Research Booklet 07-08

8/12/2019 Research Booklet 07-08

1/86

SchoolofElectricalEngineeringand

ComputerScience

2007-

2008

Research rofileNUSTSEECSplacesahighpremiumonqualityresearchasagatewaytonewhorizonsof

scientificknowledgeanddiscovery.Forthispurpose,differentresearchgroupshavebeen

formedwhichnotablyincludetheonesdetailedinthisbook.

Acentreofexcellenceforqualityeducationandresearch


2/86

NUSTSEECSRESEARCHBOOKLET2007-08

TableofContents:

1. SEECS Distributed & Grid Computing Group (Page2)2. Muhaqiq Centre for Measurement and Analysis of the Global Grid and Internet

EndtoEnd Performance MAGGIE (Page9)

3. SEECS Open Mobile Squad SOMS (Page15)4. Reconfigurable Computing Research Group (Page21)5. Raw Network Data Collection and Classification (Page22)6. NUSTSEECS Networks Research Group (Page23)7. Nanotechnology Research Group (Page33)8. Wireless, Internet & Security Research WISNET (Page36)9. Next Generation Communication Technologies Research Group (Page52)10.Center for High Performance Scientific Computing (Page54)11.Group for Research in ASIC and FPGA GRAF (Page57)12.Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems CHES (Page61)13.Vision Imaging & Signal Processing Research Group VISPro (Page65)14.Data Engineering for Large Scale Applications Research GroupDELSA (Page68)15.Semantic Systems Research Group SSRG (Page74)16.PTCL, NUST Center of Excellence for IP Technologies (Page82)17.Research Group for Off Grid Energy Resourcing ROGER (Page84)


3/86

SEECSDistributed&GridComputingGroup

Theme

Research in distributed computing problems and infrastructure, in particularrelated to grid computing, distributed data mining, web services, handheld devices

and distributed databases & storage.

Objectives

The objectives of the group are two fold: firstly, carry out advanced research indistributed computing software, infrastructure and tools; and secondly, to establishcollaborations with international research institutes of repute in this area, to enabletransfer of knowledge and technology to SEECS and Pakistan.

Applicationdomain

HighSpeedDataTransfer&DistributedNetworkStorageProject in collaboration with Caltech (USA) is underway, enabling highspeed data transfer to manage terabyte to petabyte of scientific datatransfers worldwide from European Centre for Nuclear Research(CERN), Geneva. (2007now)

Peer-to-PeerComputingThis project involves development of a PeertoPeer applicationdevelopment framework and set of API, tools and utilities (2008now)

GridcomputingProjects in this direction include Gridenabled Knowledge Management

System (20012002), Distributed Agents for Mobile and Dynamic Services(20022003), Heterogeneous Relational Databases for Grid Environments(20042005), Gridenabled analysis on Handheld Devices (20032004)and Gridenabled Analysis Environment (20042005), DIANA GridScheduler (20052007) and Gridenabled Data Mining (2006now)

DistributedOperatingSystemsThe main project being undertaken in this area is PhantomOS (2005

2008)

WebServicesProjects in this area include JClarens (20032005) and its manyassociated services.


4/86

GroupMembers

Dr Arshad AliPhD Electrical EngineeringOptoelectronics, Distributed

computing, [email protected]

Tahir AzimMS Computer SciencePhd Student at StanfordUniversityDistributed computing, Web2.0 and sensor [email protected]

Faisal KhanBachelors in InformationTechnologyMS Student at WisconsinMadisonWeb services and [email protected]

Kamran SoomroBE Software EngineeringDistributed operating [email protected]

Badar AhmedBachelors in InformationTechnology Distributedcomputing, PeertoPeerSystems

Farooq AhmedBachelors in InformationTechnology(Ongoing)Distributed computing, PeertoPeer Systems


5/86

5

Publications

Arshad Ali, Richard McClatchey, Ashiq Anjum, Irfan Habib, Kamran Soomro, "From GridMiddleware to Grid Operating System", International Conference on Grid andCooperative Computing 2006, GCC 2006.

Irfan Habib, Kamran Soomro, Ashiq Anjum, Richard McClatchey, Arshad Ali, PeterBloodsworth, "PhantomOS: A Next Generation Grid Operating System", UK eScience All

Hands Meeting 2007 (AHM07), Nottingham, UK, September 2007 Arshad Ali, Ashiq Anjum, Julian Bunn, Faisal Khan, Richard Mcclatchey, Harvey

Newman, Conrad Steenberg, Michael Thomas, Ian Willers. A Multi Interface GridDiscovery System.. 7th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Grid Computing,September 2006.

AssociatedLabs

Caltech Lab SEECSResearchProjects

Enabling High Speed Data Transfer And Distributed Storage in High Energy PhysicsKamran

Soomro,

Faisal

Khan,

Badar

Ahmed

Tourist Based PeertoPeer Services FrameworkFaisalKhan,BadarAhmed

PhantomOSIrfanHabib(UWE/CERN),ShuaibKhan,UsmanAjmal,KamranSoomro

Superpeer Discovery ServiceMudassir,Shoaib,AmmarahKahlon

Grid Data MiningSherozAftab,SaeedAkhter,MominaWaqar,OmarMukhtar

CMS Mirror ServerFaisalKhan,KamranSoomro.

InternationalCollaboration

SEECS Distributed & Grid Computing Group has international collaborations with UWE,CERN and Caltech.

Currentprojects

a) Enabling High SpeedData Transfer& Distributed Storage in High Energy

Physics

Introduction

The aim of this project is to meet the computing needs of the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) at European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva.


6/86

6

Problemstatement

To enable highspeed data transmission and distributed storage of large amounts ofdata.

MotivationThe extraordinarily large amounts of data that will be produced by the LHC has

created a need to develop tools that can manage it and make it available for Physiciststo use.

Progress

Tools for highspeed data transfer and distributed storage have already beendeveloped. Their integration with the data flow management tools in use by the USCMS collaboration is underway.

Results

Data transfer speeds of 110 Gbps have been demonstrated in collaboration withCaltech using the tools developed.

Futuredirections

We hope to integrate the tools with the data flow and job submission management(PhEDEx) system in use by the US CMS collaboration.

b)TouristBasedPeer-to-PeerServicesFramework

Introduction

Peertopeer (P2P) networks work by building an overlay network on top of existingphysical infrastructure of networks. This project uses a recent P2P overlay routingalgorithm, Tourist. Tourist promises great improvements over existing overlayrouting algorithms and thus has been the routing algorithm of choice in this project.

Problemstatement

The aim of this project is to develop a framework for PeertoPeer applicationdevelopment which is lightweight, extendable and portable to resource constraineddevices.

MotivationTo enable the application developers to harness the power of Peertopeer computingin an easy to use manner

Progress

Most of the modules for this system have been built. However, the system is in aprototype phase, and needs substantial amount of work to make it useful in realworld applications. The framework implementation is in C++, along with a Java basedP2P visualization tool.

Results

The framework is working well up until a 100 peer system, & most of its functions ofrouting & message delivery are working well. There are serious scalability issues rightnow in the framework, which needs fixing.


7/86

7

Futuredirections

The future work involves many tasks including memory performance analysis, whichwould minimize some of the scalability issues. Secondly, there is need forcomprehensive performance evaluation of the framework, which includes collectingtest results for routing efficiency, selfadaptivity testing, including level distribution.Also some additional features need to be added to the framework like periodic

refreshing of routing table. Also there are many other areas of research that arepossible, once the framework is complete.This framework would act as a software platform which would allow lots of differentresearch on P2P computing, its behavior patterns and would allow improvements toexisting algorithms and techniques. Techniques like locality aware routing and peerlifespan based routing need to be explored which increases the routing efficiency ofoverlay networks.

c)PhantomOS

Introduction

The aim of PhantomOS (internal development name is GridOS) is to target thosebarriers to adoption in user oriented fields. PhantomOS is an operating system whichaims to migrate Grid computing from the Middleware to the operating system level.With this we will target the most profound technical barriers to the adoption of Gridcomputing and make it relevant to the daytoday user. We believe this proposedtransition to a Grid operating system will drive more pervasive Grid computingresearch and application development and deployment in future.

Members

Irfan Habib (UWE/CERN), Shuaib Khan, Usman Ajmal, Kamran Soomro

Problemstatement

To create a system that can provide operating systemlevel support for Gridapplications.

MotivationGrid computing has made substantial advances during the last decade. Variousdevelopments have contributed to this, which include the advancements in highspeed networking technologies and the adoption of standardized Grid Middleware(Globus, gLite, UNICORE etc). There are, however, significant barriers to the morepervasive adoption of Grid computing in other fields, most notably daytoday user

computing environments. We believe these barriers can be broken if we provideoperating systemlevel support for Grid environments.

Progress

Most of the modules for this system have been built. However, the system is in aprototype phase, and needs substantial amount of work to make it useful in realworld applications.


8/86

8

Results

Results from the prototypes developed so far show that a Gridenabled operatingsystem can significantly improve on the performance of Grid applications.

Futuredirections

We are aiming in two main directions. Firstly, we want to complete the currentprototype into a production phase. Secondly, we are hoping to convert the existing

prototype to use virtual machine migration capabilities to make the system moreuseful for the scientific community.

d)CMSMirrorServer

Introduction

'CMS Mirror Server' is an integrated tool to let scientists download distributed physicsdatasets by resolving their locations using official CMS catalogs Data BookkeepingSystem (DBS) and Data Location Service (DLS). The mirror server work is part oflarger project that aims at integrating official CMS data management tools withUltralight's [4] high speed data transfer utilities.

Members

Faisal Khan, Kamran Soomro

Motivation

One significant task which physics community wants to achieve is to gain access totheir desired data before everyone else. Currently they use official storagemanagement / transfer tools provided by CMS collaboration. Following this approachthey will have to compete in terms of resources with other peers looking for similarkind of data. We suggest that the more effective way of doing this is by using thespecially written software which the scientists could tweak easily based on his

requirements and priorities.

Progress&ResultsIts first version is complete including its integration with our high speed data transfertools called FDT (Fast Data Transfer).

FutureDirection

We need to update the existing version in order to incorporate changes to DBS/DLS.

PastProjects

Gridenabled Knowledge Management System (20012002) Distributed Agents for Mobile and Dynamic Services (20022003) Heterogeneous Relational Databases for Grid Environments (20042005) Gridenabled analysis on Handheld Devices (20032004) Gridenabled Analysis Environment (20042005) JClarens (20032005) and its many associated services


9/86

9

ContractsandGrantsObtained

A grant worth $100,000 was received from the US State Department/Ministry of Scienceand Technology Pakistan in 200405.


10/86

10

Muhaqiq

CentreforMeasurementandAnalysisoftheGlobalGridand

InternetEnd-to-EndPerformance(MAGGIE)

Theme

Measurement and Analysis of the Global Grid and Internet EndtoEnd Performance is acollaborative research initiative by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) USA andNUSTSEECS, Pakistan. It involves students, faculty and professionals from both sidesworking on various development and research issues related to Computer Network EndtoEnd Performance Monitoring and Evaluation.

Objectives

The growth of the Internet has fostered intellectual and economic growth of bothdeveloped and developing countries. Fundamental to this is the operation and maintenanceof the underlying Internet technologies to keep the network functioning. Our ambitionsinclude (but are not limited to) enable Pakistan's advanced education and research

facilities to better understand and utilize network connections. We believe that toefficiently manage any network one needs to be able to measure it. Our efforts includemeasuring and understanding current and longterm performance, identifying andreporting problems both endtoend and within the network itself, and providing forecastsof both long and near term performance. In this context our efforts can be summarized as: Conduct research, development, and evaluation of computer network endtoend

performance measurement tools and techniques. Develop analytical procedures to derive reliable results from the performance statistics

gathered. Support collaborative research projects by measuring the network performance of the

platform used for communication. Produce computer network experts capable of doing development for innovative andlargescale computer network applications.ApplicationDomain

Internet Performance Measurement, Internet Communications, Computer NetworkPerformance Measurement, Network Event Detection and Diagnosis, Network PerformanceForecasting and Distributed Systems.

CurrentGroupMembers

Arshad Ali, CoPI, Ph.D., [email protected] Les Cottrell, CoPI, Ph.D., [email protected] Umar Kalim, Coordinator & Supervisor, MS, [email protected] Fida Hussain, Research Assistant, MS, [email protected] Shahryar Khan, Research Assistant, BS, [email protected] Qasim Bilal Lone, Research Assistant, BS, [email protected] Fahad Ahmad Satti, Research Assistant, BS, [email protected]


11/86

11

Publications

Les Cottrell, Umar Kalim, A case study of the regional and worldwide connectivity ofSub Saharan Africa, 2009, will be published at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center(SLAC), 2009.

Les Cottrell, Umar Kalim, "Network Monitoring Report for International Committee forFuture Accelerators (ICFA) Standing Committee on InterRegional Connectivity (SCIC)2009", prepared for ICFASCIC 2009.

Umar Kalim, A case study of the regional and worldwide connectivity of East Asia,2008, published at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), 2008, available onlinehttps://confluence.slac.stanford.edu/display/IEPM/East+Asia+ Case+Study.

Fida Hussain, Umar Kalim, Noman Latif, Syed Ali Khayam, A DecisionTheoreticApproach to Detect Anomalies in Internet Paths, submitted to 28th Conference onComputer Communications (INFOCOM) 2009.

Les Cottrell, Qasim Bilal, A case study of the effects of the fibre outage through theMediterranean in January 2008, published at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center(SLAC), 2008, available online [https://confluence.slac.stanford.edu/display/IEPM/Effects+of+Fibre+Outage+through+Mediterranean].

Les Cottrell, Qasim Bilal, Jared Greeno, "Network Monitoring Report for InternationalCommittee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) Standing Committee on InterRegionalConnectivity (SCIC) 2008", prepared for ICFASCIC 2008.

Shahryar Khan, Les Cottrell, Umar Kalim, Arshad Ali, Quantifying the Digital Divide: AScientific Overview of Network Connectivity and Grid Infrastructure in South AsianCountries, in the proc. of CHEP 2007.

Les Cottrell, Shahryar Khan, International Committee for Future Accelerators Standing Committee for InterRegional Connectivity (ICFASCIC) Network MonitoringReport 2007.

"Quantifying and Mapping the Digital Divide from an Internet Point of View", acceptedfor publication in Proc of 4th International Conference on Bridging the Digital Divide Asian Applied Computing Conference (AACC 2007)

Aziz A. Rehmatullah, R. Les Cottrell, Jerrod D. Williams, Arshad Ali Quantifying theDigital Divide: A Scientific Overview of the Connectivity of South Asian and AfricanCountries CHEP 06, Bombay, India

R. L. Cottrell, M. Chhaparia, F. Haro, F. Nazir, M. Evaluation of Techniques to DetectSignificant Network Performance Problems using Endtoend Active NetworkMeasurements, Standford, NOMS 2006, April 2006.

Fareena Saqib, Umar Kalim, Arshad Ali, Network Weather Forecasting in Girdsystems, in proc. of HONET 2006.

Asif Khan, Arshad Ali, MoMon: single ended, plug n play Grid Monitoring tool in proc.of GridNets 2006.

Talks

Les Cottrell, Umar Kalim, African Cyberinfrastructures at the EuropeanGeosciences Union General Assembly 2009 session in Vienna, Austria 1924 April,2009.

AssociatedLabs

Research Lab, SEECS, NUST


12/86

12

ResearchProjects

Projecttitle Detection of Anomalies in Internet Paths 1Team

members

Fida Hussain (RA), Umar Kalim, Noman Latif (BIT 6)

Supervisedby Dr. Ali Khayam, Dr. Les Cottrell, Dr. Arshad AliStartedin Spring 2008

Currentstatus

In progress

Reference https://confluence.slac.stanford.edu/display/IEPM/Decision+Theoretic+Approach

Projecttitle TULIP: Trilateration Utility for Locating IP hosts 2Team

members

Qasim Bilal Lone (BIT 4), Shahryar Khan (BIT 4), Faran Javed (BIT5)

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Ejaz Ahmed, Umar KalimStartedin Fall 2004Currentstatus In progressReference http://www.slac.stanford.edu/comp/net/wanmon/tulip/

Projecttitle Traceanal: Trace route analysis 3Team

members

Qasim Bilal (BIT 4)

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Connie LoggStartedin Early 2005Currentstatus Completed in Fall 2008Reference http://www.slac.stanford.edu/comp/net/iepm

bw.slac.stanford.edu/tracesummaries/today.html

Projecttitle

End to End Performance Monitoring 4

Team

members

Fahad Ahmed Satti

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Umar KalimStartedin Spring 2007Currentstatus Completed in Fall 2008Reference http://maggie2.niit.edu.pk/wiki/index.php/EPM

Projecttitle Federation: SmokePing, PingER Integration 5Team

members

Asma Shamshad (BIT 4) and Shahryar Khan

Supervisedby

Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Umar Kalim

Startedin Spring 2006Currentstatus Completed in Fall 2007Reference https://confluence.slac.stanford.edu/display/IEPM/PingER+Smo

keping+Integration

Projecttitle PingER Metrics Motion Charts 6Team

members

Umar Kalim


13/86

13

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les CottrellStartedin Fall 2008Currentstatus Completed in Fall 2008Reference http://wwwiepm.slac.stanford.edu/pinger/pingermetrics

motionchart.html

Projecttitle PingER Metrics Intensity Maps 7

Team

membersUmar Kalim

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les CottrellStartedin Fall 2008Currentstatus Completed in Fall 2008Reference http://wwwiepm.slac.stanford.edu/pinger/intensity

maps/pingermetricsintensitymap.html

Projecttitle PingER Sites Google Map 8Team

members

Shahryar Khan, Qasim Bilal Lone

Supervisedby

Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell

Startedin Spring 2008Currentstatus Completed in Fall 2008Reference http://www.slac.stanford.edu/comp/net/wan

mon/viper/tulipmap.htm

Projecttitle ViPER: Visualization for PingER 9Team

members

Shahryar Khan (BIT 4)

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Umar Kalim

Started

in

Spring 2006Currentstatus Completed in Spring 2007Reference http://www.slac.stanford.edu/comp/net/wanmon/viper/

Projecttitle NWF: Network Weather Forecasting (using ARMA/ARIMA) 10Team

members

Fareena Saqib (BIT 4)

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Mr. Umar KalimStartedin Spring 2006Currentstatus Completed in Spring 2007

Reference

http://maggie.niit.edu.pk/nwf_projectdesc.html

Projecttitle Topological Analysis and Network PerformanceVisualization

11

Team

members

Asif Khan (BIT 4)

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Yee Ting Lee, Umar KalimStartedin Spring 2005Currentstatus Completed in Spring 2007


14/86

14

Reference http://maggie.niit.edu.pk/topoanalysis_projectdesc.html

Projecttitle AMP PingER Integration 12Team

members

Mr. Abdullah Jan

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Jerrod Williams, Umar KalimStartedin Spring 2005

Currentstatus

Completed in Fall 2007

Reference http://maggie.niit.edu.pk/pingerampint_projectdesc.html

Projecttitle Anomaly Detection Using Principal Component Analysis 13

Team

members

Adnan Iqbal (Ph.D. student)

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les CottrellStartedin Spring 2005Currentstatus Halted work since Fall 2007Reference http://maggie.niit.edu.pk/netandet_projectdesc.html

Projecttitle PingER Visualization 14Team

members

Rabail Javed (BIT 5)

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Ejaz Ahmed, Umar KalimStartedin Spring 2005Currentstatus Completed in Fall 2007Reference http://maggie.niit.edu.pk/newwebsite/

pingervisualization_projectdesc.html

Projecttitle PingER Executive Plots 15

Teammembers

Akbar Mehdi

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Umar KalimStartedin Spring 2006Currentstatus Completed in Fall 2006Reference http://maggie.niit.edu.pk/ pingerexecplot_projectdesc.html

http://wwwiepm.slac.stanford.edu/pinger/prmout/

Projecttitle PingER Management 16Team

members

Mr. Waqar Ali

Supervisedby

Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Jerrod Williams, Umar Kalim

Startedin Spring 2006Currentstatus Completed in Fall 2006Reference http://maggie.niit.edu.pk/pingermanagement_projectdesc.html

http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgiwrap/downsites.cgi

Projecttitle Evaluation of Techniques to Detect Significant NetworkPerformance Problems using EndtoEnd Active NetworkMeasurement

17


15/86

15

Team

members

Fawad Nazir

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les CottrellStartedin Spring 2005Currentstatus Completed in Spring 2006Reference http://maggie.niit.edu.pk/documents/fawadnazir.pdf

Projecttitle

NWF: Network Weather Forecasting (using HoltsWinter) 18

Team

members

Asher Shoukat

Supervisedby Dr. Arshad Ali, Dr. Les Cottrell, Ejaz AhmedStartedin Spring 2005Currentstatus Completed in Fall 2005

GrantsObtained

1.Title:NetworkPerformanceMonitoringforPERN

Funding Body: Higher Education Commission (HEC)

Approved Funding: 36.853 Million RupeesDuration: Jan 2008 to July 2010.Executing Body: National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), School ofElectrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (SEECS)


16/86

16

SEECSOpenMobileSquad- SOMS

Theme

Open.Mobile.Free.

SEECS Open Mobile Squad (SOMS) was created in January 2009 by Dr. Arshad Ali. SOMS isestablished for creating a Linux mobile

development culture in SEECS and behaving asa hub for other Pakistani universities in thisregard. In the initial run, the OpenmokosSmartphones are sponsored by SEECS. Thedevices provide students a golden opportunity;to play/unlock the completely documentedmobile device.Open: Opening up the formerlyclosed mobileworldMobile: Mobile devices are the future ofcommunication

Free:100% Free Software from driver throughUI

Objectives

The main objective of the group is to develop an understanding in the new emerging fieldof open mobile development. The group will explore and do experimenting with multipleopen mobile platforms and frameworks; existing in the mobile ecosystem. The groupprovides an opportunity to have a handson experience in the state of the art wireless andmobile technologies. The group will also prepare students with a kind of skill set so they

can compete in global competitions and challenges organized by Google and Intel everyyear with their projects which will add value to the existing system.

Understanding Open mobile technology Getting hands on experience Hacking mobile Building mobile from scratch

Applicationdomain

Linux mobile application development Linux mobile platforms and frameworks MobileOS Mobile Computing Mobile communication technologies Wireless communication technologies Linux device drivers Gadgets interfacing with smart phones Open Source in Mobiles


17/86

17

GroupMembers

Dr. Arshad AliPhD, [email protected]

Dr. Fauzan MirzaPhD, [email protected]

Dr. Ali Khayyam

PhD, [email protected]

Syed Ali Haider

MSc, [email protected]

Students

Mr. M Qasim AliMr. Asad RehmanMr. Salamn MajeedMrs. Iqra ArshadMr. Khuram ShahzadMr. Usama ShahidMr. WahibulHaq

Mr. Raja EhtishamMr. Fahad AbidMr. Robert MehfoozMr. Omer Farooq KhanMr. SibguatUllah


18/86

18

Organizationofconferencesandworkshops

Open mobile seminar Openmoko an Introduction Openmoko Supported frameworks Qtopias QT C++ GUI Application framework Eclipse SWT LibraryAssociatedLabs

3G and Communication lab

ResearchProjects

FundedProjects

Mobile handheld computing devices like PDAs, Smartphones and Tablet PCs are becomingmore popular, and major players in the market of desktop computing are now focusing onthis fastest growing emerging market. With the popularity growth, security threats likeviruses, trojans, worms, bacteria, spam, and other malware are becoming a serious concernin these devices as well. As a result, security issues of mobile computing are attracting theattention of a large number of researchers both in industry and academia.

Unconventional techniques of Computational Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence andArtificial Immune Systems should be explored to build an optimized and light weightsecurity system. The proposed secure kernel framework will provide adequate securityagainst malware threats and Denial of Service attacks (DoS) on network interfaces(GSM/GPRS and WLAN) of the mobile devices.

The project aims to develop secure kernel framework that enable selfmonitoring, andconsequently selfhealing operation for an operating system of mobile devices. This isexpected to produce a fully functional Secure Linux Kernel that will be run on tablet PCs /smartphones. The developed framework will be fully aware of system conditions andresource usage and will schedule different threads intelligently based on eachthread/process behavior, thus providing a truly secure computing experience in whichmalware that manages to escape detection by intrusion detection systems gets thwarted inthe scheduler.

The project will also result in software that will utilize (Artificial Immune System) AIS and(Intrusion Detection System) IDS for detecting potentially dangerous programs and files.This software will be installable on smartphones. The software will emphasize minimumuser intervention while ensuring system security.

The key benefits of this project are given below:


19/86

19

This project will provide a selfaware, selfmonitoring, selfprotectingcomprehensive kernel framework that will secure mobile computing devices fromviruses, trojans, worms, bacteria, spam, and other security threats.

This framework will also provide a reliable and scalable detection and protectionfrom denial of service attacks (DoS) on network interfaces like GSM/GPRS and

WLAN. A Unique feature of this host security solution is that it will also provide the network

security. All the hosts that will use secure kernel framework will not let the malwareto execute and propagate. So network will also become secure from malwaresecurity threats.

The techniques and methodologies developed during this project are expected toattract several enterprises and mobile OS developing companies to invest instartups and they can use the product as an important framework for furtherdevelopment.

ProjectDirector:Dr.MuddassarFarooq

National University of Computer and Energing Sciences (FASTNU), [email protected]

JointProjectDirector:Dr.SyedAliKhayam

NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, [email protected]

BrainstormedProjects

a) ControllingrobotswithFreerunnerThe lego robots that are available in SEECS have Bluetooth dongles built in, so we can

use openmoko freerunner to control the actions of the robots by using the concepts oftelemetry. Its like robots interfacing with openmoko using Bluetooth protocol.

b) USBcamerainterfacingopenmokoOpenmokos freerunner dont have a builtin camera but it has USB host port whichallows developers to interface any USB device with it.

c) OpenGSMradioThat idea is little tricky and have a direct impact on the business model of GSM cellular

providers. The idea is to configure the device in such a way that GSM module of thedevices can make communication with other devices GSM module in a peer to peerfashion rather then routing the call from the BS.

d) SmartphonevirtualizationNow a couple of vendors have created Smartphones with processor speeds 500MHz orso and multiple frameworks exist in the FOSS (Free open Source Software) community.


20/86

20

There is a need to use the concept of virtualization where a Smartphone can have dualOS.

e) AdhocwirelessnetworkAreas when struck by any natural or force disasters; like earthquakes which destroysthe existing cellular system. Due to this reason different rescue operations cant becarried out efficiently and effectively. In this scenario, the Smartphone carrying by therescue guys will establish an ad hoc network using builtin wifi module; which willextend up to the time they find some node in the cellular network range.

f) EmbeddingRFIDcardinFreerunnerThe worlds first open and usercustomizable mobile phone is open both in terms ofhardware and software. This provides developers to test their hacking capabilities andtweak their phones the way they like or rightly said imagined. The PCB circuit files areavailable form openmoko.org. Openmokos first product was developed their owndevelopers named NEO1973 which was just a simple mobile but later on when the FOSScommunity catches their idea, they start embedding different technologies likeBluetooth, WIFI, GPS and accelerometers. Now the simple neo is now turned out to be aSmartphone but couples of things are still missing like RFID and Camera.

g) IntegrationofmicroprojectorswithopenmokohardwareAfter reviewing the evolution process of mobile phones it is very much clear that everytechnology wants to sink into the small little fellow of everyone the mobile phone.Different companies are looking towards creating microprojectors like the 3M'sMM200. If we get that gadget interfacing openmoko with this will be great and who

knows openmoko gets that projects and release their new devices with miroprojectorsbuildin.

h)HomogeneousCrossplatformframeworkThe year 2008 was considered to be year for mobile Linux because of the fact that acouple of frameworks were popped up in the same year. Different vendors launch theirown frameworks as listed hereunder:

Qtopia Phone Edition for Trolltech GreenPhone Openmokos FOS Freerunner OS Openmokos Om2007.2 and Om2008.9 for Neo1973 and Freerunner Googles Android for gphone Java linux mobile platform JavaFX Intels Maemo Hildon architecture for UMPC UltraMobile PC Linux foundations Mobilin for MIDs Mobile Internet Devices


21/86

21

Linux GNOME mobile architecture Azingo mobile framework MontaVista Linux Ubuntu Mobile LiPs application architeture Accesss hiker application and some others due

Due to this the market is no so much fragmented that he need of homogenous crossplatform framework is required.


OpenLabCommunicating with Openmokos OpenLab in Taiwan

MokoversityThe mokoversity (http://mokoversity.org/) provides summer internship opportunityand the only organization which is created, funded and sponsored by Openmoko Inc. forthe involvement of openmoko with academic institutions. They conduct trainings andworkshops on openmoko products and related technologies. We are trying to makeefforts to get benefit from their resources.

Contractsandgrants

PKR 14.99 million from ICT R&D Fund for the project titled: AnIntelligentSecureKernelforNextGenerationMobileComputingDevices


22/86

22

ReconfigurableComputingResearchGroup

Theme

To do research and development of product using this new computing paradigm so as toadapt the hardware during runtime by "loading" a new circuit on the reconfigurable fabric

Objectives

Adaptive implementations of communication coding in reconfigurable hardware Adaptive systems on a chip Reconfigurable Architectures Networks ApplicationsApplicationdomain

Satellite communications Cryptography Signal processing Image and video processing Intelligent sensors and measurement systems Software radioGroupMembers

Nasir MahmoodMS , ChinaEmbedded Systems Design,Reconfigurable computing

925190852113,92513215160554,[email protected]

Dr. Rehan HafizPhD , UKImage Processing and DSP05190852105, 03315189556,[email protected]

Muhammad RamzanMS, AustraliaCommunication and DSP05190852113, 03005260446,

[email protected]

Arshad NazirMS, NUST PkTelecommunication0515590546, 03005527590,[email protected]

Muhammad Ali AwanMS, SwedenASIC and Embedded System

0966714411, 03455127323


23/86

23

RawNetworkDataCollectionandClassification

Introduction

Network traffic patterns have changed significantly with the introduction of tripleplayservices, making the earlier traffic classifications obsolete, hence giving rise to the need for

reclassification of network data. This is useful both for the industry, for making intelligentbusiness decisions as well as testing purposes, and for basic networking research forworkload generation in simulations and characterization of network traffic patterns. Hugeamount of data needs to be collected, stored and analyzed from various devices within thenetwork for this purpose. This is no trivial task as the amount of raw data passing througha single edge/core node in todays highspeed networks can easily reach petabytes,requiring sophisticated procedures for storage and later analysis and classification of thedata.

Objectives

Various techniques will be studied for the offline storage of data in a distributed manner.

Tools will also be developed that can analyze and help in classifying the data.

Details

Students: Adeel Muhammad MalikUsama Qayyum

Advisor: Dr. Khurram AzizCoAdvisor: Dr. Khalid LatifInternational Coadvisor: Dr. Abdul Waheed, Cisco Systems, USA


24/86

24

NUST-SEECSNetworksResearchGroup

Theme

NUSTSEECS Network Research Group (NNRG) was established in 1999 by Dr. S. M. Hassan

Zaidi. NNRG promotes education, research and outreach in the field of computer networks,

and ultrahigh speed data communications including photonics/wireless communications.

Objectives

NRG promotes education, research and outreach in the field of ultrahigh speed data

communications. Faculty members and students work in synergy to explore the problems

in the application areas like Passive Optical Networks, Switching in Optical Networks,

Radiooverfiber, Bandwidth Allocation in Passive Optical Networks. Its mission is to

prepare the nextgeneration of researchers and developers in these areas by investigating

challenging and highimpact research projects. It aims to represent a complementary mix

of both theoretical and applied experimental research.

Applicationdomain

Optical Networks Passive Optical Networks Optical Burst Switching Networks Radiooverfiber IPv6overfiberGroupMembers

Dr. S M H Zaidi (Group Chair)Qualification: PhD., USA

Area of research: Optical

Networking

+92 (0)51 9085 2003,

[email protected]

Engr Mohammad RamzanQualification: MS. Australia

Area of research: Radiooverfiber+92 (0)51 9085 2113,

[email protected]

Dr. Khurram AzizQualification: PhD., Austria

Area of specialization:

Performance Evaluation of Finite

Queueing Systems.

Communication Networks.

+92 (0)51 9085 2261,

[email protected]

Mr. MoinudDinQualification: MS

Area of research: Probability and

statistical methods

[email protected]


25/86

25

Syed Ali HaiderQualification: MSc., UK

Area of research: Optical

Networks, Wireless Networks

+92 (0)51 9085 2267,

[email protected]

Ms. Savera TanvirQualification: MS, USA

Area of research: Optical Networks

+92 (0)51 9085 2183,

[email protected]

Publicationsduringperiod2007-08

Haider Raza, Muhammad Ramzan, S M H Zaidi, SOA based all optical frequencyupconversion enabling multiband service for optical wireless access network,HONET, Pennang, Nov 2008 Malaysia.

Savera Tanwir, Lina Battestilli, Harry G. Perros and Gigi KarmousEdwards,"Dynamic Scheduling of Network Resources with Advanced Reservations in Optical

Grid", ACM Journal of Network Management, 2008

Fatima Yousaf, Savera Tanwir, SMH Zaidi, Light Path Provisioning usingConnection Holding Time and Flexible Window, International Conference onTelecommunications and Networking (TeNe 08)

Asim Shafique, Savera Tanwir,Kanwar Saad and S.M.H Zaidi, QoS in Mode0 ofBimodal burst Switching,HONET 2008, Penang, Malaysia

Faraz Arshad, Sarfraz Rasheed Ramay, Savera Tanwir, Lina Battestilli, S.M.H Zaidi,Advance Reservation and Dynamic Scheduling of Point to Multipoint Lightpaths,

HONET 2008, Penang, Malaysia

L. Battestilli, A. Hutanu, G. KarmousEdwards, D. Katz, J. MacLaren, J. Mambretti, H.Moore, SJ Park, H. Perros, S. Sundar, S. Tanwir, S. Thorpe, and Y. Xin, EnLIGHTenedComputing: An architecture for coallocating network, compute, and other gridresources for highend applications, HONET 2007, Dubai.

Waqas Ayub, M Ramzan, Syed Ali Haider, Syed Zaidi, RadioOverFiber (RoF)architecture integrating broadband wireline and wireless services, HONET, Malaysia,1820 November 2008

Faaiz Hussain, Ali Haider, MoinudDin, S. M. Hassan Zaidi, Effecctive contentionresolution scheme to achieve minimum burst loss in OBS Network, 4th InternationalSymposium on High Capacity Optical Networks and Enabling Technologies (HONET),Dubai, 1820 November 2007

Muhammad Kamran, Dr. S. M. H. Zaidi, Muhammad Ramzan ,Dynamic BandwidthAllocation Algorithms in TDM Ethernet Passive Optical Networks:A Review, ICOCN2007, Islamabad


26/86

26

Mansoor Gul Toor, Dr S.M.H Zaidi, Kamran Hussain Zaidi, Dynamic Bandwidth

Allocation in WDM Ethernet Passive Optical Networks: A Review, ICOCN 2007,Islamabad

Ammar Rafiq, Muhammad Ramzan, S. M. H. Zaidi, Comparative Analysis of schedulingframeworks for efficient wavelength utilization in WDM EPON, ICEE 2007, UET LahoreOrganizationofconferencesandworkshopsin2007-08

NationalConferencesandWorkshops

One Day Workshop on Nanophotonics and its Applications in High Speed

Networks, 05 June 2008, SEECS

InternationalConferencesandWorkshops

International Symposium on High Capacity Optical Networks and Enabling

Technologies (HONET 08), 1820 Nov 2008, Penang, MalaysiaCo-organizedbyNUST-SEECSandUNCC

Labsassociatedwithyourresearchgroup

PTCL/NUST/CISCO Research Lab

Researchprojects


CurrentProjects

A.)DYNAMICBANDWIDTHALLOCATIONALGORITHMINTDM-PASSIVEOPTICALNETWORKSIntroduction: Ethernet passive optical networks (EPON) are an emerging accessnetwork technology that provides a lowcost method of deploying optical accesslines between a carriers central office (CO) and a customer site. In TDM EPON thereis a single channel shared by all the users using TDM approach. Downstream: Thetraffic is broadcasted to all the ONUs over the shared wavelength channel.Upstream: The common wavelength channel is shared among ONUs by time slotallocation.


27/86

27

Objectives:In this project we propose to enhance the QoS based bandwidth allocation algorithm(NonLinear Predictor based Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation) to solve the lastmile

access bottleneck for Passive Optical Networks

Details:

Student: UsmanKhalidMuftiAdvisor:Mr.AliHaiderCoAdvisor:Dr.S.M.H.ZaidiInternational Coadvisor: Dr.YasinARaja,UNCC,USA

B.)QOSINBIMODALBURSTSWITCHINGIntroduction

OBS is a switching technique. It is between OPS &OCS. In this control plane and dataplane are seprate. Control packet is processed in electrical domain where as databurst travels all optically. Innovative OBS based scheduling algorithm having zeroburst loss and low overhead is Bimodal Burst Switching (BBS). BBS has two modesMode 0 (for the edge node having small distance from the core).Mode1. (for the edge node having large distance from the core)


28/86

28

Objectives:

To implement QoS in BBS

Details:

Students: Talha Imran and M.Usman AfzalAdvisor: Savera TanwirCoAdvisor: Dr S.M.H ZaidiInternational CoAdvisor: Dr. Harry Perros, North Carolina State University, USA

C.)WIRELESS

OPTICAL

BROADBAND

ACCESS

NETWORK

(WOBAN)

Introduction:Quadplay, bandwidth intensive applications and entertainment are demandingfor more sophisticated, resilient, power efficient as well as high data ratenetworks at lower costs. Hybrid Fiber Radio (HFR) networks are potentialsolutions to the current requirements. Wireless Optical Broadband Network(WOBAN) is one such HFR architecture with high capacity fiber backhaul andwireless mesh at frontend to provide mobility with higher data rates. WOBANhas its roots in Networking Aspects of wireless optical converged network.


29/86

29

Objectives:

Propose and simulate an improved architecture of WOBAN along with more efficientalgorithm for wireless routing in WOBAN

Details:

Student: Muhammad ArshadAdvisor: Dr. SMH ZaidiCoAdvisor: Miss Saver TanwirInternational Coadvisor: Dr Biswanath Mukherjee, UC Davis, USA

E.)RESILIENCYINWOBANIntroduction:

Hybrid Wireless Optical Broadband Access Network (WOBAN) is an integration of

wireless and optical networks. The Optical Network(PON) provides the highbandwidth where as the Wireless Network provides the end user with mobility andflexibility. The head end of PON is connected to the Control Station while the tailend is terminated at wireless gateway routers. The wireless part of WOBAN is amesh of routers which provide connectivity to the end user through multiple hops.The objective of providing Resiliency to WOBAN is to provide the end user thedegraded service instead of no service because WOBAN can experience multiplefailures due to its hybrid architecture.


30/86

30

Objectives:

To improve the performance of WOBAN architecture by making it resilient againstnetwork failure.The failure scenarios may be gateway failure, ONU failure, and/or OLT failure.

Details:

Student: Aqeel Ahmad QureshiAdvisor: Dr. S.M.H. Zaidi

CoAdvisor: Mr. Muhammad RamzanInternational Coadvisor: Dr Biswanath Mukherjee, UC Davis, USA

F.)DYNAMICOPTICALCIRCUITSWITCHINGIntroduction:

Because of bandwidthhungry applications our networks particularly longhaul,Telecom, Backbone mesh networks require high capacity and novel switchingmethods.As compared to OPS and OBS, DOCS architecture supports setting up largebandwidth pipes on demand, fast reconfigurability, and strict service guarantees to

allow these type of bandwidth requests.DOCS architecture employs small and cheap dynamic circuit switches that requireno perpacket processing or buffering, require about 90% less hardware, muchhigher switching capacity, and cost about four times less than an equivalent packetswitch.


31/86

31

Objectives:

Improve or propose a new algorithm for efficient resource utilization of opticalnetworks using dynamic optical circuit switching.

Details:

Student: Ali MunirAdvisor: Dr. S. M. Hassan ZaidiCoAdvisor: Ms Savera TanwirInternational Coadvisor: Dr Biswanath Mukherjee, UC Davis, USA

G.)PERFORMANCEEVALUATIONOFFLOWTRANSFERMODEIntroduction:

Allpacket networks are more suited to data transfers where variable delay, jitterand out of order packet arrival can be tolerated. Increasing peertopeer multimediatraffic however, has different needs that cannot be fully satisfied by packetizedcommunication. Optical burst switching was a step in that direction, as it createdendtoend flows with constant delay. At the same time, tunneling bypassingtechniques like MPLS emerged that reduced the packet processing at intermediatenodes. A better way to use tunnel bypass is by using switched transmission systemslike SDH/SONET, OTN and WDM. Flow Transfer Mode (FTM) is a generalization ofOBS whereby circuit, burst and packetswitching can be realized by one singleuniversal method. They form flows of different lengths in time and are created byone single control unit transmitted in advance. Scheduling control occurs at layer 2or 3 in order to initialize data flows, while actual flow transfer happens at layer 1.


32/86

32

Flows can be ultrashort in case of a single packet, or ultralong for packetized orplain payload transmission of a whole video session.

Objectives:

This project aims to evaluate the performance of FTM and compare it with OBS andpacketized data transmission for various types of data flows, using variousanalytical models as well as simulation.

Details:Student: Muhammad ImranAdvisor: Dr. Khurram AzizCoAdvisor: Dr. S.M.H. ZaidiInternational Coadvisor: Dr. Harmen R. van As, Vienna University of Technology,Austria

PastProjects

NUST Survivable Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON )based OpticalAccess Network with Triple Play SupportInternational CoAdvisor: Dr. Yasin A Raja, University of North Carolina, USAMS Thesis

Dynamic Bandwidth Management for hybrid TDM/WDM EPONsInternational CoAdvisor: Dr. Yasin A Raja, University of North Carolina, USAMS Thesis

Performance Analysis of Optical Burst Switching (OBS) NetworksInternational CoAdvisor: Dr. Harry G Perros, North Carolina State University,USA

UG Thesis

FULLDUPLEX WDM COMPATIBLE RADIOOVERFIBER SYSTEMARCHITECTUREInternational CoAdvisor: Dr. Yasin A Raja, University of North Carolina, USAMS Thesis


33/86

33

Time Quantum based Online Scheduler (TQOS)International CoAdvisor: Dr. Nasir Ghani, Maxico State University, MexicoMS Thesis

NationalCollaboration

CurrentProjects

PastProjects

Partially online dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) algorithm for HybridTDM/WDM EPON

Wavelength Assignment Using Closest Wavelength Tuning Dynamic Routing through Spontaneous Resource Reservation Minimizing the Effect of imprecise network state information through the

reduction in Communication and Storage Overheads Mitigating effects of Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks on ECommerce Sites and

Networks TCP SYN Flood Sensor for Internet Backbone Enterprise Application Security Framework Design and Implementation of Security mechanism for NUST Intranet Performance Evaluation and Enhancement of Mobile Adhoc Routing Protocols Performance Evaluation of TCP in Mobile Ad hoc Networks Bandwidth constrained QoS routing with mobility management in ad hoc

networks Network Traffic Generator Design and Implementation of Intranet for NUST and its constituent colleges Automation of Network Labs Building and Performance Evaluation of an MPLS Domain Implementation and Analysis of Ameliorated Cells in Frames Architecture Mitigating DenialofService Attacks using Dynamic Ingress Filtering Mechanism Routing and Wavelength Assignment algorithms in IP over DWDM Networks

IndustrialLinkages

Nayatel Pvt. LimitedMCNC, North Carolina, USA


34/86

34

NanotechnologyResearchGroup

Theme

To overcome the national needs and initiate real research in the emerging technology

ObjectivesThe main objective of this Research Group is to carry out intensive research in thefollowing areas

Synthesis and characterization of nanostructures and thin films by utilizing simple andenvironmentally friendly techniques.

Synthesis of nano particles and thin films which will be capable to purify waterand environment upon irradiation with visible light.

Exploration of physical properties of nano particles and their applications to novelelectronic and photonic devices technology

ApplicationDomain

Water Purification Solar Cell Development Electronic DevicesGroupMembers

Mr. Ruh UllahMS(Microelectronic/nanotechnology), ThailandMSc (Physics) PakistanSynthesis and applications onnano [email protected]

Dr. N. D. GoharPhD electrical EngineeringVLSI(CAD)[email protected]

Mr. Abrar Mohammad ButtMS (Material Science) TU DelftHollandPhysics and Chemistry of [email protected]

Ms. Shama RehmanM.Phil (Physics) QAU PakistanSynthesis of [email protected]

Publication

Ruh Ullah, Joydeep Dutta, Photodegradation of Organic Dyes With Manganese DopedZnO Nanoparticles Journal of Hazardous Materials, 156 (2008)194200 [ImpactFactor: 2.337 JCR-2007

Ruh Ullah and Dr. Joydeep Dutta, Photocatalytic activities of ZnO nanoparticlessynthesized by wet chemical techniques, Proceedings of IEE, International Conferenceon Emerging Technologies Peshawar, November 2006 (ICET 2006 Peshawar), Page353358.


35/86

35

Ruh Ullah, and Joydeep Dutta, Photocatalysis with Mndoped ZnO nanoparticles(Presented at nano2006 international Conference, Bangalore, India

Ruh Ullah and Joydeep Dutta Synthesis and Optical Properties of Transition MetalDoped ZnO Nanoparticles Proceedings of IEE, International Conference on EmergingTechnologies Islamabad November 2007 (ICET 2007 Islamabad), Page 305311

Ruh Ullah, Sunandan Baruah, Faizur Rafique Rahman, and Joydeep Dutta "ZnOnanoparticles and Nanowires semiconductor doping, a way towards visible lightphotocatalysis", ISNEPP 2007, International Symposium on Nanotechnology inEnvironmental Protection and Pollution, 1113 December 2007, The Bahia Mar BeachResort and Yachting Hotel, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, (Asia Pacific NanotechnologyForum)

A. M. Butt, Ruh Ullah, N. D. Gohar, and S. Rehman Mechanisms Influencing PhotoInduced Reactivity in Titanium Dioxide", manuscript in submission

S. Rehman, Ruh Ullah, N. D. Gohar, and A. M. Butt, Advancements in Visible LightPhotocatalysis", manuscript in submission to Applied Catalysis (B) Environmental.

AssociatedLabs

Electronics Lab Nano Technologies LabNationalCollaboration QuideAzam University Islamabad Peshawar university Peshawar Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology Topy Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources IslamabadResearchProjects

CurrentProjects

a)DesignandDevelopmentofWaterPurificationTechnologiesusingNanotechnology

Introduction

Nanotech waterpurification technologies include photocatalytic materials, wherewater passing through a nanomaterial is also subjected to ultraviolet light, leadingto the destruction of contaminants such as pesticides, industrial solvents and germs.Since Fujishima & Honda obtained H2 by decomposition of H2O using TiO2 as aphotocatalyst in the 1970s, the techniques has attracted substantial attention as apotential process for photoelectrochemical energy production and photocatalytic

removal of various organic and inorganic venoms from air and water. The basicprinciple of semiconductor photocatalysis involves the migration of photogenerated electrons and holes to exposed surfaces where they can react withadsorbed reactants (O2 and H2O) as redox sources, leading to the production ofhigh oxidant reagent (Hydroxyl radical and supperoxide ) and subsequently thedecomposition of pollutants. Photocatalysis can be extended by using varioustechniques that enable ceramic/other membranes to photoplate heavy metals ontoa counter electrode making this process favorable for remediating mixed waste


36/86

36

streams, naturally polluted water. Compared with other water purificationtechnologies, photocatalysis has excellent capability of removal of volatile organiccompounds and inorganic compounds, chemical stability, is not toxic, and isapplicable in air and environment purification as well. In recent years, researchersand engineers have paid special attention to nanosized ZnO/TiO2, using as a

photocatalyst which has several advantages compared to the bulk material.

Members

Mr. Ruh Ullah (PI)Dr. N. D. Gohar (Co-PI)Mr. Abrar Mohammad ButtMs. Shama Rehman

ProblemStatement

Photocatalysis via metal oxide semiconductor (such as TiO2 and ZnO) andUV/visible light has been used for last two decades as purification tool. Self

cleaning through super hydrophilicity and decomposition of volatile organiccompounds in to carbon dioxide, water and mineral salt are its two preciouspractical applications. This research will based upon the decomposition ofvolatile organic compounds and inorganic compounds along with bacteriakilling via photocatalytic techniques from drinking water using visible light asenergy source. Up till now photocatalysis techniques have been commercialized (e.g.Self cleaning window glass, in/outdoor environment purification etc...) that makeuse TiO2 nanoparticles coated on surfaces and irradiated with UV light. Solarspectrum on the earth surface has only 5% to 7% of the UV light while theremaining spectrum has 46% of visible light and 47% infrared radiation. Thissmaller amount of UV light in the solar spectrum has lessened the practical

utilization of photocatalysis for purification of water and environment. We willdevelop a techniques with which semiconductor photocatalyst be able togenerate electron hole pair upon exposing only to visible light and cansubsequently decompose volatile organic compounds and might also be capable todestroy bacteria from dirking water.

ProgressandResult

The project has been successfully approved for funding worth Rupees 7.294 M byMinistry of Science and Technology Pakistan. Intellectual work is continue since thedate of submission, while experimental work has been recently started atInstitute of Environmental Science and Engineering (IESE) NUST.

FutureDirections

The project may be extended for bacteria disinfection and solar celldevelopment.

GrantsObtained

Funding worth Rupees 7.294 M from Ministry of Science and Technology Pakistan.


37/86

37

Wireless,Internet&SecurityResearch(WISNET)

Researchgroupname

Wireless, Internet & Security Research (WISNET) Group

Researchgroup

theme

Wireless, Internet & Security Research (WISNET) Lab was established in 2007 by Dr. SyedAli Khayam. The key intent behind the conception of this research group was to produceinternationalquality research work on cuttingedge problems. We have been working inthe areas of Wireless Networks, Multimedia Communications, Network and InformationSecurity, and Network Performance Analysis.

Objectives

To research cuttingedge problems in three main focus areas: 1) wireless networks; 2)Internetworking; and 3) Information and network security.

To train and produce highquality graduate and undergraduate students with expertisein the above focus areas.

To work in collaboration with industry on stateoftheart practical problems.Applicationdomain

Wireless and Wired Networks Intrusion Detection Multimedia Communications Information SecurityGroup

Members

o Dr. Syed Ali KhayamPh.D.ElectricalEngineering,Michigan

StateUniversity,USA

Wireless Networks, Network Security,

Performance Evaluation of Network

ArchitecturesandProtocols,Analytical

Modeling of Complex Networking

Phenomena

[email protected]

o Ali SajjadMSComputerEngineering

KyungHeeUniversity,SouthKorea

[email protected]

o Dr. Fauzan MirzaPh.D. InformationSecurity,Royal

Holloway,UniversityofLondon,UK

Cryptology,especiallyDesignandCrypt

Analysis of Symmetric Key Ciphers,

Malicious Software Analysis, Software

Copy Protection and Digital

Watermarking, Network Security,

DigitalForensicsandInvestigation

[email protected]

o Adnan IqbalPh.D.student

Wirelesschannelmodeling,Biterror

rateestimation,ReliabilityonMAC

layer

[email protected]


38/86

38

o Hassaan Khaliq

Ph.Dstudent

Wirelesschannelmodeling&

Hierarchicalclusteringalgorithmsin

wirelessSensor

networks

[email protected]

o Ayesha Binte AshfaqPh.Dstudent

Network-basedAnomalyDetection

[email protected]

o Junaid Jameel AhmedMSstudent

Wirelessmultimedia,WirelessSensor

networks&

Wireless

Channel

Modeling

[email protected]

o M. Qasim AliMSstudent


[email protected]

o Syed Fida Hussain GillaniMSstudent

Internetpaths

[email protected]

o Syed Masood AliMSstudent

InternetBandwidthChangeDetection

&OptimizationofStreaming

[email protected]

o Maria Joseph RobertResearchAssistant


[email protected]

o Sajjad RizviResearchAssistant


[email protected]

o Yousra JavedResearchAssistant

WebbasedMalwareDetection

[email protected]

o Mobin JavedResearchAssistant

InformationHiding

[email protected]

Publicationsduringperiod2007-08

Syed Ali Khayam and Hayder Radha, "MaximumLikelihood Header Estimation: A CrossLayer Methodology for Wireless Multimedia," IEEE Transactions on WirelessCommunications, vol. 6, no. 11, pp. 39463954, November 2007

Syed Ali Khayam, Hayder Radha, Selin Aviyente, and John R. Deller, Jr., " Markov andMultifractal Wavelet Models for Wireless MACtoMAC Channels," ElsevierPerformance

Evaluation, vol. 64, no. 4, pp. 298314, May 2007.

Syed Ali Khayam, Shirish Karande, Muhammad Usman Ilyas, and Hayder Radha,"Header Detection to Improve Multimedia Quality over Wireless Networks," IEEETransactionsonMultimedia, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 377385, February 2007.


39/86

39

Ayesha Binte Ashfaq, Maria Joseph Robert, Asma Mumtaz, Muhammad Qasim Ali, AliSajjad, and Syed Ali Khayam, "A Comparative Analysis of Anomaly Detectors underPortscanAttacks," RecentAdvancesinIntrusionDetection(RAID), September 2008.

Muhammad Saleem , Syed Ali Khayam, and Mudassar Farooq, "Formal Modeling ofBeeAdhoc: A BioInspired Mobile Ad Hoc Network Routing Protocol," International

Conference on Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence (ANTS) , September2008.

M. Zubair Shafiq , Syed Ali Khayam, and Mudassar Farooq, "Embedded MalwareDetection using Markov ngrams," ConferenceonDetectionofIntrusionsandMalware&VulnerabilityAssessment(DIMVA), July 2008.

Muhammad Saleem , Syed Ali Khayam, and Mudassar Farooq, "A Formal PerformanceModeling Framework for Bioinspired Ad Hoc Routing Protocols,"ACM Genetic andEvolutionaryComputingConference(GECCO), July 2008.

M. Zubair Shafiq, Syed Ali Khayam, and Mudassar Farooq, " Improving Accuracy ofImmuneInspired Malware Detectors using Intelligent Features,"ACM Genetic andEvolutionaryComputingConference(GECCO), July 2008.

Adnan Iqbal and Syed Ali Khayam, "Improving WSN Simulation and Analysis AccuracyUsing TwoTier Channel Models," IEEE International Conference on Communications(ICC), May 2008.

Adnan Iqbal, M. Khurram Shahzad, and Syed Ali Khayam, "SRVF: An EnergyEfficientLink Layer Protocol for Reliable Transmission over Wireless Sensor Networks," IEEEInternationalConferenceonCommunications(ICC), May 2008.

Sohraab Soltani, Syed Ali Khayam, and Hayder Radha, "Detecting Malware Outbreaksusing a Statistical Model of Blackhole Traffic," IEEE International Conference onCommunications(ICC), May 2008.

Syed Ali Khayam, Hayder Radha, and Dmitri Loguinov, "Worm Detection at NetworkEndpoints using InformationTheoretic Traffic Perturbations," IEEE InternationalConferenceonCommunications(ICC), May 2008.

Waqas Bukhari and Syed Ali Khayam, "Equitable MAC Layer Performance Comparisonof Cooperative Diversity Protocols for Wireless Networks," IEEE Sarnoff Symposium,April 2008.

M. Zubair Shafiq, Mudassar Farooq, and Syed Ali Khayam, "A Comparative Study ofFuzzy Inference Systems, Neural Networks and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy InferenceSystems for Portscan Detection," European Workshop on the Application of Nature-inspired Techniques to Telecommunication Networks and other Connected Systems

(EvoCOMNET), March 2008.


40/86

40

Syed Ali Khayam and Hayder Radha, "Comparison of Multimedia Transport Schemesover Markovian Wireless Channels," Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, andComputers, November 2007.

Syed Ali Khayam and Hayder Radha, "Using SessionKeystroke Mutual Information toDetect SelfPropagating Malicious Codes," IEEE

International

Conference

on

Communications(ICC), June 2007.

Syed Ali Khayam and Hayder Radha, "On the Impact of Ignoring Markovian ChannelMemory on the Analysis of Wireless Systems," IEEE International Conference onCommunications(ICC), June 2007.

Shirish Karande, Syed Ali Khayam, Yongju Cho, Kiran Misra, Hayder Radha, JaeGonKim, and JinWoo Hong, "On Channel State Inference and Prediction using ObservableVariables in 802.11b Networks," IEEE International Conference on Communications(ICC), June 2007.

Yongju Cho, Syed Ali Khayam, and Hayder Radha, "A MultiTier Model for BERPrediction over Wireless Residual Channels," InternationalConferenceon InformationSciencesandSystems(CISS), March 2007.

AssociatedLabs

WAVES Lab at Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA Internet Lab at AJOU University, Suwon South Korea Information Security Research Group (ISRG) at NUSTSEECS Center for Applied Network Research (CANR) at NUSTSEECS Center for High Performance Scientific Computing (CHSPC) at NUSTSEECS Next Generation Intelligent Networks Research Center, PakistanResearchprojects


Currentprojects

a.) HYBRIDANDADAPTIVEERRORRECOVERYPROTOCOLFORIPMULTIMEDIASTREAMING

Project funded by Nokia Research, China.

Introduction

Under this project, we are developing an adaptive protocol for a generic IP video

streaming application that is crossing heterogeneous wired/wireless segments. Under

such heterogeneous setting, it is anticipated that (virtually) each (or a majority of)

received packet(s) will suffer from a certain degree of bitlevel errors. We refer to

these bitlevel errors as the error process of the IP video streaming application.


41/86

41

Handling the erroneous IP video packets that are corrupted by a timevarying error

process using an adaptive protocol is a focal objective of the proposed project. A

hybrid of two competing approaches, namely retransmissions and forward error

correction (FEC), will be considered in support of the adaptive protocol. One or a

hybrid of these two approaches will be selected by the adaptive protocol in response

to the underlying error process. The proposed protocol will act as a transport

mechanism and decision logic for the RTP layer. The transport mechanism will ensure

timely delivery by choosing the appropriate error recovery strategy based on inferred

error behavior, RTPs RTT (Round Trip Time) estimates, and application QoS

requirements. The proposed protocol will adaptively choose appropriate parameters

for the two error recovery schemes using error behavior (rate, burstiness, etc.,) and

QoS constraints (latency, data rate, bandwidth, etc.)

Members

Dr. Syed Ali KhayamDr. Arshad AliHassan AqeelAdnan IqbalJunaid Jameel AhmedMaryam HafeezProblemStatement

To develop and evaluate a robust, error resilient adaptive protocol for multimediastreaming

Motivation

After the unprecedented success of IP networks, most emerging access and edgenetworks are migrating to an IPbased protocol stack irrespective of the underlyingphysical media. Moreover, integrated voice, video and data services on a unified IPbased platform are being supported in emerging networks. Support for multipleservices on different physical media places complex requirements on the design ofmultimedia applications with stringent QoS constraints. To simultaneously cater forcontent and medium heterogeneity on emerging IP networks, we need adaptive errorrecovery and repair scemes that can seamlessly detect and adapt to different physical

media and application QoS.

Progress

We have collected residual biterror traces of 802.15.4 and 802.11 networks. Thesetraces are publicly available at CRAWDAD website. Preliminary Analysis of data is hasbeen carried out and statistical models are derived using this analysis. These modelsare also mapped to algorithm design and adaptive coding techniques are beingformulated.


42/86

42

Results

The proposed scheme of BER estimation under this project is proved to be better than

any exiting schemes and these results are summarized in the Table I.

FutureDirections

We aim to evaluate the proposed protocol on a large set of traffic traces.

b.)ENERGYEFFICIENTVIDEOCOMPRESSIONFORWIRELESSSENSORNETWORKS

Project funded by Nokia Research, China.

Introduction

Wireless video sensor networks are anticipated to be deployed for monitoring of

remote geographical areas. In order to save energy during bit

transmissions/receptions over a video sensor network, the captured video content

needs to be encoded before being transmitted to the base station. However, video

encoding is an inherently complex operation that can cause a major energy drain at

energyconstrained sensors. Thus a systematic evaluation of different video

encoding options is required to enable a designer to choose the most energy

efficient compression technique for a given video sensing application scenario.

Members

Syed Ali Khayam Hassan Aqeel Khan Junaid Jameel Ahmad

ProblemStatement

Under this project, we are designing video compression algorithms for wirelesssensor networks that can be used to monitor inaccessible geographic regions. While

TABLE I:BERESTIMATION ERROR AVERAGED OVER AT LEAST 5TRACES PER SETUP,

EACH TRACE CONTAINED 1MILLION PACKETS

Scheme Setup1 Setup2 Setup3

Partial FEC 0.0001 0.0007 0.0005Traditional FEC 0.0173 0.0513 0.0363

SNR 0.0091 0.025 0.014

Redundant Data 0.254 0.242 0.251

PilotInterleaved

0.013 0.0186 0.167


43/86

43

energyefficiency is a fundamental constraint for any wireless sensor network, itbecomes more critical in the video sensing applications because of the nature of thecaptured content (video) and the harsh natural conditions that are generallyobserved in a disasterstruck area. Video processing is inherently computation andbandwidthintensive and therefore consumes a significant portion of the sensors,

limited, energy resources due to excessive computations and bit transmission. Weare developing lowcomplexity and bandwidthefficient video processing and codingalgorithms that can be deployed on sensor motes without consuming significantcomputational or transmission energy. These algorithms should also be able toadapt to the different weather conditions. All the algorithms proposed in this workwill be deployed on a wireless sensor network testbed and will be tested underrealistic physical conditions.

Motivation

Due to limited energy resources at sensor motes, the most fundamental constrainton any WSN application or protocol is energy efficiency. Two main sources of energy

drain in a sensor mote are local computations and bit transmissions/receptions.Video transmission incurs both types of energy depletion as video content isbandwidthintensive (requiring significant bit transmissions/receptions) and videocompression is an inherently complex operation (requiring significant localcomputations). In this context, video communication over WSNs presents aninteresting complexitycompression tradeoff. On the one hand, in video sensors theidea of performing a high degree of compression to reduce the number of bittransmissions/receptions seems appealing. On the other hand, use of a complexcompression technique will result in a considerable increase in the number of localcomputations at the sensor. A systematic comparison/investigation of thecomputational/transmission energy depletion of these different video coding

alternatives on actual sensors motes is required to study the complexitycompression tradeoff for wireless sensor networks.

Progress

In this project, we have evaluated the energy consumptions of three video coding

alternatives for wireless sensor networks. These three video coding alternatives

include:

1) ChangeDetected Predictive Video Coding (PVC)2) Predictive Video Coding without ChangeDetection3) Distributed Video Coding (DVC).

For all of these three video coding paradigms, we separately evaluated the energyconsumptions for both the video encoding computations and video transmission. Allevaluation is performed over the Stargate sensor platform mounted with TelosB,MICA and MICAz transceivers. Furthermore, based on our evaluation, we haveidentified the main energy consuming blocks in the encoding schemes of PVC andDVC paradigms and proposed energy saving modifications to these blocks. We have


44/86

44

shown that by employing the proposed modifications, significant energy savings canbe realized for the encoding schemes of both PVC and DVC paradigms. In addition,for all the video encoding configurations evaluated in this project, our resultsrevealed the counterintuitive and important finding that the major source of energydrain in WSNs is local computations performed for video compression and not video

transmission. The findings of this work are submitted for publications in the formfollowing papers:

Junaid Jameel Ahmad, Hassan Aqeel Khan, and Syed Ali Khayam, "EnergyEfficient Video Compression for Wireless Sensor Networks, submitted tothe 43rdIEEEConferenceonInformationSciencesandSystems(CISS), 2009

Junaid Jameel Ahmad, Hassan Aqeel Khan, and Syed Ali Khayam,Performance Evaluation of Compression Schemes for Wireless VideoSensor Networkssubmitted to the ElsevierPerformanceEvaluationJournal(PEVA), 2009

Results

Throughout this project, we presented our results keeping the following questions

in mind: 1) Which video encoding options (inter/intra/DVC video coding

with/without changedetection) provide better energy efficiency?

2) How much energy efficiency is provided by these different video encoding

options?

3) What is the impact of different video characteristics (mobility, frequency content)

on energy efficiency?

4) Does changedetection help in improving energy efficiency?

5) In what proportion do changedetection, local computations for encoding, and

bits transmissions contribute to the overall energy depletion at the sensors?

EnergyEfficiencyofPredicativeVideoCoding

The energy consumptions of changedetected and non changedetected Predictive VideoCoding are evaluated in

Figure 1. Note that, for both of these changedetected and non changedetectioncases, inter coding always consume higher amounts of energy than intra coding. Wecan also observe that, for both inter and intra coding of video sequences without

prior changedetection consumes less energy as compared to changedetection PVC.Furthermore, we proposed to use MJPEG2K based intra coding than H.264 basedintra coding. From Figure 2, we can clearly see that, MJPEG2K based intra codingachieves significant energy savings in comparison to H.264 intra coding.


45/86

45

780.000

790.000

800.000

810.000

820.000

830.000

840.000

850.000

860.000

870.000

880.000

Mobile Carphone Foreman

ENE

RGY(mJ)

Bayesian LCDA Non CD

0.000

20.000

40.000

60.000

80.000

100.000

120.000


ENE

RGY(mJ)

Bayesian LCDA Non CD

(a)Interencoding (b)Intraencoding

Figure 1: Total energy depletion of changedetection and non changedetected (CD) predictive video coding

0.000

10.000

20.000

30.000

40.000

50.000

60.000

70.000

80.000


ENERGY

(mJ)

H.264 IntraMJPEG2K I ntra

Figure 2: Distribution of energies for MJPEG2K intra coding

Figure 3 displays the proportion in which encoding computations and bittransmissions contribute to the overall energy depletion for MJPEG2K basedintra coding. We can see here that again, on average, the computational energydepletion constitutes the major portion (72.85%) of the total energyconsumption as compared to the bit transmission energy (27.15%), and is thusthe dominating factor in determining the overall energy consumption in avideo sensor network.


46/86

46

72.85%

27.15%

Computations Transmissions

Figure 3: Distribution of energies for MJPEG2K intra coding.

EnergyEfficiencyofDistributedVideoCoding

For the DVC paradigm, our evaluation results show that the PRISM encoder depletes

more energy than the WynerZiv encoder. Next, we also proposed complexity

reducing modifications to both of these DVC encoders. Figure 4 (a) and (b) show the

total energy depletions of our modified versions of PRISM and WynerZiv encoders

against the original PRISM and WynerZiv encoders, respectively. From both of

these plots, we can see that the proposed modifications significantly reduce the

overall energy depletion.

0.000

10.000

20.000

30.000

40.000

50.000

60.000

70.000

80.000


ENERGY

(mJ)

PRISM

PRISM*

0.000

5.000

10.000

15.000

20.000

25.000

30.000

35.000

40.000

45.000

GOP = 2 GOP = 4 GOP = 8 GOP = 2 GOP = 4 GOP = 8

Key Frames as H.264 Intra Key Frames as MJPEG2K Intra

ENER

GY

(mJ)

Mobile

Carphone

Foreman

(a) PRISM coding vs PRISM* coding. (b) H.264 based WynerZiv coding vs MJPEG2Kbased WynerZiv coding

Figure 4: Total energy depletions of Original and Improved DVC encoders.

Figure 5 (a) and (b) show the energy depletion proportions for PRISM*,MJPEG2K based WynerZiv encoders respectively (GOP = 2). It is quite obviousthat DVC encoders also tend to follow the same trend in terms of energydepletion i.e. most of the energy depletion results due to encodingcomputations, the contribution from bit transmissions is minor in comparison.


47/86

47

89.98%

10.02%


75.02%

24.98%


(a) PRISM*(b) MJPEG2K based WynerZiv coding with

GOP 2

Figure 5: Distribution of energies for Improved DVC

FutureDirections

In future, we will be working to deploy our wireless sensor network testbed indifferent types of environment and will enhance it to detect and adapt to itssurroundings. In particular, the algorithms should operate under different weather(sunshine, rain, snow etc.) and lighting conditions

i. NationalCollaboration1. CurrentprojectsA.)DESIGN&DEVELOPMENTOFANOPEN-SOURCEENTERPRISENETWORK

SECURITYSOLUTION

Project funded by Pakistan National ICT R&D Fund.

Introduction

Since the CodeRed worm of 2001, malware attacks have emerged as one of the mostprevalent and potent threats to network and host security (From 2006 to 2007, thetotal number of malicious code attacks reported by Symantec showed a phenomenal

increase of 468%). Many networkbased anomaly detection systems (ADSs) havebeen proposed in the past few years to detect novel network attacks. Sincemalicious portscans are the vehicle used by malware and other automated tools tolocate and compromise vulnerable hosts, some of these anomaly detectors aredesigned specifically for portscan detection, while other detectors are more generalpurpose and detect any anomalous traffic trend. Most of the networkbasedanomaly detectors model and leverage deeprooted statistical properties of benigntraffic to detect anomalous behavior. A variety of theoretical frameworks including


48/86

48

stochastic, machine learning, informationtheoretic and signal processingframeworkshave been used to develop robust models of normal behavior and/orto detect/flag deviations from that model. However, very little effort has beenexpended into comparative evaluation of these recent ADSs for the portscandetection problem.

Such a comparative evaluation would enable us to identify the strengths andweaknesses in the current security solutions and would assist us in thedevelopment of a robust system that can provide high detection rates accompaniedby low false alarms.

Members

Dr. Syed Ali Khayam Mr. Ali Sajjad Ayesha Binte Ashfaq

Maria Joseph Robert Asma Mumtaz Muhammad Qasim Ali

ProblemStatement

To perform a comprehensive comparative performance evaluation of prominentanomaly detection systems, so as to provide a broad basis for future benchmarking

Motivation

Since the seminal 1998/1999 DARPA evaluations of intrusion detection systems,

network attacks have evolved considerably. In particular, after the CodeRed wormof 2001, the volume and sophistication of selfpropagating malicious code threatshave been increasing at an alarming rate. Many anomaly detectors had beenproposed, especially in the past few years, to combat the new and emerging networkattacks. At the time, it was important to evaluate existing anomaly detectors todetermine and learn from their strengths and shortcomings.

Progress

Significant milestones have been achieved with ADS prototypes developed andtested leading to a publication in one of the worlds best security conferencesRAID2008.

Results

Our results show that some of the evaluated anomaly detectors provide reasonable

accuracy with low detection delay. However, these detectors do not provide

sustained accuracy on both the datasets. Our results show that some of the

evaluated anomaly detectors provide reasonable accuracy with low detection delay.

However, these detectors do not provide sustained accuracy on both the datasets.


49/86

49

Figure 6: ROc Analysis of ADSs on Endpoint dataset

Figure 7: ROC Analysis of ADSs on Routerbased dataset

FutureDirections

Currently we are working on porting the best performing anomaly detection system,with proposed changes incorporated, on multicore systems.

B.)NETWORK-EMBEDDEDSECURITYUSINGIN-NETWORKPACKETMARKINGProject funded by Pakistan National ICT R&D Fund.

Introduction

Over the last few years, the phrase The Internet is Broken has been repeatedly

used to highlight the current Internets inability to combat network attacks, such as

selfpropagating malware and distributed denialofservice attacks. While the jury is

out on whether this phrase is appropriate or hyperbolic, security professionals

widely agree that the original Internet design with a trusteverybody approach is

nave and needs at the very least to be reconsidered or to be scrapped altogether.

Moreover, there is widespread consensus that in the nextgeneration Internet the


50/86

50

entire burden of security cannot be assigned to the endpoints and edge networks,

and that some notion of security needs to be embedded into the network core.

The primary objectives of this project are:

(a)The development of theoreticallysound, practical and scalable securitybased packet marking methods, including securityinduced packet markingat wirespeeds within the core network.

(b)The development of robust strategies for the discarding (or more generallyhandling) of securitymarked malicious packets while ensuring stability,fairness and convergence objectives for benign and legitimate flows.

Members

Dr. Syed Ali Khayam Dr. Fauzan Mirza Irfan ul haq Sardar Ali Naurin Ramay Anam SarfrazProblemStatement

Under this project, we will investigate a networkembedded security framework, inwhich the endpoints, the edge networks and the network core act in a coordinatedand practical manner to defeat highrate traffic attacks. The objective of this project

is to indigenously research a stateoftheart network security solution in Pakistan.

Motivation

Successful completion of this project can result in the proposed solution beingincorporated into the next generation Internet design thereby resulting insignificant research credibility and wealth generation for Pakistan.

ProjectswithIndustry

DesignandDevelopmentofanEnterpriseAnomalyDetectionSolutionOver the last decade, system security threats have evolved from human intruders tosophisticated malware. With the evolution of these attack methodologies, the field ofintrusion detection has inevitably evolved with detection of malicious networkattacks becoming its main focus. Based on the results of research in this area, thereis widespread agreement in the security community that network anomalydetectors, which detect zeroday attacks by flagging deviations from a model of


51/86

51

benign behavior, are the most robust and scalable method of detecting networkwide anomalies.Despite this consensus, anomalybased Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) have notreceived widespread deployment. The problem with contemporary anomalydetectors is that they are inaccurate (low detection rates and/or high false alarm

rates), incur unreasonable detection delays and require human intervention. Whilea plethora of IDSs have been proposed in research publications and patents, most ofthese IDSs are unable to achieve productquality accuracy and detection delays.Moreover they require human intervention to combat with the inherently varyingnature of traffic characteristics.Under this project, we research and develop an accurate and realtime enterpriseintrusion detection and prevention solution to detect zeroday network attacks. Thissolution will consist of two main components: a passive anomaly detector and anactive anomaly detector. (A potential deployment strategy for the proposed solutionis shown in Figure 8) The active anomaly detector will preemptively and quicklydetect Internetscale and targeted threats and will also facilitate attack forensics.

The anomaly detector will evaluate existing and new traffic features of incoming andoutgoing traffic for realtime attack characterization. These features will be used forattack detection in novel informationtheoretic, statistical, and machine learningframeworks. The second component of the proposed solution, the passive anomalydetector, will be designed to capture incoming traffic that is bound for inactive IPaddresses and ports inside an enterprise network. The passive detector will developa baseline model of misconfigured incoming network traffic. Deviations from thismodel will be used to detect malicious traffic patterns.

Figure8:Anexampletopologyfortheproposedanomalydetector

Patentfiled/approved1. Patents Filed in US PTO

a. Patent 1: Header Estimation to Improve Multimedia Quality overWireless Networks


52/86

52

b. Patent 2: On Channel State Inference and Prediction using ObservableVariables in 802.11b Networks

2. Patents Filed in IPO Pakistana. Patent 1: A Method For Embedded Malware Detectionb. Patent 2: Detection of Traffic Anomalies in a Computer Network

Contractsandgrantsobtained

Won the following R&D funding from the ICT:

Rs. 6.148Million for the project Design & Development Of An OpenSourceEnterprise Network Security Solution

Rs. 8.88Millionfor the project NetworkEmbedded Security using InNetworkPacket Marking

WISNET has also won R&D funding from the Nokia Research Center, China:

10,000for the projects Hybrid And Adaptive Error Recovery Protocol For IPMultimedia Streaming and Energy Efficient Video Compression For WirelessSensor Networks


53/86

53

NextGenerationCommunicationTechnologiesResearchGroup

Theme

The aim of this

Documents

Research Booklet 07-08