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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensor Networks".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 32187

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ali Mansour

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Guest Editor

École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées de Bretagne, 29806 Brest, France
Interests: statistical approaches; blind signal processing; cognitive radio; wireless telecommunication; robotics and biomedical engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Hadi Aggoune

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Guest Editor

Sensor Network and Cellular Systems Research Center (SNCS), University of Tabuk, Tabuk 71491, Saudi Arabia
Interests: sensors; wireless communications; power; visualization

Prof. Dr. Christophe Moy

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Guest Editor

Institut d’Electronique et des Technologies du numéRique, CEDEX, 35065 Rennes, France
Interests: cognitive radio; dynamic spectrum access; internet of things (IoT); machine learning for communications; embedded systems

Dr. Abbass Nasser

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

1. LABSTICC UMR CNRS 6285, ENSTA-Bretagne, 29806 Brest, France
2. ICCS-Lab, Computer Science Department, AUCE, Beirut 1100, Lebanon
Interests: intelligent reflecting surface; cognitive radio; IoT; WSNE-Health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Mohammad Ayaz

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Guest Editor

Sensor Networks and Cellular Systems Research Center, University of Tabuk, Tabuk 71491, KSA
Interests: wireless sensors; IoT; smart systems; underwater acoustic networks

Dr. Koffi Yao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

LABSTICC UMR CNRS 6285, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 29238 Brest, France
Interests: wireless communication; blind signal separation; pattern recognition

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

No one can deny the important role of wireless communications and networks in our everyday life and in driving economic growth. In fact, during the hard time of the pandemic, individuals, organizations, as well as governments have realized the tremendous potential of this vital sector. Further, in coming years, wireless technology is expected to include even more features which would not have been thought possible just a few years ago.

While network operators are determined to increase their profits by expanding the number of their customers, improving their services, and proposing new applications (to manage tiny sensors introduced in human bodies into smart roads and cities), they are tackling the major issue of physical scarcity.

To extend our networks, improve services, and introduce new applications in a constrained environment, wireless communications need to be in perpetual evolution. As service providers continue to improve the technology, more people will experience better, reliable, and secure communication. To achieve this goal, researchers are exploring various technologies, such as Cognitive Radio, Dynamic Spectrum Allocation, Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces, 5GB Cellular, Backscatter Networking, and more, using new methodologies that are based on artificial intelligence more and more, from one extreme, such as sporadic and low-duty cycle wireless communications (such as LPWAN—low0power wide area networks), to another extreme, such as high-data-rate radio links for 6G networks.

This Special Issue aims to highlight the new challenges, recent and future technologies, and hot potential applications related to wireless communications and networks.

Prof. Dr. Ali Mansour
Prof. Dr. Hadi Aggoune
Prof. Dr. Christophe Moy
Dr. Abbass Nasser
Dr. Mohammad Ayaz
Dr. Koffi Yao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Wireless telecommunication
Cognitive radio, smart systems
Machine learning for communications
Dynamic spectrum access
Internet of Things
Intelligent reflecting surface

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 671 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Advanced Topics and Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks

by Ali Mansour, Hadi Aggoune, Christophe Moy, Abbass Nasser, Muhammad Ayaz and Koffi-Clément Yao

Sensors 2023, 23(15), 6876; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23156876 - 3 Aug 2023

Viewed by 751

Abstract

Telecommunication has shaped our civilization and fueled economic growth significantly throughout human history [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

Research

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20 pages, 6996 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Establishment of an Electro-Optical Mixing Design on a Photonic SOA-MZI Using a Differential Modulation Arrangement

by Hassan Termos, Ali Mansour and Majid Ebrahim-Zadeh

Sensors 2023, 23(9), 4380; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23094380 - 28 Apr 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1181

Abstract

We design and evaluate two experimental systems for a single and simultaneous electro-optical semiconductor optical amplifier Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI) mixing system based on the differential modulation mode. These systems and the optimization of their optical and electrical performance largely depend on characteristics of [...] Read more.

f =

39 GHz and a pulse width of 1 ps. The passive power stability of the electro-optical mixing output over one hour is better than 0.3% RMS (root mean square), which is excellent. Additionally, we generate up to 22 dBm of the total average output power with an optical conversion gain of 32 dB, while achieving a record output optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) up to 77 dB. On the other hand, at the SOA–MZI output, the 128 quadratic amplitude modulation (128-QAM) signal at an intermediate frequency (IF),

f_{1}

, is up-mixed to higher output frequencies

n f \pm f_{1}

. The advantages of the resulting 128-QAM mixed signal during electrical conversion gains (ECGs) and error vector magnitudes (EVMs) are also evaluated. The performed empirical SOA-MZI mixing can operate up to 118.5 GHz in its high-frequency range. The positive and almost constant conversion gains are achieved. Indeed, the obtained conversion gain values are very close across the entire range of output frequencies. The largest frequency range achieved during experimental work is 118.5 GHz, where the EVM achieves 6% at a symbol rate of 10 GSymb/s. Moreover, the peak data rate of the 128-QAM up mixed signal can reach 70 GBit/s. Finally, the study of the simultaneous electro-optical mixing system is accepted with unmatched performance improvement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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15 pages, 4752 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Relay Selection for Over-the-Air Computation Achieving Both Long Lifetime and High Reliability

by Jingyang Zhou and Suhua Tang

Sensors 2023, 23(8), 3824; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23083824 - 8 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 991

Abstract

In a general wireless sensor network, a sink node collects data from each node successively and then post-processes the data to obtain useful information. However, conventional methods have a scalability problem: the data collection/processing time increases with the number of nodes, and frequent transmission collisions degrade spectrum efficiency. If only statistical values of the data are needed, using over-the-air computation (AirComp) can efficiently perform data collection and computation. However, AirComp also has its problems: when the channel gain of a node is too low, (i) the transmission power of that node will be high, decreasing the lifetime of that node and the entire network, and (ii) sometimes, the computation error still occurs even though the maximal transmission power is used. To jointly solve these two problems, in this paper we investigate the relay communication for AirComp and study a relay selection protocol. The basic method selects an ordinary node with a good channel condition as a relay node, considering both computation error and power consumption. This method is further enhanced to explicitly consider network lifetime in relay selection. Extensive simulation evaluations confirm that the proposed method helps to prolong the lifetime of the entire network and reduce computation errors as well. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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12 pages, 855 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Intrusion Detection in IoT Using Deep Learning

by Alaa Mohammed Banaamah and Iftikhar Ahmad

Sensors 2022, 22(21), 8417; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22218417 - 2 Nov 2022

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4899

Abstract

Cybersecurity has been widely used in various applications, such as intelligent industrial systems, homes, personal devices, and cars, and has led to innovative developments that continue to face challenges in solving problems related to security methods for IoT devices. Effective security methods, such as deep learning for intrusion detection, have been introduced. Recent research has focused on improving deep learning algorithms for improved security in IoT. This research explores intrusion detection methods implemented using deep learning, compares the performance of different deep learning methods, and identifies the best method for implementing intrusion detection in IoT. This research is conducted using deep learning models based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs), long short-term memory (LSTM), and gated recurrent units (GRUs). A standard dataset for intrusion detection in IoT is considered to evaluate the proposed model. Finally, the empirical results are analyzed and compared with the existing approaches for intrusion detection in IoT. The proposed method seemed to have the highest accuracy compared to the existing methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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21 pages, 2089 KiB

Open AccessArticle

LoRaCog: A Protocol for Cognitive Radio-Based LoRa Network

by Firas Salika, Abbass Nasser, Maxime Mroue, Benoît Parrein and Ali Mansour

Sensors 2022, 22(10), 3885; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22103885 - 20 May 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2090

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new protocol called LoRaCog to introduce the concept of Cognitive Radio (CR) in the LoRa network. LoRaCog will enable access to a wider spectrum than that of LoRaWAN by using the unutilized spectrum and thus has better efficiency without impacting the end devices’ battery consumption. LoRa networks are managed by LoRaWAN protocol and operate on the unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band. LoRaWAN is one of thriving protocols for Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN) implemented for the Internet of Things (IoT). With the growing demand for IoT, the unlicensed spectrum is expected to be congested, unlike the licensed spectrum, which is not fully utilized. This can be fairly balanced by applying CR to the LoRa network, where the End Devices (EDs) may change the operating channel opportunistically over the free/available licensed spectrum. Spectrum sensing, channel selection and channel availability relevance become essential features to be respected by the proposed protocol. The main objective of adding CR to LoRaWAN is reducing the congestion and maintaining LoRaWAN’s suitability for battery-operated devices. This is achieved by modifying LoRaWAN components such as the ED receive window RX2 rearrangement, spectrum sensing functionality by gateway (GW) for identifying unused channels, and reaching a decision on the unused channels by network server (NS). These changes will create LoRaCog meeting spectrum efficiency and maintain the same level of battery consumption as in LoRaWAN. Numerical simulations show a significant decrease in the rejected packet rate (more than 50%) with LoRaCog when more EDs use cognitive channels. As the results prove, LoRaWAN can reach above 50% rejected packets for the simulated environment versus 24% rejection for LoRaCog using only one additional channel (means total two channels). This means that the system can eliminate rejected packets almost completely when operating over the possible many channels. As well, these results show the flexibility in the system to utilize the available frequencies in an efficient and fair way. The results also reveal that a lower number of GWs is needed for LoRaCog from LoRaWAN to cover the same area. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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22 pages, 3116 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards a Security Reference Architecture for NFV

by Abdulrahman Khalid Alnaim, Ahmed Mahmoud Alwakeel and Eduardo B. Fernandez

Sensors 2022, 22(10), 3750; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22103750 - 14 May 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1970

Abstract

Network function virtualization (NFV) is an emerging technology that is becoming increasingly important due to its many advantages. NFV transforms legacy hardware-based network infrastructure into software-based virtualized networks. This transformation increases the flexibility and scalability of networks, at the same time reducing the time for the creation of new networks. However, the attack surface of the network increases, which requires the definition of a clear map of where attacks may happen. ETSI standards precisely define many security aspects of this architecture, but these publications are very long and provide many details which are not of interest to software architects. We start by conducting threat analysis of some of the NFV use cases. The use cases serve as scenarios where the threats to the architecture can be enumerated. Representing threats as misuse cases that describe the modus operandi of attackers, we can find countermeasures to them in the form of security patterns, and we can build a security reference architecture (SRA). Until now, only imprecise models of NFV architectures existed; by making them more detailed and precise it is possible to handle not only security but also safety and reliability, although we do not explore those aspects. Because security is a global property that requires a holistic approach, we strongly believe that architectural models are fundamental to produce secure networks and allow us to build networks which are secure by design. The resulting SRA defines a roadmap to implement secure concrete architectures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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18 pages, 1146 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Compacted Area with Effective Links (CAEL) for Data Dissemination in VANETs

by Abdul Karim Kazi, Shariq Mahmood Khan, Waseemullah, Umer Farooq and Saman Hina

Sensors 2022, 22(9), 3448; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22093448 - 30 Apr 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1533

Abstract

Vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a specialized form of wireless network that is solely intended for collaboration between vehicles. Several studies have shown that standard routing protocols cannot be implemented in VANETs because of their unique characteristics such as their significant count of vehicles on the network and the rapid evolution of the network’s design. Because VANET communication links are broken very frequently, it is necessary to address the routing consistency of these highly dynamic networks. The transmission of VANET data may result in a substantial amount of overhead in the routing process; thus, it is vital to address the issue of overhead to enhance the overall network performance. The proposed protocol named compacted area with effective links (CAEL) is designed to focus on decreasing overhead to achieve an enhancement in PDR performance inside the network. The communication between selected nodes that have been judged to be dependable in terms of geographical location and appropriate existing links between vehicles is focused on achieving this goal. With the inclusion of the reliability factor, it is possible to complete the important step of removing extraneous nodes, with the selection of the trustworthy nodes being made based on the link expiration time during the whole routing procedure. When compared to our previously published protocols, i.e., Dynamic Trilateral Enrollment (DyTE) and Reliable Group of Vehicles (RGoV), the results of the simulations demonstrate that CAEL has achieved an overall improvement in the performance of the network. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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25 pages, 7812 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Real-Time Adaptive Modulation Schemes for Underwater Acoustic OFDM Communication

by Suchi Barua, Yue Rong, Sven Nordholm and Peng Chen

Sensors 2022, 22(9), 3436; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22093436 - 30 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1763

Abstract

Adaptive modulation received significant attention for underwater acoustic (UA) communication systems with the aim of increasing the system efficiency. It is challenging to attain a high data rate in UA communication, as UA channels vary fast, along with the environmental factors. For a time-varying UA channel, a self-adaptive system is an attractive option, which can choose the best method according to the channel condition to guarantee the continuous connectivity and high performance constantly. A real-time orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based adaptive UA communication system is presented in this paper, employing the National Instruments (NI) LabVIEW software and NI CompactDAQ device. In this paper, the received SNR is considered as a performance metric to select the transmission parameters, which are sent back to the transmitter for data transmission. In this research, a UA OFDM communication system is developed, employing adaptive modulation schemes for a nonstationary UA environment which allows to select subcarriers, modulation size, and allocate power adaptively to enhance the reliability of communication, guarantee continuous connectivity, and boost data rate. The recent UA communication experiments carried out in the Canning River, Western Australia, verify the performance of the proposed adaptive UA OFDM system, and the experimental results confirm the superiority of the proposed adaptive scheme. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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24 pages, 1939 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Resource Allocation in Spectrum Access System Using Multi-Objective Optimization Methods

by Waseem Abbass, Riaz Hussain, Jaroslav Frnda, Nasim Abbas, Muhammad Awais Javed and Shahzad A. Malik

Sensors 2022, 22(4), 1318; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22041318 - 9 Feb 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1939

Abstract

The paradigm of dynamic shared access aims to provide flexible spectrum usage. Recently, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a new dynamic spectrum management framework for the sharing of a 3.5 GHz (3550–3700 MHz) federal band, called a citizen broadband radio service (CBRS) band, which is governed by spectrum access system (SAS). It is the responsibility of SAS to manage the set of CBRS-SAS users. The set of users are classified in three tiers: incumbent access (IA) users, primary access license (PAL) users and the general authorized access (GAA) users. In this article, dynamic channel assignment algorithm for PAL and GAA users is designed with the goal of maximizing the transmission rate and minimizing the total cost of GAA users accessing PAL reserved channels. We proposed a new mathematical model based on multi-objective optimization for the selection of PAL operators and idle PAL reserved channels allocation to GAA users considering the diversity of PAL reserved channels’ attributes and the diversification of GAA users’ business needs. The proposed model is estimated and validated on various performance metrics through extensive simulations and compared with existing algorithms such as Hungarian algorithm, auction algorithm and Gale–Shapley algorithm. The proposed model results indicate that overall transmission rate, net cost and data-rate per unit cost remain the same in comparison to the classical Hungarian method and auction algorithm. However, the improved model solves the resource allocation problem approximately up to four times faster with better load management, which validates the efficiency of our model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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20 pages, 410 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Overview of Fog Computing and Edge Computing Security and Privacy Issues

by Ahmed M. Alwakeel

Sensors 2021, 21(24), 8226; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21248226 - 9 Dec 2021

Cited by 36 | Viewed by 5958

Abstract

With the advancement of different technologies such as 5G networks and IoT the use of different cloud computing technologies became essential. Cloud computing allowed intensive data processing and warehousing solution. Two different new cloud technologies that inherit some of the traditional cloud computing paradigm are fog computing and edge computing that is aims to simplify some of the complexity of cloud computing and leverage the computing capabilities within the local network in order to preform computation tasks rather than carrying it to the cloud. This makes this technology fits with the properties of IoT systems. However, using such technology introduces several new security and privacy challenges that could be huge obstacle against implementing these technologies. In this paper, we survey some of the main security and privacy challenges that faces fog and edge computing illustrating how these security issues could affect the work and implementation of edge and fog computing. Moreover, we present several countermeasures to mitigate the effect of these security issues. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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25 pages, 1580 KiB

Open AccessArticle

In-Network Data Aggregation for Ad Hoc Clustered Cognitive Radio Wireless Sensor Network

by Mohamad Rida Mortada, Abbass Nasser, Ali Mansour and Koffi-Clément Yao

Sensors 2021, 21(20), 6741; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21206741 - 11 Oct 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1495

Abstract

In cognitive radio wireless sensor networks (CRSN), the nodes act as secondary users. Therefore, they can access a channel whenever its primary user (PU) is absent. Thus, the nodes are assumed to be equipped with a spectrum sensing (SS) module to monitor the PU activity. In this manuscript, we focus on a clustered CRSN, where the cluster head (CH) performs SS, gathers the data, and sends it toward a central base station by adopting an ad hoc topology with in-network data aggregation (IDA) capability. In such networks, when the number of clusters increases, the consumed energy by the data transmission decreases, while the total consumed energy of SS increases, since more CHs need to perform SS before transmitting. The effect of IDA on CRSN performance is investigated in this manuscript. To select the best number of clusters, a study is derived aiming to extend the network lifespan, taking the SS requirements, the IDA effect, and the energy consumed by both SS and transmission into consideration. Furthermore, the collision rate between primary and secondary transmissions and the network latency are theoretically derived. Numerical results corroborate the efficiency of IDA to extend the network lifespan and minimize both the collision rate and the network latency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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Review

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23 pages, 44525 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Survey of NOMA for VLC Systems: Research Challenges and Future Trends

by Hesham Sadat, Mohamed Abaza, Ali Mansour and Ayman Alfalou

Sensors 2022, 22(4), 1395; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22041395 - 11 Feb 2022

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 5442

Abstract

Visible light communication (VLC) has become a promising technology for high data rate communications and an attractive complementary to conventional radio frequency (RF) communication. VLC is a secure, energy efficient and cost-effective technology that exploits the existing infrastructure, particularly in indoor environments, for wireless data transmission. Nevertheless, the main limitation of developing high data rate VLC links is the narrow modulation bandwidth of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which is in the megahertz range. The power domain nonorthogonal multiple access (PD-NOMA) scheme is envisioned to address several challenges in VLC systems. In this paper, we present a detailed overview of PD-NOMA based VLC systems. Moreover, we introduce insights on some PD-NOMA VLC system constraints and challenges such as power allocation, clipping effect, MIMO and security. Finally, we provide open research problems as well as possible directions for future research to pave the way for the implementation of PD-NOMA VLC systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Systems for Wireless Communications and Networks)

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