What's New @ IEEE in Wireless, February 2006

4. WHEELED NETWORKS REQUIRE NEW SECURITY SOLUTIONS
Greater numbers of vehicles equipped for wireless networking present new security challenges due to the short contact times between different mobile nodes and the large size of the networks, according to researchers studying the issue. The German-funded Network on Wheels (NoW) project incorporates security considerations into network development. Researchers say those concerns include continuous system availability (a system is robust even in the presence of malicious or faulty nodes); privacy, including un-traceability of actions to a user and un-linkability of the actions of a node; and secure communication. Current work on NoW includes detecting attacks on the different parts of the system and estimating both their impact and probability, researchers say. Read more: http://www.primidi.com/2006/02/01.html

7. WIRELESS RESCUE SYSTEM TO BE TESTED IN U.S. MINES
Wireless systems that locate trapped miners and send them text messages are being tested by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), including one system which pinpoints the location of individual miners, according to researchers. One of the systems uses a transmitter worn by miners that sends out a signal unique to each individual, researchers say, while another device is a personal receiver that allows rescuers to send text messages to the miners. Both technologies operate on a network of wireless radio transmitters installed in the tunnels, and were developed by the Australian firm Mine Site Technologies. Read more: http://www.physorg.com/news10522.html

13. ENGLAND'S WINES PROJECT AGING NICELY
Four groups funded by England's Wired and Wireless Networked Systems (WINES) program -- which studies the creation of massive-scale ubiquitous and pervasive computing environments -- are examined in this month's issue of IEEE Distributed Systems Online. TIME-EACM, a collaboration between the University of London and Birkbeck College, is studying how wired and wireless systems can improve traffic flow and congestion in urban areas. BiosensorNet, comprised of several teams from Imperial College London, hopes to improve the medical industry with state of the art wireless sensors implanted in the body. Cityware, a project including the University of Bath, Imperial College London, and University College London, is studying how new integrated information systems placed in architecture will affect peoples' relationships with their environment. Finally, NEMO, comprised of departments at Lancaster University, is looking at embedding sensors in everyday objects -- called smart artifacts -- in order to enable physical entities to capture and share their "experiences." A new round of WINES funding set to be unleashed next month. Read more: the link