A Survey of Techniques for Discovering, Using, and Paying for Third-Party IoT Sensors.

The Internet of Things (IoT) includes billions of sensors and actuators (which we refer to as IoT devices) that harvest data from the physical world and send it via the Internet to IoT applications to provide smart IoT services and products. Deploying, managing, and maintaining IoT devices for the exclusive use of an individual IoT application is inefficient and involves significant costs and effort that often outweigh the benefits. On the other hand, enabling large numbers of IoT applications to share available third-party IoT devices, which are deployed and maintained independently by a variety of IoT device providers, reduces IoT application development costs, time, and effort. To achieve a positive cost/benefit ratio, there is a need to support the sharing of third-party IoT devices globally by providing effective IoT device discovery, use, and pay between IoT applications and third-party IoT devices. A solution for global IoT device sharing must be the following: (1) scalable to support a vast number of third-party IoT devices, (2) interoperable to deal with the heterogeneity of IoT devices and their data, and (3) IoT-owned, i.e., not owned by a specific individual or organization. This paper surveys existing techniques that support discovering, using, and paying for third-party IoT devices. To ensure that this survey is comprehensive, this paper presents our methodology, which is inspired by Systematic Literature Network Analysis (SLNA), combining the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology with Citation Network Analysis (CNA). Finally, this paper outlines the research gaps and directions for novel research to realize global IoT device sharing.

Investigation on repetition-coding and space-time-block-coding for indoor optical wireless communications employing beam shaping based on orbital angular momentum modes.

In this paper, we propose a novel beam shaping technique based on orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes for indoor optical wireless communications (OWC). Furthermore, we investigate two spatial diversity techniques, namely repetition-coding (RC) and Alamouti-type orthogonal space-time-block-coding (STBC) for indoor OWC employing the new beam shaping technique. The performance of both diversity schemes is systematically analyzed and compared under different beam shaping techniques using different OAM modes with different power ratios of the modes. It is shown that both RC and STBC can improve the system performance and effective coverage and RC outperforms STBC in all the beam shaping techniques regardless of the power ratios of the different modes. In addition, to further understand the performance of RC and STBC schemes against the signal delays induced during OAM mode conversion, the system tolerance of the two schemes to the delay interval is investigated with different OAM mode-based beam shaping techniques. Numerical results show that higher resistance to the delay interval can be achieved in STBC scheme. The advantage is more obvious when employing OAM0 and OAM1 based beam shaping technique.

Demonstration of Spatial Modulation Using a Novel Active Transmitter Detection Scheme with Signal Space Diversity in Optical Wireless Communications.

Line-of-sight (LOS) indoor optical wireless communications (OWC) enable a high data rate transmission while potentially suffering from optical channel obstructions. Additional LOS links using diversity techniques can tackle the received signal performance degradation, where channel gains often differ in multiple LOS channels. In this paper, a novel active transmitter detection scheme in spatial modulation (SM) is proposed to be incorporated with signal space diversity (SSD) technique to enable an increased OWC system throughput with an improved bit-error-rate (BER). This transmitter detection scheme is composed of a signal pre-distortion technique at the transmitter and a power-based statistical detection method at the receiver, which can address the problem of power-based transmitter detection in SM using carrierless amplitude and phase modulation waveforms with numerous signal levels. Experimental results show that, with the proposed transmitter detection scheme, SSD can be effectively provided with ~0.61 dB signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) improvement. Additionally, an improved data rate ~7.5 Gbit/s is expected due to effective transmitter detection in SM. The SSD performances at different constellation rotation angles and under different channel gain distributions are also investigated, respectively. The proposed scheme provides a practical solution to implement power-based SM and thus aids the SSD realization for improving system performance.

IoT Device Integration and Payment via an Autonomic Blockchain-Based Service for IoT Device Sharing.

The Internet of Things (IoT) incorporates billions of IoT devices (e.g., sensors, cameras, wearables, smart phones, as well as other internet-connected machines in homes, vehicles, and industrial plants), and the number of such connected IoT devices is currently growing rapidly. This paper proposes a novel Autonomic Global IoT Device Discovery and Integration Service (which we refer to as aGIDDI) that permits IoT applications to find IoT devices that are owned and managed by other parties in IoT (which we refer to as IoT device providers), integrate them, and pay for using their data observations. aGIDDI incorporates a suite of interacting sub-services supporting IoT device description, query, integration, payment (via a pay-as-you-go payment model), and access control that utilise a special-purpose blockchain to manage all information needed for IoT applications to find, pay and use the IoT devices they need. The paper describes aGIDDI's novel protocol that allows any IoT application to discover and automatically integrate and pay for IoT devices and their data that are provided by other parties. The paper also presents aGIDDI's architecture and proof-of-concept implementation, as well as an experimental evaluation of the performance and scalability of aGIDDI in variety of IoT device integration and payment scenarios.

Multi-cell coordination for 60 GHz RoF fronthaul enabled by a non-orthogonal multiple access scheme without successive interference cancellation.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) enabled 60 GHz radio-over-fiber (RoF) fronthaul system with coordinated base stations, improving the data rate and coverage of 60 GHz RoF systems. First, coordinated multipoint transmission using space-time block coding (STBC) is adopted in fronthaul, achieving 1.3 dB improvement in receiver sensitivity compared to two fronthaul links' transmission without STBC. Second, multi-cell coordination in RoF fronthaul is presented, where a multi-level code (MLC)-based NOMA scheme is employed. A sum rate of 6 Gbps for three users is achieved along 10 km fronthaul transmission and 1.24 m wireless transmission. The experimental results show that the valid power allocation ratio range improves from 3.5≤R≤4.2 in conventional superposition code-based NOMA fronthaul to 3≤R≤5 in our proposed coordinated MLC-NOMA fronthaul link.

High-speed indoor optical wireless communication system employing a silicon integrated photonic circuit.

Beam-steering-based optical wireless technologies are being widely investigated due to the capability of providing high-speed wireless connectivity in indoor applications. However, high-speed indoor optical wireless systems are traditionally realized with discrete bulky components, significantly limiting their practical applications. In this Letter, we demonstrate an infrared optical wireless communication system employing a miniaturized silicon integrated photonic circuit for beam steering for the first time. Experimental results show that up to 12.5 Gb/s optical wireless communication can be achieved with error-free performance over a free-space range of 140 cm, and limited mobility of users can be realized. The experimental results of this Letter open the way for realizing integrated high-speed optical wireless communications.

Secure multiple access for indoor optical wireless communications with time-slot coding and chaotic phase.

In this paper, we report a novel mechanism to simultaneously provide secure connections for multiple users in indoor optical wireless communication systems by employing the time-slot coding scheme together with chaotic phase sequence. The chaotic phase sequence is generated according to the logistic map and applied to each symbol to secure the transmission. Proof-of-concept experiments are carried out for multiple system capacities based on both 4-QAM and 16-QAM modulation formats, i.e. 1.25 Gb/s, 2 Gb/s and 2.5 Gb/s for 4-QAM, and 2.5 Gb/s, 3.33 Gb/s and 4 Gb/s for 16-QAM. Experimental results show that in all cases the added chaotic phase does not degrade the legitimate user's signal quality while the illegal user cannot detect the signal without the key.

Indoor infrared optical wireless localization system with background light power estimation capability.

The indoor user localization function is in high demand for high-speed wireless communications, navigations and smart-home applications. The optical wireless technology has been used to localize end users in indoor environments. However, its accuracy is typically very limited, due to the ambient light, which is relatively strong. In this paper, a novel high-localization-accuracy optical wireless based indoor localization system, based on the use of the mechanism that estimates background light intensity, is proposed. Both theoretical studies and demonstration experiments are carried out. Experimental results show that the accuracy of the proposed optical wireless indoor localization system is independent on the localization light strength, and that an average localization error as small as 2.5 cm is attained, which is 80% better than the accuracy of previously reported optical wireless indoor localization systems.

Time-slot coding scheme for multiple access in indoor optical wireless communications.

This letter proposes what we believe is a novel time-slot coding (TSC) scheme to provide optical wireless communications to multiple users simultaneously with limited multiuser interference. We studied the proposed TSC experimentally and our results show that the code alignment tolerance, due to imperfect timing during the code generation process in practice, is 90.2%, 91.8%, and 93.1% with 4-QAM modulation at the received optical power of -22 dBm, -20 dBm, and -18 dBm, respectively. Furthermore, we also demonstrated a proof-of-concept experiment for simultaneous wireless connectivity for up to five users at multiple gross data rates (0.5 Gbps, 1 Gb/s, 1.6 Gb/s, 2 Gb/s, and 2.5 Gb/s).

Experimental demonstration of a novel indoor optical wireless localization system for high-speed personal area networks.

In this Letter, we propose a novel indoor localization system based on optical wireless technology. By using the same architecture as the high-speed full-duplex indoor optical wireless communication system, the "search and scan" process, and the added transmission power and beam footprint information in the "search and scan" message, indoor localization functionality is achieved. Proof-of-concept experiments are carried out, and results show that an average error of <15 cm is achieved with a localization beam size of 1 m. In addition, the major localization-accuracy-limiting factors are analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. When incorporated with the optical wireless communication system, high-speed indoor wireless personal area networks can be achieved.

Experimental demonstration of free-space based 120 Gb/s reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnects.

In this Letter, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a free-space based reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnect architecture with 16-carrierless-amplitude-phase modulation. Experimental results show that up to 120 Gb/s (3×40 Gb/s) flexible interconnection can be achieved for up to 30 cm distance with a worst-case receiver sensitivity of -9.70 dBm.

Experimental demonstration of high-speed free-space reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnects.

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate a high-speed free-space reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnect architecture employing MEMS-based steering mirror arrays for simple and efficient link selection. A printed-circuit-board (PCB) based interconnect module is developed and 3 × 10 Gb/s reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnect with a bit-error-rate (BER) of ~10(-6) for up to 30 cm is realized using a 250 µm pitch-size micro-lens array. In addition, due to the usage of MEMS steering-mirrors, larger lenses can be employed at the receiver side for collecting stronger optical signal power to increase the achievable interconnect range or to improve the BER performance. Experimental results show that with 1-mm diameter lenses the interconnect distance can exceed 80 cm.

High-speed free-space based reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnects with broadcast capability.

In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a free-space based high-speed reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnect architecture with broadcast capability, which is required for control functionalities and efficient parallel computing applications. Experimental results show that 10 Gb/s data can be broadcast to all receiving channels for up to 30 cm with a worst-case receiver sensitivity better than -12.20 dBm. In addition, arbitrary multicasting with the same architecture is also investigated. 10 Gb/s reconfigurable point-to-point link and multicast channels are simultaneously demonstrated with a measured receiver sensitivity power penalty of ~1.3 dB due to crosstalk.

High-speed reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnects based on hybrid free-space and multi-mode fiber propagations.

In this paper, a high-speed reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnect architecture based on hybrid free-space and multi-mode fiber (MMF) propagation is proposed. The use of free-space signal transmission provides flexibility and reconfigurability and the MMF extends the achievable interconnection range. A printed-circuit-board (PCB) based integrated optical interconnect module is designed and developed and proof-of-concept demonstration experiments are carried out. Results show that 3 × 10 Gb/s reconfigurable optical interconnect is realized with ~12 cm free-space propagation and a 10 m MMF length. In addition, since air turbulence due to high temperature of electronic components and heat dissipation fans always exists in typical interconnect environments and it normally results in system performance degradation, its impact on the proposed reconfigurable optical interconnect scheme is also experimentally investigated. Results indicate that even with comparatively strong air turbulence, 3 × 10 Gb/s optical interconnects with flexibility can still be achieved and the power penalty is <0.7 dB.

Methodologies for assessing the use-phase power consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of telecommunications network services.

Internet traffic has grown rapidly in recent years and is expected to continue to expand significantly over the next decade. Consequently, the resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of telecommunications service-supporting infrastructures have become an important issue. In this study, we develop a set of models for assessing the use-phase power consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of telecom network services to help telecom providers gain a better understanding of the GHG emissions associated with the energy required for their networks and services. Due to the fact that measuring the power consumption and traffic in a telecom network is a challenging task, these models utilize different granularities of available network information. As the granularity of the network measurement information decreases, the corresponding models have the potential to produce larger estimation errors. Therefore, we examine the accuracy of these models under various network scenarios using two approaches: (i) a sensitivity analysis through simulations and (ii) a case study of a deployed network. Both approaches show that the accuracy of the models depends on the network size, the total amount of network service traffic (i.e., for the service under assessment), and the number of network nodes used to process the service.

High-speed indoor optical wireless communication system with single channel imaging receiver.

In this paper we experimentally investigate a gigabit indoor optical wireless communication system with single channel imaging receiver. It is shown that the use of single channel imaging receiver rejects most of the background light. This single channel imaging receiver is composed of an imaging lens and a small photo-sensitive area photodiode attached on a 2-axis actuator. The actuator and photodiode are placed on the focal plane of the lens to search for the focused light spot. The actuator is voice-coil based and it is low cost and commercially available. With this single channel imaging receiver, bit rate as high as 12.5 Gbps has been successfully demonstrated and the maximum error-free (BER<10⁻9) beam footprint is even larger than 1 m. Compared with our previous experimental results with a single wide field-of-view non-imaging receiver, an improvement in error-free beam footprint of >20% has been achieved. When this system is integrated with our recently proposed optical wireless based indoor localization system, both high speed wireless communication and mobility can be provided to users over the entire room. Furthermore, theoretical analysis has been carried out and the simulation results agree well with the experiments. In addition, since the rough location information of the user is available in our proposed system, instead of searching for the focused light spot over a large area on the focal plane of the lens, only a small possible area needs to be scanned. By further pre-setting a proper comparison threshold when searching for the focused light spot, the time needed for searching can be further reduced.

Simplification of millimeter-wave radio-over-fiber system employing heterodyning of uncorrelated optical carriers and self-homodyning of RF signal at the receiver.

A simplified millimeter-wave (mm-wave) radio-over-fiber (RoF) system employing a combination of optical heterodyning in signal generation and radio frequency (RF) self-homodyning in data recovery process is proposed and demonstrated. Three variants of the system are considered in which two independent uncorrelated lasers with a frequency offset equal to the desired mm-wave carrier frequency are used to generate the transmitted signal. Uncorrelated phase noise in the resulting mm-wave signal after photodetection was overcome by using RF self-homodyning in the data recovery process. Theoretical analyses followed by experimental results and simulated characterizations confirm the system's performance. A key advantage of the system is that it avoids the need for high-speed electro-optic and electronic devices operating at the RF carrier frequency at both the central station and base stations.

Ultra-broadband indoor optical wireless communication system with multimode fiber.

In this paper we experimentally demonstrate an ultra-broadband indoor full-duplex WDM optical wireless communication system with multimode fiber. The multimode fiber is used because it is employed in most of the already installed in-building fiber distribution networks. Simultaneous error-free (BER<10(-9)) transmission of 4×12.5 Gbps downlink and 800 Mbps uplink has been successfully demonstrated. The experimental results show that, although the use of multimode fiber will induce ~2.4 cm reduction in the maximum error-free beam footprint in the downlink, the bit rate of the uplink can be much higher compared to the system with single-mode fiber.

Experimental demonstration of 3×3 10 Gb/s reconfigurable free space optical card-to-card interconnects.

In this Letter, we propose and demonstrate the concept of a free space optics-based parallel high-speed reconfigurable card-to-card interconnect architecture employing microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based steering mirror arrays in conjunction with VCSEL and photodiode arrays. A bit-error rate of ∼10(-6) and a receiver sensitivity below -11.5 dBm are experimentally attained with a proof-of-concept 3×3 10 Gb/s reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnect demonstrator.

Impact of background light induced shot noise in high-speed full-duplex indoor optical wireless communication systems.

The use of infrared radiation to provide high speed indoor wireless communication has attracted considerable attention for over a decade. In previous studies we proposed a novel full-duplex indoor optical wireless communication system with high-speed data transmission and limited mobility can be provided to users. When it is incorporated with localization function, gigabit mobile communication can be provided over the entire room. In this paper we theoretically analyze the limiting factor of our proposed system - background light induced shot noise. A theoretical model that allows the receiver sensitivity and the corresponding power penalty is proposed and the model is validated by experiments. Experimental results show that for both down-link and up-link transmission the background light will result in several dB power penalty and it is more dominant in lower speed links. As the bit rate increases, the preamplifier induced noise becomes larger and eventually dominates the noise process.