BLE Mesh： A Practical Mesh Networking Development Framework for Public Safety Communications

Owing to advanced storage and communication capabilities today, smart devices have become the basic interface between individuals and their surrounding environment. In particular, massive devices connect to one other directly in a proximity area, thereby enabling abundant Proximity Services（Pro Se）, which can be classified into two categories： public safety communication and social discovery. However, two challenges impede the quick development and deployment of Pro Se applications. From the viewpoint of networking, no multi-hop connectivity functionality component can be directly operated on commercially off-the-shelf devices, and from the programming viewpoint, an easily reusable development framework is lacking for developers with minimal knowledge of the underlying communication technologies and connectivity. Considering these two issues, this paper makes a twofold contribution. First, a multi-hop mesh networking based on Bluetooth Low Energy（BLE） is implemented,in which a proactive routing mechanism with link-quality（i.e., received signal strength indication） assistance is designed. Second, a Pro Se development framework called BLE Mesh is designed and implemented, which can provide significant benefits for application developers, framework maintenance professionals, and end users. Rich application programming interfaces can help developers to build Pro Se apps easily and quickly. Dependency inversion principle and template method pattern allow modules in BLE Mesh to be loosely coupled and easy to maintain and update. Callback mechanism enables modules to work smoothly together and automation processes such as registration, node discovery, and messaging are employed to offer nearly zero-configuration for end users.Finally, based on the designed Pro Se development kit, a public safety communications app called Quote Send App is built to distribute emergency information in close area without Internet access. The process illustrates the easy usability of BLE Mesh to develop Pro Se apps.

Public Bicycle Operating System Based on Space-Time Security and the Internet of Things

The bad behaviors of some users and the drawbacks of public bicycles have hindered the promotion of public bicycles. The current problems include low utilization rate, uneven distribution, high loss rate and insecure lock. However, there is few feasible research in this new field. To address these issues of public bicycles, we propose a public bicycle operating system（PBOS）. PBOS involves three key technologies： 1） To acquire a dynamic password and realize bicycle self-rescue, we devise an intelligent lock that utilizes the Internet of Things（IoT） to establish Bluetooth connection with user＇s mobile phone. 2） To avoid bicycle loss and improve the security of data transmission, we design a space-time security protocol to work between bicycle＇s intelligent lock, mobile app, and server. 3） To increase the average utilization rate and distribution, we present a cooperative game model for bicycle scheduling. Finally, we evaluate the performance and validate the theoretical properties of PBOS through extensive simulations.