Rubén Blasco

Protocol and Architecture to Bring Things into Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) concept proposes that everyday objects are globally accessible from the Internet and integrate into new services having a remarkable impact on our society. Opposite to Internet world, things usually belong to resource-challenged environments where energy, data throughput, and computing resources are scarce. Building upon existing standards in the field such as IEEE1451 and ZigBee and rooted in context semantics, this paper proposes CTP (Communication Things Protocol) as a protocol specification to allow interoperability among things with different communication standards as well as simplicity and functionality to build IoT systems. Also, this paper proposes the use of the IoT gateway as a fundamental component in IoT architectures to provide seamless connectivity and interoperability among things and connect two different worlds to build the IoT: the Things world and the Internet world. Both CTP and IoT gateway constitute a middleware content-centric architecture presented as the mechanism to achieve a balance between the intrinsic limitations of things in the physical world and what is required from them in the virtual world. Said middleware content-centric architecture is implemented within the frame of two European projects targeting smart environments and proving said CTPs objectives in real scenarios.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based Wireless Sensor Network for Marine-Coastal Environment Monitoring

Marine environments are delicate ecosystems which directly influence local climates, flora, fauna, and human activities. Their monitorization plays a key role in their preservation, which is most commonly done through the use of environmental sensing buoy networks. These devices transmit data by means of satellite communications or close-range base stations, which present several limitations and elevated infrastructure costs. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are another alternative for remote environmental monitoring which provide new types of data and ease of use. These aircraft are mainly used in video capture related applications, in its various light spectrums, and do not provide the same data as sensing buoys, nor can they be used for such extended periods of time. The aim of this research is to provide a flexible, easy to deploy and cost-effective Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for monitoring marine environments. This proposal uses a UAV as a mobile data collector, low-power long-range communications and sensing buoys as part of a single WSN. A complete description of the design, development, and implementation of the various parts of this system is presented, as well as its validation in a real-world scenario.

Indoor Localization Based on Neural Networks for Non-dedicated ZigBee Networks in AAL

Indoor localization is one of the most appealing technologies in Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) applications, providing support for diverse services such as personal security, guidance or innovative interfaces. Dedicated systems can be deployed to provide that information, but it is possible to gain advantage of available elements to compute a location without requiring additional hardware. In this paper, a ZigBee network designed for a home control application is improved with a localization functionality based on neural networks, achieving room-level accuracy, and non introducing additional infrastructure constraints to the original application.

Least Median of Squares for non-line-of-sight error mitigation in GSM localization

Nowadays, almost everyone has a mobile telephone. This requires GSM localization systems to have greater applicability all of the time. The ldquokiller issuerdquo in this field is the well-known non-line-of-sight (NLOS) error, which hinders localization robustness and accuracy in real scenarios. Many techniques have been developed to deal with this problem, but they usually require prior statistical information or error modeling, or are computationally expensive. In this paper, we present a simple method based on the least median of squares technique to mitigate the NLOS effect. The method we propose is widely used in artificial vision applications and manages to overcome NLOS error effects, yielding higher location accuracy and robustness than other techniques. It can successfully deal with more than half of the available corrupted measurements- no matter how severely-without any previous statistical knowledge-corrupted measurements are not identifiable-and with reduced computation load.

A Network Performance Analysis of LoRa Modulation for LPWAN Sensor Devices

The rise in low power devices has created a necessity for connectivity among systems, in some cases across great geographic lengths. Current wireless communication protocols for these devices cover only small areas or require several hops to communicate. LPWAN have surfaced to cover this necessity offering greater transmission range in energy efficient protocols. Among these can we find the LoRa technology, offering wide spread spectrum modulation for WSN. The most common implementations of LoRa work at 868 MHz frequency range, and there is few information for other frequency bands. Given the nature of this modulation, it is of great interest to analyse lower frequencies. In this article a direct comparison of LoRa in the 868 MHz and 433 MHz will be done. Additionally, several parameters will be modified to find the best configuration available. This will help validate the possibility of transmitting at longer distances than current 868 MHz implementations.

Managing Emergency Situations in the Smart City: The Smart Signal.

In a city there are numerous items, many of them unnoticed but essential; this is the case of the signals. Signals are considered objects with reduced technological interest, but in this paper we prove that making them smart and integrating in the IoT (Internet of Things) could be a relevant contribution to the Smart City. This paper presents the concept of Smart Signal, as a device conscious of its context, with communication skills, able to offer the best message to the user, and as a ubiquitous element that contributes with information to the city. We present the design considerations and a real implementation and validation of the system in one of the most challenging environments that may exist in a city: a tunnel. The main advantages of the Smart Signal are the improvement of the actual functionality of the signal providing new interaction capabilities with users and a new sensory mechanism of the Smart City.

WiFi Sensor Networks: A study of energy consumption

This paper describes an energy consumption analysis of a wireless sensor node with a WiFi transceiver and its feasibility in smart city developments. A description of energy budgeting strategies is detailed, from which a theoretical calculus is made to validate the node setup energy wise. Afterwards, a practical measurement of the consumption is effected with TCP/UDP transmission protocols and various scenarios. A final comparison is made with a common battery module to give an idea of the longevity obtainable.

The Easyline+ project: evaluation of a user interface developed to enhance independent living of elderly and disabled people

This paper reports the usability evaluation of interfaces developed to enable elderly and disabled people interact remotely with kitchen appliances in the home to enhance their independent living. A number of evaluation exercises were undertaken throughout the project’s development, including user-participative workshops and focus groups. This paper focuses on the summative usability evaluation exercise, which comprised a laboratory-based study in a simulated home environment, with a view to determining the appropriateness of employing this approach with potentially vulnerable participants. The study involved 27 participants interacting with the user interface. Their behaviour was observed and recorded, and their interaction with the system was analysed. They were also given a post-session questionnaire, where their opinions of the usability of the interface were solicited. The results of the usability testing were positive, and insight has been gained into how products of this nature can be further improved. The experience of conducting laboratory-based studies with vulnerable users was positive and led to propose in this paper a set of guidelines for future work in evaluating usability for work in this domain.

Ambient intelligence for quality of life assessment

We are often, consciously or unconsciously, self-assessing our quality of life in order to make decisions about our future actions. People with special needs are sometimes not able to perform this evaluation, this being the responsibility of their relatives or carers. The literature shows this to be a challenging task due to the inherent subjectivity, and the limited data collection tools and biased information available. This paper proposes that context awareness and artificial intelligence can support this task by providing digested and objective information about a persons quality of life evolution. Ambient Assisted Living continuously obtains relevant data from different sources such as sensors, the use of household appliances and interaction with user interfaces. An artificial neural network model known as self-organizing maps processes this data to monitor how the user carries out different activities of daily living e.g. cooking or doing the washing. This information, together with statistical analysis from the said data, is automatically compiled by the system in a report to visualize trends in user behavior that might lead to the detection of a persons cognitive, physical or sensory deterioration. This report has been validated by a group of experts who considered it a tool of great usefulness and power to complement existing tools used by social workers.

Hardware Architecture Design for WSN Runtime Extension

Internet of Things imposes demanding requirements on wireless sensor networks as key players in context awareness procurement. Temporal and spatial ubiquities are one of the essential features that meet technology boundaries in terms of energy management. Limited energy availability makes anywhere and anytime sensing a challenging task that forces sensor nodes to wisely use every bit of available power. One of the earliest and most determining decisions in the electronic design stage is the choice of the silicon building blocks that will conform hardware architecture. Designers have to choose between dual architectures (based on a low-power microcontroller controlling a radio module) and single architectures (based on a system on chip). This decision, together with finite state machine design and application firmware, is crucial to minimize power consumption while maintaining expected sensor node performance. This paper provides keys for energy analysis of wireless sensor node architecture according to the specific requirements of any application. It thoroughly analyzes pros and cons of dual and single architectures providing designers with the basis to select the most efficient for each application. It also provides helpful considerations for optimal sensing-system design, analyzing how different strategies for sensor measuring and data exchanging affect node energy consumption.