François Philipp

Design of an autonomous platform for distributed sensing-actuating systems

A platform for the prototyping of distributed sensing and actuating applications is presented in this paper. By combining a low power FPGA and a System-on-Chip specialized in low power wireless communication, we enabled the development of a large range of smart wireless networks and control systems. Thanks to multiple customization possibilities, the platform can be adapted to specific applications while providing high performance and consuming little energy. We present our approach to design the platform and two application examples showing how it was used in practice in the frame of a research project for adaptronics.

Mechanisms and Architecture for the Dynamic Reconfiguration of an Advanced Wireless Sensor Node

A dynamically reconfigurable architecture tailored for low power wireless sensor networks is introduced in this work. Using resource sharing and frequent reconfiguration, the power consumption of the hardware is kept low while data processing is still efficient. Remote reconfiguration becomes also possible with very low overhead.

Adaptive wireless sensor networks powered by hybrid energy harvesting for environmental monitoring

Due to the cost-effective nature and deployment flexibility of wireless sensor network (WSN), it has been extensively used in many real world applications. Sensor nodes are relatively inexpensive and capable of data processing and wireless communication with some level of intelligence, they play a key role in real world applications. Precision irrigation in agriculture is a key application of wireless sensor network. Typically, a sensor node is powered by its on-board battery source. This limitation fully or partially contributes to causing many problems in the network such as the loss of connectivity of a sensor node known as orphaned-node. Moreover, available number of sensor types in a sensor node is typically limited and it requires a significant modification in hardware and software interfaces to extend the number of sensor types. In this paper, we propose an adaptive sensor node system combining a flexible hardware prototype and innovative energy harvesting techniques to optimise the performance of the network operating in a large farming environment.

A Multi-level Reconfigurable Architecture for a Wireless Sensor Node Coprocessing Unit

An architecture for a dynamically reconfigurable co processing unit for a wireless sensor node is presented in this paper. The hardware accelerator is tailored for the processing of sensor data streams that cannot be efficiently handled by low-power micro controllers. High energy-efficiency is obtained by using reconfigurable computing mechanisms. The details of the architecture including multiple, specialized, reconfigurable processing stages are introduced. For a fast and efficient dynamic reconfiguration, the size of the reconfiguration data is minimized by using multiple reconfiguration levels. Reconfigurable function units are reused for the implementation of different algorithms sharing arithmetical properties. Thus, only a few resources are required for reconfiguration, limiting the power consumption of the node while its computation performance is increased with application-specific accelerators. An application example illustrates the utilization of the processing unit for the acquisition of accelerometer data.

Embedded systems design for smart system integration

Summary form only given. Smart or intelligent system is a new technology term that will be found in many applications in our daily life and industries in the future for examples in energy management, medical applications and healthcare management, industrial automation and automotive. Based on its technological term, smart systems should have capabilities to solve very complex problems, including taking over human cognitive functions. Due to the exponential increase of world energy demand, in which between 2010 and 2030 is estimated to be 45%, energy management will be one of the most urgent topics of the century and a significant driver for the evolution of semiconductors and electronics products. The important issues in the energy management are efficiency and reliability. Those requirements initiate the movement of power technology trend from traditional into smart grids concept. Cybersecurity and control systems for instance will be important topics for future smart grid systems. In medical applications and healthcare management, smart products are mainly dedicated to improve the quality of health treatments and rehabilitations. The key components of the products are sensors (biomedical sensors). They should be miniaturized, which is enabled by using Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) technology, in order to minimize the physical effect on the biologic system. The key factor of the smart systems is new inventions in the fields of nanotechnology, advanced materials, biotechnology, photonic technology and nanoelectronics. The innovation of efficient computing algorithms should be a challenging issue to implement the nanoelectronic products. The integration of the nanoelectronic products into smart systems should consider both arts and cost aspect. Therefore, the miniaturization of smart products, which is affected by efficient computing algorithms and nano-scale technologies, will be an interesting feature for end-users on market.

(GECO) 2 : A graphical tool for the generation of configuration bitstreams for a smart sensor interface based on a Coarse-Grained Dynamically Reconfigurable Architecture

An intuitive tool for the elaboration of configuration data for a Coarse-Grained Dynamically Reconfigurable Architecture (CGDRA) is presented in this paper. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) allows developers who are not familiar with the design or with dynamic reconfiguration, a quick elaboration of an algorithm implementation with the help of function blocksets. The generated configuration data is then uploadable in the core at runtime and can be remotely activated in order to execute the desired functionality. The interface also allows a rapid selection and arrangement of the elements composing the smart sensor interface and an adaptation of the design to a large range of applications. The system architecture is particularly suitable for resource-constrained embedded systems like Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) where it can be used for energy and time-efficient data processing or on-demand hardware acceleration.

A smart wireless sensor for the diagnosis of broken bars in induction motors

This paper presents a solution for the low-cost implementation of diagnosis techniques for induction motors using networked intelligent wireless sensors. Based on computation “at the edge”, the proposed approach is particularly suitable for large networks. The analysis of the stator current spectrum of a broken rotor bar is presented as study case. The suitability and the implementation efficiency of the Zoom-FFT algorithm on the smart wireless sensor based on reconfigurable hardware is demonstrated.

High-level abstraction for teaching smart systems design with modular hardware

This paper discusses the utilization of modular hardware devices in an educational context. As the leading platform for such purposes, we first describe the ingredients at the origin of Arduinos success. Examples of student projects and seminars based on this platform will illustrate how Arduino triggers innovation by providing an accessible programming interface and rich reusable content. Based on several experiences, we describe the design of a platform environment for smart wireless sensors reusing key concepts from Arduino to facilitate and accelerate development and deployment time. The usage of the new platform and design interface in student projects is described as well.

An accurate and fast technique for correcting spectral leakage in motor diagnosis

This paper presents a technique for correcting the spectral leakage which occurs in windowed time series. The presented technique is aimed to be implemented on an autonomous embedded device based on reconfigurable hardware. This device is intended for being used in remote condition monitoring of motors. As a matter of example, the technique is used to analyse the common frequency components appearing in faulty motors suffering from inter-turn short circuits.

An event-based middleware for the remote management of runtime hardware reconfiguration

A procedure to remotely control hardware reconfiguration at runtime is introduced in this paper. Low-level interactions are abstracted by a middleware service that can be called by requests issued by the user or by the underlying operating system. The dynamic loading of hardware modules is managed by a kernel reacting to user-defined events with a customizable scheduling strategy. The system has been designed in a flexible and portable way to support most common runtime reconfiguration approaches and operating systems. Interactions with the middleware are based on commands allowing custom composition and scheduling of hardware modules after deployment. The operation of the middleware is illustrated with the example of a remotely reconfigurable sensor node in a high-performance wireless sensor network.