NeTS: Medium: Collaborative Research: A Comprehensive Approach for Data Quality and Provenance in Sensor Networks

University Of Texas At Dallas, Richardson TX

Investigators

Abstract

Sensor networks enable real-time gathering of large amounts of data that can be mined and analyzed for taking critical actions. As such, sensor networks are a key component of decision-making infrastructures. A critical issue in this context is the trustworthiness of the data being collected. Data integrity and quality decide the trustworthiness of data. Data integrity can be undermined not only because of errors by users, measurement devices and applications, but also because of malicious subjects who may inject inaccurate data with the goal of deceiving the data users. A fundamental tradeoff exists between data quality and the cost to gather and protect this data, e.g., in terms of sensor node energy. This project focuses on a multi-faceted solution to the problem of assessing integrity of data streams in sensor networks, taking into account cost and energy constraints. Key elements of the solution are: (a) a cyclic framework supporting the assessment of sensor data trustworthiness based on provenance, and sensor trustworthiness based on data that sensors provide; (b) strategies for continuously updating trust scores of sensor data and nodes; (c) a game-theoretic model to analyze and mitigate the risks due to active adversaries that try to undermine data integrity; (d) protocols for sensor network sleep/wake scheduling and routing that balance the data quality and energy efficiency tradeoff. The project also includes the development of tools for assessing data trustworthiness, and experimental evaluation of the system performance. The research has impact on healthcare, homeland security, and applications in several other domains.