My research focuses on energy-efficient networking and security for severely constrained wireless embedded devices and the IoT, with an emphasis on industrial applications. My objective is to invent and prototype algorithms that are optimised for constrained/low-capability, battery-powered devices without sacrificing performance and reliability. Over the last few years I have been focussing on IEEE 802.15.4 / .15.4g networks, doing work that covers the entire 6LoWPAN/RPL stack. More specifically, I have made contributions in the areas of multicast forwarding; MAC layers with time-synchronisation (such as TSCH); congestion control; routing; neighbour discovery; service discovery. Within the same IoT context, I am also interested in secure software writing techniques; digital forensics; and software defined networking.

My research is very applied and often leads to high-TRL, deployment-ready outputs. A lot of my work has been released as open source software and is distributed as part of the Contiki-NG operating system for the Internet of Things, an open-source project of which I am a co-founder and steering group member. Most of the work is also part of the original Contiki OS, for which I used to serve as maintainer.

Key Contributions to Research Projects

I am overall PI for CHARIOT, an EPSRC-funded project that aims to reduce the risk and potential adverse consequences of ransomware attacks in Industrial IoT (IIoT) network deployments comprising severely constrained wireless embedded and other cyber-physical devices. Through the proposed research, we want to increase the difficulty of mounting successful ransomware attacks against IIoT and cyber-physical systems, making them less attractive targets for perpetrators.

I am University of Bristol PI of ELABORATOR. The project uses a holistic approach for planning, designing, implementing and deploying specific innovations and interventions towards safe, inclusive and sustainable urban mobility. These interventions consist of smart enforcement tools, space redesign and dynamic allocation, shared services, and integration of active and green modes of transportation.

I am Co-I for TORUS. The vision of this EPSRC Programme Grant is to create the capability to autonomously, continuously and objectively measure symptoms of illness (mobility-related activities of daily living) many times every day during the clinical trial of a new drug, in the patient's own home and for months at a time. TORUS will achieve this goal by using a wrist-worn wearable integrated synergistically with AI-enabled cameras. The data from the wearable and cameras is fused to give metrics of the quality of mobility-related activities. The programme concluses with a clinical proof of concept.

I was of Bristol PI for SYNERGIA, an Innovate UK-funded 2-year project on the development of a secure IoT platform.

Previously, I was Co-I in SPHERE Next Steps, an EPSRC IRC on the development of sensors for the home to diagnose and help manage health and wellbeing conditions. I was Co-I for RERUM (FP7/2007-2013 grant n° 609094) on the design and implementation of a security framework for the IoT, driven by the requirements of Smart City applications. I was affiliated with the ForToo project, an ISEC 2010 action grant on the development of advanced forensic tools against Internet abuse, with focus on forensic analysis of android devices and wireless sensors.

I am a member of the CSN and DHE research groups. I am also a member of the Smart Internet Lab.

Open Source Software

I am a co-founder, steering group member and maintainer of Contiki-NG, the next generation, open source operating system for the IoT. I have contributed the code which adds support for IPv6 / 6LoWPAN multicast and I am maintaining the hardware ports for the Texas Instruments CC2538 and CC13xx/CC26xx Cortex M3-based SoCs.

I am also the inventor of Sensniff, an open source "Live Traffic Capture and Sniffer for IEEE 802.15.4 networks", and one of the collaborators with cc2538-bsl, an open source serial boot loader project.

PhD Opportunities

I am currently looking for exceptional students to undertake PhD research under my supervision. If you are interested in working on one of these topics and you meet the requirements on skills and qualifications shown below, please get in touch with me:

• Energy-Efficient Networking for Severely Constrained Wireless Embedded Devices and the IoT
• Micro-* Countermeasures for Severely Constrained Wireless Embedded Devices and the IoT
• Secure Software for Severely Constrained Wireless Embedded Devices and the IoT
• Digital Forensics for Severely Constrained Wireless Embedded Devices and the IoT

More details about all those topics in this page. I am currently not accepting MSc by Research (MScR – MRes) applications.

Fees and Funding: You will enrol on the “Electrical and Electronic Engineering PhD” programme. We charge an annual tuition fee; you can find detailed information about fees in this page. Funding is not currently available for these PhD topics, but you may be eligible to apply for a scholarship.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• You will have or be on track of obtaining a 1^st or upper 2^nd class (or overseas equivalent) undergraduate degree (BSc, BEng, MEng) or an MSc with Distinction (or overseas equivalent). Your degree will be in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Science or similar discipline from a reputable higher education institution.
• As part of this PhD research, you will be required to write extensive code using the C programming language. You will have prior experience with C, either professional or as part of your final-year / postgraduate project.
• You will be familiar with the basics of TCP/IP networking.
• You will be familiar with the basics of the Unix command line interface and shell scripting.
• Some knowledge of Python is desirable.

How To Apply: Please submit a PhD application using the University’s online application system. In the application form mention the project title/topic above and list me under “Proposed supervisor(1)”.

PhD/EngD Alumni

• Panagiotis (Panos) Andriotis
• Fahad Algahtani
• Michael Baddeley
• Pietro Carnelli
• Michael Dilmore
• Ufuk Erol
• Vijay Kumar
• Konstantinos Maraslis
• Adaranijo Peters
• Raghubir Singh
• Antonis Vafeas
• Robert Zakrzewski

My Researchers

• Hakan Erdol
• Ufuk Erol
• Yuxiang (Ethan) Huang
• Shuhao (Duke) Dong

Current PhD Students

• Ash Andrews
• Akin Eker
• Hakan Erdol
• Marios Samanis

More Links

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