Fabrizio Robol

Wireless Architectures for Heterogeneous Sensing in Smart Home Applications: Concepts and Real Implementation

Application of wireless technologies in the smart home is dealt with by pointing out advantages and limitations of available approaches for the solution of heterogeneous and coexisting problems related to the distributed monitoring of the home and the inhabitants. Some hot challenges facing the exploitation of noninvasive wireless devices for user behavior monitoring are then addressed and the application fields of smart power management and elderly people monitoring are chosen as representative cases where the estimation of user activities improves the potential of location-aware services in the smart home. The problem of user localization is considered with great care to minimize the invasiveness of the monitoring system. Wireless architectures are reviewed and discussed as flexible and transparent tools toward the paradigm of a totally automatic/autonomic environment. With respect to available state-of-the-art solutions, our proposed architecture is based also on existing wireless devices and exploits, in an opportunistic way, the characteristics of wireless signals to estimate the presence, the movements, and the behaviors of inhabitants, reducing the system complexity and costs. Selected and representative examples from real implementations are presented to give some insight on state-of-the-art solutions also envisaging possible future trends.

Sparsening Conformal Arrays Through a Versatile

Sparsening conformal arrangements is carried out through a versatile Multi-Task Bayesian Compressive Sensing (MT-BCS) strategy. The problem, formulated in a probabilistic fashion as a pattern-matching synthesis, is that of determining the sparsest excitation set (locations and weights) fitting a reference pattern subject to user-defined geometrical constraints. Results from a set of representative numerical experiments are presented to illustrate the key-features of the proposed approach as well as to assess, also through comparisons, its potentials in terms of matching accuracy, element saving, and computational costs.

BCS

In this paper, a planar multi-band antenna suitable for the integration in portable terminal systems is described. The antenna operates at UHF RFID (915 MHz) and GPS-L1 (1715 MHz) frequency bands to supply chain operations and asset tracking in supply chain management. The performance of the proposed antenna is assessed through numerical and experimental tests.

-Based Method

In this paper, a multiband antenna based on a perturbed Sierpinski Gasket fractal for distributed systems in ubiquitous wireless environments is presented. The antenna enables communication services within the 868/915 MHz ZigBee bands and in the 2.4 GHz WLAN frequencies. The geometrical characteristics of the radiator are determined to fit the electrical and radiation requirements through an optimization approach based on a particle swarm strategy. The prototype performances are assessed through numerical and experimental validations.

Design of a UHF RFID/GPS Fractal Antenna for Logistics Management

In this paper, the experimental validation of a multi-sensor wireless platform for the monitoring of museum areas is presented. The wireless sensor network technology is adopted as an hardware backbone that enables services both for museum curators and visitors. The proposed system, called E-Museum, goes towards the implementation of a more manageable, accessible, and interactive museum, through the pervasive sensing of heterogeneous quantities processed in real-time and remotely available. A first prototype of E-Museum has been deployed in “Sala dei 500”, the largest chamber of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. The preliminary results show the feasibility of the adopted solution in dealing with the monitoring of environment parameters close to artworks, and lay the foundations for the implementation of additional features of this service-oriented architecture.

Multiband fractal Zigbee/WLAN antenna for ubiquitous wireless environments

Wireless power transmission (WPT) through microwave beams represents a key technology for the long distance transfer of energy in the absence of a traditional electrical network. Its importance is demonstrated by the increasing research and industrial activities concerned with the design, manufacturing, and prototyping of efficient WPT systems. In this framework, several design methodologies are being investigated for the synthesis of transmitting antenna arrays able to maximize the power beaming efficiency of WPT systems. In this contribution, the state-of-the-art design techniques for WPT arrays are reviewed, and some of the latest advances in this field are discussed.

A WSN-based architecture for the E-Museum - the experience at “Sala dei 500” in Palazzo Vecchio (Florence)

The pervasiveness property of wireless sensor network technology makes it suitable to collect heterogeneous sensor data in the application field of precision agriculture. On the basis of the collected data, smart and adaptive irrigation strategies have been proposed to estimate the optimal water quantity needed by cultures. This paper is aimed at presenting a wireless system architecture for smart irrigation, which adaptively evaluates the irrigation time according to the environmental conditions. A selected set of experimental results are presented to show the potentialities of the system to adaptive control the irrigation procedure toward water saving and product quality optimization.

Latest advances and innovative solutions in antenna array synthesis for microwave wireless power transmission

The localization and tracking of moving targets is a challenging task in real-world applications where a centralized management and supervision of both indoor and outdoor areas is required. Within the framework of location-based services for humans/crowd/animals/vehicles, this work is aimed at discussing the so-called semantic wireless localization approach. Towards this purpose, the key-features of the proposed approach as well as some working implementations are here presented providing an overview of recent advances in the management of complex tasks and events.

Decision support for smart irrigation by means of wireless distributed sensors

A compact planar multiband antenna for 3G/4G mobile terminals is presented. The proposed design consists of a Sierpinski Gasket fractal geometry perturbed according to a Particle Swarm optimization (PSO) strategy in order to operate in advanced wireless services (AWS-1, 1710–1755MHz, 2110–2155MHz) and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX, 3300–3600MHz) bands. Numerical and experimental results assess the effectiveness of the proposed prototype in its multiband operations fitting the project constraints.

Semantic wireless localization for innovative indoor/outdoor services

Abstract—This paper presents a class of polarization-agile arrays with controlled sidelobes. The architecture is based on the interleaving of two independently polarized sub-arrays through a deterministic strategy derived from Almost Difference Sets (ADSs). The efficiency, flexibility and reliability of the proposed design technique is assessed by means of a set of numerical simulations. Moreover, selected experiments aimed at comparing the performances of the presented approach with state-of-the-art design are provided. Finally, mutual coupling effects are numerically analyzed and discussed.