BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:EventsCalendar PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York LAST-MODIFIED:20240422T053451Z TZURL:https://www.tzurl.org/zoneinfo-outlook/America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:19700308T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:19701101T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT CATEGORIES:College of Engineering,Graduate Studies,Thesis/Dissertations DESCRIPTION:Abstract: While the Internet of Things (IoT) is set to grow to 40 billion connected devices by 2030, developing an IoT product is still i ncredibly complex. The process of developing a single IoT product requires a person (or team) to have expertise spanning firmware development, hardw are development, and web development. Due to the complexity during the dev elopment process, IoT products are often single purpose, communicate using proprietary protocols to servers in unknown locations, and their function ality cannot be extended by a user after deployment. Research into creatin g frameworks that allow machine to machine (M2M) communication and simplif ied development, such as Firmata and ASIP, face limitations in efficiency, extensibility, and security. This thesis proposes ESMP, an Efficient and Secure Messaging Protocol. ESMP is designed for bi-directional M2M communi cation, where both the server and the microcontroller use a common languag e to communicate. To do this, ESMP is combining Google’s Protocol Buffer format, the MQTT protocol, and security at the transport-layer. ESMP mess ages use a “super message” design which wraps all sub-messages into a single schema to reduce the number of managed MQTT subscriptions. It compr ises a network architecture using MQTT where the embedded device shares th e same set of protocol buffer schemas with the MQTT broker. Security at th e application layer is approached using username/password authentication; unique client identification, and packet data is SSL-encrypted. Whereas re gular embedded firmware has predefined hardware behavior as part of its fi rmware, the ESMP client is a “blank slate” that receives commands from the ESMP broker. Using a RPC-like action mechanism, an ESMP client allows a ESMP broker to dynamically control its hardware. An open-source GUI too l allows users to visually construct and send protocol buffer messages to an ESMP client. An overhead evaluation of the payload showed ESMP’s prot ocol buffer schema produced the smallest payload size when compared to XML , JSON, and plain-text data encoding. The latency evaluation showed ESMP ’s RTT latency to be slower than the ASIP baseline, but with this trade- off justified because the device communicates over WiFI rather than wired Ethernet, allowing it to be deployed anywhere in the field. The viability of ESMP was proven by using ESMP to construct a real-world IoT application , a door sensor which sends its status to the ESMPbroker when it is open. Finally, the extensibility of ESMP was validated by adding new functionali ty to ESMP with minimal impact to device flash/RAM utilization. ESMP demon strates a viable solution for efficient and secure M2M communication for t he IoT. It presents a way to extend the functionality of an IoT product wi thout compromising security or data efficiency. The feasibility of this so lution has been validated by its adoption into Adafruit’s WipperSnapper firmware, an open source IoT firmware deployed on thousands of devices, en abling users to build IoT products and projects without programming.\nEven t page: https://www.umassd.edu/events/cms/electrical-engineering-ms-thesis -defense-by-brent-rubell.php\nEvent link: https://umassd.zoom.us/j/9328134 3753?pwd=UWd5TGsweFpyMC9ydWhzaWErZnlndz09 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Abstract:

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While the Int ernet of Things (IoT) is set to grow to 40 billion connected devices by 20 30\, developing an IoT product is still incredibly complex. The process of developing a single IoT product requires a person (or team) to have exper tise spanning firmware development\, hardware development\, and web develo pment. Due to the complexity during the development process\, IoT products are often single purpose\, communicate using proprietary protocols to ser vers in unknown locations\, and their functionality cannot be extended by a user after deployment. Research into creating frameworks that allow mach ine to machine (M2M) communication and simplified development\, such as Fi rmata and ASIP\, face limitations in efficiency\, extensibility\, and secu rity.

\n

This thesis proposes ESMP\, an Efficient and Secure Messagin g Protocol. ESMP is designed for bi-directional M2M communication\, where both the server and the microcontroller use a common language to communica te. To do this\, ESMP is combining Google’s Protocol Buffer format\, the MQTT protocol\, and security at the transport-layer.

\n

ESMP message s use a “super message” design which wraps all sub-messages into a sin gle schema to reduce the number of managed MQTT subscriptions. It comprise s a network architecture using MQTT where the embedded device shares the s ame set of protocol buffer schemas with the MQTT broker. Security at the a pplication layer is approached using username/password authentication\; un ique client identification\, and packet data is SSL-encrypted. Whereas reg ular embedded firmware has predefined hardware behavior as part of its fir mware\, the ESMP client is a “blank slate” that receives commands from the ESMP broker. Using a RPC-like action mechanism\, an ESMP client allow s a ESMP broker to dynamically control its hardware. An open-source GUI to ol allows users to visually construct and send protocol buffer messages to an ESMP client.

\n

An overhead evaluation of the payload showed ESMP ’s protocol buffer schema produced the smallest payload size when compar ed to XML\, JSON\, and plain-text data encoding. The latency evaluation sh owed ESMP’s RTT latency to be slower than the ASIP baseline\, but with t his trade-off justified because the device communicates over WiFI rather t han wired Ethernet\, allowing it to be deployed anywhere in the field. The viability of ESMP was proven by using ESMP to construct a real-world IoT application\, a door sensor which sends its status to the ESMP
broker when it is open. Finally\, the extensibility of ESMP was validated by add ing new functionality to ESMP with minimal impact to device flash/RAM util ization.

\n

ESMP demonstrates a viable solution for efficient and sec ure M2M communication for the IoT. It presents a way to extend the functio nality of an IoT product without compromising security or data efficiency. The feasibility of this solution has been validated by its adoption into Adafruit’s WipperSnapper firmware\, an open source IoT firmware deployed on thousands of devices\, enabling users to build IoT products and projec ts without programming.

Event page: h ttps://www.umassd.edu/events/cms/electrical-engineering-ms-thesis-defense- by-brent-rubell.php
Event link: https://umassd.zoom.us/j/ 93281343753?pwd=UWd5TGsweFpyMC9ydWhzaWErZnlndz09

DTSTAMP:20260418T055502 DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260506T115300 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260507T125200 LOCATION:Lester W. Cory COnference Room, Science and Engineering Building ( SENG), Room 213A SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-us:Electrical Engineering MS Thesis Defense by Brent Ru bell UID:1e168f4c8b4218c314e5d04226770d23@www.umassd.edu END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR