IoB-DTN: a lightweight DTN protocol for mobile IoT Applications to smart bike sharing systems

International audienceInformation and communication are key to the intelligent city of tomorrow. Many technologies have been designed to connect smart devices to the Internet. In particular, public transport systems have been used to collect data from mobile devices. Public bike sharing systems have been introduced as part of the urban transportation system and could be used as the support of a mobile sensor network. In this paper, we introduce the "Internet of Bikes" IoB-DTN protocol which applies De-lay/Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN) paradigm to the Internet of Things (IoT) applications running on urban bike sharing system based sensor network. We evaluate the performance of three variants of IoB-DTN with four buffer management policies. Our results show that limiting the number of packet copies sprayed in the network and prioritizing generated packets against relayed ones, improves on low loss rate and delivery delay in urban bicycle scenario

Application of objective and non-invasive methodologies for welfare assessment in endurance horses

Endurance riding evolved in the last two decades from an amateur activity into a highly professionalised sport. Better training techniques and more specialised breeding allowed the creation of super endurance equine athletes, capable of achieving a sustained high speed along with a fast-cardiac recovery capacity. However, the competitiveness and inherent effort of the sport lead to the persistence, up to the present, of severe injuries, unacceptable current societal standards, despite the intense veterinary monitoring of horses in competitions. This research aimed to study non-invasive methods that could be used in an endurance competition setting to objectively measure performance and distress. Salivary cortisol, eye temperature measured by infrared thermography and gait quantification through an inertial sensor-based system were studied to determine the practicality, reliability and repeatability of results in competitions and experimental settings. The objective results were confronted with the subjective evaluations and the outcome of horses. Firstly, the receptiveness by veterinarians to the utilization of objective methods in competitions was assessed. The results showed that two thirds of 157 Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) official endurance veterinarians would be receptive to a new reliable technology to objectively quantify gait. Indeed, a trial performed during an endurance ride using a sensor-based system had a favourable impression regarding its logistic use, but the objective results indicated a significant disagreement in relation to the subjective gait assessment of veterinarians. To assess whether the delay caused by instrumentation of the horse with the sensors would affect the cardiac recovery index (CRI), an early indicator of fatigue in horses used by veterinarians in competitions, another study was performed. No effect of a waiting time was found on the CRI. A second study using the sensor-based system was performed next, to assess the repeatability and agreement of results of subjective and objective gait assessment with different handlers and trot-up presentation styles. It was demonstrated that veterinarians gave better scores to horses trotted as for a competition when compared to a regular presentation for a lameness work-up. The objective gait results were not affected. Finally, the salivary cortisol and ocular temperature measured by infrared thermography were assessed in competitions to investigate whether there was a relation to the outcome of competing horses. It was shown that these biomarkers could potentially be used in association to characterize physical effort and emotional stress in endurance competitions, but further studies are needed. Globally, the results of this research showed the potential role of non-invasive methods in competitions to better objectify the results and as means to obtain relevant information for the endurance sport guidelines; Aplicação de Técnicas Objectivas e Não-Invasivas para Avaliação do Bem-Estar em Cavalos de Resistência Equestre RESUMO: A resistência equestre (Endurance) evoluiu nas últimas duas décadas de uma atividade amadora para um desporto altamente profissionalizado. A melhoria das técnicas de treino e a criação mais especializada permitiram a criação de superatletas equinos de Endurance, capazes de atingir velocidades elevadas sustentadas em conjunto com uma recuperação cardíaca rápida. Porém, a competitividade e o esforço inerentes ao desporto levam à ocorrência de lesões graves, inaceitáveis perante os padrões sociais atuais, apesar do intenso acompanhamento veterinário dos cavalos durante as competições. Esta investigação teve como objetivo estudar métodos não invasivos que possam ser usados em ambiente de competição de Endurance para medir objetivamente o desempenho e o stresse. O cortisol salivar, a temperatura ocular medida por termografia infravermelha e a quantificação dos andamentos através de um sistema baseado em sensores de inércia foram estudados para determinar a exequibilidade, confiabilidade e repetibilidade dos resultados em competições e ambientes experimentais. Os resultados objetivos foram confrontados com as avaliações subjetivas e os resultados dos cavalos. Primeiramente, avaliou-se a recetividade dos médicos veterinários à utilização de métodos objetivos nas competições. Os resultados mostraram que dois terços de uma amostra de 157 veterinários oficiais de Endurance da Federação Equestre Internacional (FEI) estariam recetivos a uma nova tecnologia fiável para quantificar objetivamente a marcha. Um ensaio realizado durante uma prova de resistência usando um sistema baseado em sensores provocou uma impressão favorável quanto aos aspetos logísticos, mas os resultados objetivos indicaram uma discordância significativa em relação à avaliação subjetiva dos andamentos realizada pelos veterinários. Realizou-se um outro estudo para avaliar se o tempo despendido na instrumentação do cavalo com os sensores afetaria o índice de recuperação cardíaca (IRC), um indicador precoce de fadiga em cavalos utilizado por veterinários em competições. Verificou-se que o IRC não foi influenciado pelo tempo de espera. Em seguida, realizou-se um segundo estudo utilizando o sistema baseado em sensores, para avaliar a repetibilidade e a concordância dos resultados da avaliação subjetiva e objetiva da marcha com diferentes apresentadores e estilos de apresentação a trote. Foi demonstrado que os veterinários pontuaram melhor os cavalos trotados no estilo utilizado em competição quando comparados ao estilo utilizado numa apresentação para um exame de claudicação. Os resultados objetivos da marcha não foram afetados. Finalmente, o cortisol salivar e a temperatura ocular medidos por termografia infravermelha foram avaliados em competições, para avaliar se existia relação com os resultados de cavalos em competição. Ficou demonstrado que estes biomarcadores poderiam ser usados em associação para caracterizar o esforço físico e o stresse emocional em competições de Endurance, mas são necessários estudos adicionais. Globalmente, os resultados desta investigação mostraram o potencial papel dos métodos não invasivos para melhor objetivar os resultados em competição e como meio de obter informações relevantes para as diretrizes do desporto de resistência equestre

Overview of IEEE802.15.4g OFDM and its Applicability to Smart Building Applications

International audienceThis paper compares the performance of two IEEE802.15.4 physical layers in the Smart Building context: 2.4 GHz O-QPSK and sub-GHz OFDM. The former has been in the IEEE802.15.4 standard since 2003, the latter was rolled into its 2015 revision. OFDM promises exceptional performance, in particular in environments with high external interference and multi-path fading. This paper starts with a comprehensive overview of IEEE802.15.4 and IEEE802.15.4g, with a particular focus on OFDM, its design drivers and modes of operation. The second half of this paper presents results from an exhaustive benchmarking campaign of both technologies in a building environment, and discusses lessons learnt. We show how OFDM has a higher range, even at 400 kbps and 800 kbps data rates. We then quantify the importance of frequency repetition in OFDM, and of using a wide communication channel, and we show how the use of OFDM can result in a 2–4 χ decrease in power consumption compared to 2.4 GHz O-QPSK. We conclude by recommending the use of OFDM option 1, with MCS2 for short (<128 B) frames, and MCS3 otherwise

Wadi Flash Floods

This open access book brings together research studies, developments, and application-related flash flood topics on wadi systems in arid regions. The major merit of this comprehensive book is its focus on research and technical papers as well as case study applications in different regions worldwide that cover many topics and answer several scientific questions. The book chapters comprehensively and significantly highlight different scientific research disciplines related to wadi flash floods, including climatology, hydrological models, new monitoring techniques, remote sensing techniques, field investigations, international collaboration projects, risk assessment and mitigation, sedimentation and sediment transport, and groundwater quality and quantity assessment and management. In this book, the contributing authors (engineers, researchers, and professionals) introduce their recent scientific findings to develop suitable, applicable, and innovative tools for forecasting, mitigation, and water management as well as society development under seven main research themes as follows: Part 1. Wadi Flash Flood Challenges and Strategies Part 2. Hydrometeorology and Climate Changes Part 3. Rainfall–Runoff Modeling and Approaches Part 4. Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation Part 5. Reservoir Sedimentation and Sediment Yield Part 6. Groundwater Management Part 7. Application and Case Studies The book includes selected high-quality papers from five series of the International Symposium on Flash Floods in Wadi Systems (ISFF) that were held in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020 in Japan, Egypt, Oman, Morocco, and Japan, respectively. These collections of chapters could provide valuable guidance and scientific content not only for academics, researchers, and students but also for decision-makers in the MENA region and worldwide

Attack Categorisation for IoT Applications in Critical Infrastructures, a Survey

International audienceWith the ever advancing expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) into our everyday lives, the number of attack possibilities increases. Furthermore, with the incorporation of the IoT into Critical Infrastructure (CI) hardware and applications, the protection of not only the systems but the citizens themselves has become paramount. To do so, specialists must be able to gain a foothold in the ongoing cyber attack war-zone. By organising the various attacks against their systems, these specialists can not only gain a quick overview of what they might expect but also gain knowledge into the specifications of the attacks based on the categorisation method used. This paper presents a glimpse into the area of IoT Critical Infrastructure security as well as an overview and analysis of attack categorisation methodologies in the context of wireless IoT-based Critical Infrastructure applications. We believe this can be a guide to aid further researchers in their choice of adapted categorisation approaches. Indeed, adapting appropriated categorisation leads to a quicker attack detection, identification, and recovery. It is, thus, paramount to have a clear vision of the threat landscapes of a specific system

Implementing Efficient and Multi-Hop Image Acquisition In Remote Monitoring IoT systems using LoRa Technology

Remote sensing or monitoring through the deployment of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is considered an economical and convenient manner in which to collect information without cumbersome human intervention. Unfortunately, due to challenging deployment conditions, such as large geographic area, and lack of electricity and network infrastructure, designing such wireless sensor networks for large-scale farms or forests is difficult and expensive. Many WSN-appropriate wireless technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee and 6LoWPAN, have been widely adopted in remote sensing. The performance of these technologies, however, is not sufficient for use across large areas. Generally, as the geographical scope expands, more devices need to be employed to expand network coverage, so the number and cost of devices in wireless sensor networks will increase dramatically. Besides, this type of deployment usually not only has a high probability of failure and high transmission costs, but also imposes additional overhead on system management and maintenance. LoRa is an emerging physical layer standard for long range wireless communication. By utilizing chirp spread spectrum modulation, LoRa features a long communication range and broad signal coverage. At the same time, LoRa also has low power consumption. Thus, LoRa outperforms similar technologies in terms of hardware cost, power consumption and radio coverage. It is also considered to be one of the promising solutions for the future of the Internet of Things (IoT). As the research and development of LoRa are still in its early stages, it lacks sufficient support for multi-packet transport and complex deployment topologies. Therefore, LoRa is not able to further expand its network coverage and efficiently support big data transfers like other conventional technologies. Besides, due to the smaller payload and data rate in LoRa physical design, it is more challenging to implement these features in LoRa. These shortcomings limit the potential for LoRa to be used in more productive application scenarios. This thesis addresses the problem of multi-packet and multi-hop transmission using LoRa by proposing two novel protocols, namely Multi-Packet LoRa (MPLR) and Multi-Hop LoRa (MHLR). LoRa's ability to transmit large messages is first evaluated in this thesis, and then the protocols are well designed and implemented to enrich LoRa's possibilities in image transmission applications and multi-hop topologies. MPLR introduces a reliable transport mechanism for multi-packet sensory data, making its network not limited to the transmission of small sensor data only. In collaboration with a data channel reservation technique, MPLR is able to greatly mitigate data collisions caused by the increased transmission time in laboratory experiments. MHLR realizes efficient routing in LoRa multi-hop transmission by utilizing the power of machine learning. The results of both indoor and outdoor experiments show that the machine learning based routing is effective in wireless sensor networks