“We plan to develop a game theoretic model and study the affect of such selfish behavior on different network functionalities such as routing, service availability etc,” said Vivek Srivastava, an ARI graduate student in electrical engineering who is working on the game theory project.

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) 

An Indian professor will speak about the first Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) laboratory in India. 

Prof. Mini S. Thomas, IEEE Delhi Section Secretary, will present a lecture concerning her work in the creation of a SCADA laboratory located in New Delhi, India. 

The presentation will take place at the Alexandria Research Institute (ARI), Thursday, June 24, 2004 beginning at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments will precede the presentation at 5:30 p.m. 

The first of its kind in India, Thomas designed, created and implemented the SCADA laboratory at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) New Delhi, India. 

SCADA, a category of software application program for process control, works to gather data in real time from remote locations to control equipment and conditions. 
SCADA is used in power plants as well as in oil and gas refining, telecommunications, transportation, and water and waste control. 

The system includes hardware and software components. The hardware gathers and feeds data into a computer that has SCADA software installed. The computer then processes this data and presents it in a timely manner. 

SCADA also records and logs all events into a file stored on a hard disk or sends them to a printer. SCADA warns when conditions become hazardous by sounding alarms. 

Thomas’s SCADA laboratory is used primarily for research and training programs for the benefit of faculty, students and practicing engineers in order to give hands-on experience on SCADA systems. The laboratory has been created to utilize the unlimited research and job-oriented training potential of the automation sector.

For more information, please Monica Mallini-Rourke a mmallini@vt.edu     

Using Game Theory in Ad Hoc Networks

Researchers at the Alexandria Research Institute (ARI) are working to understand how game theory may be used to analyze and solve issues in an ad-hoc, or impromptu, network.

Game theory is the study of a multi-person decision dilemma in which, each agent's, or player's, actions influence payoffs—or rewards—of other agents or players. ARI researchers are using game theory to solve problems related to radio resource management in an ad hoc network.

In an ad hoc network, each node—usually a mobile computer device or sensor—is an independent decision-making entity. As programmed, a node acts as a router sending information to another node in the network, or it may be a selfish node and not relay any information. 

“Selfish nodes perform actions that benefit themselves. They don’t think about the welfare of the network as a whole, they are concerned with preserving their own resources,” said Vivek Srivastava, a Virginia Tech graduate student in computer engineering who is working on the project.

“We plan to develop a game theoretic model and study the affect of such selfish behavior on different network functionalities such as routing, service availability etc,” Srivastava continued.

The project researchers are working to understand the characteristics and affects of selfish nodes in an environment that is not centrally controlled. The project’s ultimate objective is to robustify existing ad hoc networking protocols against selfish node behavior.

The project, which is funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), is associated with the Mobile and Portable Radio Research Group (MPRG). MPRG is a Virginia Tech wireless communications group.

The project’s principal investigator is Jeffrey Reed, professor of electrical engineering at Virginia Tech. Co-investigators include Virginia Tech professors Luiz DaSilva, assistant professor of electrical engineering, Allen MacKenzie, assistant professor of electrical engineering and Robert Giles, associate professor of economics.

For more information, please visit  http://www.mprg.org/people/gametheory/index.shtml  or contact Luiz DaSilva or Vivek Srivastava.

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