Konstantinos Sasloglou

Implementation of herd management systems with wireless sensor networks

The work summarises a study of the data communications requirements for agricultural livestock monitoring applications using wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Several design challenges are identified and analysed in depth based on actual global positioning system positioning data gathered from an actual herd of cattle. A wireless system including antennae diversity together with data downloads optimisation schemes utilising data collector and routers are developed and tested in a working farm environment. Two analysis metrics, connection availability and connection duration, are used to quantify the impact of cattle movement on network connectivity. The major contributions of this study stem from a definition of the communication issues in deploying animal monitoring platforms in free-ranging farm environments and the analysis and optimisation of the wireless data download performance using as the foundation knowledge gained from a series of working farm trials. Additionally, the data download protocols are designed particularly to treat animal movement. The results prove the viability of WSN-based solutions for livestock monitoring applications.

Adaptation of wireless sensor network for farming industries

In recent years, wireless sensor networks (WSN) have received considerable attention within agriculture and farming as a means to reduce operational costs and enhance animal health care. This paper examines the application of WSNs to livestock monitoring and the issues related to hardware realization. The core of this study is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by using alternative cheap, low power consumption sensor nodes capable of providing real-time communication at a reasonable hardware cost. In this paper, various factors i.e. radio frequency selection, channel bandwidth, etc. have been evaluated to provide a solution which can obtain real-time data from diary cattle whilst conforming to the limitations associated with WSNs implementations.

Wireless Communication Networks for Gas Turbine Engine Testing

A new trend in the field of Aeronautical Engine Health Monitoring is the implementation of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for data acquisition and condition monitoring to partially replace heavy and complex wiring harnesses, which limit the versatility of the monitoring process as well as creating practical deployment issues. Augmenting wired with wireless technologies will fuel opportunities for reduced cabling, faster sensor and network deployment, increased data acquisition flexibility, and reduced cable maintenance costs. However, embedding wireless technology into an aero engine (even in the ground testing application considered here) presents some very significant challenges, for example, a harsh environment with a complex RF transmission channel, high sensor density, and high data rate. In this paper we discuss the results of the Wireless Data Acquisition in Gas Turbine Engine Testing (WIDAGATE) project, which aimed to design and simulate such a network to estimate network performance and derisk the wireless techniques before the deployment.

Wireless Sensor Networking, Automation Technologies and Machine to Machine Developments on the Path to the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been heralded as the next major development to be realized throughout the Internet portfolio of technologies. IoT is understood to bring along multiple technological challenges. These should not be considered in isolation, since IoT is characterized by the introduction of machine to machine applications with no or minimal human involvement, and the high pervasiveness of the technological artefacts realizing it. The technological developments shaping the IoT vision are manifesting in multiple economic sectors, including computing, telecommunications, construction and logistics---to name a few. Among the various technological developments supporting the IoT, wireless networking, embedded computing and scalable computation through virtualization are considered the key driving forces for transforming the IoT vision into reality. Herein we present the IoT vision and elaborate on key technological developments in these pivotal thematic areas. We conclude the paper with insights drawn from this survey of technological developments and sketch out directions for future research.

Wireless Sensor Networks for Cattle Health Monitoring

This paper investigates an adaptation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to cattle health monitoring. The proposed solution facilitates the requirement for continuously assessing the condition of individual animals, aggregating and reporting this data to the farm manager. There are several existing approaches to achieving animal monitoring, ranging from using a store and forward mechanism to employing GSM-based techniques; these approaches only provide sporadic information and introduce a considerable cost in staffing and physical hardware. The core of this solution overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks by using alternative cheap, low power consumption sensor nodes capable of providing real-time communication at a reasonable hardware cost. In this paper, both the hardware and software have been designed to provide real-time data from dairy cattle whilst conforming to the limitations associated with WSNs implementations.

Wireless sensor network for animal monitoring using both antenna and base-station diversity

Wireless sensor networks are widely used for condition monitoring applications. Much effort has been invested in improving the performance of such networks. Diversity is a well-proven technique in this context. Here, we present the practical application of base station and antenna diversity. Empirical measurements of performance in a realistic environment are reported and a statistical analysis of the resulting data is presented.

Antenna and Base-Station Diversity for WSN Livestock Monitoring

Antenna and base-station diversity have been applied to a wireless sensor network for the monitoring of live-stock. A field trial has been described and the advantage to be gained in a practical environment has been assessed.

On the Role of Semantic Descriptions for Adaptable Protocol Stacks in the Internet of Things

With Internet of Things applications covering several application domains (e.g., Smart Grid, Smart City, e-Health) with a diverse range of requirements, it is now becoming increasingly recognized that the variety of wireless technologies employed for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication is here to stay. Due to the heterogeneity of M2M appliances and communication modes, research has been investigating autonomic principles as an efficient instrument for the integration of large populations of dissimilar M2M devices to the M2M gateway and the overall end-to-end M2M architecture. Herein we present the status of semantic support for the IoT field by briefly surveying research efforts in IoT dealing with semantic concerns at the architecture level. We also summarize the state of the art in adaptable protocol stacks and make the case for their application as an efficiency enabler instrument for IoT. To this end, we present our work in an ontology used to semantically describe the adaptation options of the dynamic protocol stacks for future communication devices. We present the ontology design principles and artifacts and elaborate on the level of semantic support it enables for IoT. Finally, we conclude the paper with our next steps in the area of semantic support for IoT.

A channel model for wireless sensor networks in gas turbine engines

A narrowband channel model (2.4 GHz to 2.5 GHz) for wireless sensors deployed over the external surfaces of a gas turbine engine is reported. The model is empirical and based on a series of transmission loss measurements over the surface of a gas turbine engine.

Architectural Blueprints of a Unified Sensing Platform for the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is understood as a major embodiment of the convergence between device-oriented sensor networks and data-oriented applications that is facilitated through the Internet portfolio of technologies. From an architecture perspective, the wide range of operational parameters entailed by multiple application domains myriads of combinations of sensors and applications is the most significant challenge brought on by the IoT vision. To this end, the design blueprint of a platform that enables the seamless integration of multiple dissimilar devices and their efficient use by independently contributed applications is an essential architecture concern. Herein we address this concern by introducing a Unified Sensing Platform (USP) designed to accommodate an open set of sensor types and to expose their functional capabilities to applications in an efficient, reusable and context-aware way.