CAREER: Towards Trustworthy Participatory Sensing

Portland State University, Portland OR

Investigators

Abstract

Participatory sensing is a revolutionary paradigm where people sense their environment, and voluntarily share this information using pre-existing communication infrastructure. It has tremendous potential to advance knowledge in diverse fields including urban planning and intelligent transportation by enabling large-scale sensing without dedicated infrastructure. Achieving this potential hinges on encouraging sensor data sharing between users who may not trust each other. The objectives of this project are to design and implement a trustworthy participatory sensing system, encompassing algorithms for (i) certifying the integrity of published sensory content, so users can trust it, (ii) sensory content protection, so more users contribute data, and (iii) anonymous content sharing between producers and consumers. It explores a novel approach for trustworthy participatory sensing with a trusted hardware platform for each sensor, which besides the main processor, has a tamper-proof trusted hardware element that only executes code signed by a trusted third party. This recasts the integrity and privacy problems in a new way, allowing for simple, scalable and versatile solutions. Such a system can curb potential abuse, encourage user participation and thereby enable participatory sensing. Expected project results include a new system model and algorithms for trustworthy participatory sensing, an implementation on the Intel AMT platform, and system demonstration in a real-world intelligent transportation application. The results will be disseminated via open-source software, conference publications and exhibits at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. The project also consists of multi-level educational activities to promote under-represented groups in computing.