Lorena Parra

A smart communication architecture for ambient assisted living

Intelligent systems and communication technologies have experienced huge advances in the last few years. AAL can benefit from mixing both research fields. This article presents an intelligent communication architecture for AAL. It uses artificial intelligence to process the information gathered from several types of communication (e.g., wireless sensor networks, wireless ad hoc networks, wireless mesh networks) over any type of communication technologies (e.g., device-to-device, machine-to-machine, sensor-actuator), know what is happening in the network, and detect if elderly people need assistance. The article shows the main intelligent algorithms included in the AAL system and the developed software application. Several real measurements validate the operation of our proposal.

Underwater Acoustic Modems

Due to the growing interest using underwater acoustic networks, there are more and more research papers about underwater communications. These papers are mainly focused on deployments and studies about the constraints of the underwater medium. The underwater acoustic channel is highly variable and the signal transmission can change according to environmental factors, such as the temperature, pressure, or salinity of the water. For this reason, it is important to know how these devices are developed and the maximum distance and data transfer rates they can achieve. To this end, this paper presents an exhaustive study of existing underwater acoustic modems where their main features are highlighted. We also review the main features of their hardware. All presented proposals in the research literature are compared with commercial underwater acoustic modems. Finally, we analyze different programs and improvements of existing network simulators that are often used to simulate and estimate the behavior of underwater networks.

An Integrated IoT Architecture for Smart Metering

Advanced meter infrastructures (AMIs) are systems that measure, collect, and analyze utilities distribution and consumption, and communicate with metering devices either on a schedule or on request. AMIs are becoming a vital part of utilities distribution network and allow the development of Smart Cities. In this article we propose an integrated Internet of Things architecture for smart meter networks to be deployed in smart cities. We discuss the communication protocol, the data format, the data gathering procedure, and the decision system based on big data treatment. The architecture includes electricity, water, and gas smart meters. Real measurements show the benefits of the proposed IoT architecture for both the customers and the utilities.

An architecture and protocol for smart continuous eHealth monitoring using 5G

Abstract Continuous monitoring of chronic patients improves their quality of life and reduces the economic costs of the sanitary system. However, in order to ensure a good monitoring, high bandwidth and low delay are needed. The 5G technology offers higher bandwidth, lower delays and packets loss than previous technologies. This paper presents an architecture for smart eHealth monitoring of chronic patients. The architecture elements include wearable devices, to collect measures from the body, and a smartphone at the patient side in order to process the data received from the wearable devices. We also need a DataBase with an intelligent system able to send an alarm when it detects that it is happening something anomalous. The intelligent system uses machine learning in BigData taken from different hospitals and the data received from the patient to diagnose and generate alarms. Experiment tests have been done to simulate the traffic from many users to the DataBase in order to evaluate the suitability of 5G in our architecture. When there are few users (less than 200 users), we do not find big differences of round trip time between 4G and 5G, but when there are more users, like 1000 users, it increases considerably reaching 4 times more in 4G The Packet Loss is almost null in 4G until 300 users, while in 5G it is possible to keep it null until 700 users. Our results point out that in order to have high number of patients continuously monitored, it is necessary to use the 5G network because it offers low delays and guarantees the availability of bandwidth for all users.

Systems and algorithms for wireless sensor networks based on animal and natural behavior

In last decade, there have been many research works about wireless sensor networks (WSNs) focused on improving the network performance as well as increasing the energy efficiency and communications effectiveness. Many of these new mechanisms have been implemented using the behaviors of certain animals, such as ants, bees, or schools of fish. These systems are called bioinspired systems and are used to improve aspects such as handling large-scale networks, provide dynamic nature, and avoid resource constraints, heterogeneity, unattended operation, or robustness, among many others. Therefore, this paper aims to study bioinspired mechanisms in the field of WSN, providing the concepts of these behavior patterns in which these new approaches are based. The paper will explain existing bioinspired systems in WSNs and analyze their impact on WSNs and their evolution. In addition, we will conduct a comprehensive review of recently proposed bioinspired systems, protocols, and mechanisms. Finally, this paper will try to analyze the applications of each bioinspired mechanism as a function of the imitated animal and the deployed application. Although this research area is considered an area with highly theoretical content, we intend to show the great impact that it is generating from the practical perspective.

Multimedia sensors embedded in smartphones for ambient assisted living and e-health

Nowadays, it is widely extended the use of smartphones to make human life more comfortable. Moreover, there is a special interest on Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) and e-Health applications. The sensor technology is growing and amount of embedded sensors in the smartphones can be very useful for AAL and e-Health. While some sensors like the accelerometer, gyroscope or light sensor are very used in applications such as motion detection or light meter, there are other ones, like the microphone and camera which can be used as multimedia sensors. This paper reviews the published papers focused on showing proposals, designs and deployments of that make use of multimedia sensors for AAL and e-health. We have classified them as a function of their main use. They are the sound gathered by the microphone and image recorded by the camera. We also include a comparative table and analyze the gathered information.

Development of a Conductivity Sensor for Monitoring Groundwater Resources to Optimize Water Management in Smart City Environments.

The main aim of smart cities is to achieve the sustainable use of resources. In order to make the correct use of resources, an accurate monitoring and management is needed. In some places, like underground aquifers, access for monitoring can be difficult, therefore the use of sensors can be a good solution. Groundwater is very important as a water resource. Just in the USA, aquifers represent the water source for 50% of the population. However, aquifers are endangered due to the contamination. One of the most important parameters to monitor in groundwater is the salinity, as high salinity levels indicate groundwater salinization. In this paper, we present a specific sensor for monitoring groundwater salinization. The sensor is able to measure the electric conductivity of water, which is directly related to the water salinization. The sensor, which is composed of two copper coils, measures the magnetic field alterations due to the presence of electric charges in the water. Different salinities of the water generate different alterations. Our sensor has undergone several tests in order to obtain a conductivity sensor with enough accuracy. First, several prototypes are tested and are compared with the purpose of choosing the best combination of coils. After the best prototype was selected, it was calibrated using up to 30 different samples. Our conductivity sensor presents an operational range from 0.585 mS/cm to 73.8 mS/cm, which is wide enough to cover the typical range of water salinities. With this work, we have demonstrated that it is feasible to measure water conductivity using solenoid coils and that this is a low cost application for groundwater monitoring.

Low cost wireless sensor network for salinity monitoring in mangrove forests

Mangrove forests play an important role in fragile environments for coastal protecting, water quality and sediment filters. They provide habitat for birds, reptiles or fish. In last 25 years, this area has been severely depleted by the conversion to agricultural crops, aquaculture and pollution. The increased use of fertilizer and long periods of high salinity levels has considerably reduced the population of mangroves. Thus, this paper proposes the development of a low cost wireless salinity sensor network to control floodgates of fresh water from lakes and reservoirs which reach the mangrove area. The system consists of a set of programmable nodes able to communicate with the control gate system. These nodes send the water characteristics to the systems that open the floodgates of fresh water. The system helps us to control and get lower salinity levels and avoid the water logging. Having low cost sensors will facilitate the deployment of wireless sensor networks.

Smart Wireless Sensor Network to Detect and Protect Sheep and Goats to Wolf Attacks

The attacks on flocks of goats and sheep are causing great economic losses in some countries. The main causes of these are usually wild animals such as wolves, or thefts of young animals. When an animal feels the presence of people or animals different than the usual ones, it experiences changes in its vital signs. The parameters which are the most altered are the heart rate and body temperature. This paper presents the development of wireless sensor nodes which can monitor vital signs of sheep and goats. These nodes form a network of wireless nodes using IEEE 802.15.4 technology. The network runs a smart algorithm able to detect episodes of collective stress on flocks of goats and sheep caused by any predator attack overnight. When the system detects changes in vital signs of animals, it sends an alarm signal to alert the person in charge of the livestock facility and activates audible and visual alarms able to scare off predators and marauders. Our system can help breeders of goats and sheep to protect their herds avoiding large economic losses that this implies. KeywordsIEEE 802.15.4, Electronic deployment, Wireless sensor network, Smart detection system, sheep and goats stress, wolves attacks.

Smart System for Children's Chronic Illness Monitoring

Abstract Sick children need a continuous monitoring, but this involves high costs for the government and for the parents. The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) jointly with artificial intelligence and smart devices can reduce these costs, help the children and assist their parents. This paper presents a smart architecture for childrens chronic illness monitoring that will let the caregivers (parents, teachers and doctors) to remotely monitor the health of the children based on the sensors embedded in the smartphones and smart wearable devices. The proposed architecture includes a smart algorithm developed to intelligently detect if a parameter has exceeded a threshold, thus it may imply an emergency or not. To check the correct operation of this system, we have developed a small wearable device that is able to measure the heart rate and the body temperature. We have designed a secure mechanism to stablish a Bluetooth connection with the smartphone. In addition, the system is able to perform the data fusion in both the information packetizing process, which contributes to improve the protocol performance, and in the measured values combination, where it is used a stochastic approach. As a result, our system can fusion data from different sensors in real-time and detect automatically strange situations for sending a warning to the caregivers. Finally, the consumed bandwidth and battery autonomy of the developed device have been measured.