ACTIVITIES2013-2014

INTERNET OF THINGS

SECURITY

BIG DATA

E-HEALTH

SOFTWARE & SYSTEMS

CLOUD

AUTOMATION

CONTENTS

BIG DATA ANALYTICS

EXPERIENCES & QUALITY OF LIFE

NETWORKS

CLOUD COMPUTING

SECURITY & PRIVACY

MATHEMATICAL MODELING

AUTOMATION & INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

INNOVATION

ACADEMIC COLLABORATION

FACTS & FIGURES

INTRO

What is SICS? / Our Offer p.03

ICT Research More Relevant Than Ever p.04

Hospital At Home p.06

Treatment At Home For Chronically Ill Patients p.07

Stroke Rehab At Home p.08

New Spin-Off Creates The Next Generation Of Sport Applications p.10

Shared Infrastructure The Key For Smart Cities p.12

Building Cyberphysical Systems Of Aerial Drones p.14

E-HEALTH

INTERNET OF THINGS

p.52 SICS Spin-Off Companies Turn Research Into Business

p.54 A Dream Job In New York

p.56 Improving Education By Integrating Online And In-Class Learning

p.58 We Get The Best Masters Students

p.60 The KTH-SICS Collaboration In Scalable Computing Systems

p.62 Nine Doctors And A Few Professors

More Fun In The Control Room p.16

Technology For The Human Being p.18

Analyzing Streaming Data On The Fly p.20

How To Detect Suspect Behaviour At Sea p.22

Cloud Network Services In Seconds Rather Than Weeks p.24

Less Time Wasted In The Net p.26

A Breakthrough For Balanced Graph Partitioning p.28

Storlets For Safe And Secure Computation p.30

p.32 The Debate About Privacy On The Net Is Outdated: Life On The Internet Is IRL Too

p.34 Security In The Internet Of Things

p.36 Virtualization Software For Embedded Systems

p.38 Better Models For Credit Risk Valuation

p.40 Lean Planning Process

p.42 SICS Vsters Leads National Program For Process Industrial IT And Automation

p.44 Light At The End Of The Tunnel

p.46 Faster And More Realistic Tests At Scania

p.48 Internet Of Cars

p.50 High-Quality Code Generation

SICS 2013-2014

WHAT CAN SICS DO FOR YOU?

SICS Swedish ICT constantly seek partnerships in which they can turn new technology into smart innovations, giving the customer a competitive edge. The expertise found at SICS is built on a solid academic foundation that is challenged as it comes into contact with real life industrial problems. The research theories are cutting edge, but knowledge without practical application is of no interest. The customer gets solutions tailored to their needs; the researchers get real problems that make their research relevant.

The projects are run so that industry engineers and specialists work with Swedish and international academic experts, as well as SICS researchers. Problems are attacked from various angles and solutions are tested immediately in practical applications. Some projects are underway for several years, such as EU projects, while others solve more limited problems in a matter of weeks.

Collaboration can take a variety of forms. SICS primary remit is to accept direct assignments from industry to solve difficult problems, including both large research assignments and more limited initiatives within new fields of technology. In other projects, the costs are covered to some extentsometimes 100%by VINNOVA or the EU, benefiting project participants. SICS experience with integrating and operating such major projects is a huge asset in these cases.

Call us and find out what we can do for you!

SICS Swedish ICTIsafjordsgatan 22, KistaTel: +46 8 633 1500E-mail: info@sics.se

WHAT IS SICS?

SICS Swedish ICT is a research organization in the most expansive industrial sector this century: The Information Industry. Society is shifting towards an economy based on information as the resource and SICS is in the midst of this revolution, boosting the competitive strength of Swedish industry and the quality and efficiency of Swedens public sector. SICS is non-profit and carries out advanced and focused research in strategic areas of computer science, in close collaboration with Swedish and international industry and academia. The research is based on cutting-edge new technology and has a time horizon stretching beyond the companies own R&D efforts.

Focus areas at SICS are: User-Oriented Services and Products Networked Systems, Technologies and Services Cloud and Big Data Analytics Efficiency and Optimization Software and Systems Engineering

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Some people argue that the ICT revolution is over. I think it has just started - it is not even at the end of the beginning! Many signs of this are evident, from the NSA-scandal to the ongoing digitalization of almost all aspects of society. The ICT revolution will change the way we do business and will impact on the direction taken by our welfare systems and democracy.

From a technical point of view, new ICT solutions are becoming considerably more complex, and this will raise many new questions, for instance: How can security and privacy be managed when there are sensors everywhere and virtually all data is collected and analyzed? How does mobility change the way we live?

In this new era of technology, SICS research is more important than ever before for almost all sectors in society. Over the last year, for instance, many projects have advanced our knowledge in big data analytics, which is critical for developing competitive business strategies. The number of security researchers at SICS is rapidly growing and our cloud expertise is sizzling hot on the market.

E-health is one area that is attracting attention, owing largely to the growing population of elderly people, the decreasing number of beds in hospitals

and the limited funding of the public sector. Digital solutions for home care address this problem, helping health professionals to provide reliable and respectful services at a high level of privacy.

It is a challenge for SICS to stay at the academic frontline with cutting edge knowledge in critical subject areas, and at the same time keep in touch with industry to enable the development of integrated solutions for sharp applications. In recent years we have built up a strong expertise in cloud computing, big data analytics, security, sensor systems and software systems. We have increased the number of projects and impact in the areas of Internet and telecom, automation, automotive industry and e-health. Product spin offs from SICS have employed 250 people and generated more than 320 MSEK in revenue in 2012. We are proud of this impressive achievement.We have prepared for the future by recruiting talent from all over the world and strengthened our organization by spending resources on future trends.

All in all, we have had a substantial impact on Swedish industry and the public sector, and we are in good shape to continue that mission!

Christer Norstrm, CEO

ICT RESEARCH MORE RELEVANT THAN EVER

SICS 2013-2014

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HOSPITAL AT HOMEE-HEALTH

The quantify yourself trend and the habit of living partly online pave the way for more efficient and convenient care for the chronically ill and the elderly. We are in the beginning of a paradigm shift when it comes to home care and ICT development for the health area.

The eHealth area is becoming a driver of ICT development. There is a strong trend to quantify yourself with mobile apps that can track and analyze your body, mood, and most anything that can be quantified. At the same time, users are increasingly willing to share their data and communicate personal information online when they know it can be done securely. In-home social

and medical care is gradually increasing. The new generations of elderly are computer and mobile phone savvy and will have no problem using this technology for health surveillance, doctors appointments and other remote services. New technical solutions will be invaluable in supporting good care and quality of life to a fast growing population of elderly.

The changing paradigm brings with it many possibilities and some new challenges. SICS and Swedish ICT are conducting a number of projects in the area of eHealth research, two of which focus on chronically ill and stroke patients.

In October 2013 a general assembly was held with demos of results. The system solutions were demonstrated in a role-play between a doctor, a patient and a care operator.

TREATMENT AT HOME FOR CHRONICALLY ILL PATIENTS

E-HEALTH

to know that somebody is keeping an eye on him or her every day, and will take action when there is an emergency.

Thirteen challenges that have to be dealt with have been identified in the project. The challenges include: gaining acceptance of new technology by the patient and their family, accessing data from the databases and sharing it in a secure fashion, and establishing work processes for the medical professionals.

Michael Runold, chief physician at Karolinska University Hospital, is frustrated by the amount of doctors time that is currently wasted rather than being used for the benefit of patients. He believes that technology is the key to more efficient contact between caregivers and patients, and to improved administration of medical records, including the incorporation of new data that can be recorded with technology. With a well working team focused on the patient, and relevant technical support, we can give the best care and help a larger number of patients without putting more pressure on the doctors schedule he says.

New technology can help the patient in a number of ways, including: reducing social isolation, improved access to and between caregivers, and providing motivation to continue prescribed exercise programs.

In the COPD project, SICS investigated the obstacles to treating chronically ill patients at home. The project focused on patients diagnosed with COPD (KOL), an obstructive lung disease that typically worsens over time, and is characterized by chronically poor airflow. ICT technology can help provide a number of benefits to the patient, such as reducing social isolation, improved access to and between caregivers, and providing motivation to continue prescribed exercise regimes, which can help slow the development of the disease and reduce the incidence of medical emergencies.

Per Hommerberg at the Swedish Heart and Lung Association is engaged in the project and puts a strong emphasis on the quality-of-life aspect: The point is to give the best overall care. Somebody with a disease like this may have it every day for the rest of their life. The patient doesnt want to spend endless hours in the doctors office, but does want

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STROKE REHAB AT HOMEE-HEALTH

SICS is engaged in a stroke rehabilitation project led by Robotdalen at Mlardalen University. The aim of this project is to develop, together with patients and caregivers, a tool for rehabilitation at home.

Around 30,000 people in Sweden suffer from a stroke every year. Stroke is a common cause of motor impairments and related prolonged, complex disabilities. High quality rehabilitation is important for maintaining the patients function, independence, and quality of life.

This project aims to develop a prototype for a real product for future implementation among caregivers. The tool has to be useful for a large group of patients. In order to succeed in this, implementation aspects have been included from the very start of the project. Researchers have worked iteratively with patients, health care organizations, and different professionals involved in the rehabilitation process, throughout the project. Extensive work regarding user needs has resulted in a prototype for home training based on modern sensor- and communication technology. The project has developed solutions that enable the patient and staff to see each other and interact physically. The patient has a computer installed at home with video

communication and a Kinect sensor. The system enables individually designed motor training to be performed. Health professionals can demonstrate exercises and then provide immediate feedback when patients perform the exercises in real time.

One important aspect of this concept is increasing the patients motivation to exercise. Some game functionality has been added to the exercises to improve compliance in conducting exercises, which will lead to better results for the patients.

Motivation is key, says Marie Sjlinder at SICS. After all, the best training is always the training you actually do.

Partners involved in the project, together with SICS and Mlardalens University Robotdalen, include: Alkit Communications, Danderydsgeriatriken, Danderyds sjukhus, Karolinska Institutet, Landstinget Vstmanland, Microsoft , SLL Innovation, Strokefrbundet, Vsters Stad, World Stroke Organization, rebro Kommun, and rebro Lns Landsting.

The major financier, VINNOVA, believes the project has strong potential for new innovative solutions for improved care.

SICS 2013-2014

Extensive work regarding user needs has resulted in a prototype for home training based on modern sensor- and communication technology.

SICS 2013-2014

NEW SPIN-OFF CREATES THE NEXT GENERATION OF SPORT APPLICATIONS

INTERNET OF THINGS

WEMEMOVE is a new and exciting spin-off from SICS Swedish ICT and Interactive Institute Swedish ICT heading for a global sports market set to be worth 145 billion US dollars by 2015.

The sports industry is quite large in Sweden with an annual turnover of 80 billion SEK. However, compared to our interest in sports and wellbeing we export very little sport-oriented products and services.

WEMEMOVE works with motion analysis in sports and wellbeing and launches its first product mySKILAB a digital ski-coach. Behind the curtains is a dream team comprising the worlds most experienced sports researchers in biomechanics and physiology, the foremost experts in advanced mathematical modelling, together with Swedish elite skiers.

We have extremely good partners and we work with the most talented individuals in sports skiers, trainers and researchers, says Magnus Jonsson, CEO of WEMEMOVE.

WEMEMOVE was created in 2013 as a spin-off from the Internet of Sports project at SICS and Interactive Institute. The company has developed a motion classification engine that answers the questions What are you doing? and How are you doing it?. The service uses the latest technology and findings in machine learning, big data analytics, user experience and interaction design.

In mySKILAB the classification engine is used to identify the different techniques used by skiers, and generate innovative metrics that describe their performance. The machine learning algorithms classify the techniques and make it possible to quantify the movements. mySKILAB uses just one sensor, either a smart-phone or a HR-chest belt, together with the application that registers and provides information about how the skiers move. The sensor data is processed in the cloud using advanced algorithms, and sent immediately back to the skier or trainer in the form of useful, understandable information that can optimize training.

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SHARED INFRASTRUCTURE THE KEY FOR SMART CITIES

INTERNET OF THINGS

SICS Swedish ICTs assignment in the project Smart ICT for sustainable living in Stockholm Royal Seaport is to create a shared platform for all IT communication.

A SHARED INFRASTRUCTURE IS KEYTruly smart cities are built on shared infrastructures, even for ICT. Much like a road infrastructure, an ICT infrastructure should be capable of serving many different actors providing services and technology for a multitude of purposes.

There is a lot to gain from this approach. The most obvious advantage is lowered cost for development, construction, deployment, support, and eventually disposal. Note that this is true in monetary terms as well as in climate and environmental terms. Even more important is the innovation climate that the infrastructure enables, where collaboration and competition are stimulated, and barriers for new actors to offer services and technology are lowered significantly. It also allows for a much greater degree of active participation by inhabitants.

THE INTEGRATION CATALYST FOR RESIDENTIAL ICTAs part of this work SICS has built The Integration Catalyst for Residential ICT, a physical test and development environment for ICT enabled residential homes. It is designed primarily for the integration of technology and services in energy, home automation and e-health. In its first edition the facility consists of four modules that represent walls in a normal home integrated with ICT of different kinds: a window and a door with magnetic sensors, a radiator, a washing machine, a leakage sensor, remotely controlled outlets, and more.

The idea is that the integration catalyst will never be completed, but shall continue to be an active research environment for future projects within energy, home automation, and e-health. It will also be a venue where researchers from different projects can work together, and above all, a place where research and industry can meet. Already in its first version integration catalyst contains technology developed by SMEs such as Inteno and Alleato, and large companies such as Ericsson.

SICS 2013-2014

Markus Bylund and Emmanuel Frcon demonstrate the Wall to Thomas Bergendorff and Emilie Zetterstrm from the City of Stockholm.

Markus Bylund and Emmanuel Frcon demonstrate The Integration Catalyst for Residential ICT to Thomas Bergendorff and Emilie Zetterstrm from the City of Stockholm.

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Aerial drones, such as the one pictured, are formidable mobile computing platforms. Their ability to move in an almost unconstrained manner allows them to sense from, and act on, areas that cannot be reached by traditional devices. As the cost of aerial drones drops and drone technology progressively moves into the mainstream, aerial drones are expected to add to the arsenal of technology that allows Cyberphysical Systems to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds. This will enable applications that are currently unfeasible, such as pollution monitoring at altitude and autonomous last-mile deliveries, while reducing costs compared with current practices.

SICS researchers are currently investigating, for example, how to equip aerial drones with service-oriented interfaces, allowing existing business

process and web mash-ups to transparently integrate the functionality provided by aerial drones. These devices are thus perceived as mobile web services providing sensory data that can later be input to standard online services at company back-ends or in the cloud. The ability to seamlessly blend aerial drones with the existing IT practice will facilitate their large-scale adoption within industry and the public sector.

To complement these efforts, SICS is researching ways to facilitate the programming of a fleet of drones, unveiling the potential available when multiple such devices can cooperatively carry out a higher-level mission. This is achieved by means of a custom programming abstraction that gives programmers the illusion that the drone fleet can be programmed as a single device. The design hides the intricacies stemming from explicitly managing the

BUILDING CYBERPHYSICAL SYSTEMS OF AERIAL DRONES

INTERNET OF THINGS

SICS 2013-2014

In Aquileia, Italy, drones are used to obtain aerial maps of an archaeological site.

communication and coordination among drones, thus making it far easier to program them. In addition to designing and implementing the solutions above, SICS is also creating actual prototypes using commercially available drone technology. Based on a customized version of the widespread AR.Drone 2.0, SICS is applying the results of these efforts in multiple real deployments. For instance, in Aquileia (Italy) the programming systems described above are helping archaeologists at the Domus dei putti danzanti obtain aerial maps of the site. The 32,000m2 area hosts the ruins of an ancient Roman house dating back to the fourth century BC. A video is online at youtube.com/watch?v=PPDGO-jc0Is showing one of the custom AR.Drone 2.0 in action in Aquileia.

SICS is also using drone technology to localize wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Drones can be

used as mobile anchor-points to localize stationary sensor nodes that are deployed over a given area. SICS has performed experiments by connecting a small IEEE 802.15.4 radio chip to a commercially available low-cost drone. The radio was used to perform range and signal-strength measurements to a set of stationary sensor nodes. After fusing the measurements, a median position accuracy of approximately 1.5 m was measured. This is considered appropriate for a wide range of WSN applications.

Uppsala University, Colombo University and SICS are also starting a project on elephant monitoring on Sri Lanka where they expect to use drones to monitor elephants with the final goal of preventing them from entering villages and damaging crops.

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MORE FUN IN THE CONTROL ROOMEXPERIENCES & QUALITY OF LIFE

During the spring of 2013, researchers at SICS and the Mobile Life VINN Excellence Centre have built and deployed one-function tech probes in a control room at KVV in Vsters. The task was to explore ways of engaging, inspiring, and keeping control room workers on their toes in their working environment.

Control room workers typically need to be alert and engaged at all times, but long periods of inactivity and a somewhat constrained work place can sometimes pose a problem. When designing a system to improve the control room working environment, the challenge was to find designs that the workers would enjoy and welcome.

Traditional user-centric methods, which involve asking users what they want, tend to result in answers related to the present circumstances and technology already employed. Users cannot anticipate what they will want in the future. As a way around this problem, another idea took shape: To use one-function probes for inspiration.

One-function tech probes are small implemented systems with a few typical features: They only do one thing each, they will not tell you what it is they do or why they do it, and it is easy to understand how to interact with them.

The one-function probes were presented as a puzzle to solve. The aim was to inspire the control room workers to explore the uses of the probes, one by one or in different combinations.

In contrast to some ready-made systems, one-function tech probes offer various possibilities and combinations of use, and can even be used for different purposes. In fact, it is important that they are not perceived as complete systems. They may even be seen as a provocation rather than something useful and good. The researchers noted that after the control room workers had used the probes for a week, they were able to take part in the design process at a higher level to design a real working system.

The one-function tech probes were all inspired by, and meant to tap in to, the particular humour that the control room workers cultivate and appreciate about their work. One probe came out in the form of a somewhat ambiguous wall display that visualizes internal bodily data to detect stress. Another probe is in the form of an upper-arm-wristband: When the wearer flexes his or her arm, vibrators are set off, vibrating that same pressure pattern on wristbands worn by the other control room workers in the same shift. A third probe comes in the form of a set of glowing balls that the

SICS 2013-2014

control room personnel were told to place wherever they wanted. The balls glow in rhythm with the traffic of people in the vicinity.

After giving the control room workers time to figure out the probes, the researchers conducted interviews, which resulted in some interesting insights: The stress detector was like an alarm clock for me, one worker said, reminding him of his unconscious self in the moment: It is like a thing that reminds you to care for yourself. They were less keen on the wristbands whose vibrations disturbed the whole team. Furthermore, although the workers appreciated the silent shouting aspect of the wristbands, they wanted to be able to direct the vibrations. The main feedback about the glowing balls was that a far stronger expression was required to facilitate comparison and improve visibility in the sometimes very busy working environment.

The researchers are now working on a toolkit for experiences, inspired by the findings of this study. The workers themselves will be allowed to pick and

choose between a set of designed modules for input and output and modulation of data and combine them as they like into working systems allowing for various experiences they want to stage for themselves.

In the future it will not be enough for us at ABB to build usable, functioning technology; we also need to work on making the machinery exciting to work with this will be a competitive factor in the future says Magnus Larsson, Head of India Development Center at ABB in India.

Talented engineers are inevitably going to be working in control rooms, project leader Petra Sundstrm says. They enjoy solving problems and are happy to contribute to improve their working environment. We are not giving them a game that distracts them from their tasks but rather to make the control room more inspiring, and provide workers with tools they can design for themselves. It will be one of our legacies of Mobile Life: We make work places more fun and enjoyable.

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TECHNOLOGY FOR THE HUMAN BEINGEXPERIENCES & QUALITY OF LIFE

Technology is closing in on our bodies. How can it be used for better body awareness and well-being rather than merely for taming and trimming?

Technology is getting closer to our bodies: Kinect tracks your movements; accelerometers are integrated into shoes from Nike, FitBits from Philips records your movement, Polars heart rate monitors check your heart rate, Runkeeper keeps track of your jogging. This begs the question: How do we design for the actual corporeal, pulsating, living, body without reducing what is means to be human to what can be measured, trimmed and kept perfect?

Interaction design researchers at SICS and Mobile Life Vinn Excellent Centre are interested in technology that supports users in increasing their bodily awareness, learning new bodily movements, new ways of breathing, or more pleasurable and aesthetically interesting ways of using the body. They base their design on the practice of Feldenkrais. Feldenkrais exercises can help reduce pain and stress and can have more general benefits, such as teaching you about your own body and increasing your repertoire of bodily movements.

The Somaesthetics project has tested different technologies to determine how they may support such practices and increase body awareness through heat-based interaction, air-based interaction (with inflatable mattresses), pressure-based interaction, and so on. Through subtle physical encouragement with and through this technology, carefully crafted to both sense and influence users physically, users can learn new movements, be motivated by the presence of others (over the Internet) and, over time, may influence the system.

The project engages an interdisciplinary team of engineers, interaction designers, and a Feldenkrais-instructor. An open design workshop has been held with Mobile Life Centre and SICS industrial partners such as IKEA, ABB, Daytona, Telia Sonera and Karolinska Institute. As a direct result of this workshop, SICS researchers have been invited to IKEAs test apartment in Malm with the intention that this method will inspire the design of future homes. SICS and Mobile Life researchers hope that their methods will ultimately inspire more companies to think differently about designing for the body.

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ANALYZING STREAMING DATA ON THE FLY

BIG DATA ANALYTICS

SICS has a new take on Big Data Analytics: Why not move analytics to the data rather than moving data to analytics platforms? By utilizing models that compactly capture the relevant information within the data, the need to handle large volumes of data could be eliminated.

We are currently witnessing a huge growth in data volumes and number of connected devices. This development which is driven by novel technology, user behaviour and business models brings with it outstanding technical challenges relating to mobility, speed, latency, coverage, reliability, cost, and power consumption. A large portion of the research at SICS focuses on addressing these challenges.

Data is generated at such a great rate that it is impossible to store, transfer and analyze it with limited computing power, storage and bandwidth. SICS solution is to move analytics to the data rather than moving data to analytics platforms. This approach eliminates the necessity to handle large volumes of data, instead utilizing models that compactly capture the relevant information within the data. These models can then be transferred and exchanged with relative ease.

This approach can, for example, be used to integrate analytics into cellular networks in order to enable data-driven management of the networks. This technology, developed by SICS in collaboration with Ericsson and KTH, will form a basis for next-generation management solutions, and is likely to underpin future management solutions in telecom networks.

Analyzing streaming data on the fly is not only of value when managing the infrastructure within which it flows. There are also numerous external application areas that are based on streaming network data. For instance, SICS - together with other organizations, including Linkping University, Ericsson and City of Stockholm - is developing techniques for utilizing cellular network traffic data to estimate travel demand in metropolitan areas. With the broader purpose of addressing future challenges in sustainable development of the transport sector, this research illustrates how streaming data can create value well beyond the ICT infrastructure itself.

SICS 2013-2014

HOW TO DETECT SUSPECT BEHAVIOUR AT SEA

BIG DATA ANALYTICS

A new model to detect and visualize ships behaving in a strange or suspicious manner helps authorities to prevent or mitigate accidents and detect illegal activities at sea.

The three-year SADV project, which finished in 2013, was a collaboration between SICS, Saab AB, the Swedish Coast Guard, the Swedish Customs Service, the Swedish Armed Forces, and the Swedish Space Corporation. The project has significantly extended previous methods for anomaly detection within maritime surveillance, and shown that these methods can detect unusual situations.

THREE APPROACHES FOR ANOMALY DETECTIONThere are essentially three different approaches to anomaly detection, and the result of the study is a hybrid of all three:

Statistical anomaly detection, where a statistical model is built based on normal situations. Situations that are very unlikely to come from that model are considered anomalies. Rule based anomaly detection, where rules are designed to detect situations of interest. Model based (or simulator based) anomaly detection, where real observations are compared to simulated results (what would have happened in a normal situation). A difference indicates an anomaly.

MANY WAYS TO ACT ODDLYThe project has studied several different variables:

Unusual speed and direction, e.g. going the wrong direction in a fairway, behaviour that has always been considered significant Unusual movement pattern, such as too many stops or turns at sea Rendezvous at sea: Always suspicious Unusual choice of route compared to other ships Inconsistencies in the provided data, such as a ship changing Strange identity or using the same identity as another ship

Each of these behaviours requires different anomaly detectors, considering different parts of the data, and on different time scales. Some are suitably handled with statistical methods, others with rule based approaches, and some with a combination.

EXAMPLES OF RESULTSSICS has evaluated the developed methods on real maritime data from Sverige / stersjn, Skagerack, Kategatt, Nordsjn, for example:

Risk of running ashore. Saab has combined rule based detection of ships approaching shallow waters with a statistical anomaly detector for ships that deviate from the usual

SICS 2013-2014

routes of ships in the area. The detector detected actual groundings up to three minutes in advance.

Dangerous behaviour. SICS movement pattern behaviour detected a small fishing boat repeatedly stopping in the middle of a fairway, and moving irregularly in the wrong direction (apparently fishing). It is almost hit by a large freight ship that manages to steer away in the last minute.

Several ships using the same identity. The inconsistency detector of SICS found several ships using the wrong identity number. Although, in most cases, these are probably genuine mistakes, there are examples of ships in other parts of the world that have intentionally changed identity number to circumvent trading embargoes.

Meetings between ships at sea. Most meetings between ships (unless with special types of ships like coast guard, pilots, rescue, etc) are potentially interesting, indicating activities such as smuggling, for example. If fishing vessels move close to each other it may indicate trawling, which is prohibited in some areas.

HOW THE MODEL WORKSCombining the three different types of anomaly

detection in one framework is not trivial, but we have managed to design a general architecture that fits into several maritime surveillance platforms and, at the same time, is able to handle several anomaly detectors of different kinds.

The key to the architecture is to identify the information flows that are common in all surveillance platforms and for all kinds of anomaly detectors. All detectors need situation data from the platform, and they need to provide anomaly indications back, based on that data. They also need to facilitate user configuration and inspection.

The next step is to identify similarities between the different kinds of anomaly detectors. They all need to extract relevant features from the provided data; they then use their respective methods to judge those features to see if they represent an anomaly, and finally the judgment has to be transformed into an indication complete with details of what, when and why.

If the indications from one anomaly detector can be fed as an input feature to another anomaly detector, it is possible to combine rule based and statistical detectors in a more advanced ways than just having them run in parallel in the same system: Statistical detections can be referred to in a rule, or the number of times that a rule matches can be considered in a statistical detector.

Anomalies in the ship movements can help authorities spot dangerous activity at sea. In this case a ship is detected a few minutes before running ashore.

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CLOUD NETWORK SERVICES IN SECONDS RATHER THAN WEEKS

NETWORKS

Cloud computing is attracting a lot of attention for its ability to connect consumers and businesses with their remotely stored data through any device. SICS Swedish ICT is working on solutions that will make the required infrastructure transporting data from storage centres to end users significantly more flexible, enabling fast service deployment. We are talking seconds rather than weeks!

Techniques for virtualizing cloud resources significantly reduce the need for installing and managing expensive dedicated hardware, and thus contribute to increased flexibility in service deployment while keeping management costs low. Virtualization also facilitates more efficient use of resources, and creates opportunities for providers to offer new high-quality services to their customers.

Software-defined networking (SDN) is a relatively new paradigm for managing the behaviour of network infrastructures, and is an important part of the development of network virtualization. The SDN architecture separates the control plane from the data plane, meaning that the function and

behaviour of network appliances can be controlled in a logically centralized and software-centric fashion. This is in complete contrast to traditional networking technology, where the control is an integrated part of the physical network.

The fields of network virtualization and SDN complement each other and will be central to the management of the next generation of networks and cloud infrastructures.

The project UNIFY is aimed at combining virtualization and programmability into a unified framework covering the entire infrastructure from home devices to data centres. Key is SDN-based specification and control of virtual components integrating storage, compute and network resources, chained together into services that scale dynamically in real-time with the concentration of users.

Project partners in UNIFY are Ericsson Hungary, SICS Swedish ICT, Acreo Swedish ICT, EAB, DT, TI, Intel, TUB, and eight more partners.

SICS 2013-2014

WELCOME TO THE ERA OF SDN

Rebecca Steinert, expert of network virtualization and SDN.

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SICS 2013-2014

LESS TIME WASTED IN THE NETNETWORKS

What do we mean by fast broadband? So far the focus has been almost solely on delivering capacity - i.e., bits/s which to some extent has led to higher response times. This is a problem for interactive services, including most web-based services, for which service response time is equally, if not more, important.

Latency in a system is the waste of time that occurs when part of the system is waiting for another part to finish its job, for example, the time between a click on a web link and when the new page is displayed. Low latency thus means quick response. To decrease latency of communication networks and networked services, a new research team has been established by SICS Swedish ICT, Mlardalen University and Karlstad University. The research team, READY Research Environment for Advancing Low Latency Internet, has five-year funding from the Knowledge Foundation (KKS).Quick response time is central to many services that are flooding the market, such as interactive media, Internet of Things, and services delivered from the cloud.

Response time is everything, says Javier Ubillos, Product Manager for operational monitoring on Spotify. Short response times are crucial for the quality of our product. This greatly affects the customers attitude to the services.

Spotify and SICS have been cooperating on efficient media distribution for some time. SICS has

been conducting research on information-centric networks for many years. One of the results is a method for caching popular content in the networks to reduce downloading times.

Mlardalen University works closely together with ABB on real-time wireless communication in the context of industrial automation. As automation systems are becoming global, the real-time communication systems are moving to the Internet too.

New standards will be required in the future to effectively deploy time-critical applications over large geographic areas, predicts Johan kerberg, Global Research Area Coordinator at ABB Corporate Research.

An important factor for shorter response times is congestion control, i.e., controlling communication flow to avoid overload, much like car traffic at rush hour. Karlstad University contributes here with research on traffic management together with BT, Alcatel-Lucent, and others.

I am very pleased with the composition of this research team, says Bengt Ahlgren at SICS, who leads the initiative. We complement each other perfectly for addressing the challenge of reducing latency. So far, the demand for high capacity has led to a slower network when looking at the response time for individual services. Now, we have both the resources and the focus to do something about that.

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A BREAKTHROUGH FOR BALANCED GRAPH PARTITIONING

NETWORKS

Fatemeh Rahimian has invented a new way to partition graphs into a given number of clusters, such that the related information belongs to the same cluster and the number of connections between clusters is minimized. Graph partitioning for small and medium sized graphs has been done before, but Fatemeh has invented a distributed algorithm that works on very large graphs. This achievement earned her the Best Paper Award at the 7th IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems in Philadelphia in September 2013.

We inhabit a very connected world, and the ever-increasing connectivity is changing our lives in ways that we still do not fully understand. New tools and technologies have given us unprecedentedpotential to make sense of the huge interconnected datasets that exist in various fields of science, from social networks to biological networks. Relations can be mathematically described as graphs: Ones network of friends on Facebook can, for instance, be described as a graph which, when visualized, shows who ones closest friends are and who they in turn are related to. The ever-increasing size of the graphs means that they must be partitioned into smaller clusters so they can be managed more easily on multiple machines in a distributed fashion.

Fatemehs solution for this is a distributed heuristic-based algorithm that can efficiently partition big graphs into a given number of clusters of equal size or any given size.

The idea which we used to solve the problem is very intuitive. We tried to keep it as simple as possible, so that the algorithm can be easily adopted by various real world applications, says Fatemeh. Fatemehs algorithm is inherently a local search optimization enhanced with the simulated annealing technique. It starts by randomly assigning nodes to partitions. Over the course of the algorithm, nodes from different partitions negotiate with each other and exchange their partition assignments if the exchange results in a better partitioning.

With the recent advances in graph database technologies, it is anticipated that leading companies in the field will soon move a step forward and make use of graph partitioning for scaling up. Successful partitioning is an important ingredient in efficient big data analysis, and Fatemehs elegant solution has brought this issue to the attention of the community.

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Fatemeh Rahimian with her partition graph.

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SOURCINGPICTURE

STORLETS FOR SAFE AND SECURE COMPUTATION

CLOUD COMPUTING

SICS, together with a European consortium, have developed a visionary cloud storage system with generic and flexible mechanisms driven by industrial use cases. Vision Clouds two major innovations are rich metadata facilities and storlets for safe and secure computation in the storage cloud.

Vision Cloud is a visionary cloud storage system developed in a recently completed European project, by a consortium consisting of: SICS, IBM, Deutsche Welle, Rai, FT, Telefonica, Engineering, Telenor, Siemens, SAP, Messina University, ICCS, and SNIA. The industrial partners, ranging from media companies to telco to enterprise, have been using the Vision Cloud platform for a wide range of applications. Many of the partners have concrete plans for utilizing the new technology.

Vision Clouds two major innovations are rich metadata facillities and storlets for safe and secure computation in the storage cloud. Metadata is supported as an integral part of the storage system, enabling objects to be accessed according to their content and relationships. Storlets exploit the computation resources in the storage system, execute close to the accessed data, avoiding networking overhead, and keeping the data safe. The work on storlets was led by SICS.

Storlets and metadata are synergistic. Storlets are often triggered based on specific metadata fields

associated with objects. Storlets analyze objects and enrich the associated metadata. Storlets may also be triggered by access operations, transparently transcoding, filtering or transforming the data based on factors such as the rights of the user, or the particular device that the user is using.

Vision Cloud received the special award at IBC 2013 for their innovative technology for media applications. In the demonstration of media workflows Storlets were used for key frame extraction and picture analysis, transcoding, entity extraction and classification, conformance checks, as well as compression/decompression.

IBC, the International Broadcasting Convention, is the most important annual event for those engaged in the creation, management and delivery of entertainment and news content worldwide. Attracting more than 50,000attendees from more than 170 countries, IBCis both a peer-reviewed conference and anexhibition formore than1,400 suppliersof state of the art media technology.

Michael Crimp, CEO of IBC, said: What impressed the judges most about Vision Cloud is the breadth of the collaboration, from academic institutions to leading IT businesses. They worked together to deliver real, practical innovation in the media industry.

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Markus Bylund with the first edition of his book Privacy on the net.

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THE DEBATE ABOUT PRIVACY ON THE NET IS OUTDATED: LIFE ON THE INTERNET IS IRL TOO

SECURITY & PRIVACY

The discussion about surveillance and privacy on the Net suggests that life on the Internet should obey different laws to those that we agree upon in real life. SICS researcher Markus Bylund claims that a large part of our lives take place on the Internet, and we must regard the concept of privacy with that in mind.

The debate about privacy on the Net is often very polarized. One common standpoint is that privacy is of little importance; if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about. Another extreme claim is that the proliferation of IT has the potential to facilitate social control to an extent beyond our imagination. Proponents of this position stress that wherever possible digital data should be encrypted and locked up.

A more nuanced position is to accept that whilst IT poses challenges to privacy, technology offers benefits that outweigh the risks.

We have reached a point at which it is time to shift our view of the Internet to view it as an integrated part of our lives. A fundamental change has happened; we are no longer restricted to the

physical place when we shop, work, date, or spend time. We do all this in digital rooms as well.

Markus Bylund at SICS engages in public debates arguing that effective tools for handling privacy are available to IT professionals as well as policy makers. The tools include specific methods and techniques, but Bylund takes the position that privacy is rarely achieved through single silver bullet solutions. Rather, privacy can only be achieved through very active and ongoing effort. To better understand the effects of IT on privacy, in both positive and negative terms, we must adopt a new view point, conceiving of the Internet as part of our real lives but with many short cuts, endless memory, and the knowledge that it is alarmingly easy to surveille.

During 2013-2014, Bylund has co-authored a handful of op-ed articles (in Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, for instance), and participated in panels and debates, in Almedalsveckan among others. His book Privacy on the net: from limiting and diminishing perspectives to positive and creative figures (in Swedish) was published in December 2013.

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SECURITY IN THE INTERNET OF THINGSSECURITY & PRIVACY

Increasing online connectivity, which will characterize our future societies, brings with it new security challenges. A research group at SICS addresses two of these challenges: Authorization and authentication. The research is focusing on resource constrained devices that communicate with each other without direct human intervention.

LIGHTWEIGHT AUTHORIZATION AND AUTHENTICATION MECHANISMSSecurity represents one of the most important considerations in the new digitally interconnected world. One problem is that frequently connected devices have to handle requests from other previously unknown devices, which may have varying, limited access rights. These rights should be checked in a lightweight and prompt manner, to limit power consumption and avoid opening an avenue for denial of service attacks.

SICS research in this area contributes to international standardization work. Robust, widely accepted standards are required for authorization and authentication to work effectively across different vendor products. SICS and Ericsson are supporting work in this area in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), such as the working group on Constrained RESTful Environments. This group has designed a new protocol, CoAP, which is essentially HTTP adapted to resource constrained devices. SICS is developing a method of applying lightweight authorization and authentication mechanisms within this protocol.

TESTING SICS NEW AUTHORIZATION APPROACH ON AN INDUSTRIAL CONTROL SYSTEM AT ABB MALM.In our connected world there exists an urgent need for authorization and secure communication methods. While service engineers and operators have an increasing need to remotely access devices that are part of an industrial control system it is awkward and expensive to travel to an oil rig in the North Sea for instance it is vital that these devices cannot be accessed by unauthorized users.

Through a jointly supervised master thesis project, a novel authorization method developed by SICS will be implemented on an ABB System 800xA and the performance impact will be evaluated. The ABB System 800xA is widely used in process industries and critical infrastructure such as oil and gas production, chemical plants, and water treatment facilities.

The main challenge will be to minimize disturbance to production performance while providing advanced authorization capabilities down to the smallest, most constrained devices within the system.

In addition to security of the Internet of Things, the Security lab at SICS also works on infrastructure cloud security, security in virtualized systems, and secure software management on embedded systems. SICS Security lab is strategically located both in Lund and Kista close to big players in industry and academia.

SICS 2013-2014

SICS and ABB are testing novel mechanisms for securing critical infrastructure, here on an 800xA Industrial Control System.

VIRTUALIZATION SOFTWARE FOR EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

SECURITY & PRIVACY

Together, SICS and KTH are developing thin hypervisors extremely small virtualization software for resource constrained devices such as many embedded systems.

In somewhat simplified terms, virtualization adds a new software layer to the system. In a sense, this is analogous to an operating system that acts as a software layer between applications and the hardware. Like an operating system, the virtualization software can control, emulate, manipulate and restrict all access to the underlying components.

SICS researchers have been experimenting with thin hypervisors, which are extremely small virtualization software for resource constrained devices such as many embedded systems. The SICS Thin Hypervisor is capable of executing parallel instances of virtualized Linux and real-time operating systems on COTS embedded hardware.

The small size and relative simplicity of the SICS Thin Hypervisor have made it a great candidate for use as a separation kernel in safety/security

applications where high-assurance is of great importance. For this reason, SICS, in cooperation with the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), is developing a formally verified hypervisor.

Formal verification is the process of mathematically proving certain properties of some software, hardware or a combination thereof. So far the project has verified a simplified version of the hypervisor running two guests simultaneously on an ARM CPU, and has formally proven that these guests are completely isolated from each other (with the exception of approved and controlled communication channels provided by the hypervisor). To achieve this, a number of security properties for the target hardware have also been proved. Currently the researchers are working to achieve a comprehensive binary-level verification of the central security properties of a fully functional hypervisor.

The source code of SICS Thin Hypervisor is available under the GPL license at bitbucket.org/sicssec/sth.

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BeagleBoard platform for thin hypervisor development.

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At pre-filing assets of more than 600 billion USD, the Lehmann Brothers bankruptcy rates as the largest in history. Photo: David Shankbone (Creative Commons).

BETTER MODELS FOR CREDIT RISK VALUATION

MATHEMATICAL MODELING

SICS has found a very efficient solution to a classical mathematical problem, known as the first-passing time to a moving boundary for certain stochastic processes.

The problem deals with finding the probability distribution for the time these processes cross a given, time-variable boundary. The solution was found through work in neurobiophysics, but the problem has applications in many other areas, e.g. in financial mathematics, for credit risk valuation.

Credit risk in finance has caught a lot of attention since the US fourth largest investment bank Lehmann Brothers declared bankruptcy in 2008, causing a global financial shock. A major reason for this collapse was improper credit risk valuation: Lehmann had borrowed significantly in order to invest in housing-related assets, gravely underestimating their vulnerability to a downturn in that market.

Broadly speaking, there are three major classes of credit risk valuation: The traditional methods, which are based on historical data; the structural methods, which estimate risk based on total company asset value; and the reduced-form methods, which model collapse by a separate stochastic process, independent of company assets.

The structural methods are the mathematically most advanced, and are used in state-of-the-art

credit risk valuation, such as credit value adjustment (CVA). These methods describe the value of an asset V(t) by a stochastic differential equation, and compute the probability distribution for the time of a default by finding when V crosses a boundary b(t). This type of model was first introduced in 1974 by Black and Merton, the latter winning the economics prize in 1997.

Unfortunately, the crucial step of finding this first-passing time is mathematically difficult. Analogs have been studied for many years in other fields, such as in physics, for a particle in a force field crossing a barrier, or in neuroscience, for characterizing the distribution of inter-spike intervals. Until now, the fastest known solution, which was proposed by Buonocore et al. in 1987, involved Volterra integral equations. SICS recently found a quick solution to the problem, however, admitting an arbitrary piecewise differentiable boundary b.

This discovery tentatively enables a huge speedup of the cumbersome Monte Carlo simulations that are typically executed over night by large banks in order to perform stress testing and calculate credit risk exposure. It may also allow banks to reduce the regulatory capital requirements. SICS is currently investigating potential applications and soliciting partners for pilot implementations of the method.

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LEAN PLANNING PROCESSAUTOMATION & INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

SICS expertise in process modelling can be applied to any resource. One business area in which process modelling is useful is the development of lean planning, which could be applied, for example, to human resources at Ericsson, the Train Path planning process at Trafikverket and the patient flow at the breast cancer treatment clinic at the hospital in Linkping.

When Toyota launched the concept of lean production, the term referred to the production process, with a focus on keeping the stock slim and to order just in time. In the context of the planning process, lean refers to the product, and the key is to make decisions just in time.

Todays information society makes it possible to postpone decision making at all levels. Ill call you when I get there, we say, instead of agreeing on a firm meeting time. This has led to instability in the activities that still have to be planned. How then can we create a plan that is sufficiently efficient and stable? A general rule is that a dynamic world has to be met with flexibility:

Decisions should only be made once. Decisions that may be changed result in a useless plan, so decision making should be deferred until we are confident that they will be stable. General resources work better for flexibility. General resources can be planned earlier than specific resources. Focus on the flow and find an even pace for the planning process. Late decisions may create a sense of emergency and stress, so late decisions have to be balanced with a sensible work load for the planners.

SOME EXAMPLES FOLLOW:The planning of human resources at Ericsson is currently inefficient owing to a reliance on specific resources and local planning. Plans are set with individuals instead of types of personnel, and at times there may be a lack of personnel in one department and available personnel in another.

At Trafikverket, the timetable is planned in advance with great accuracy, but the underlying information is not stable and therefore much re-planning occurs. By postponing the detailed production planning, the workload could be distributed more evenly over the year, and this would simultaneously greatly increase the flexibility in the scheduling process.

At the hospital in Linkping the lead times need to be reduced. Waiting times for patients are often excessive, but by using the right scheduling principles the lead times can be reduced without requiring extra resources.

SICS has worked with lean process planning for over a decade and has developed process modeling expertise that can be applied to a range of processes. Incremental allocation (Successiv Tilldelning) for instance, is a flexible planning principle for train traffic, originated at SICS, which is being applied to the Swedish railways. Human resources are simply a different kind of resource. SICS strength is the ability to transform real world problems to mathematical models which can actually be used and analyzed.

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SICS VSTERS LEADS NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR PROCESS INDUSTRIAL IT AND AUTOMATION

AUTOMATION & INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

SICS Vsters has been assigned to host the program office for a new Strategic Innovation Area of Sweden: Process Industrial IT and Automation.

Sweden is at the forefront of research in the area of process industrial IT and automation. Swedish companies excel at developing, delivering, integrating and using automation technology. The Swedish government sees this as an opportunity to enhance the competitiveness of Sweden, and has acknowledged industrial automation as one of the new strategic innovation areas for the nation.

SICS Vsters, with its close ties to Mlardalen University and the automation industry in Mlardalen region, has been appointed host of the program office. The quarter of a billion MSEK program will encourage more, better and more efficient projects in research, development and innovation for the entire industry.

It is about time we acknowledge the importance of process automation for Swedish competitiveness, says Anders OE Johansson, program manager at SICS. The value added in the highly automated process industry is greater than in any other industry and constitutes a substantial contribution to Swedish GNP.

THREE EXAMPLES OF PROJECTS INCLUDED IN THE PROGRAM:

SAFETY FIRST! New demands for functional safety and security in the process industrial IT and automation industries.

The connectivity, autonomy and software reliance

in industrial automation systems have dramatically increased and are continuing to do so. As a result, there is a growing focus on functional safety and security to ensure that the often safety-critical systems behave as intended and are not tampered with.

The growing degree of autonomy and amount of software in these systems increases the need for predictable system functionality and intrusion security in a structured and considered way. Deficits could lead to disruptions in operations, and in a worst case scenario to serious accidents.

The project targetsthese challengesby preparing roadmaps for improved and more efficient handling of functional safety and security, together with preliminary approaches for hierarchical functional safety-certification andauthorization of industrial automation systems.

Project partners are key industries such as ABB, Boliden and Volvo CE, along with organizations with considerable expertise in this area: Mlardalen University, SafetyIntegrity, and SICS.

BUSINESS MODELSNew business models are part of the third wave of automation.

Falling prices of central components and the use of sensors and new computing models will create entirely new modes of industrial digitalization. When industrial control systems get online and big data can be analyzed in detail, the third wave of automation will have arrived. SICS, in collaboration with industry, will lead the way, adapting processes and practices into sustainable solutions. To this end,

SICS 2013-2014

new business ideas will be needed to match the technical solutions. SICS, together with industry, will examine new business models and work out how they can be included in this new paradigm.

AUTOMATION FOR CONSTRUCTION VEHICLESIntegration of construction vehicles into production will greatly improve process efficiency.

Some types of construction vehicles, especially load-bearing vehicles, are widely used in the process industry. With innovative IT-solutions and calculations, a tighter integration of construction vehicles could be realized, which would greatly improve efficiency.

Early attempts to integrate loaders into the process have been made by LKAB in the Kiruna mine, when semi-automatic loaders transport the ore. In the next stage of development, SICS will adapt the process from locally isolated systems at machine level to a system where the mobile machine is an integrated part of the overall system.

The project will propose architectures for management and remote monitoring services for systems with integrated construction vehicles. Typical uses of construction vehicles in the process industry will be identified and, based on the result, scenarios involving increased automation and integration of construction vehicles will be described.

The partners in this project include: Komatsu Forest, Boliden, LKAB, ABB, Ericsson, and Volvo CE.

Helena Jerregrd, CEO SICS Vsters.

Process Industrial IT and Automation is one of five Strategic Innovation Areas (SIO) of Sweden appointed in 2013. The objective of the SIO programs is to encourage a mobilization where industry, academia and the public sector together create conditions for sustainable solutions to global societal challenges. Responsible authorities are the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA), the Swedish Energy Agency and the Swedish Research Council Formas.

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LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNELAUTOMATION & INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

Research is essential for the continued improvement of the Swedish railway service. The collaboration program for better capacity utilization (KAJT), initiated in 2013, is well underway and beginning to deliver results.

As an outcome of the Tgplan 2015 project, radical changes will be made to the time tabling process at Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), resulting in better market opportunities for railway operators and more efficient time tables. The future Swedish train dispatching systems will also have a more efficient user environment that reduces the stress of train planners.

The ongoing research relates to all stages of traffic planning: strategic, tactic and operational. The strategic questions consider, for example, how to expand an existing infrastructure to gain maximum capacity increase, given a specific budget. The tactical questions typically relate to the design of the timetable, ensuring it is both robust and efficient. The operational aspects relate both to optimizing recovery from disturbances, and to the design of the

user environment; ensuring minimum stress and maximum work efficiency for train controllers.

All stakeholders are engaged: researchers, consultants, railway operators, infrastructure managers and maintenance entrepreneurs. This across-the-board involvement guarantees high quality and relevant solutions. The research is conducted by the program partners: SICS, Linkping University, KTH, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Uppsala University and The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI).

We have a strong research network and we really think that we can contribute to significant improvements, says Martin Joborn at SICS, who coordinates the research program.

We will see significant improvements within a few years says Peo Nordlf at Swedish Transport Administration, president of KAJT. We constantly pick up research results in the project and implement them in parallel to ongoing research.

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FASTER AND MORE REALISTIC TESTS AT SCANIA

SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

Together, SICS and Scania are developing new methods for testing trucks and buses to reduce test execution time and to improve defect detection. The key is parallel testing of the electrical systems, with the purpose of increased similarity between hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) testing and in-vehicle testing, reduced test effort, and increased defect detection.

Testing of electrical systems in modern vehicles is a challenging task. In addition to in-vehicle testing, vehicular systems are typically tested using hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) test rigs. The HiL rig testing carried out at Scania, together with the in-vehicle integration and system testing, is one of the final verification steps in the development process of the electrical system for Scania trucks and buses. In HiL rig testing, the system under test is generally divided into separate distributed functions, which are tested in isolation in a sequential manner. Although such an approach ensures that the right things are tested, it poorly mimics real-world operation conditions where many distributed functions often run in parallel.

The goal of this project is to develop methods for parallel testing of vehicular electrical systems. Parallel execution of already existing test cases can

make the testing process more efficient and, as it gets more similar to real-world operation, will also find more faults.

The main challenge in developing a method for parallelization of test cases lies in the detection and management of test case dependencies, i.e. situations where individual test scripts are interrupted or negatively affected by other test scripts that run in parallel. For example, we may want to parallelize the execution of two test cases that make different assumptions about the speed of the vehicle. Any action of the first test case to attain the required vehicle speed may thus violate the assumption of the other test case. In parallel testing, such test case dependencies are detected by means of static and dynamic analysis. Further, by utilizing modelling and model checking, test cases are parallelized in a way that ensures that no known dependencies occur in the parallelized execution.

SICS has a long tradition of working with the analysis techniques required to address the challenges in the project. Methods developed within the project will be supported by tools made by SICS, and will be experimentally evaluated in a project-wide case study at the Scania full vehicle integration testing laboratory.

SICS 2013-2014

Photo by Scania

INTERNET OF CARS SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

A computer loaded RC model car serves as a demonstration platform for Internet of Car research at SICS. The idea is to open up vehicles for apps and new services.

Building on its expertise in the field of Internet of Things, SICS is currently working on a vision of the Internet of Cars (IoC) in which interaction between vehicles provides new services to drivers. The idea is to let vehicles exchange the information that they normally collect, for example the state of the road, traffic jams, the exact time of arrival. Handled in a smart way, such information can contribute to making trips safer, more efficient and a lot more fun.

SICS believes that typical IoC federations will form and dissolve in a flexible way. Also, the types of services that such federations will offer are going to vary substantially, both geographically and in time; consequently, automotive software will need to be highly upgradable. It is also important that standard interfaces exist between the different vehicle models.

In a project initiated by SICS and Volvo, a framework is being developed for opening up vehicular computer systems to additional plug-in software. This framework builds on Autosar, the leading automotive E/E architecture standard, used in millions of cars. The goal of the project is not only to develop the concepts that would allow plug-and-play installation of apps, but also to demonstrate the concepts in a realistic Autosar environment.

For this reason, a demonstration platform is being developed at SICS, consisting of an RC model car, equipped with three small yet powerful ARM-based single-board computers, Raspberry Pis (RPis). One of the RPis plays the role of a gateway, communicating with the user and the external world. The others, being fully based on Autosar, represent typical automotive control units, used for example to steer the vehicle and handle information from the attached sensors.

Initially, the Autosar RPis only contain low level software for the access to RPi hardware and the attached sensors. Next, intelligence is added at runtime in the form of plug-ins downloaded to the gateway RPi. The plug-ins are distributed between the RPis, where they are loaded by a virtual machine and start operating using a dynamic middleware, the plug-in runtime environment, developed at SICS. In this way, original Autosar-based software is extended with new functionality, allowing information and control signals to be received and shared between vehicles.

The model car platform combines the latest theoretical Internet of Cars concepts, being developed at SICS, and provides an open-source hardware and software platform for future research on IoC infrastructure and applications. The work is aimed at reaching an even more realistic IoC level. This includes equipping the model car with more sensors, developing challenging applications, such as platooning, and transferring the technology into real-world prototype vehicles.

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Avenir Kobetski with his demonstration platform.

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Compared to LLVM, Unison consistently generates more efficient code, sometimes by as much as 40% more efficient.

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HIGH-QUALITY CODE GENERATIONSOFTWARE SYSTEMS

A research project by SICS, KTH, and Ericsson delivers code generation models and constraint solving techniques that beat state-of-the-art compilers.

Code generation is key to the quality of a compiler. State-of-the-art compilers, such as GCC and LLVM, decompose code generation into multiple tasks (instruction selection, instruction scheduling, and register allocation) and solve each task in isolation with heuristic algorithms. This approach ignores the essential interdependencies between tasks and their difficult combinatorial nature.

The Unison project pursues a radically different route to code generation using a modern and generic approach to deliver better code. In Unison, the interdependent code generation tasks are translated into a single, break-through combinatorial model. The model is solved in unison with constraint programming, a modern combinatorial optimization method.

The project targets a wide array of hardware architectures, ranging from out-of-order,

general-purpose to VLIW (very long instruction word) digital signal processors (DSPs). Recent experiments for a popular DSP platform for modern mobile platforms show that Unison generates better code than the state-of-the art. Compared to LLVM,

Unison consistently generates more efficient code, sometimes by as much as 40% more efficient. Current work includes improving robustness and reducing compilation time by applying advanced constraint solving techniques.

Unison reuses the state-of-the-art LLVM compiler infrastructure for platform-independent compilation tasks. The project plans to deliver an open-source software module that can be easily integrated into the regular LLVM tool-chain as well as accessed from other compilers.

Unison is conducted as part of SICS and KTH collaboration in Scalable Computer Systems (SCALE) and is funded by Ericsson and the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrdet).

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SICS SPIN-OFF COMPANIES TURN RESEARCH INTO BUSINESS

INNOVATION

Over the past 15 years, SICS has spun-off as many companies, some of which have had great successful as leaders in their fields. Lately, activities in this area have increased and 2013 saw no fewer than three new spin-offs: WeMeMove, Biosync Technology and Locusense.

WEMEMOVEWeMeMove develops a motion analysis engine for sports using the motion sensor in a smartphone. The first product is MySkilab, which coaches cross country skiers to help improve their performance. Using patent pending machine learning algorithms from SICS, MySkilab identifies the style of skiing, derives different key performance indicators and compares them to results from other skiers. This allows the system to make concrete recommendations for improvements.

The system has been developed together with Nationellt Vintersportcentrum and tested by the Swedish National Cross-country Skiing Team with good results. A broader launch is planned for 2014, including motion analysis applications for other sports. The company was started by Christer Norstrm, CEO of SICS and Magnus Jonsson, interaction designer at SICS sister institute: Interactive Institute.

BIOSYNC TECHNOLOGY Biosync Technology builds on the Affective Health research project - led by Professor Kia Hk - which is a system that measures movement and arousal levels through biosensors attached to the body. These measurements represent aspects of ones lifestyle over time; the system can portray situations that are stressful as well as engaging and peaceful moments in ones life. The biosensor data

is displayed in real time on the users mobile phone. It is visualized using shapes and a color scheme constructed from the energy levels that different colors contain.

Headed by Bjrn de Jounge, Biosync Technology started the commercialization process in 2013.

LOCUSENSELocusense is founded on the research of Professor Martin Nilsson in the area of indoor positioning. The patented technology is based on angle-of-arrival information between wireless sensor nodes, and distributed estimations by recursive filters. In contrast to conventional methods, no calibration is needed, convergence is quick and stability guaranteed. Locusenses initial strategy is to go to market together with strategic partners within specific application areas, such as hospitals, mines and first responders. For the market of generic indoor positioning and asset management the technology is offered by licensing to existing system vendors. The company is headed by Dr. Gran Olofsson.

GAVAGAIBased on Professor Jussi Karlgrens and Dr. Magnus Sahlgrens groundbreaking research at SICS, Gavagai has developed a proprietary technology for large scale text analysis. The technology includes automated and scalable methods for retrieving actionable insights in real-time from vast amounts of text. Gavagais technology has been verified in key application verticals including security, finance and consumer goods. In 2014, Gavagai launched Sensefish, its first commercial B2B application for media analysis.

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Gavagai was listed as one of the 14 hottest IT-companies 2014 by the business daily Dagens Industri. Previous nominations include Veckans Affrers 24 entrepreneurs to watch in Sweden 2013, Affrsvrlden & Ny Tekniks list 33 most promising innovative technology startups in Sweden 2013 and Reuters list One of Swedens hottest IT-companies 2012.

AXIOMATICSAxiomatics specializes in dynamic authorization solutions based on the XACML standard. Axiomatics products enable companies to provide more fine-grained access control to its systems at a lower cost than traditional methods, whilst maintaining robust security.

The system was born out of research by SICS-researchers Dr. Babak Sadighi and Erik Rissanen. The company maintains a leading role in the development of the XACML standard and has established itself as a supplier to a range of industries, including the financial, manufacturing, health, insurance, media, defense and governmental sectors.

In May 2013, Axiomatics secured 6.5 million USD in a funding round led by technology investment firm Monterro. The proceeds will be used to expand sales and increase the companys presence in the USA.

TELCREDTelcred originates from the same research group as Axiomatics and applies its technology to physical access control. Its target customers include utilities, telecom operators, local transit companies and other organizations with a large number of premises

to which a large number of different people need access. By using a patented combination of cryptography and NFC enabled smartphones or smartcards, Telcreds solutions greatly reduce the complexity and cost of key management and works even for sites without internet access. The company is lead by Carlo Pompili.

TACTON SYSTEMSTacton Systems is a world leader in advanced sales and product configuration. Its products make it dramatically easier to design, configure and sell complex products.

Tacton was based on a decade of research led by Dr. Klas Orsvrn in the field of knowledge based systems at SICS and is one of the first spin-offs of SICS. Having grown purely organically ever since, it has become the biggest spin-off in terms of both revenue and number of employees, and has been named a gazelle company by the Swedish business daily Dagens Industri, an honour awarded to exceptionally fast growing companies. The company is headed by Christer Wallberg. VIRTUTECHVirtutech was founded in 1998 by Peter Magnusson, the leader of SICS research team in virtualization. Its product, Simics, models computer systems and is used to start software development before hardware is available and to accelerate software development when hardware is available, by providing a stable and deterministic environment. Virtutech was acquired by Intel in 2010 and the Simics product continues to be sold by Intels subsidiary Wind River. Even after the acquisition, Stockholm remains the most important development site for the Simics product line.

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Oscar Tckstrm, at his office in New York City.

A DREAM JOB IN NEW YORKINNOVATION

Six questions to Oscar Tckstrm, former researcher at SICS, who landed a job as a Research Scientist in Googles New York City office in 2013.

What do you do at Google?My field of research is Natural Language Processing, which means that I work on methods that enable computers to better understand human languages.

How did you get this job?During my PhD studies in Computational Linguistics (at SICS and Uppsala University), I applied for an internship in Googles research group. I ended up spending three summers here and enjoyed it so much that I applied for a full time position just before defending my doctoral dissertation.

What is it that excites you most about your job?I love the cooperative atmosphere and forward thinking attitude. I have a lot of freedom in choosing what problems to work on, but at the same time I can rely on the guidance of some of the brightest people in the field and the practical needs of Googles products. As a practically oriented researcher, the prospect of having my work directly benefit millions of users worldwide is very exciting.

Did your employment at SICS prepare you well for working at Google?Definitely! In a way SICS has a similar model to Google in that you are encouraged to work on many different types of projects and to move quickly between them. This forced me to constantly learn new things, which is probably one of the most important skills when working in the industry today. Like Google, SICS also has some very talented people to learn from.

Would you recommend other young researchers to work abroad? I think every young researcher should try to do a stint abroad. This can give you new perspectives that can help you do great research. Its also a lot of fun!

What is the most prominent trend in your area of interest? What will be the next hot technology?The core algorithms and models for language understanding are rapidly improving, giving us better and deeper understanding of both written and spoken language. I would say that the next step will be new ways of leveraging world knowledge for really deep natural language understanding.

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IMPROVING EDUCATION BY INTEGRATING ONLINE AND IN-CLASS LEARNING

ACADEMIC COLLABORATION

SICS is working with university partners to develop and promote novel online education technology, to improve the quality and efficiency of higher education and of life-long learning in industry.

The Internet continues to be disruptive across all aspects of society. It has transformed communication, trade, news, and media, and is now fundamentally changing education.The most publicized example of this is the advent of MOOCs (see the adjacent box).

MOOCs have demonstrated that online education activities can take place anywhere and anytime, and be automated and scaled to very large numbers of students. The next step is bringing this innovation back into the classroom, to improve higher education for all students. Using MOOCs or MOOC-like online material as homework in courses, teachers and students can spend their valuable in-classroom time on activities such as group problem solving, which promote deeper learning and make better use of their time together in the classroom.

SICS and Uppsala University are collaborating to develop novel online support for such Flipped Classroom teaching through the Scalable Learning project. These approaches are already in use at a dozen universities in Sweden and abroad.The Scalable Learning platform provides teachers with insight into their students online learning, to connect the online and in-class learning experience, using analytics and student feedback.

SICS is expanding its online learning expertise through a close collaboration with KTH to explore flipped classroom teaching in computer science, mechanics, mathematics, and other subjects. In May, SICS and KTH brought hundreds of educators and policy makers together to discuss online learning and the future of higher education.The whole seminar is available onYoutube and has attracted thousands of viewers. (See, for example, the lecture on Flipped Classroom by David Black-Schaffer.)

To bring this revolution in education to industry, SICS has also partnered with Mlardalen University and Blekinge Institute of Technology as part of the PROMPT project, funded by the Knowledge Foundation (KK-stiftelsen).The goal of PROMPT is to develop an online Professional Masters Programme in Software Engineering, targeting life-long learners in industry.

MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses, with typical enrollments of up to 100,000+ students per course. A MOOC typically consists of video lectures, quizzes, and discussion forums. The first widely publicized MOOCs were given by Stanford in 2011. MOOCs have since generated huge interest and speculation worldwide and MOOC startups such as Coursera, EdX, and Udacity offer hundreds of courses from many of the best universities in the world, and have millions of registered students.

SICS 2013-2014

Jim with his doctoral student Salman Niazi, who is working in the Scalable Computer Systems (SCALE) Laboratory, a collaboration between SICS and KTH.

SICS 2013-2014

WE GET THE BEST MASTERS STUDENTS

ACADEMIC COLLABORATION

World-leading research attracts the very best students. That is how Jim Dowling explains the many excellent masters students at SICS. He is also convinced that the thesis projects provide an essential influx of new ideas and innovation into research at SICS.

Jim Dowling is Associate Professor at KTH ICT and senior researcher at SICS. He teaches four different courses at KTH and conducts research in two highly topical areas - cloud computing and big data. He is involved in several major research projects in these fields at both SICS and KTH.

I have received substantial funding. Its because Im working in the right areas and write so many applications, jokes Jim Dowling.

The hot areas of cloud computing and big data also attract students: Jim supervises five PhD students and currently six masters students, including three Erasmus Mundus students. There is no shortage of students keen to participate in the masters thesis projects at SICS, and he can choose the very best KTH students.

We have world-class research at SICS. We have interesting research projects in exciting areas.

Students are given the chance to grow and may be involved in start-ups. It allows us to choose the very best, says Jim.

It takes a lot of time to supervise masters thesis projects. But masters students also give a lot back - Jim is convinced that good masters thesis projects are necessary in a research environment, providing a great synergy between researchers. This is an important way to bring in new ideas and innovation into our research areas. It is often a prerequisite for the continued development of research areas, he says.

In addition to supervising his own students, he serves as an examiner for students who are supervised by researchers with no examination rights at KTH.

And the future - what is the next big hot area?

I would like to do research in Deep Learning. It is the next big area at least for me. Its an interesting combination of Big Data and Machine Learning.

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THE KTH-SICS COLLABORATION IN SCALABLE COMPUTING SYSTEMS

ACADEMIC COLLABORATION

How can computer systems scale to keep up with the ever-increasing demands on communication, connectivity and computing power? We have brought together the complementary skills of KTH and SICS to produce research in this area, which will have both academic and industrial impact.

SCALE, a collaboration between KTH and SICS, focuses on Scalable Computing Systems, and encompasses research groups on distributed systems, multicore computing, and constraint programming. Scal