Computational Modeling for Transportation Network Security
Sherif Tolba · OpenCommons - UConn (University of Connecticut) · 2011
The transportation system is among the different systems that require high levels of security.Threats that endanger security can be any external factors which may cause the system to malfunction or even fail.This work addresses two important elements having a significant effect on the security of the transportation network.The first is the dynamic interaction between an attacker targeting the network and the entity which protects it.The second is the technology used to protect the network and the assurance of its suitability and proper functionality.Modeling the interaction between the attacker and the defender is important for understanding the evolution of each side and being able to make informed decisions about the ways of defense and technology deployment.There have been several attempts to model this interaction, but including the perceptions of both participants in the model is very rare.One contribution of the proposed model is the inclusion of these perceptions and exploiting them to support technology deployment decisions.The system dynamics modeling approach is used to build the interaction model.The model takes a set of intelligence-based input variables and produces a temporal road-map for technology deployment plans taking into consideration link (road) ranks and many other important parameters such as external real-world factors.v Results show that technology deployment does not necessarily need to be implemented all at once; instead, it can be spread over an appropriate time period.They also show that the protection agency's uncertainties have big impact on the outcomes of this interaction.Finally, it was also concluded that a suitable representation of what represents a chance for the attacker is very important for producing accurate model outputs and making correct decisions.In addition to having a well studied temporal road-map for technology deployment, it is necessary to select a suitable deployment and assure the proper functionality of the deployed technology.This is what the second part of the work is concerned with.There are several technologies that can help securing the transportation network.Attention is given to Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) as they offer countless security applications.Two deployment algorithms, which can be applied to transportation networks of different scales, were developed along with a software tool that facilitates the use of these algorithms by protection agencies.vi DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my Lord, my parents, my wife, my beloved son, and the whole world.Without the help of my Lord and that of each one of the above persons,