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Publicações

2025

A Risk Manager for Intrusion Tolerant Systems: Enhancing HAL 9000 With New Scoring and Data Sources

Autores
Freitas, T; Novo, C; Dutra, I; Soares, J; Correia, ME; Shariati, B; Martins, R;

Publicação
SOFTWARE-PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE

Abstract
Background Intrusion Tolerant Systems (ITS) aim to maintain system security despite adversarial presence by limiting the impact of successful attacks. Current ITS risk managers rely heavily on public databases like NVD and Exploit DB, which suffer from long delays in vulnerability evaluation, reducing system responsiveness.Objective This work extends the HAL 9000 Risk Manager to integrate additional real-time threat intelligence sources and employ machine learning techniques to automatically predict and reassess vulnerability risk scores, addressing limitations of existing solutions.Methods A custom-built scraper collects diverse cybersecurity data from multiple Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) platforms, such as NVD, CVE, AlienVault OTX, and OSV. HAL 9000 uses machine learning models for CVE score prediction, vulnerability clustering through scalable algorithms, and reassessment incorporating exploit likelihood and patch availability to dynamically evaluate system configurations.Results Integration of newly scraped data significantly enhances the risk management capabilities, enabling faster detection and mitigation of emerging vulnerabilities with improved resilience and security. Experiments show HAL 9000 provides lower risk and more resilient configurations compared to prior methods while maintaining scalability and automation.Conclusions The proposed enhancements position HAL 9000 as a next-generation autonomous Risk Manager capable of effectively incorporating diverse intelligence sources and machine learning to improve ITS security posture in dynamic threat environments. Future work includes expanding data sources, addressing misinformation risks, and real-world deployments.

2025

CRDT-Based Game State Synchronization in Peer-to-Peer VR

Autores
Dantas, A; Baquero, C;

Publicação
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 12TH WORKSHOP ON PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF CONSISTENCY FOR DISTRIBUTED DATA, PAPOC 2025

Abstract
Virtual presence demands ultra-low latency, a factor that centralized architectures, by their nature, cannot minimize. Local peer-to-peer architectures offer a compelling alternative, but also pose unique challenges in terms of network infrastructure. This paper introduces a prototype leveraging Conflict-Free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs) to enable real-time collaboration in a shared virtual environment. Using this prototype, we investigate latency, synchronization, and the challenges of decentralized coordination in dynamic non-Byzantine contexts. We aim to question prevailing assumptions about decentralized architectures and explore the practical potential of P2P in advancing virtual presence. This work challenges the constraints of mediated networks and highlights the potential of decentralized architectures to redefine collaboration and interaction in digital spaces.

2025

Multilanguage Detection of Design Pattern Instances

Autores
Andrade, H; Bispo, J; Correia, FF;

Publicação
JOURNAL OF SOFTWARE-EVOLUTION AND PROCESS

Abstract
Code comprehension is often supported by source code analysis tools that provide more abstract views over software systems, such as those detecting design patterns. These tools encompass analysis of source code and ensuing extraction of relevant information. However, the analysis of the source code is often specific to the target programming language. We propose DP-LARA, a multilanguage pattern detection tool that uses the multilanguage capability of the LARA framework to support finding pattern instances in a code base. LARA provides a virtual AST, which is common to multiple OOP programming languages, and DP-LARA then performs code analysis of detecting pattern instances on this abstract representation. We evaluate the detection performance and consistency of DP-LARA with a few software projects. Results show that a multilanguage approach does not compromise detection performance, and DP-LARA is consistent across the languages we tested it for (i.e., Java and C/C++). Moreover, by providing a virtual AST as the abstract representation, we believe to have decreased the effort of extending the tool to new programming languages and maintaining existing ones.

2025

HLS to FPGAs: Extending Software Regions Via Transformations and Offloading Functions to the CPU

Autores
Santos, T; Bispo, J; Cardoso, JMP; Hoe, JC;

Publicação
MCSoC

Abstract
On a CPU-FPGA system, C/C++ applications are typically accelerated by offloading specific code regions onto the FPGA using High-level Synthesis (HLS). Although modern FPGAs can implement increasingly large and complex designs, the size and variety of potential offloading code regions remain constrained by the limitations of HLS tools (e.g., no support for dynamic memory allocation and system calls). This paper proposes automated C/C++ source-to-source transformations that tackle these limitations in two steps. Firstly, transformations reduce the entropy of an input C/C++ application by converting it into a subset of C, e.g., by flattening arrays and structs. Secondly, additional transformations make a selected code region synthesizable, e.g., by moving dynamic memory allocations out of the region, converting them to static memory, and offloading non-synthesizable C standard library calls, such as printf(), to the CPU. We evaluate the impact of these transformations showing results obtained through Vitis HLS for four real-world examples: the disparity and texture-synthesis benchmarks from CortexSuite, which contain dynamic memory allocations and indirect pointers in their hotspots; llama2, a Large Language Model that calls printf() every time it predicts a new word; and the spam-filter benchmark from Rosetta, as a debugging showcase.

2025

A systematic review on soil moisture estimation using remote sensing data for agricultural applications

Autores
Teixeira, AC; Bakon, M; Lopes, D; Cunha, A; Sousa, JJ;

Publicação
SCIENCE OF REMOTE SENSING

Abstract
Soil moisture plays a central role in agricultural sustainability and water-resource management under climate change and increasing water scarcity. Remote-sensing technologies have transformed soil-moisture estimation by enabling large-scale, high-resolution, and continuous monitoring. Following the PRISMA framework, this systematic review analyzes 64 studies published between 2016 and 2024, selected from 379 screened articles, focusing on agricultural applications. Remote-sensing data span optical, thermal, and microwave observations from satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), with estimation approaches classified as empirical, semi-empirical, physical, or learning-based. Satellite observations dominate the literature (73% of studies), while UAVs are increasingly used for high-resolution, site-specific assessments. Multi-sensor fusion, combining optical, thermal, and microwave data, is a growing strategy to overcome the limitations of individual sensors. Active SAR systems provide weather-independent measurements with high spatial resolution, whereas optical and thermal sensors offer valuable spectral indices but are limited by cloud cover and shallow penetration depth. Learning-based methods are the most frequent approach (54% of studies), using machine and deep learning to model complex relationships between soil moisture and remote-sensing variables. Principal challenges include vegetation interference, surface roughness, and limited in-situ calibration data. Mitigation strategies involve longer-wavelength SAR (L-and P-bands), multi-sensor fusion, downscaling, and integration of auxiliary datasets (soil texture, elevation, meteorology). By synthesizing recent advances and emerging trends, this review provides practical guidance for accurate, scalable, and operational soil-moisture monitoring in precision agriculture and environmental management.

2025

Day-ahead Optimization of a Green Hydrogen Hub Using Synthetic Hydrogen Demand Data

Autores
Félix, P; Oliveira, FT; Soares, FJ;

Publicação
2025 21ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EUROPEAN ENERGY MARKET, EEM

Abstract
This paper introduces a comprehensive methodology for day-ahead planning of renewable energy systems geared toward green hydrogen and ammonia production. This approach is a forecasting algorithm that uses synthetic data, which feeds a short-term load forecasting (STLF) algorithm to predict the 24-hour hydrogen demand. This capability enables the optimization of hourly system operations, with the goal of maximizing profitability while maintaining system efficiency. The case study presented includes a renewable energy source - photovoltaic power plant (PV) - and a grid connection, which supply power to an electrolyser. Essential supporting infrastructure such as the auxiliary system of the electrolyser is incorporated into the model. Additionally, an electrochemical battery - a battery energy storage system (BESS) - is incorporated, which helps to keep a high electrolyser load factor and creates smoother operating profiles. This BESS also allows the system to contribute to the energy reserves market, enhancing its economic and operational viability.

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