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The article presents an interview with Saewoong Bahk, professor at Seoul National University (SNU) in Korea and offers information on the International Conference on Localization (ICL) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) held in Guimaraes City, Portugal from June 26-28, 2018. Also mentioned was the 5th International Multi-Topic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Conference (IMTIC'18) held at Mehran University of Engineering & Technology (MUET).

The IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC 2013) was held on January 11-14, 2013 at the Las Vegas Flamingo Hotel. The conference started on the last day of CES 2013, at which, for the first time, a new, consolidated IEEE booth highlighted innovation and scholarship in various engineering disciplines relevant to consumer electronics. IEEE ComSoc's part of the booth featured selected research prototype demonstrations from IEEE CCNC demonstration session participants, as well as samples of publications and calls for papers of our conferences, and information on IEEE ComSoc sponsored standards and standardization projects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The fifth generation (5G) of cellular networks has ambitious targets of data rate, end-toend latency, and connection reliability. With the recent spreading of information and communication technology (ICT) into healthcare, leading to an Internet of medical things, new e-health services are being offered, in particular to the elderly population who needs daily assistance. This paper aims at identifying the most representative healthcare scenarios that can benefit from 5G networks and synthesizing the communications requirements in these particular scenarios. The impact of three key 5G technologies, i.e., medical network slices, mobile edge computing, and the management of heterogeneous networks, will be discussed in the representative case study of the connected ambulance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents key events and topics in the global communications industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Emerging nanoscale applications, e.g., nanoscale cooperative intelligent drug delivery or multiple intra-body nanosensors for health monitoring, mandate enabling nanomachines to communicate with each other, and hence, form nanonetworks to overcome the limitations of a single nanomachine. Indeed, the human body is a massive nanoscale molecular communications network composed of billions of interacting nanomachines, i.e., cells, whose functionalities depend on nanoscale molecular communications. In this paper, we first introduce the elementary models for nanoscale neuro-spike communication channels, and discuss its extensions to multi-terminal nervous system nanonetworks. Our objective is to learn from the elegant molecular communication mechanisms inside the human body to engineer practical communication techniques for emerging nanonetworks. Besides, we aim to pave the way for the advancement of revolutionary diagnosis and treatment techniques for neural diseases inspired from information and communication technologies (ICT), which is promising for future neuro-treatment and bioinspired molecular communication applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The registration process is now open for IEEE WCNC 2012 to be held on April 1 - 4 at the Palais des Congrès - Porte Maillot in Paris, France, which is located only minutes away from the Arc de Triomphe and the famous Avenue Champs Elysées, known as "the world's most beautiful avenue." Devoted to the entire range of wireless communications and networking technologies, the program of IEEE WCNC 2012 will include 620 technical papers distributed in four tracks, nine tutorials, seven workshops, four keynotes and eight business panels exploring topics ranging from the latest advances in digital cellular, PCS, multimedia and wireless networking technologies to channel modeling, radio resource management and emerging mobile applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Software-defined networking (SDN) technology is being widely adopted across commercial, governmental, and educational networking domains. However, teaching SDN-related concepts is a challenge due to the inherent nature of this paradigm, its detailed technological tools/skill sets, and the continual evolution of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. As a result, there is a growing need to support new initiatives to develop applied research and hands-on training methodologies. Accordingly, this article presents a framework that has been developed/evolved over the past few years for teaching and conducting research activities related to SDN. The key idea here is to leverage the close relationship between SDN, real-world ICT problems, and innovative services development. Thus, the proposed framework integrates actors, stakeholders, phases, and components, along with their interrelationships in an applied research environment. Some related research and development experiences from the application of this framework in Chile are also presented to highlight its contributions toward creating a wider knowledge base and benefiting society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kaleidoscope 2011 took place in Cape Town, South Africa, from December 12-14, 2011. This fourth event in the series focused on the central role of users of information and communication technologies (ICT). Accordingly, one of the aspects discussed was the adaptation of ICT to the African context (e.g., to monitor solar and climatic variations and to help microenterprises). Parallel with the conference, an exhibit of local universities organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Secretariat offered a glimpse into ICT activities in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is a measure of the importance and profundity of Marvin Kenneth Simon's contributions to communication theory that a tribute to his life and work is of current research relevance in spite of the continually accelerating rate of evolution in this area. Marv, as the entire community affectionately knew him, was one of the most prolific and influential communications researchers of his generation. Moreover, he laid the foundation for many of the techniques used in communication systems today. Marv's tragic death on September 23, 2007 continues to engender pangs not only of sadness at the passing of a great friend to many in our community, but also of regret that he is no longer with us to help resolve the many challenges facing communication systems today. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In light of current worldwide efforts to achieve energy efficiency, intensify usage of renewable energy sources, and reduce CO2 emissions, current electricity networks face many challenges, stemming from increasing demand for electrical energy, as well as variable and distributed production. Hence, an evolution to so-called smart grids is inevitable. The smart grid is a complex end-to-end system, composed of multiple interconnected power subsystems, interrelated to each other through diverse protocols with additional layers of technology (energy, communications, control/automation, and IT). Developing the smart grid thus has become an urgent global priority, as its economic, environmental, and societal benefit will be enjoyed by generations to come. The feature topic is to address the ultimate technologies required for underlying ICT architectures, monitoring and management improvements for smart grid systems, and highlighting these to the IEEE Communications Magazine readership. Eight papers that cover broadly the selected areas were kept for publication from 26 evaluated, taking into account the high-quality research and practical initiatives in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information on several papers discussed at the First Hungarian-Japanese Joint Conference on Future Information and Communication Technologies (FutureICT 2009) held in Budapest, Hungary on June 29-30, 2009 is presented. Topics discussed include the challenges in the emerging fields in ICT, omnipresent service and applications, and the future wireless communications networks and technologies. A Conference Dinner was organized, along with a concert presented by students from Japan and Hungary.

The article summarizes our experience on development of open innovations cooperation framework in the field of ICT between Finland and Russia. This project is financially support by KA-179 grant of ENPI Karelia CBC programme1 and targeted in development of regional open innovations ecosystem by using help and best practices of FRUCT Association2. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Tubiquitous ultra-broadband network enabling the future Internet (FI), is not only about new releases of current network generations and services, but, more significantly, will be associated with a true revolution in the information and communications technologies (ICT) field: the network will efficiently and effectively take forward new-fangled services to everyone and everything, such as cognitive objects and cyber physical systems (CPSs). A "full immersive (3D) experience" enriched by "context information" and, in particular, "anything or everything as a service (XaaS)" are the main business drivers for massive adoption and market uptake of the new fundamental enabling technologies, beyond today's "client-server" model, where the network has been reduced to a ubiquitous "pipe of bits." XaaS refers to those services ? beyond the current models of software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and platfore as a service (PaaS), SPI models, of cloud computing ? such as data as a service (DaaS), security as a service (again, SaaS), network as a service (NaaS), knowledge as a service (KaaS), machine as a service (MaaS), and robot as a service (RaaS), which could be delivered over the advanced 5G infrastructure, without the need to own hardware, software, or even the cognitive objects themselves. Communication services, such as voice and video telephony, will be enriched and bundled with other services. The network infrastructure is expected to become the "nervous system" of the actual digital society and digital economy. This challenge calls for a complete redesign of services and service capabilities, architectures, interfaces, functions, access and non-access stratum protocols and related procedures, as well as advanced algorithms (e.g., for unified connection, security, mobility and routing management, and reconfiguration of ICT services; and any type of resource of cyber physical systems). The expected transformation will be especially true at the edge, that is, around the end user (or prosumer), where the "intelligence" already started migrating a few years ago, and where massive processing, memory, and storage capacity are gradually accumulating. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on the decline of the activity of the information and communication technologies. It states that between July 2008 and June 2009, activity has reduced by 7% and that all sectors that make up hyper-sector have registered losses for the first time. It notes that telecommunications industries sector recorded the biggest decline of the hyper sector from July 2008 to June 2009.

The rise of smart health promotes ubiquitous healthcare services with the adoption of information and communication technologies. However, increasing demands of medical services require more computing and storage resources in proximity of medical users for intelligent sensing, processing, and analysis. Fog computing emerges to enable in situ data processing and service provision for smart health in proximity of medical users, exploiting a large number of small-scale servers. In this article, we investigate fog-enabled smart health toward cooperative and secure healthcare service provision. Specifically, we first introduce the overall infrastructure and some promising applications, including emergent healthcare service, health risk assessment, and healthcare notification. We then discuss the challenges of fog-enabled smart health from the perspectives of cooperation and security. A case study is presented to demonstrate efficient and secure health data sharing through naive Bayes classification and attribute-based encryption with assistance from fog computing. Finally, by exploring interesting future directions, more attention can be attracted to this emerging area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vehicular edge computing is essential to support future emerging multimedia-rich and delay-sensitive applications in vehicular networks. However, the massive deployment of edge computing infrastructures induces new problems including energy consumption and carbon pollution. This motivates us to develop BEGIN (Big data enabled EnerGy-efficient vehIcular edge computiNg), a programmable, scalable, and flexible framework for integrating big data analytics with vehicular edge computing. In this article, we first present a comprehensive literature review. Then the overall design principle of BEGIN is described with an emphasis on computing domain and data domain convergence. In the next section, we classify big data in BEGIN into four categories and then describe their features and potential values. Four typical application scenarios in BEGIN including node deployment, resource adaptation and workload allocation, energy management, and proactive caching and pushing, are provided to illustrate how to achieve energy-efficient vehicular edge computing by using big data. A case study is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of BEGIN and the superiority of big data in energy efficiency improvement. Finally, we conclude this work and outline future research open issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communications and information are the basis of smart city development. Hence, the performance of information transmissions is vital for the popularity of smart city services. This article is a tutorial study on efficiently managing communication performance in a real-time fashion for smart cities that have a vast number of networking nodes and services. We focus on both QoS and QoE performance and discuss the challenges in guaranteeing such performance by analyzing the characteristics of smart city communication networks. We then explore the opportunity of employing data to automatically manage QoS/ QoE performance by designing a data-driven QoS and QoE framework. This framework implements the functions of training performance prediction and accordingly timely management of QoS/QoE performance via the designed offline and online modules, respectively. We hope that this study may provide preliminary knowledge and research insights for further studies on proactively guaranteeing the performance of a varied number of coexisting and correlated smart city communicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart communities are an emerging communication paradigm that mobilizes physical devices operating in different wireless networks to deliver ubiquitous services. Since wireless communication is vulnerable to physical or link layer jamming, it is essential to map the locations and shapes of jammed regions for adjusting routing policy. However, existing mapping strategies require jammed devices to override the carrier sense multiple access limitation for the declaration of jamming. Besides, the utilization of flat network architectures in existing mapping strategies incurs large communication overhead. In this article, a three-layer hierarchical network structure and a matching top-down mapping mechanism are proposed. Through organizing smart nodes into onehop clusters, the jamming phenomenon can be discovered purely from cluster heads' data reports collected in the sink layer. Each one-hop cluster is also used as a basic mapping unit to identify and measure jammed regions. From cluster-level mapping to sensor-level mapping, jammed areas can be mapped from coarse- to fine-grained. Simulation results demonstrate that the mapping traffic involved in the proposed jammed-area mapping strategy can be reduced substantially. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent advances in networking, caching, and computing have significant impacts on the developments of smart cities. Nevertheless, these important enabling technologies have traditionally been studied separately in the existing works on smart cities. In this article, we propose an integrated framework that can enable dynamic orchestration of networking, caching, and computing resources to improve the performance of applications for smart cities. Then we present a novel big data deep reinforcement learning approach. Simulation results with different system parameters are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information and communication technologies (ICT) widely contribute to the global economy and society through the tremendous pace of innovations and new applications, rapidly changing the way that people live in almost every aspect. However, ICT can also have a profound impact on the global environment, which could be either positive or negative. This IEEE Series on Green Communications and Computing Networks is now established to discuss the concepts, principles, mechanisms, design, algorithms, analyses, and research challenges relevant to ICT and their environmental impacts, which could be referred to as ?green ICT.? Here the term green is not only used to include energy or energy efficiency issues, but is also considered in the broader context of environmental impact and enablement of sustainability through communication and computing networks. A common misunderstanding is that green is simply equivalent to energy or energy efficiency issues. Actually, the field will explore more and more green topics relevant to issues other than energy or energy efficiency. Thus, this Series will not only address green communications, green computing, and relevant systems, but also investigate using communications, computing, and relevant technologies to achieve green objectives for a sustainable world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Internet of Things is a novel cutting edge technology that proffers to connect a plethora of digital devices endowed with several sensing, actuation, and computing capabilities with the Internet, thus offering manifold new services in the context of a smart city. The appealing IoT services and big data analytics are enabling smart city initiatives all over the world. These services are transforming cities by improving infrastructure and transportation systems, reducing traffic congestion, providing waste management, and improving the quality of human life. In this article, we devise a taxonomy to best bring forth a generic overview of the IoT paradigm for smart cities, integrated ICT, network types, possible opportunities and major requirements. Moreover, an overview of the up-to-date efforts from standard bodies is presented. Later, we give an overview of existing open source IoT platforms for realizing smart city applications followed by several exemplary case studies. In addition, we summarize the latest synergies and initiatives worldwide taken to promote IoT in the context of smart cities. Finally, we highlight several challenges in order to give future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Vehicular transportation is an essential part of modern cities. However, the ever increasing number of road accidents, traffic congestion, and other such issues become obstacles for the realization of smart cities. As the integration of the Internet of Vehicles and social networks, vehicular social networks (VSNs) are promising to solve the above-mentioned problems by enabling smart mobility in modern cities, which are likely to pave the way for sustainable development by promoting transportation efficiency. In this article, the definition of and a brief introduction to VSNs are presented first. Existing supporting communication technologies are then summarized. Furthermore, we introduce an application scenario on trajectory data-analysis-based traffic anomaly detection for VSNs. Finally, several research challenges and open issues are highlighted and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The smart power grid enables intelligent automation at all levels of power system operation, from electricity generation at power plants to power usage in the home. The key enabling factor of an efficient smart grid is its built-in ICT, which monitors the real-time system operating state and makes control decisions accordingly. As an important building block of the ICT system, power system state estimation is of critical importance to maintain normal operation of the smart grid, which, however, is under mounting threat from potential cyber attacks. In this article, we introduce a graph-based framework for performing cyber-security analysis in power system state estimation. Compared to conventional arithmetic- based security analysis, the graphical characterization of state estimation security provides intuitive visualization of some complex problem structures and enables efficient graphical solution algorithms, which are useful for both defending and attacking the ICT system of the smart grid. We also highlight several promising future research directions on graph-based security analysis and its applications in smart power grid. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Tremendous advancements in heterogeneous communication technologies have enabled smart cities objects to interact with each other while ensuring network connectivity. However, these communication technologies cannot provide flawless connectivity in smart cities due to the coexistence of thousands of devices, which brings about several problems. In this article, we discuss the enabling communication and networking technologies used in smart cities. The similarities and differences among different communication technologies based on the important parameters are also analyzed. Moreover, a taxonomy is devised by classifying the literature based on future and emerging technologies, modern communication technologies, IEEE wireless technology standards, objectives, network classes, and mode of operations. Furthermore, some reported case studies of different cities (Barcelona, Stratford, Singapore, and Porto) are also presented. Lastly, several research challenges, such as interference management, scalable wireless solutions, interoperability support among heterogeneous wireless networks, mobility management, and high energy consumption that remain to be addressed for enabling unimpaired connectivity in smart cities are discussed as future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information is the link between business services and ICT (information and communications technologies). Information modelling captures business requirements so they can be communicated in such a way that ICT applications are developed to support services. Information should be stable and organized in a way that enables service deployment flexibility when it comes to process and organization. Information modelling enables a common language within a business or an organization, and between businesses. Often, several different concepts commonly in use mean the same thing. Also, similarly named concepts can have different meanings and definitions. Standardized information modelling is used to align these concepts and their definitions. As we evolve toward a truly networked society, the demand will grow for market driven standardization of modelling and the deployment of standardized business services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the development of a Techno-Social Smart Grid by proposing a techno-social framework for smart grid. Topics include advancement in communication and computing technology; use of smart grids to take advantage of information and communication technologies to integrate power infrastructure with information infrastructure and use of Information and Communications Technology to enhance efficiency, reliability, and sustainability of power generation and distribution networks.

With the widespread popularity and usage of ICT around the world, there is increasing interest in replacing the traditional electric grid by the smart grid in the near future. Many smart devices exist in the smart grid environment. These devices may share their data with one another using the ICT-based infrastructure. The analysis of the data generated from various smart devices in the smart grid environment is one of the most challenging tasks to be performed as it varies with respect to parameters such as size, volume, velocity, and variety. The output of the data analysis needs to be transferred to the end users using various networks and smart appliances. But sometimes networks may become overloaded during such data transmissions to various smart devices. Consequently, significant delays may be incurred, which affect the overall performance of any implemented solution in this environment. We investigate the use of VDTNs as one of the solutions for data dissemination to various devices in the smart grid environment using mobile edge computing. VDTNs use the store-and-carry forward mechanism for message dissemination to various smart devices so that delays can be reduced during overloading and congestion situations in the core networks. As vehicles have high mobility, we propose mobile edge network support assisted by the cloud environment to manage the handoff and the processing of large data sets generated by various smart devices in the smart grid environment. In the proposed architecture, most of the computation for making decisions about charging and discharging is done by mobile devices such as vehicles located at the edge of the network (also called mobile edge computing). The computing and communication aspects are explored to analyze the impact of mobile edge computing on performance metrics such as message transmission delay, response time, and throughput to the end users using vehicles as the mobile nodes. Our empirical results demonstrate an improved performance 10-15 percent increase in throughput, 20 percent decrease in response time, and 10 percent decrease in the delay incurred with our proposed solution compared to existing state-ofthe- art solutions in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The FGIR calls for reliable, flexible, and green industrial networks to support intelligent manufacturing. This article proposes a new architecture of SDIN and then presents the related key technologies. The proposed architecture adopts an all-IP-based flat structure, and can adaptively reconfigure networks according to the dynamic change of product orders. The crucial technologies can guarantee real-time data transmission, enable plug-and-play, and support wireless access with seamless handover capability. Energy can be reduced significantly by optimizing routes and shutting down redundant production lines. Experimental results show that our solution can achieve highly reliable and deterministic packet delivery. With the adaptive configurations in the testbed, SDIN can consume 18 percent-less energy than traditional industrial networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Evolving toward a knowledge society requires a trusted ICT infrastructure for sharing information and creating knowledge. To advance the efforts to build converged ICT services and reliable information infrastructures, ITU-T has recently started to work on future trusted ICT infrastructures. This article proposes a possible future Social-Cyber-Physical infrastructure that acts as the glue for integrating the physical, cyber, and social worlds with ICT, and outlines proposals toward an effort to find viable solutions for trust related problems while developing advanced technologies from an ITU-T standards perspective along with the trust conceptual model and the trust architectural framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we investigate the challenges in designing a communication network robust against earthquake-induced disasters. Due to the heterogeneity of local geology conditions, an earthquake may cause different devastating effects on network links at different locations. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop a network design method that, based on actual seismic hazard information, finds appropriate geographical routes for network links under a cost constraint to maximize the robustness of the network. We carried out experiments on local as well as nationwide networks considering many possible earthquake scenarios in Japan. The results suggest that the shortest route is often the optimal route, and, in some cases, long detour routes can significantly reduce the average endto- end disconnection probability compared to the shortest route solutions. This gives a network operator guidelines to design a network that is resilient against earthquake disasters at the lowest possible cost. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increasing economic and educational exposure, and promotion of global health and wellness can be achieved through the power of sharing knowledge, technology, and resources. ICT can play a key role in disseminating such knowledge across the world. But a digital divide exists between urban and rural/remote areas, which results in economic and social disparities across regions. Developing last-mile telecommunication technologies for rural/remote areas is a crucial aspect in providing computing and ICT services that can integrate millions of stakeholders in rural/remote areas globally into the digital age, particularly with the advent of cloud computing. This article focuses on the different aspects of providing last-mile rural telecommunication access such as interfering factors, technology options, and deployment trends. This article aims to guide service providers, industry practitioners, and local entrepreneurs with a technology-and-deployment-trend analysis to choose, deploy, and operate suitable telecommunication networks depending on the unique features of the rural/remote area. Our goal is to bring attention to accessible and affordable technologies with practical considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, rising energy prices and increasing environmental concerns have boosted research in the so called green ICT and green networking research tracks, aimed at improving the energy efficiency of communications while still offering maximal functionality. In this article we explore a future scenario in which low power networking is no longer optional, but instead becomes a necessity due to fluctuating energy availability. The contribution of this work is twofold. First, we argue why a so called post-peak future scenario, in which we can no longer rely on fossil fuels as our main resource for electricity production, is not unlikely, and what it might entail. Second, we explore the consequences of such a scenario for ICT: How well can current and future infrastructures cope with temporary energy limitations? As an illustration, we present a case study showing the impact of reduced energy availability on a wireless access network. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Design and implementation of Devices, Circuits, and Systems Series publishes original articles that cover a broad range of topics in telecommunication devices, circuits and systems advances and developments. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has evolved substantially over the past few decades and has seen an accelerating trend of technical advances especially in healthcare, green communications, among others. The design and implementation of reliable systems and potential service solutions not only play an important role in healthcare to ensure quality of care, but also in energy efficient green communications. In this context, the August issue features three articles that cover the design and implementation of such communication systems under several constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With more and more activities taking place online, concern over the environmental impact of digital services has drawn attention to the energy intensity of the network. Estimating the network energy intensity has been the subject of research for some time but results have differed widely, thus weakening the robustness of any conclusions drawn from assessments. A review of past studies shows two separate communities at work, applying different methods and assumptions. In this article we consider the approaches of top-down and bottom-up modeling. Top-down models have in the past usually given higher estimates of energy intensity than bottom-up models. We find that among the main reasons for the difference are varying system boundaries, and assumptions on the number and energy efficiency of routers and optical transmission equipment. Through application of consistent system boundaries around the metro and core networks and excluding access networks and customer equipment, we reduce the difference between the energy intensity estimates of the alternative approaches. Additionally, we review the varying assumptions in existing bottom-up models and combine them in a meta-model. Through Monte Carlo simulation over the distributions behind the varying assumptions we provide a more robust estimate of approximate energy efficiency for networks of 0.02 kWh/Gbyte that can be used in the environmental impact assessment of digital services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami drastically changed Japanese society, and the requirements for ICT was completely redefined. After the disaster, it was impossible for disaster victims to utilize their communication devices, such as cellular phones, tablet computers, or laptop computers, to notify their families and friends of their safety and confirm the safety of their loved ones since the communication infrastructures were physically damaged or lacked the energy necessary to operate. Due to this drastic event, we have come to realize the importance of device-to-device communications. With the recent increase in popularity of D2D communications, many research works are focusing their attention on a centralized network operated by network operators and neglect the importance of decentralized infrastructureless multihop communication, which is essential for disaster relief applications. In this article, we propose the concept of multihop D2D communication network systems that are applicable to many different wireless technologies, and clarify requirements along with introducing open issues in such systems. The first generation prototype of relay by smartphone can deliver messages using only users' mobile devices, allowing us to send out emergency messages from disconnected areas as well as information sharing among people gathered in evacuation centers. The success of field experiments demonstrates steady advancement toward realizing user-driven networking powered by communication devices independent of operator networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami drastically changed Japanese society, and the requirements for ICT was completely redefined. After the disaster, it was impossible for disaster victims to utilize their communication devices, such as cellular phones, tablet computers, or laptop computers, to notify their families and friends of their safety and confirm the safety of their loved ones since the communication infrastructures were physically damaged or lacked the energy necessary to operate. Due to this drastic event, we have come to realize the importance of device-to-device communications. With the recent increase in popularity of D2D communications, many research works are focusing their attention on a centralized network operated by network operators and neglect the importance of decentralized infrastructureless multihop communication, which is essential for disaster relief applications. In this article, we propose the concept of multihop D2D communication network systems that are applicable to many different wireless technologies, and clarify requirements along with introducing open issues in such systems. The first generation prototype of relay by smartphone can deliver messages using only users' mobile devices, allowing us to send out emergency messages from disconnected areas as well as information sharing among people gathered in evacuation centers. The success of field experiments demonstrates steady advancement toward realizing user-driven networking powered by communication devices independent of operator networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The creation of countermeasures against a large-scale disaster is an important focus of research for the future. This article briefly introduces some Japanese research and development activities for disaster-related technologies, including those carried out by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). First, we discuss lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011. We show that the preferred communication tool in a disaster situation depends on the time that has elapsed after the disaster. We then summarize several research projects for developing robust and dependable communication networks, including an information distribution platform, and outline the research projects of NICT's Resilient ICT Research Center as well. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The second meeting of the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) was held in San Diego, California during 28-29 June, and I would like to share some items of interest to you. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IEEE Communications Society (Com-Soc), as a global organization of Communications professionals, relies heavily on state of the art Information and Communication Technology (ICT). ICT is essential for ComSoc governance and operations, and to host its community and group activities. All ComSoc activities involve participation from volunteers who live on various continents and in different time zones. Therefore, the ICT infrastructure is essential in keeping such a global Society operational. The Communications Society's ICT infrastructure and services are the technological foundation for "ComSoc On-Line." [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) presents just another example of this Society's truly global reach, which extends from the ongoing presentation of premier conferencing events to the development of industry-leading technical publications and world-class certification and educational programs. Themed "Connect ? Communicate ? Collaborate," IEEE ComSoc was proud to host this year's event in the spectacular Ottawa Convention Centre, which is situated on the scenic banks of the Rideau Canal and embedded in the cultural center of Canada's beautiful capital city. Renowned for its scientific achievements, spectacular scenery, and world-class amenities, Ottawa was the ideal location for hosting more than 2,000 industry professionals, scientists, academics, and government officials, who came here to attend nearly 1,500 presentations highlighting the latest advances and developments in the entire range of global voice, data, image, and multimedia technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ubiquitous healthcare means healthcare anywhere anytime, a dream not realized in most parts of this world. On the other hand, the cost of healthcare is increasing and may become totally unaffordable in view of the aging population in many countries. Hence, the world is exploring the means to enhance the reach of healthcare at lower cost. The recent developments in wireless sensor devices and applications provide a glimmer of hope in tackling this gigantic problem through telehealthcare, where part of the healthcare can be performed remotely over information and communication networks. Thanks to the progress in communication and information processing technologies (sensors, biosensors, wire and wireless communication, web semantics, smart phones, game consoles, etc.), ubiquitous healthcare could soon be a reality. It is also envisioned that the convergence of disciplines such as information and communications technologies (ICT), biotechnologies, and nanotechnologies will accelerate the innovation in the field, and open up new opportunities for miniaturization and largescale production of efficient and affordable products in the future. Nevertheless, standardization will have an important role in ensuring interoperability between devices and information systems, a key factor for large-scale and cost-effective deployment of e-health systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Smart grid has emerged as the next-generation power grid via the convergence of power system engineering and information and communication technology. In this article, we describe smart grid goals and tactics, and present a threelayer smart grid network architecture. Following a brief discussion about major challenges in smart grid development, we elaborate on smart grid cyber security issues. We define a taxonomy of basic cyber attacks, upon which sophisticated attack behaviors may be built. We then introduce fundamental security techniques, whose integration is essential for achieving full protection against existing and future sophisticated security attacks. By discussing some interesting open problems, we finally expect to trigger more research efforts in this emerging area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Advances in next-generation SONET/SDH have introduced novel features for generic protocol framing/encapsulation, virtual concatenation, inverse multiplexing, dynamic circuit adjustment, and so on. In turn, these provisions have enabled much improved multi-tiered service provisioning and are viewed very favorably by carriers, particularly incumbents. This article looks at this evolved framework with a particular focus on value-added services creation. Results from a sample performance evaluation study also are presented to quantify some of the achievable gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carriers are gradually adopting a network model that consists of MPLS-capable routers and OXCs interconnected by high bandwidth WDM links for transporting IP and Ethernet traffic. A control plane can be used to deliver dynamic circuit provisioning in the transport layer, as well as bandwidth provisioning and traffic engineering in higher layers. Globalization drives the quest for end-to-end QoS guarantees over different carrier networks. Recovery mechanisms are crucial to reach the high availability requirements of critical services. In this article, we share our vision on how to enable high availability services, spanning multiple networks using failure protection techniques while complying with administrative constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most approaches developed to query sensoractuator networks (SANET5) are either application-specific or generic. Application-specific SANETs provide limited reusability, are not cost effective, and may require extensive reprogramming efforts to make the network able to serve new applications. Generic SANETs usually require that a sizeable code be deployed on the nodes regardless of the specific requirements of the application at hand. More important, they may not be optimized to fully exploit the specific characteristics and query patterns of a given application. In this article we introduce service-oriented SANETs (SOSANET5) as a novel approach to building customizable SANETs. SOSANETs provide the benefits of both application-specific SANETs (e.g., energy efficiency, scalability) and generic SANETs (e.g., reusability) and avoid most of their limitations. We implemented our approach in TinySOA, a SOSANET developed on top of TinyOS. We conducted an evaluation of TinySOA that included a comparison with TinyDB, an established query processing system for sensor networks. The obtained empirical results show that TinySOA outperforms TinyDB in many aspects including energy consumption, scalability, and response time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IEEE 802.15.3 is a standard that supports high data rate for wireless personal area networks. It implements a centralized topology for network monitoring and control. The centralized piconet coordinator (PNC) needs to be dynamically selected depending on a number of categories that measure its abilities as the most capable device compared to the surrounding devices in the network. This article pre- sents an extension to the PNC selection criteria in IEEE 802.15.3 by modifying the reserved fields readily available in the standard to support user-centricity as well as other higher layer service dependent criteria. This article also develops the implementation process for the message header exchange between devices to support this new selection process. In addition, simulations are carried out that show the proof of concept of the manner in which this new criteria could be implemented in IEEE 802. 15.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IEEE 802.16 standard, commonly known as WiMAX, is the latest technology that has promised to offer broadband wireless access over long distance. Since 2001 WiMAX has evolved from 802.16 to 802.16d for fixed wireless access, and to the new IEEE 802.16e standard with mobility support. In this article we provide an. overview of the state-of-the-art mobile WiMAX technology and its development. We focus our discussion on QoS provisioning and mobile WiMAX specification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South Korean government declared the 1T839 Strategy as a new development strategy for the IT sector in 2004. Under this strategy, the introduction and development of eight (8) new IT services are expected to encourage investment in three (3) key network infrastructures, which in turn, will promote the development of nine (9) new growth engines, including equipment, terminal, software, contents, and so on. Moreover, each of the 20 (8 + 3 + 9) sectors of the 1T839 Strategy will reap synergistic effects as a result of concurrent growth through cooperation among the government, private sector, and research institutes. The 1T839 Strategy is anchored on the belief that IT will bring about qualitative changes in the economic and social paradigm, ultimately aiming to realize a ubiquitous world by forming a virtual circle of developing new services, infrastructures, and growth engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the strategic planning within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Communications Society. It provides information on how the Strategic Planning Committee of the Communications Society (ComSoc) has been working toward the future. It profiles Dr. Stu Personick, the committee's chairman. It notes that ComSoc exists because it provides products and services that its members value. It mentions some of the committee's plans including on-line forums for the society, and virtual extensions of meetings and conferences. It enumerates several prospective initiatives which are considered in the committee's discussions.

The articles in this special section examine fog computing which has received considerable attention in various application domains, especially those including time-sensitive transactions such as intelligent manufacturing, smart transportation, and cellular networks. Fog computing derives benefi ts from the increasingly smarter and more capable devices that reside not only at the network perimeter but also along the cloud-to-things continuum, which means fog-enabled services can be deployed anywhere within a network. Such continuous service provisioning and management have great potential to elevate the intelligence within multi-tier computing networks to realize context awareness, timely response, and task offloading. As a comprehensive and effective way of delivering customized new services, cloud, fog, and edge computing would be able to jointly reshape the landscape and the ecosystem of information and communication technology (ICT) and create tremendous business opportunities for future customers and various things. Realizing the challenges of providing diff erent fog services to satisfy high customer requirements, the articles in this section aim to give a timely overview of fog services and enabling technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]