RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Title of research:
“Development and Implementation of Internet-of-Things (IoTs) Security for Wireless
Communication Systems”
Objectives:
 To provide an in-depth overview of the security challenges and requirements for
Internet of Things (IoT) and discuss the privacy/security solutions for the internet-
of-things.
 To identify the new security design and infrastructure based on the new technical
standards for developing IoTs.
 To discover the various applications areas of internet-of-things (IoTs) including
evaluation, monitoring and control of data, enterprise systems and social amenities.
 To prove the vitality and relevance of IoTs in wireless communication systems.
 To explain how the wireless communication protocols can be well aligned with IoT
to maximize their benefits in terms of performance, scalability, energy efficiency,
and cost effectiveness
 To summarize the latest development in wireless communication protocols for IoTs
and how such development can enable other emerging technologies to be further
integrated with IoT and boost its capabilities.

Importance of the proposed research work:

Internet-of-things (IoT) refers to the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded
computing-like devices within the existing internet infrastructure. Internet-of-Things (IoT)
is one of the hottest research fields nowadays and has attracted huge interests and research
efforts from both academia and industry. IoT can connect a large number of sensors,
actuators, devices, vehicles, buildings, and/or other objects to form a network where data
can be collected from the physical world, exchanged and processed in the cyber world, and
then fed back into the physical world through actuations. This makes IoT one of the key
foundations towards the vision of smart cities, with many promising applications such as
telecommunication, environmental monitoring, infrastructure management, manufacturing,
energy management, medical and healthcare, building and home automation, and
transportation.

Recently, the advances in various wireless communication protocols in technologies such as

5G, RFID, Wi-Fi-Direct, Li-Fi, LTE, and 6LoWPAN have greatly boosted the potential
capabilities of IoT and made it become more prevalent than ever, which also accelerates the
further integration of IoT with emerging technologies in other areas such as sensing,
wireless recharging, data exchanging, and processing. Yet, how these technologies especially
the corresponding wireless communication protocols can be well aligned with IoT to
maximize their benefits on such performance as scalability, service quality, energy
efficiency, and cost effectiveness is still open to investigation and thus calls for novel
solutions; also the privacy and security issues also need to be carefully examined and
addressed.
In IoT, each connected device could be a potential doorway into the IoT infrastructure or
personal data (HP Company, 2014; Roe, 2014). The data security and privacy concerns are
very important but the potential risks associated with the IoT will reach new levels as
interoperability, mashups, and autonomous decision making begets complexity, security
loopholes, and potential vulnerability. Privacy risks will arise in the IoT since the complexity
may create more vulnerability that related to the services. IoT entails collection of much
information relating to personal data such as date of birth, location, budgets, etc. and this is
the aspect of the big data which is challenging.

Development and implementation IoTs security will need the potential privacy risks
associated with the entire data set to be put into consideration. The IoT should be
implemented in a lawful, ethical, socially, and politically acceptable way, where legal
challenges, systematic approaches, technical challenges, and business challenges should be
considered.

This research will focus on technically implementing the design of the IoT security
architecture. Security and privacy issues must be addressed throughout the IoT lifecycle
from the initial design to the services running. The main research challenges in IoT scenario
include the data confidentiality, privacy, and trust, as shown in Figure 1 (Di Pietro et al.,
2014; Furnell,2007; Gaur, 2013; Miorandi et al., 2012; Roman et al., 2013; Weber, 2013).

To well illustrate the security requirements in IoT, the four-layer architecture shall be
modelled which includes; sensing layer, network layer, service layer, and application-
interface layer. Each layer shall be able to provide corresponding security controls, such as
access control, device authentication, data integrity and confidentiality in transmission,
availability, and the anti-virus ability. The “Internet-of-Things” covers a huge scope of
industries and applications. An overview of what makes up IoT systems and devices from
sensors and communication protocols to APIs and machine learning includes the following;
 Communication
 Backbone
 Hardware
 Protocols
 Software
 Data Brokers / Cloud Platforms
 Machine Learning

This research work presents a holistic conceptual approach of an Internet-of-Things (IoT)

system development and implementation for wireless communication systems. It is hoped
that the end result of this research, the IoTs Security and privacy challenges shall be
resolved. This concept will focus on the implementation of this IoTs security in wireless
communication systems of telecommunication sectors as a pilot testing bed.

1. Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Mississippi,

University, MS 38677-1848, USA
2. School of Electronic Information and Communications, Huazhong University of
Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
3. Bakalar, N. (2011), Watch Your Step While Washing Up, The New York Times,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/health/research/16stats.html
4. Park, J., Chun, S., and Ko, S. (2014), Trend for IoT based Healthcare Service and
Platform, Information and Communication Magazine, The Korean Institute of
 Communications and Information Sciences, Vol. 31, No. 12, accessed from:
http://society.kisti.re.kr/sv/SV_svpsbs03VR.do?
method=detail&cn2=GCSHBA_2014_v31n12_25&menuid=1&subid=11
5. Ahmed, M.U., Bjoö rkman, M., and Lindeé n, M. (2015), A Generic System-Level
Framework for Self-Serve Health Monitoring System through Internet-of-Things
(IoT), Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, Vol. 211, pg. 305-307.
6. Financial Institutions and Customer Information: Complying with the Safeguards
Rule, https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/businesscenter/
7. IBM (2013), what is big data? - Bringing big data to the enterprise. http://www-
01.ibm.com/software/data/bigdata/

Proposed sample group:

The sample group will be on the wireless communication systems identified in
telecommunication sectors which includes;

 Satellite communication systems

 Bluetooth Technologies
 Infrared communication devices
 Broadcast radio
 Microwave communication
 Wi-Fi
 Mobile communication systems

Methodologies:

 How the proposed sample group will be formulated:

A call for representatives will be sent out to targeted groups identified, and through the use
of cascading methods. This will include special interest and professional groups, and
cascades through senior strategic managers and group Chairs.

 The involvement of the sample group in the research process:

The main purpose of the research work is to improve on the security and privacy issues of
the IoTs for wireless communication systems and to reach a consensus agreement which
will involve the development of a questionnaire survey. The results of the sample groups
will be used to develop the survey which will then be sent out to a large representative
sample group of telecommunication engineers working in the different contexts of
Telecommunication sectors identified.

 How the consent of participants will be obtained:

Participants will be sent an information sheet and consent form giving full details of the
study. Participants will be sent this information by email and asked to bring a signed copy
on the days of the research.

 Any potential risks to subjects? :

Participation in this research presents no potential risks to the participants. Participants
and their organizations will not be named in subsequent write ups and material submitted
for publication.
Conclusion
Information technology has advances in the development of IoT and big data toward various
aspects of human activities. Wireless communication systems are one of the vital areas that
require IoTs security and privacy. This concept introduced in this research proposes six
objectives: 1) To provide an in-depth overview of the security challenges and requirements
for Internet of Things (IoT) and discuss the privacy/security solutions for the internet-of-
things. 2) To identify the new security design and infrastructure based on the new technical
standards for developing IoTs. 3) To discover the various applications areas of internet-of-
things (IoTs) including evaluation, monitoring and control of data, enterprise systems and
social amenities. 4) To prove the vitality and relevance of IoTs in wireless communication
systems. 5) To explain how the wireless communication protocols can be well aligned with
IoT to maximize their benefits in terms of performance, scalability, energy efficiency, and
cost effectiveness. 6) To summarize the latest development in wireless communication
protocols for Internet of Things and how such development can enable other emerging
technologies to be further integrated with IoT and boost its capabilities.
Wireless communication systems study reveals that off-the-shelf sensors are available for
IoT applications, but many of them require hardware modification and software
configuration to integrate into small range network systems. Several small range wireless
sensor network protocols are available and are able to connect to larger network systems
such as Internet through various levels and types of hubs/gateways. Various software
applications and open source platforms will be tested based on the data acquired from
sensors in wireless communication systems. Moreover, this study demonstrates the
potential of IoTs and big data applications for improving user sustainability in various
aspects of telecommunication.

Research Consent Form

Title of study: “Development and Implementation of Internet-of-Things (IoTs) Security for
Wireless Communication Systems”

Please read and complete this form carefully. If you are willing to participate in this
study; ring the appropriate responses, sign and date the declaration at the end. If you
do not understand anything and would like more information, please ask.
1. I have had the research satisfactorily explained to me in written form by the
researcher.
YES / NO

2. I understand that the research will involve:

 A half day focus group event in which I will be representing one of the areas of
telecommunication sectors.
 Discussions with the other focus group members on the topic of research
development in telecommunication sectors and to identify key issues
  Identifying key questions which will be used to develop a national survey on the
topic of research development in telecommunication sectors.
YES / NO
3. I understand that I may withdraw from this study at any time without having to
give an explanation.
YES / NO
4. I understand that all information about me will be treated in strict confidence and
that I will not be named in any written work arising from this study
YES / NO
5. I understand that any data collected will be used solely for research purposes and
will be erased on completion of the research
YES / NO
6. I understand that the data will only be discussed within the research team
YES / NO
7. I understand that study participants and their respective organizations will not be
named in subsequent write ups and material submitted for publication.
YES / NO
8. I freely give my consent to participate in this research study and have been given a
copy of this form for my own information.

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