Mariorosario Prist

Solid Waste Management Architecture Using Wireless Sensor Network Technology

In many application fields such as home, industry, environment and health, different Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications have been developed to solve management problems with smart implementations. This approach can be applied in the filed of solid waste management. In this paper a new architecture is proposed with the aim to improve the on-site handling and transfer optimization in the waste management process. The system architecture is based on sensor nodes and makes use of Data Transfer Nodes (DTN) in order to provide to a remote server the retrieved data measurements from the garbage bins filling. A remote monitoring solution has been implemented, providing user the possibility to interact with the system by using a web browser. Several activities with the aim to provide a Decision Support System (DSS) able to find solutions for resources organization problems linked to solid waste management have been started.

An Integrated Simulation Module for Cyber-Physical Automation Systems †

The integration of Wireless Sensors Networks (WSNs) into Cyber Physical Systems (CPSs) is an important research problem to solve in order to increase the performances, safety, reliability and usability of wireless automation systems. Due to the complexity of real CPSs, emulators and simulators are often used to replace the real control devices and physical connections during the development stage. The most widespread simulators are free, open source, expandable, flexible and fully integrated into mathematical modeling tools; however, the connection at a physical level and the direct interaction with the real process via the WSN are only marginally tackled; moreover, the simulated wireless sensor motes are not able to generate the analogue output typically required for control purposes. A new simulation module for the control of a wireless cyber-physical system is proposed in this paper. The module integrates the COntiki OS JAva Simulator (COOJA), a cross-level wireless sensor network simulator, and the LabVIEW system design software from National Instruments. The proposed software module has been called “GILOO” (Graphical Integration of Labview and cOOja). It allows one to develop and to debug control strategies over the WSN both using virtual or real hardware modules, such as the National Instruments Real-Time Module platform, the CompactRio, the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA), etc. To test the proposed solution, we decided to integrate it with one of the most popular simulators, i.e., the Contiki OS, and wireless motes, i.e., the Sky mote. As a further contribution, the Contiki Sky DAC driver and a new “Advanced Sky GUI” have been proposed and tested in the COOJA Simulator in order to provide the possibility to develop control over the WSN. To test the performances of the proposed GILOO software module, several experimental tests have been made, and interesting preliminary results are reported. The GILOO module has been applied to a smart home mock-up where a networked control has been developed for the LED lighting system.

An Open and Modular Hardware Node for Wireless Sensor and Body Area Networks

Health monitoring is nowadays one of the hottest markets due to the increasing interest in prevention and treatment of physical problems. In this context the development of wearable, wireless, open-source, and nonintrusive sensing solutions is still an open problem. Indeed, most of the existing commercial architectures are closed and provide little flexibility. In this paper, an open hardware architecture for designing a modular wireless sensor node for health monitoring is proposed. By separating the connection and sensing functions in two separate boards, compliant with the IEEE1451 standard, we add plug and play capabilities to analog transducers, while granting at the same time a high level of customization. As an additional contribution of the work, we developed a cosimulation tool which simplifies the physical connection with the hardware devices and provides support for complex systems. Finally, a wireless body area network for fall detection and health monitoring, based on wireless node prototypes realized according to the proposed architecture, is presented as an application scenario.

Application of a wireless sensor networks and Web2Py architecture for factory line production monitoring

In this paper a wireless sensors network (WSN) has been designed according to the IEEE 1451 standard and installed in a manufacturing cell. On-line monitoring data have been collected and stored in a database through a Web2Py framework. A case study on the usage of WSN to perform an industrial performance analysis is made. A set of measures, comprehensive of all the production parameters of 4 different line productions, have been used to analyze the performances of the company. Effectiveness and reliability indexes, such as the mean time to repair (MTTR) and mean time between failures (MTBF) of the machines, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and the total effective equipment productivity (TEEP) have been computed and compared to the world-class manufacturing (WCM) standards.

An integrated simulation environment for Wireless Sensor Networks

Simulators for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are one of the most important tools for systems development. They enable to study and evaluate new theories and hypotheses for sensors data gathering, testing new applications and protocols. Nowadays, there are a large number of open source WSN simulators and they can be divided into different categories according to their features and main applications. Due to the ability to increase the real WSN prototyping, the Cross Levels Simulator, like Cooja, has become an important class of simulators. Although they are open source, flexible and extensible in all levels, the test interface, the external connection at a physical level and the direct interaction with the process control via the WSN is very poor. In this work we present the Cooja Advanced Sky Interface which is an extension of the Contikis Cooja network simulator for the Sky mote. Due to the absence of the analog output control in the Contiki OS for the Sky mote, as additional contribution, the Contiki Sky DAC driver has been developed and tested in the Cooja Simulator with the Advanced Sky GUI and GISOO plugin to give the ability to implement control over the wireless sensor network.

An integrated simulation module for wireless cyber-physical system

Wireless Sensors Network (WSN) integration in a Cyber Physical System (CPS) is becoming one of the most important research topics for increasing the adaptability, autonomy, efficiency, functionality, reliability, safety, and usability in the wireless automation systems. Due the complexity of the CPS, simulators and emulators have to be used to replace the real experiments in order to provide necessary feedback and facilities for this regard. Although the simulators are open source, flexible, extensible and full integrated in a mathematical modelling tools, the external connection at a physical level and the direct interaction with the process control via the WSN in the CPSs is very poor. This paper proposes a new simulation module to control a wireless cyber-physical system, by integrating LabVIEW development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments, and COOJA, a cross level wireless sensor network simulator. The developed software module, called “GILOO” (Graphical Integration of Labview and cOOja) enables to develop and to debug control policies in a simulated or realistic scenario, using the virtual environment or the hardware module, such as the National Instruments Data Acquisition (SCADA), the FPGA platform, the CompactRio, etc. The designed GILOO module has been experimentally tested and preliminary results are shown in this paper. In detail, a smart home mock-up is proposed to verify its correct behavior and to realize the networked control of an indoor LED lighting system.

Implementation of an “at-home” e-Health system using heterogeneous devices

Systems enabling long-term monitoring of physiological data and everyday activities has been the subject of considerable research efforts in the last years, in order to improve the quality of life of patients, elderly people and common citizens at home, out of the hospitalization. With the availability of inexpensive, low power, wireless and integrated devices, current smart homes are typically equipped with a large amount of sensors, which collaboratively process and make deductions from the acquired data on the state of the home, as well as the activities and behaviors of its residents. According to the field of application and the end-users involved (healthy people, elderly, people with disabilities), the definition of the parameters (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure, activity, body mass, etc.) and the appropriate sensors (electrocardiogram, sphygmomanometer, glucometer, etc.) for their acquisition assume a fundamental role. One of the goals of the Italian project Health@Home is to create a network of health sensors and home automation devices to monitor the users status within the home environment. We present a candidate implementation of such a system, describing the software architecture and the selected components, and a testbed of the architecture, realized in a lab room and used for a preliminary experimental study involving seven users.

Modular design of a novel wireless sensor node for smart environments

Most of the existing commercial node architectures provide little flexibility and configurability. This limitation constrains the usability of the same node across various applications, including the ambient intelligence issue. In this paper a novel architecture for the design of a modular wireless sensor node is proposed, dividing the connection and sensing functions in two separate boards. The division of the wireless transducer interface module (WTIM) in two independent boards allows to perform in a separate way the connection and sensor interfacing function of the WTIM always respecting IEEE 1451 standards. The versatility of the novel architecture has been tested in two different application scenarios. In the first application the modular node has been used in a factory to monitor the efficiency and reliability of the production line. The designed node has been experimentally tested and results shown. Concerning the second application, a smart home approach is proposed. Using different sensing boards, an architecture to monitor in a non-invasive way several home parameters has been presented.

Cyber-physical system integration for industry 4.0: Modelling and simulation of an induction heating process for aluminium-steel molds in footwear soles manufacturing

In recent years, the Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs), have become a new trend to increase and to enrich the interactions between physical and virtual systems with the goal to create a truly connected world in which smart objects interact and exchange data with each other. The CPS is the core of the new industrial revolution called “Industry 4.0”, which promotes the computerization of manufacturing to make decentralized decisions. Within the modular structured smart factories, Cyber-Physical Systems monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world, simulate parts of process and implement sophisticated control policies in order to take optimized decisions. This research proposes the modelling and simulation of an induction heating process for aluminium-steel mold, which is used in the production of footwear soles. The modelling supports the simulation of a CPS model related to the use of a multi-use LGV (Laser Guided Vehicle) which transports aluminum-steel molds from a mechanized warehouse to the final rotary production line, used for the soles foaming. In detail, a thermal model and an induction heating electronic circuit model have been studied to describe the whole mold heating system and they have been simulated using Simulink/MATLAB. In addition, two types of controllers, an induction preheating control technique based on a Model Predictive Controller (MPC), and another one based on PID, have been developed in order to analyse the different behaviour of the system.

Wireless sensor network based management system for electric bicycle-sharing

Bicycle-sharing is an exciting new model of public-private transport provision that has quickly emerged in the past five years, and represents a possible way for enhancing sustainable mobility in smart cities of the future. This paper proposes a wireless sensor network based management system for electric bicycle-sharing of new design, where each bicycle and docking station is equipped with a measurement and communication device (i.e., a network mote), and is both sensor and actor of the wireless network. Each bicycle can keep track of its position, battery level, and communicate with the docking station, which manages the recharge cycle, and locks or releases the bicycle to the user. Since all the information is shared through the network, the management system can provide high level software services as well (e.g., the booking service). This paper describes in detail the design and the implementation of the proposed wireless sensor network based management system for electric bicycle-sharing.