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Joy Kuri

Publications and source records attributed to Joy Kuri.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Lagrange Index based Scheduling for Minimizing Age of Updates from Heterogeneous Sources

Modern sensing systems generate heterogeneous updates ranging from small status packets to large data objects. We study a single-hop wireless uplink network where sensors generate updates at will, each consisting of a sensor dependent number of packets. Under a strict medium-access constraint and non-preemptive (no-switching) transmissions, decision stages become action-dependent and stochastic. We formulate the problem as a restless multi-armed bandit (RMAB) with semi-Markov decision process (SMDP) dynamics and develop a Lagrange index based heuristic for minimizing weighted average AoI cost. For the weighted AoI setting, we utilize the structural properties of the heuristic to enable efficient index computation. Numerical results demonstrate consistent performance gains over existing non-preemptive scheduling policies, providing a practical solution for heterogeneous freshness-aware systems.

cs.NI

Convexity and Optimization in Deficit Round Robin Scheduling for Delay-Constrained Systems

The Deficit Round Robin (DRR) scheduler is widely used in network systems for its simplicity and fairness. However, configuring its integer-valued parameters, known as quanta, to meet stringent delay constraints remains a significant challenge. This paper addresses this issue by demonstrating the convexity of the feasible parameter set for a two-flow DRR system under delay constraints. The analysis is then extended to n-flow systems, uncovering key structural properties that guide parameter selection. Additionally, we propose an optimization method to maximize the number of packets served in a round while satisfying delay constraints. The effectiveness of this approach is validated through numerical simulations, providing a practical framework for enhancing DRR scheduling. These findings offer valuable insights into resource allocation strategies for maintaining Quality of Service (QoS) standards in network slicing environments.

cs.NI

Vertiport Terminal Scheduling and Throughput Analysis for Multiple Surface Directions

Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) vehicles are gaining traction in both the delivery drone market and passenger transportation, driving the development of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) systems. UAM seeks to alleviate road congestion in dense urban areas by leveraging urban airspace. To handle UAM traffic, vertiport terminals (vertiminals) play a critical role in supporting VTOL vehicle operations such as take-offs, landings, taxiing, passenger boarding, refueling or charging, and maintenance. Efficient scheduling algorithms are essential to manage these operations and optimize vertiminal throughput while ensuring safety protocols. Unlike fixed-wing aircraft, which rely on runways for take-off and climbing in fixed directions, VTOL vehicles can utilize multiple surface directions for climbing and approach. This flexibility necessitates specialized scheduling methods. We propose a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) formulation to holistically optimize vertiminal operations, including taxiing, climbing (or approach) using multiple directions, and turnaround at gates. The proposed MILP reduces delays by up to 50%. Additionally, we derive equations to compute upper bounds of the throughput capacity of vertiminals, considering its core elements: the TLOF pad system, taxiway system, and gate system. Our results demonstrate that the MILP achieves throughput levels consistent with the theoretical maximum derived from these equations. We also validate our framework through a case study using a well-established vertiminal topology from the literature. Our MILP can be used to find the optimal configuration of vertiminal. This dual approach, MILP and throughput analysis, allows for comprehensive capacity analysis without requiring simulations while enabling efficient scheduling through the MILP formulation.

cs.ET

Leveraging eBPF and AI for Ransomware Nose Out

In this work, we propose a two-phased approach for real-time detection and deterrence of ransomware. To achieve this, we leverage the capabilities of eBPF (Extended Berkeley Packet Filter) and artificial intelligence to develop both proactive and reactive methods. In the first phase, we utilize signature based detection, where we employ custom eBPF programs to trace the execution of new processes and perform hash-based analysis against a known ransomware dataset. In the second, we employ a behavior-based technique that focuses on monitoring the process activities using a custom eBPF program and the creation of ransom notes, a prominent indicator of ransomware activity through the use of Natural Language Processing (NLP). By leveraging low-level tracing capabilities of eBPF and integrating NLP based machine learning algorithms, our solution achieves an impressive 99.76% accuracy in identifying ransomware incidents within a few seconds on the onset of zero-day attacks.

cs.CR

Service Scheduling for Random Requests with Quadratic Waiting Costs

We study service scheduling problems in a slotted system in which agents arrive with service requests according to a Bernoulli process and have to leave within two slots after arrival, service costs are quadratic in service rates, and there are also waiting costs. We consider quadratic waiting costs. We frame the problems as average cost Markov decision processes. While the studied system is a linear system with quadratic costs, it has state dependent control. Moreover, it also possesses a non-standard cost function structure in the case of fixed waiting costs, rendering the optimization problem complex. We characterize optimal policy. We provide an explicit expression showing that the optimal policy is linear in the system state. We also consider systems in which the agents make scheduling decisions for their respective service requests keeping their own cost in view. We consider quadratic waiting costs and frame these scheduling problems as stochastic games. We provide Nash equilibria of this game. To address the issue of unknown system parameters, we propose an algorithm to estimate them. We also bound the cost difference of the actual cost incurred and the cost incurred using estimated parameters.

eess.SY

Service Scheduling for Random Requests with Fixed Waiting Costs

We study service scheduling problems in a slotted system in which agents arrive with service requests according to a Bernoulli process and have to leave within two slots after arrival, service costs are quadratic in service rates, and there are also waiting costs. We consider fixed waiting costs. We frame the problems as average cost Markov decision processes. While the studied system is a linear system with quadratic costs, it has state dependent control. Moreover, it also possesses a non-standard cost function structure in the case of fixed waiting costs, rendering the optimization problem complex. Here, we characterize optimal policy. We also consider a system in which the agents make scheduling decisions for their respective service requests keeping their own cost in view. We again consider fixed waiting costs and frame this scheduling problem as a stochastic game. Here, we provide Nash equilibrium.

eess.SY

Secure Calibration for Safety-Critical IoT: Traceability for Safety Resilience

Secure sensor calibration constitutes a foundational step that underpins operational safety in the Industrial Internet of Things. While much attention has been given to IoT security such as the use of TLS to secure sensed data, little thought has been given to securing the calibration infrastructure itself. Currently traceability is achieved via manual verification using paper-based datasheets which is both time consuming and insecure. For instance, when the calibration status of parent devices is revoked as mistakes or mischance is detected, calibrated devices are not updated until the next calibration cycle, leaving much of the calibration parameters invalid. Aside from error, any party within the calibration infrastructure can maliciously introduce errors since the current paper based system lacks authentication as well as non-repudiation. In this paper, we propose a novel resilient architecture for calibration infrastructure, where the calibration status of sensor elements can be verified on-the-fly to the root of trust preserving the properties of authentication and non-repudiation. We propose an implementation based on smart contracts on the Ethereum network. Our evaluation shows that Ethereum is likely to address the protection requirements of traceable measurements.

cs.CR

Approximate Aggregate Utility Maximization in Multi-Hop Wireless Networks using Distributed Greedy Scheduling

In this paper, we study the performance of greedy scheduling in multihop wireless networks, where the objective is aggregate utility maximization. Following standard approaches, we consider the dual of the original optimization problem. The dual can be solved optimally, only with the knowledge of the maximal independent sets in the network. But computation of maximal independent sets is known to be NP-hard. Motivated by this, we propose a distributed greedy heuristic to address the problem of link scheduling. We evaluate the effect of the distributed greedy heuristic on aggregate utility maximization in detail, for the case of an arbitrary graph. We provide some insights into the factors affecting aggregate utility maximization in a network, by providing bounds on the same. We give simulation results for the approximate aggregate utility maximization achieved under distributed implementation of the greedy heuristic and find them close to the maximum aggregate utility obtained using optimal scheduling.

cs.NI

ADWISERv2: A Plug-and-play Controller for Managing TCP Transfers in IEEE~802.11 Infrastructure WLANs with Multiple Access Points

In this paper, we present a generic plug-and-play controller that ensures fair and efficient operation of IEEE~802.11 infrastructure wireless local area networks with multiple co-channel access points, without any change to hardware/firmware of the network devices. Our controller addresses performance issues of TCP transfers in multi-AP WLANs, by overlaying a coarse time-slicing scheduler on top of a cascaded fair queuing scheduler. The time slices and queue weights, used in our controller, are obtained from the solution of a constrained utility optimization formulation. A study of the impact of coarse time-slicing on TCP is also presented in this paper. We present an improved algorithm for adaptation of the service rate of the fair queuing scheduler and provide experimental results to illustrate its efficacy. We also present the changes that need to be incorporated to the proposed approach, to handle short-lived and interactive TCP flows. Finally, we report the results of experiments performed on a real testbed, demonstrating the efficacy of our controller.

cs.NI

Incentivized Campaigning in Social Networks

Campaigners, advertisers and activists are increasingly turning to social recommendation mechanisms, provided by social media, for promoting their products, services, brands and even ideas. However, many times, such social network based campaigns perform poorly in practice because the intensity of the recommendations drastically reduces beyond a few hops from the source. A natural strategy for maintaining the intensity is to provide incentives. In this paper, we address the problem of minimizing the cost incurred by the campaigner for incentivizing a fraction of individuals in the social network, while ensuring that the campaign message reaches a given expected fraction of individuals. We also address the dual problem of maximizing the campaign penetration for a resource constrained campaigner. To help us understand and solve the above mentioned problems, we use percolation theory to formally state them as optimization problems. These problems are not amenable to traditional approaches because of a fixed point equation that needs to be solved numerically. However, we use results from reliability theory to establish some key properties of the fixed point, which in turn enables us to solve these problems using algorithms that are linearithmic in maximum node degree. Furthermore, we evaluate the efficacy of the analytical solution by performing simulations on real world networks.

cs.SI

Evaluating the Usefulness of Paratransgenesis for Malaria Control

Malaria is a serious global health problem which is especially devastating to the developing world. Mosquitoes are the carriers of the parasite responsible for the disease, and hence malaria control programs focus on controlling mosquito populations. This is done primarily through the spraying of insecticides, or through the use of insecticide treated bed nets. However, usage of these insecticides exerts massive selection pressure on mosquitoes, resulting in insecticide resistant mosquito breeds. Hence, developing alternative strategies is crucial for sustainable malaria control. Here we explore the usefulness of paratransgenesis, i.e., introducing genetically engineered bacteria which secrete anti-plasmodium molecules, inside the mosquito midgut. The bacteria enter a mosquito's midgut when it drinks from a sugar bait, i.e., a sugar solution containing the bacterium. We formulate a mathematical model for evaluating the number of such baits required for preventing an outbreak. We study scenarios where vectors and hosts mix homogeneously as well as heterogeneously. We perform a full stability analysis and calculate the basic reproductive number for both the cases. Additionally, for the heterogeneous mixing scenario, we propose a targeted bait distribution strategy. The optimal bait allocation is calculated and is found to be extremely efficient in terms of bait usage. Our analyses suggest that paratransgenesis can prevent an outbreak, and hence it offers a viable and sustainable path to malaria control.

math.DS

Cost Effective Campaigning in Social Networks

Campaigners are increasingly using online social networking platforms for promoting products, ideas and information. A popular method of promoting a product or even an idea is incentivizing individuals to evangelize the idea vigorously by providing them with referral rewards in the form of discounts, cash backs, or social recognition. Due to budget constraints on scarce resources such as money and manpower, it may not be possible to provide incentives for the entire population, and hence incentives need to be allocated judiciously to appropriate individuals for ensuring the highest possible outreach size. We aim to do the same by formulating and solving an optimization problem using percolation theory. In particular, we compute the set of individuals that are provided incentives for minimizing the expected cost while ensuring a given outreach size. We also solve the problem of computing the set of individuals to be incentivized for maximizing the outreach size for given cost budget. The optimization problem turns out to be non trivial; it involves quantities that need to be computed by numerically solving a fixed point equation. Our primary contribution is, that for a fairly general cost structure, we show that the optimization problems can be solved by solving a simple linear program. We believe that our approach of using percolation theory to formulate an optimization problem is the first of its kind.

cs.SI

Percolation on Networks with Antagonistic and Dependent Interactions

Drawing inspiration from real world interacting systems we study a system consisting of two networks that exhibit antagonistic and dependent interactions. By antagonistic and dependent interactions, we mean, that a proportion of functional nodes in a network cause failure of nodes in the other, while failure of nodes in the other results in failure of links in the first. As opposed to interdependent networks, which can exhibit first order phase transitions, we find that the phase transitions in such networks are continuous. Our analysis shows that, compared to an isolated network, the system is more robust against random attacks. Surprisingly, we observe a region in the parameter space where the giant connected components of both networks start oscillating. Furthermore, we find that for Erdos-Renyi and scale free networks the system oscillates only when the dependency and antagonism between the two networks is very high. We believe that this study can further our understanding of real world interacting systems.

physics.soc-ph

Robust Energy Harvesting Based on a Stackelberg Game

We study a Stackelberg game between a base station and a multi-antenna power beacon for wireless energy harvesting in a multiple sensor node scenario. Assuming imperfect CSI between the sensor nodes and the power beacon, we propose a utility function that is based on throughput non-outage probability at the base station. We provide an analytical solution for the equilibrium in case of a single sensor node. For the general case consisting of multiple sensor nodes, we provide upper and lower bounds on the power and price (players' strategies). We compare the bounds with solutions resulting from an exhaustive search and a relaxed semidefinite program, and find the upper bound to be tight.

cs.IT

Using Node Centrality and Optimal Control to Maximize Information Diffusion in Social Networks

We model information dissemination as a susceptible-infected epidemic process and formulate a problem to jointly optimize seeds for the epidemic and time varying resource allocation over the period of a fixed duration campaign running on a social network with a given adjacency matrix. Individuals in the network are grouped according to their centrality measure and each group is influenced by an external control function---implemented through advertisements---during the campaign duration. The aim is to maximize an objective function which is a linear combination of the reward due to the fraction of informed individuals at the deadline, and the aggregated cost of applying controls (advertising) over the campaign duration. We also study a problem variant with a fixed budget constraint. We set up the optimality system using Pontryagin's Maximum Principle from optimal control theory and solve it numerically using the forward-backward sweep technique. Our formulation allows us to compare the performance of various centrality measures (pagerank, degree, closeness and betweenness) in maximizing the spread of a message in the optimal control framework. We find that degree---a simple and local measure---performs well on the three social networks used to demonstrate results: scientific collaboration, Slashdot and Facebook. The optimal strategy targets central nodes when the resource is scarce, but non-central nodes are targeted when the resource is in abundance. Our framework is general and can be used in similar studies for other disease or information spread models---that can be modeled using a system of ordinary differential equations---for a network with a known adjacency matrix.

cs.SI

Optimal Resource Allocation Over Time and Degree Classes for Maximizing Information Dissemination in Social Networks

We study the optimal control problem of allocating campaigning resources over the campaign duration and degree classes in a social network. Information diffusion is modeled as a Susceptible-Infected epidemic and direct recruitment of susceptible nodes to the infected (informed) class is used as a strategy to accelerate the spread of information. We formulate an optimal control problem for optimizing a net reward function, a linear combination of the reward due to information spread and cost due to application of controls. The time varying resource allocation and seeds for the epidemic are jointly optimized. A problem variation includes a fixed budget constraint. We prove the existence of a solution for the optimal control problem, provide conditions for uniqueness of the solution, and prove some structural results for the controls (e.g. controls are non-increasing functions of time). The solution technique uses Pontryagin's Maximum Principle and the forward-backward sweep algorithm (and its modifications) for numerical computations. Our formulations lead to large optimality systems with up to about 200 differential equations and allow us to study the effect of network topology (Erdos-Renyi/scale-free) on the controls. Results reveal that the allocation of campaigning resources to various degree classes depends not only on the network topology but also on system parameters such as cost/abundance of resources. The optimal strategies lead to significant gains over heuristic strategies for various model parameters. Our modeling approach assumes uncorrelated network, however, we find the approach useful for real networks as well. This work is useful in product advertising, political and crowdfunding campaigns in social networks.

cs.SI

Throughput Optimal and Fast Near-Optimal Scheduling with Heterogeneously Delayed Network-State Information (Extended Version)

We consider the problem of distributed scheduling in wireless networks where heterogeneously delayed information about queue lengths and channel states of all links are available at all the transmitters. In an earlier work (by Reddy et al. in Queueing Systems, 2012), a throughput optimal scheduling policy (which we refer to henceforth as the R policy) for this setting was proposed. We study the R policy, and examine its two drawbacks -- (i) its huge computational complexity, and (ii) its non-optimal average per-packet queueing delay. We show that the R policy unnecessarily constrains itself to work with information that is more delayed than that afforded by the system. We propose a new policy that fully exploits the commonly available information, thereby greatly improving upon the computational complexity and the delay performance of the R policy. We show that our policy is throughput optimal. Our main contribution in this work is the design of two fast and near-throughput-optimal policies for this setting, whose explicit throughput and runtime performances we characterize analytically. While the R policy takes a few milliseconds to several tens of seconds to compute the schedule once (for varying number of links in the network), the running times of the proposed near-throughput-optimal algorithms range from a few microseconds to only a few hundred microseconds, and are thus suitable for practical implementation in networks with heterogeneously delayed information.

cs.NI

Robust Power Allocation and Outage Analysis for Secrecy in Independent Parallel Gaussian Channels

This letter studies parallel independent Gaussian channels with uncertain eavesdropper channel state information (CSI). Firstly, we evaluate the probability of zero secrecy rate in this system for (i) given instantaneous channel conditions and (ii) a Rayleigh fading scenario. Secondly, when non-zero secrecy is achievable in the low SNR regime, we aim to solve a robust power allocation problem which minimizes the outage probability at a target secrecy rate. We bound the outage probability and obtain a linear fractional program that takes into account the uncertainty in eavesdropper CSI while allocating power on the parallel channels. Problem structure is exploited to solve this optimization problem efficiently. We find the proposed scheme effective for uncertain eavesdropper CSI in comparison with conventional power allocation schemes.

cs.IT