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Covert Channels and Steganography: Detecting and Exploiting Uncertainty
Dr. Deepa Kundur, Texas A&M University
8:30 -9:30

Abstract: This two-part talk provides an introduction to the fields of covert channels and steganography. A covert channel is an unintended and/or unauthorized communications path that can be used to transfer data in a manner that violates one or more security policies. We review the basic characteristics of such channels highlighting classical methods that exploit uncertainty and shared resources in computer systems to establish covert links. In the second part of the talk, the problem of steganography of is introduced. Steganography is the art of hiding the existence of a message in another medium. Several defining features and applications of steganographic systems are considered. The talk concludes with a discussion of how covert channels can be exploited with the use of steganography for both system attack and advantage.

Biography: Deepa Kundur received the B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees all in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1993, 1995, and 1999, respectively, from the University of Toronto, Canada. As of January 2003, she joined the Electrical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University, College Station where she is a member of the Wireless Communications Laboratory and holds the position of Assistant Professor. Before joining Texas A&M, she was an Assistant Professor with the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. Her research interests span the areas of multimedia and sensor network security, video cryptography and digital watermarking for digital rights management, data hiding and steganography for computer forensics, and hardware implementation aspects of security algorithms. She is the recipient of numerous academic distinctions and awards, has given tutorials in the area of information security for digital rights management at ICME-2003 and Globecom-2003, and is a guest editor of the June 2004 Proceedings of the IEEE Special Issue on Enabling Security Technologies for Digital Rights Management.

Aircraft Integration of Tactical Laser Weapons
Dr. Mike I. Jones, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company
9:45 -10:45

Abstract: The inspiring and memorable fiction of Buck Rogers and Star Trek is nearing reality at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company's Fort Worth plant. Lockheed Martin engineers are busily developing the world's first fighter-based high-energy laser weapon, suitable for a variety of high-performance platforms. Integration of a solid state laser weapon is a formidable engineering challenge, involving literally every aircraft subsystem including electrical power, propulsion, thermal management, aerodynamics, flight controls, structural design, mechanical design, avionics systems, and pilot/vehicle interface, as well as extensive flight simulation development and training. Mike I. Jones is the LM Aero Technical Fellow in Electro-Optics, and will make a short presentation today on integration of high-energy laser systems on tactical fighter aircraft.

Biography: Mike I. Jones has functioned as lead optical engineer for several Lockheed aircraft programs involving large-aperture, high-resolution reconnaissance camera systems. He has performed complete on-site depot-level lens disassembly, cleaning, reassembly and realignment for these cameras. Mike has worked for three years in the flight simulation laboratory (FSL). He designed and assembled optical projection systems for flight simulator domes and designed optics for the wide angle collimating (WAC) stations now marketed by the Evans & Sutherland Co. Mike has also designed and managed construction and assembly of two FSL wide-angle raster heads-up displays (HUD’s) and a variable-focus zoom HUD for the A-12 program.

Mike originated and developed the external visual display (EVD) for the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) aircraft as well as participated in several NASP reconnaissance system studies. He developed the canopy optical deviation correction equations now utilized in all F-16 C/D aircraft to align HUD symbology to the exterior visual scene. Mike is also the principle author of OASYS, Lockheed Martin Aero’s in-house optical design program and the AIRWAVE and HEL-P codes for aero-adaptive optical analysis and high energy laser propagation, as well as over a hundred optical analysis and design programs for IR windows, aircraft transparencies, and visual/IR signature reduction.

In other work, Mike developed low-observable RF-absorbing EO turrets for internally mounted EO/IR sensors. Some of his RF-absorbing window technologies have been adopted by Lockheed Martin Electronics & Missiles and BAE- Sanders for EO system windows and have been implemented on UAV, F-22 and F-35 aircraft. He designed the focusing/re-imaging optical system for the Project LightSpeed laser manufacturing robotic head, and a similar robotic head for Sandia National Laboratories. Finally, Mike has served as the Optics I and II instructor for the LM-FW Engineering Leadership Development Program in-plant college-credit courses, and was awarded Instructor of the Year by the class of 1999-2000. He also teaches the Optical Modeling section of the EO 101 classes and completed three share sessions for LM-Aero personnel on CFD-based aero-optical analysis.

Mike's current assignments include working with directed Energy optical technology - high energy laser (HEL) systems, atmospheric propagation, flow field aero-optics, HEL beam control, electro-optical acquisition, tracking and pointing systems, applications to F-35 canopy optical deviation measurements. He also consults as needed on F-16, F-22, F-22X, F-35 and classified aircraft development programs.

Mike holds a number of patents including classified patent No. 5,174,649, "Optical Device and Method", Patent No. 6,439,751, "Method and System for Transmitting Light Through a Composite Skin", and a Patent pending for "New Method and System for Aircraft Canopy Optical Deviation Measurements". In his spare time, Mike has consulted on the low-resolution Marcario spectrographic system for the Hobby-Eberly telescope at McDonald Observatory, performed as optical designer for the solar spectrum projector (SSP) system at the new McDonald Observatory Visitor's Center, performed as optical designer for new Public Viewing Lens for 107" telescope at McDonald Observatory, and designed the Cassegrain focal reducer lens for the 36” aperture George Observatory at Brazos Bend State Park. Mike serves on the Industry Advisory Board for Texas Tech University and has served as session chair for the 33rd AIAA Plasmadynamics and Lasers Conference and was invited speaker for the AFOSR 2002 Program on Turbulence and Rotating Flows.

Quantum Ensemble Computing
Dr. Doug Matzke, Lawrence Technologies, LLC
11 :00 -12:00

Abstract: Interest in quantum computation started growing significantly since 1994 when Peter Shor showed that quantum computers could solve some problems such as factoring, faster than classical computers. This capability is possible because quantum computers represent information state differently than classical computers. This talk will present a new set of tools and concepts that can be used explore this complex yet captivating topic.

Lawrence Technologies is building a quantum computing tool set/library under Air Force contract that allows plug and play exploration of quantum computing models described as circuits. Besides the traditional quantum operations, we have designed this library to implement quantum ensembles. With this infrastructure in place, the topic of quantum ensembles can be expanded to include the unintuitive properties of Correlithm Objects. Correlithm Objects Theory is based on mathematical modeling of neural systems and has lead to numerous patents. I will discuss the Quantum ensemble and Correlithm Objects research, tools and results.

Biography: Douglas Matzke earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering from UT Dallas in May 2002 in the topic area of quantum computation. Since then he has won two SBIR contracts to build Quantum Ensemble Computing tools for the Air Force. This work is being performed at Lawrence Technologies, LLC (www.LT.com). Doug previously worked at Texas Instruments for more than 25 years. In 1992 and 1994 he was chairman of the PhysComp92 and PhysComp94 conferences. His long term interest in the limits of computation is the common tie that knits all these topic areas together. Doug has previously presented at Metrocon and other IEEE Society meetings and is a thought provoking speaker.

Model Driven Architecture – the Future of Software?
Dr. Frank Coyle, Southern Methodist University
1:30-3:00

Abstract: Model Driven Architecture (MDA) is a bold initiative by the OMG to bring the two major aspects of software development – design and code, closer together. The basic premise behind MDA, is that by adding semantic information to familiar UML models, it’s possible to build working systems without the pain and suffering of code development. At least that’s the theory.

In this presentation, we’ll explore the ideas behind MDA, tracing its roots to the early Shlaer-Mellor models. We’ll explore how the new UML 2.0 specification opens the door to new family of specification languages that support MDA notions of Platform Independent Models (PIMs) from which working systems can be generated. Along the way we’ll also make sense of the alphabet soup of acronyms associated with MDA including MOF, XMI, CWM and JMI.

Biography: Frank Coyle is on the faculty of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Southern Methodist University where he is Director of the Software Engineering Program.

Information Dissemination in Mobile and Pervasive Environments
Dr. Mohan Kumar, University of Texas at Arlington
3:15 -4:45

Abstract: Mobile and pervasive computing has the potential to dramatically change the way we use computing devices and the Internet today. Pervasive Computing applications require continual and autonomous availability of ‘what you want’ and `how you want’ type of data in a proactive, unobtrusive way. However, it is a challenge to disseminate information in such environments due to the heterogeneity, unevenness and dynamicity associated. In addition, the limitations of low resource pervasive devices (e.g., sensors, pocket PCs, mobile phones, laptops, etc.) and networks (e.g., wireless) exacerbate the situation. In this talk, we investigate effective use of such enhancing techniques as caching, prefetching, and broadcasting to make requisite information available to users. Software agents and profiling are used to ensure information availability proactively at users’ devices. Prototype systems are developed by our group at CSE@UTA through grants from the NSF and the Texas ARP funds.

Biography: Mohan Kumar is an Associate Professor in Computer Science in Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. During 1992– 2000 he served as a faculty at the Curtin University of Technology, Perth Australia, and during 1986–1992 he was a scientific officer at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He obtained his M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees from the Indian Institute of Science in 1985 and 1992, respectively, and the B.E. degree from the Bangalore University, India in 1982. He has (co-)developed laboratories for microprocessor/transputer applications, parallel processing, mobile computing and pervasive computing. He is a co-founder of the IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and served as the Program Chair in the first conference in 2003. He is the General Chair of the Second IEEE International Conference of Pervasive Computing and Communications, PerCom 2005. He is on the editorial board of The Computer Journal and has guest edited special issues of the IEEE Transactions on Computers, and The Computer Journal. Kumar has published over 100 articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings. His current research interests are in pervasive computing, wireless networks and mobility, active networks, mobile agents, and distributed computing. He is a senior member of the IEEE Computer Society.