Special Issue on Recent Advances in Security and Privacy-Preserving Techniques of Distributed Networked Systems

Distributed networked systems (DNSs) have found widespread applications in modern critical infrastructure, such as smart grids, gas and water supply distribution systems, intelligent transportation systems and so on. Nevertheless, analysis and synthesis of DNSs are generally difficult and traditional information processing technologies may fail or be impractical to tackle several security and privacy related issues of DNSs due to their large scale, increased interconnectivity, real-time and sensitive information exchange, intimate interaction of cyber and physical components, open and unprotected network connection and communication. For example, because of the tight interplay between cyber and physical spaces, the negative impacts of malicious attacks on DNSs can be imposed on not only the cyber space but also the physical systems. A sophisticated adversary can learn sensitive local information or local operation status of spatially deployed nodes/agents in the physical space by eavesdropping transmitted and exchanged data packets over certain wireless transmission links. As a result, there is an urgent need for innovative secure and privacy-preserving techniques to adequately explore the independence and interaction of physical and communication infrastructure of DNSs such that performance analysis and control design of DNSs can be achieved with unprecedented performance and resource utilization efficiency, high reliability and resilience, desired security and privacy requirements, overcoming the limitations of traditional information processing tools.

This Special Issue aims to advance security and privacy technologies and methodologies in large-scale DNSs and further promote research activities in distributed intelligent sensing, estimation, detection, optimization and control for preserving desired security and privacy requirements. The Special Issue seeks original theory- and application-driven studies to address some emerging issues and challenges from the perspective of distributed secure and privacy-preserving information processing and their applications to areas, such as wireless robotics, wireless sensor networks, smart grids, energy internet, intelligent transportation systems and so on.

TOPICS OF INTEREST

Topics of interest include but not limited to:

Distributed attack detection, identification and isolation

Event-triggered techniques for secure estimation and control

Adaptive and learning techniques for secure estimation and control

Secure and privacy-preserving distributed information acquisition, fusion and estimation in wireless sensor networks

Secure and privacy-preserving distributed cooperative control of multi-agent systems

Applications of security and privacy-preserving techniques in wireless robotics, wireless sensor networks, smart grids, energy internet, intelligent transportation systems and so on

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All manuscripts and any supplementary material should be submitted electronically through Elsevier Editorial System (EES) at http://ees.elsevier.com/ins (http://ees.elsevier.com/ins). The authors must select as “SI: SPTDNS” when they reach the “Article Type” step in the submission process. Only original and unpublished papers will be considered. A PDF version of each submitted paper with its serial number should also be forwarded to qhan@swin.edu.au

A detailed submission guideline is available as “Guide to Authors” at: http://www.elsevier.com/journals/information-sciences/0020-0255/guide-for-authors.

IMPORTANT DATES

Manuscript Due: May 1, 2020

First Decision Date: July 1, 2020

Revision Due: August 1, 2020

Second Revision and Second Decision: September 1, 2020

Final Decision: October 1, 2020

Publication: December 2020 (planned)

GUEST EDITORS

Distinguished Professor Qing-Long Han, PhD, FIEEE, FIEAust

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Quality)
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
Email: qhan@swin.edu.au

Professor Lei Ding
Institute of Advanced Technology
Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Nanjing, 210023, P. R. China
Email: dl522@163.com

Dr. Xiaohua Ge
School of Software and Electrical Engineering
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
Email: xge@swin.edu.au