Laurent Andrieux

Using a Kinect WSN for home monitoring: Principle, network and application evaluation

Tracking people and gesture recognition become an application increasingly exploited for control and supervision especially with the invasion of networks and communication systems. In this paper we propose a wireless sensor network using Kinect video sensor to control and supervise the state of ill or old person into a smart home. We discuss the use of a WiFi network with mesh topology and the application of a routing protocol like OLSR or 802.11s standard. For each node, we investigate the response time and the link quality. We try to transport Kinect data in our network using USB over IP encapsulation. Results show that it is difficult to disseminate data from the sensor in the mesh WiFi network because of the high flow rate required which is about 180Mbits/s and open prospects for using another wireless standard.

Design considerations for wireless underwater communication transceiver

Evolutionary processes have shaped acoustic communication behaviours of remarkable complexity, for thus many researches have led to the development of innovative receiver structures for robust underwater acoustic communication. As underwater channel model, attenuation, transmission distance, low power consumption, highly Signal to Noise Ratio, Bit Error Ratio, inter-symbol interference, error coding and alternative modulation strategies, are of primary concern in the whole study and in particularly the proposition of the transceiver structure and his design. The values of these parameters above - mentioned are crucial to improve the wireless underwater communication. In addition, the battery powered Network nodes limit the life time of the proposed transceiver. This paper aims to survey the existing and the reliability of this transceiver and its applicability to underwater communication based on these simulations parameters values that are evaluated and presented.

Assisting people with disabilities through Kinect sensors into a smart house

The control of patients and persons with disabilities has always been a major concern in hospitals as in homes. Research works in this field aim to control and surround patients with comfort, safety in their homes while respecting their privacy. In this paper, we propose a monitoring system based on Kinect sensors to control and monitor elderly people into a smart house. The system recognizes gestures and communicates them through a network. We test some hand gestures and how it can be recognized with this sensor.

Efficient encoding and decoding schemes for wireless underwater communication systems

This work focuses on presenting a novel high efficiency channel encoding for transmitting acoustical signals in the hope of improving wireless underwater communication. Yet, water puts a damper on communication capacity, slowing down the signal propagation and creating background noise and echoes. For thus systems and methods for implementing a control channel, e.g., in underwater communication system, are presented below. Aspects of the channel structures used to implement the control channel described herein, can improve error detection capabilities, reduce decoding complexity, and increase transmission efficiency. In certain aspects, transmission efficiency can be increased through using CRC encoding. A circular trellis check and Viterbi decoding can also be used to increase efficiency and maintain error detection capabilities. Symbol Error Rate (SER) can be reduced in embodiments described herein over that of tail-biting convolutional coding with a CRC. Furthermore, error detection offered by Reed Solomon encoder can well compensate underwater noise. Additionally, the encoder packet size can be fixed in order to facilitate decoding and reducing receiver complexity.