTLENECKS

SME DEVELOPMENT

NUMBER OF CORES3

25

50

75

6 9

67

1320

24

30

3125

51

77

7without DME

without DME

with DME

with DME

QCIF (176x144)

CIF (322x288)

PERFORMANCE(frames per sec)

Elsip has implemented an H.264 video decoder in an FPGA with 3, 6 and 9 processor cores, with and without the DME. With the DME and a distributed memory architecture the performance increases almost linearly. Without the DME and such an architecture the communication with the memory becomes a bottleneck, and very little performance increase is noticed even with the addition of more cores.

SICS 2012-2013

INDUSTRIAL COOPERATIONProof SICS is a non-profit organization whose goal is to support industry in Sweden by taking their technology one step further.SICS’ core funding comes from a group of large industrial corporations (below) and the Swedish government through Rise Holding AB. The main sources of competitive project funding are currently the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA), the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF), and the European Commission.

Industrial Partners 2012• ABB• Bombardier• Ericsson• Swedish Defence Materiel Administration

(FMV)• Green Cargo• Saab • TeliaSonera

Other notable customers over the year included the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), the Swedish Coast Guard, Scania, Volvo, and a number of Swedish SMEs.

ACADEMIC COOPERATIONSICS’ success continues to depend on a strong position in the scientific community. Working closely with leading academic partners is a crucial strategy for maintaining SICS’ scientific standing and for supplying cutting edge technologies and solutions to our industrial partners.

Professors sharing their time with SICSSICS has a particularly close relationship with KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Five KTH professors have part-time appointments at SICS and lead research groups that span both organizations. Three groups are co-located at SICS, forming a thriving and vibrant joint research environment. SICS hosts many KTH Ph.D. and Master’s students who also receive supervision from SICS researchers. Both organizations benefit greatly from the resulting critical mass of expertise, and from collaborating closely in both academic and industrial projects.

Professors part time at SICS • 5 KTH Royal Institute of Technology• 1 Uppsala University• 3 Mälardalen University

0

115

105

110

120

130

125

MSEK

YEAR

102

109

118

126

2009 2010 2011 2012

TOTAL INCOME

MSEK

0

24

20

22

26

30

28

32

35

34

2009 2010 2011 2012

YEAR

INCOME FROM INDUSTRY

FACTS & FIGURES

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Academic work at SICS in 2012• 25 students completed their master’s thesis work

at SICS • 10 of SICS employees were working on their

doctoral theses • 106 scientific publications were published by

SICS researchers • Mudassar Aslam received licentiate degree for

his thesis “Secure Service Provisioning in a Public Cloud”

New Doctors 48 of SICS’ researchers hold a Ph.D. In 2012 Ahmad Al-Shishtawy completed his Ph.D. degree with thesis: “Self-Management for Large-Scale Distributed Systems” and Henrik Abrahamsson completed his Ph.D. degree with thesis: “Network overload avoidance by traffic engineering and content caching”

New ProfessorsIn 2012 Christian Schulte was appointed Professor in computer science at KTH and Thiemo Voigt was appointed Professor in Wireless Sensor Networks at Uppsala University.

Excellence Centers SICS is active in two excellence centers funded by VINNOVA:• WISENET led by Uppsala University • Mobile Life Centre led by Stockholm University

The VINNOVA funding of SICS Center for Networked Systems (CNS) finished in Dec 2012, but, owing to the great success of the Center, its activities are continuing (see pages 13-15).

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION• SICS participated in 14 European projects

and coordinated two of them.• SICS is a core partner in EIT ICT Labs, an

initiative aiming at turning Europe into the global leader in ICT innovation. In 2012, SICS’ funding from EIT ICT Labs was 6 MSEK.

• SICS is the Swedish member of the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) and hosts the Swedish Office of the World Wide Web Consortium, W3C.

Dr. Ahmad Al-Shishtawy Thesis: “Self-Management for Large-Scale Distributed Systems”.

Dr. Henrik Abrahamsson Thesis: “Network overload avoidance by traffic engineering and content caching”.

Prof. Christian Schulte, Professor in computer science at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Prof. Thiemo Voigt, Professor in Wireless Sensor Networks at Uppsala University.

EMPLOYEES FULL TIME EQUIVALENT

SICS 2012-2013

FACTS & FIGURES

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITYThe CSR work has continued both through environmental off-setting and through research projects. CSR is tightly integrated with core business aspects at SICS, as social responsibility is often one of the goals for the research.

PUBLIC DEBATEIn addition to publishing its research in scientific journals and conferences, SICS acknowledges a responsibility to take part in public debate, as experts in identifying possibilities and threats with new ICT. SICS researchers participate in courses, seminars and committees, and are often invited to speak to companies and at public events. SICS appeared in Swedish and international media on more than 318 occasions.

EVENTS & SEMINARS SICS organizes a number of annual events:• SICS Software Week (which in 2013 includes

Cloud Day, Multicore Day and Internet of Sports)

• SICS Open House • SICS Industrial Efficiency • SICS Security Day• Mobile Life VIP Open House• SICS CNS Advisory Board Workshop

These events typically attract hundreds of people from industry, academia and society, and offer good opportunities to expand your network. Moreover we organize a large number of smaller workshops and seminars. Email signup@sics.se if you would like to register for invitations!

ORGANIZATIONSICS Swedish ICT is jointly owned by Swedish industry and the Swedish government through Swedish ICT Research AB. In 2012, SICS Swedish ICT’s subsidiary Santa Anna IT Research Institute AB in Linköping changed name to SICS East Swedish ICT AB, and the new subsidiary SICS Swedish ICT Västerås AB was established in Västerås, The same year a new SICS office opened in Lund. In all, SICS has offices in Kista, Uppsala, Lund, Linköping, and Västerås.

Directors of the Board • Hans Hentzell, Swedish ICT Research AB

(Chairman)• Anders Caspár, Ericsson AB• Agneta Jacobson, Ivar Jacobson International AB• Göran Olofsson• Kjell Svenson, Saab AB• Viesturs Vucins• Maria Yregård• Jonas Söderberg, employee representative• Tomas Olsson, employee representative

ManagementCEO: Christer NorströmChief Scientific Advisor: Seif HaridiBusiness Manager: Björn LevinFinancial Manager: Charlotta JörsäterCommunication Manager: Kersti Hedman

FMOF 20% FAV 20% RISE HOLDING 60%

ACREO SICS INTERACTIVE INSTITUTE VIKTORIA

SWEDISH ICT ORGANIZATION CHART

SICS EAST SICS VÄSTERÅS

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SICS researchers Luca Mottola and Thiemo Voigt at SICS Open House.

SICS 2012-2013SICS 2012-2013

Workshop at Computer Systems Laboratory´s annual retreat 2012.

Page 51Page 51

This Report:Photos by Jann Lipka at pages 1, 6, 18, 27, 30, 47.Photos by Joel Höglund at pages 4, 11, 12, 21, 28, 43, 49, 50.Production: Kersti Hedman, SICSGraphic Design: Boris Design Studio

Tel +468 633 15 00 - www.sics.se - info@sics.se

SICS Swedish ICT conducts research that creates value for our customers and partners. Our task is to future-proof Swedish industry and increase its competitiveness by turning new technology into smart innovations.

The two most common forms of collaboration with SICS are direct assignments from industry to solve difficult problems, and joint projects funded by VINNOVA or the EU.

If you work with development in a technology-intensive company, large or small, and want to know what SICS can do for you, please contact us for an informal discussion. It may be one of your best decisions this year!

WELCOME TO SICS