Possible software bug implicated in accident

Aviation Week provides this interesting report of a potential software bug and its effects.  An Airbus A400M airlifter crashed on May 9, killing four people. Aviation Week's sources indicate that the crash may have involved new software that manages the fuel levels in the fuel tanks.

IoT Symposium Keynote

Prof. Mani Srivastava of UCLA will deliver the keynote at the IoT Symposium.  His talk will be titled "Towards a Trustworthy Pervasive Sensing Substrate for the Internet of Things."

More on Airplane Hacking

The FBI has released a notice on media claims about aircraft hacking.  You can see the document here (among other places).  Thanks very much to Nicholas Larrieu for the pointer to this document. The notice asks for assistance in identifying potential incidents and vigilance in preventing such events.  It also says:

"The FBI and TSA are currently analyzing claims in recent media reports which included statements that critical in-flight networks on commercial aircraft may be vulnerable to remote intrusion. At this time, the FBI and TSA have no information to support these claims but continue to leverage public and private sector partnerships to evaluate potential threats posed by intrusions into a commercial aircraft’s secure networks. The FBI and TSA also continuously monitor and analyze reporting on cyber and technical threats to proactively deter individuals from using remote intrusions to disrupt any portion of the aviation sector, including its business networks, critical navigation and air traffic control signals, and the onboard networks of commercial aircraft."

IoT Symposium at Embedded Systems Week

Jason Xue and I are organizing the IoT Symposium at Embedded Systems Week.  ESWeek is October 4-9 in Amsterdam; the IoT Symposium is on October 8-9.  The submission deadline for the symposium is June 29.  We hope you attend!  Even better, we hope you submit!   Here is the call for papers:

The ESWeek IoT Symposium is organized as a part of the Embedded Systems Week 2015. The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to revolutionize fields ranging from health care to manufacturing to personal living by connecting the Internet to physical things. Embedded computing and VLSI are central to the achievement of the IoT vision - advanced computation and communication must be delivered at extremely low energy levels and manufacturing costs. The IoT Symposium is devoted to research on advanced IoT systems.The IoT symposium will be a part of Embedded System week, and will provide a forum for researchers, from academia and industry, to present and discuss innovative ideas and solutions related to all facets of internet-of-things.
Topics of interest at IoT Symposium include but not limited to:
- VLSI Systems Track: ultra low energy systems, integrated sensors, 3D, platform architectures.
- Networking and Communications Track: Physical layer, protocols, network management.
- Algorithms and Infrastructures Track: Distributed and cloud computing, big data methods, heterogeneous sensors, sensor fusion, standards, design methodologies.
- Security and Privacy Track: Low-energy encryption, authentication, hardware security, privacy management.
- Applications Track: Industrial control, logistics, smart homes, smart cities, office management, smart vehicles and fleets.
- Ultra-low Energy System Track: Energy harvesting, hybrid energy systems, storage-less energy systems

DAC special session on cyber-physical systems

The Design Automation Conference is coming to the Moscone Center in San Francisco during the week of June 7.  Mohammed Al Faruque and I have organized a special session on cyber-physical systems architectures and methodologies; it will take place Wednesday, JUne 10, from 1:30 to 3 PM.  The session will feature three talks: I will give the introductory talk; Janos Sztipanovits from Vanderbilt will talk about their experience with CPS tool chains; and Rajesh Gupta will discuss models, abstractions, and architectures.  You can find the program here.

Airplane Hacking

CNN just posted this story about the ongoing saga of Chris Roberts, who has (depending on who you believe) either hacked into commercial airliners in flight or has investigated the possibility of such activities.

Cheap Thermal Imagers

A number of sites have reported on new thermal imagers that cost only a few hundred dollars: one from Seek here; another from Flir here. Not so long ago, thermal imagers cost $10K-$20K.  These new low-cost imagers will open up new categories of applications.

New 787 battery problems

CNN reports here that the FAA has issued a repetitive maintenance task directive for the Boeing 787.  This mandate was put into place after testing found that, after being continuously powered for 248 days, the 787 could lose all AC power.