Craig Thomson
Craig Thomson

Dr Craig Thomson

Lecturer

 0131 455 4763

  C.Thomson3@napier.ac.uk

   

Biography

Craig Thomson is an early career academic at Edinburgh Napier University, having recently completed his PhD work at the same establishment. He obtained a First Class BEng(Hons) in Computer Systems and Networks from Edinburgh Napier University in 2016. In doing so, producing an Honours project examining strained interference ranges in RPL sensor networks, which was subsequently published at the ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications in Morocco.

From here Craig was awarded a PhD Studentship at Edinburgh Napier University. His PhD research focussed on the area of energy consumption in Wireless Sensor Networks, in particular at the MAC layer. This involved the utilisation of a mobile sink node with predictable mobility patterns to influence the duty cycling of static nodes in the network. Static nodes would implement a threshold of communication with the sink based on it's speed and location, with nodes only awakening when the sink is within this threshold. Thus, reducing energy consumption in static nodes and improving network efficiency overall. This work resulted in five publications including MDPI, Springer and Elsevier journals as well as two conference papers. One of which resulted in the Best Paper Award at the 2019 IEEE International Conference on Smart Internet of Things, in Tianjin, China.

Craig was awarded his PhD in February 2021 and joined Napier on a full-time basis soon after as a Lecturer in the Centre for Distributed Computing, Networking and Security within the School of Computing. His new research interests are in the areas of Machine Learning and how this may be applied to IoT environments, and sensor networks in general, in order to further improve performance and security. This as well as developing new pedagogical approaches to the use of simulation tools.

Next steps will involve PhD supervision and becoming module leader of the Practical Networks 1 module to 1st year students. Allowing Craig to share his passion for networking and security with new students to the university.

Esteem
• Reviewer for Electronics (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/electronics)
• Reviewer for ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijgi)
• Reviewer for International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Intelligent Systems (ICETIS 2021)
• Technical Programme Committee Member for 2021 9th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Cloud Computing, Services, and Engineering (IEEE Mobile Cloud)

School

Research Groups

Research Areas

Esteem

Conference Organising Activity

  • Program Committee, SIN 2021 (14th International Conference on Security of Information and Networks)

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Best Paper Award - 2021 International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Intelligent Systems (ICETIS 2021)
  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Best paper Award - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Smart Internet of Things (IEEE SmartIoT 2019)

 

Reviewing

  • Computer Networks, Elsevier
  • Smart Cities, MDPI
  • International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Intelligent Systems (ICETIS 2021)
  • 14th International Conference on Security of Information and Networks (SINCONF 2021)
  • ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
  • Electronics, MDPI

 

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Date


18 results

Time-Constrained Synchronization Protocol for Digital Twins over mMTC-enabled 6G Networks

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Cakir, L. V., Duran, K., Thomson, C. J., & Canberk, B. (2025, June)
Time-Constrained Synchronization Protocol for Digital Twins over mMTC-enabled 6G Networks. Presented at IEEE International Conference on Communications (IEEE ICC), Montreal, Canada

Predicting diverse QoS metrics in IoT: An adaptive deep learning cross-layer approach for performance balancing

Journal Article
Eljakani, Y., Boulouz, A., & Thomson, C. (2025)
Predicting diverse QoS metrics in IoT: An adaptive deep learning cross-layer approach for performance balancing. Ad hoc networks, 170, Article 103769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adhoc.2025.103769
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) present dynamic challenges in various environments, often requiring careful balance between conflicting Quality of Service (QoS) metrics to opt...

A Comparative Study of VANET Routing Protocols for Safety Applications

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Coyle, K., Thomson, C., Wadhaj, I., & Ghaleb, B. (2023, November)
A Comparative Study of VANET Routing Protocols for Safety Applications. Presented at 2023 IEEE 28th International Workshop on Computer Aided Modeling and Design of Communication Links and Networks (CAMAD), Edinburgh
The rapid advancement of vehicular communication technologies has led to the emergence of Vehicular AdHoc Networks (VANETs), which hold immense potential for improving road sa...

The Mobile Attacks Under Internet of Things Networks

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Kean, C., Ghaleb, B., Mcclelland, B., Ahmad, J., Wadhaj, I., & Thomson, C. (2022, September)
The Mobile Attacks Under Internet of Things Networks. Presented at International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Intelligent Systems, Online
Since the introduction of the Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy Networks (RPL), its security aspects have been the focus of the scientific community who reported severa...

A Testing Methodology for the Internet of Things Affordable IP Cameras

Book Chapter
Dzwigala, G., Ghaleb, B., Aldhaheri, T. A., Wadhaj, I., Thomson, C., & Al-Zidi, N. M. (2022)
A Testing Methodology for the Internet of Things Affordable IP Cameras. . Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2130-8_37
IP cameras are becoming a cheaper and more convenient option for a lot of households, whether it being for outdoor, indoor security, or as baby or pet monitors. Their security...

Min-max Training: Adversarially Robust Learning Models for Network Intrusion Detection Systems

Conference Proceeding
Grierson, S., Thomson, C., Papadopoulos, P., & Buchanan, B. (2022)
Min-max Training: Adversarially Robust Learning Models for Network Intrusion Detection Systems. In 2021 14th International Conference on Security of Information and Networks (SIN). https://doi.org/10.1109/sin54109.2021.9699157
Intrusion detection systems are integral to the security of networked systems for detecting malicious or anomalous network traffic. As traditional approaches are becoming less...

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in Oil and Gas Industry: Applications, Requirements and Existing Solutions

Conference Proceeding
Wadhaj, I., Ghaleb, B., & Thomson, C. (2021)
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in Oil and Gas Industry: Applications, Requirements and Existing Solutions. In Proceedings of International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Intelligent Systems ICETIS 2021: Volume 2 (547-563). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85990-9_44
Effective measurement and monitoring of certain parameters (temperature, pressure, flow etc.) is crucial for the safety and optimization of processes in the Oil and Gas Indust...

An RPL based Optimal Sensors placement in Pipeline Monitoring WSNs

Conference Proceeding
Wadhaj, I., Thomson, C., & Ghaleb, B. (2021)
An RPL based Optimal Sensors placement in Pipeline Monitoring WSNs. In Proceedings of International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Intelligent Systems: ICETIS 2021 (533-546). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85990-9_43
Compared to an ordinary sensor network, Linear Sensor Networks (LSNs) has many applications in a number of areas such as surveillance and monitoring of international boundarie...

Efficient algorithms for MAC layer duty cycling and frame delivery in wireless sensor network

Thesis
Thomson, C. J. Efficient algorithms for MAC layer duty cycling and frame delivery in wireless sensor network. (Thesis)
Edinburgh Napier University. Retrieved from http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2850793
In Wireless Sensor Networks, with small, limited capacity devices now more prevalent, the issue of Neighbour Discovery has shifted. These devices utilise duty cycling methods ...

A Mobility Aware Duty Cycling and Preambling Solution for Wireless Sensor Network with Mobile Sink Node

Journal Article
Thomson, C., Wadhaj, I., Tan, Z., & Al-Dubai, A. (2021)
A Mobility Aware Duty Cycling and Preambling Solution for Wireless Sensor Network with Mobile Sink Node. Wireless Networks, 27(5), 3423-3439. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-021-02580-8
Utilising the mobilisation of a sink node in a wireless sensor network to combat the energy hole, or hotspot issue, is well referenced. However, another issue , that of energy...

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