Sensor Behavior Modeling and Algorithm Design for Intelligent Presence Detection in Nursery Rooms using iBeacon

This thesis is a part of a research project performed by two MS students Yang Yang and the author. The overall objective of the project is the design, implementation, and performance evaluation of algorithms for newborn localization and tracking in hospitals using Apple iBeacon technology. In the research project, I lead the path-loss modeling of iBeacon, design of algorithms for in-room presence detection system, and analysis of the accelerometer sensor. My partner, Yang Yang, leads the performance evaluation of the localization system using Cramer Rao Lower Bound (CRLB). This manuscript describes the project with a focus on my contributions in modeling the behavior of sensors and presence detection algorithms. Today, RFID detection is the most popular indoor detection technique. It provides high precision detection rate to distinguish the number of people in certain rooms of a building. However, special scanners and manual operations are required. This increases the cost and operation complexity. With the recent introduction of iBeacon by Apple, possibility of more efficient in-room presence detection has emerged for specific applications. An example of these applicatons is recording the number of visitors and newborns in a nursery room inside a hospital. The iBeacon uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology for proximity broadcasting. Additionally, iBeacon carries a motion detection sensor, which can be utilized for counting the number of people and newborns entering and leaving a room. In this thesis we introduce a novel intelligent in-room presence detection system using iBeacon for the newborns in hospitals to determine the number of visitors and newborns\u27 location in the nursery room. We first develop a software application on iPhone to receive and extract the necessary data from iBeacon for further analysis. We build the path-loss model for the iBeacon based on the received signal strength (RSS) of the iBeacon, which is used for performance evaluation using CRLB in Yang Yang\u27s project. We also utilize the accelerometer in the smart phones to improve the performance of our detection system

Data Analysis and Memory Methods for RSS Bluetooth Low Energy Indoor Positioning

The thesis aims at finding a feasible solution to Bluetooth low energy indoor positioning (BLE-IP) including comprehensive data analysis of the received signal strength indication (RSSI) values. The data analysis of RSSI values was done to understand different factors influencing the RSSI values so as to gain better understanding of data generating process and to improve the data model. The positioning task is accomplished using a methodology called \textit{fingerprinting}. The fingerprinting based positioning involves two phases namely \textit{calibration phase} and \textit{localization phase}. The localization phase utilises the memory methods for positioning. In this thesis, we have used \textit{Gaussian process} for generation of radio maps and for localization we focus on memory methods: \textit{particle filters} and \textit{unscented Kalman filters}. The Gaussian process radio map is used as the measurement model in the Bayesian filtering context. The optimal fingerprinting phase parameters were determined and the filtering methods were evaluated in terms root mean square error

SHPIA 2.0: An Easily Scalable, Low-Cost, Multi-purpose Smart Home Platform for Intelligent Applications

Sensors, electronic devices, and smart systems have invaded the market and our daily lives. As a result, their utility in smart home contexts to improve the quality of life, especially for the elderly and people with special needs, is getting stronger and stronger. Therefore, many systems based on smart applications and intelligent devices have been developed, for example, to monitor people’s environmental contexts, help in daily-life activities, and analyze their health status. However, most existing solutions have drawbacks related to accessibility and usability. They tend to be expensive and lack generality and interoperability. These solutions are not easily scalable and are typically designed for specific constrained scenarios. This paper tackles such drawbacks by presenting SHPIA 2.0, an easily scalable, low-cost, multi-purpose smart home platform for intelligent applications. It leverages low-cost Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices featuring both BLE connected and BLE broadcast modes, to transform common objects of daily life into smart objects. Moreover, SHPIA 2.0 allows the col- lection and automatic labeling of different data types to provide indoor monitoring and assistance. Specifically, SHPIA 2.0 is designed to be adaptable to different home-based application scenarios, including human activity recognition, coaching systems, and occupancy detection and counting. The SHPIA platform is open source and freely available to the scientific community, fostering collaboration and innovation

Model for Predicting Bluetooth Low Energy Micro-Location Beacon Coin Cell Battery Lifetime

Bluetooth Low Energy beacon devices, typically operating on coin cell batteries, have emerged as key components of micro-location wireless sensor networks. To design efficient and reliable networks, designers require tools for predicting battery and beacon lifetime, based on design parameters that are specific to micro-location applications. This design science research contributes to the implementation of an artifact functioning as a predictive tool for coin cell battery lifetime when powering Bluetooth Low Energy beacon devices. Building upon effective and corroborated components from other researchers, the Beacon Lifetime Model 1.0 was developed as a spreadsheet workbook, providing a user interface for designers to specify parameters, and providing a predictive engine to predict coin cell battery lifetime. Results showed that the measured and calculated predictions were consistent with those derived through other methodologies, while providing a uniquely extensible user interface which may accommodate future work on emerging components. Future work may include research on real world scenarios, as beacon devices are deployed for robust micro-location applications. Future work may also include improved battery models that capture increasingly accurate performance under micro-location workloads. Beacon Lifetime Model 1.x is designed to incorporate those emerging components, with Beacon Lifetime Model1.0 serving as the initial instantiation of this design science artifact

Implementación de una aplicación móvil en android utilizando tecnología beacon para una mejor experiencia del usuario dentro del Jardín Botánico de Quito

El Jardín Botánico de Quito desea difundir información a los usuarios y por ello se ha propuesto desarrollar una tecnología de servicio denominada beacons que ayuda a identificar beacons que funcionan al recibir datos transmitidos desde un dispositivo bluetooth, para brindar una mejor experiencia. El objetivo del proyecto es implementar una aplicación móvil mediante tecnología beacon para una mejor experiencia de usuario dentro de las instalaciones del Jardín Botánico de Quito, derivando una propuesta de modelo de aplicación informática que cumpla con los requisitos para satisfacer las necesidades de los visitantes, y evaluarla utilizando métricas de software. Luego de una investigación y análisis se desarrolló el proyecto con el framework Scrum Agile, ya que es una metodología que está en tendencia y a la vez es moderna y cada vez es más aceptada en la comunidad global de desarrollo de software. El resultado arrojó que el desarrollo de la aplicación móvil y la implementación de las diferentes herramientas como el iBeacon permite tener una conexión en interiores teniendo mayor precisión en evidencia que la Aplicación Móvil cumple con las expectativas esperadas debido a la metodología scrum lo cual ayudó a tener avances organizados. en las diferentes etapas del desarrollo del proyecto. En conclusión, la aplicación móvil tendrá un efecto social y tecnológico, ya que el documento de investigación y aplicación explica que existen nuevas tecnologías que tienen mucha demanda en el mercado actual y que no están siendo utilizadas en nuestro medio.The Quito Botanical Garden wishes to disseminate information to users and for this reason it has proposed to develop a service technology called beacons that helps identify beacons that work by receiving data transmitted from a Bluetooth device, to provide a better experience. The objective of the project is to implement a mobile application through beacon technology for a better user experience within the facilities of the Quito Botanical Garden, deriving a proposal for a computer application model that meets the requirements to meet the needs of visitors, and evaluate it using software metrics. After an investigation and analysis, the project was developed with the Scrum Agile framework, since it is a methodology that is in trend and at the same time is modern and is increasingly accepted in the global software development community. The result showed that the development of the mobile application and the implementation of the different tools such as the iBeacon allows to have a connection indoors, having greater precision in evidence that the Mobile Application meets the expected expectations due to the scrum methodology which helped to have organized advances. at different stages of project development. In conclusion, the mobile application will have a social and technological effect, since the investigative and application document explains that there are new technologies that are in great demand in the current market and which are not being used in our environment

RSSI-Based direction-of-departure estimation in bluetooth low energy using an array of frequency-steered leaky-wave antennas

This paper presents a novel advanced Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon, which is based on an array of frequency-steered leaky-wave antennas (LWAs), as a transmitter for a Direction-of-Departure (DoD) estimation system. The LWA array is completely passive, fabricated in a low-cost FR4 printed-circuit board and designed to multiplex to different angular directions in space each one of the three associated BLE advertising channels that are used for periodically transmitting the ID of the beacon. This way, the use of more expensive hardware associated to electronic phased-array steering/beam-switching is avoided. Four commercial BLE modules are connected to the four ports of the array, producing an advanced BLE beacon that synthesizes twelve directive beams (one per each port and advertising channel) distributed over a wide Field of View (FoV) of 120 degrees in the azimuthal plane. Then, any BLE enabled IoT device located within this FoV can scan the messages from the beacon and obtain the corresponding Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of these twelve beams to estimate the relative DoD by using amplitude-monopulse signal processing, thus dispensing from complex In-phase/Quadrature (IQ) data acquisition or high computational load.We propose an angular windowing technique to eliminate angular ambiguities and increase the angular resolution, reporting a root mean squared angular error of 3.7º in a wide FoV of 120º.This work was supported in part by the Spanish National projects TEC2016-75934-C4-4-R and TEC2016-76465-C2-1-R, and in part by the 2018 UPCT Santander Research Grant

A LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE CURRENT STATE OF SECURITY AND PRIVACY OF MEDICAL DEVICES AND SENSORS WITH BLUETOOTH LOW ENERGY

Technology use in healthcare is an integral part of diagnosis and treatment. The use of technology in medical devices and sensors is growing. These devices include implantable medical devices, and consumer health and fitness tracking devices and applications. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is the most commonly used communication method in medical devices and sensors. Security and privacy are important, especially in healthcare technologies that can impact morbidity. There is an increasing need to evaluate the security and privacy of healthcare technology, especially with devices and sensors that use Bluetooth Low Energy due to the increasing prevalence and use of medical devices and sensors. Therefore, more robust security analysis is needed to evaluate security and privacy aspects of medical devices and sensors that use Bluetooth Low Energy

A LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE CURRENT STATE OF SECURITY AND PRIVACY OF MEDICAL DEVICES AND SENSORS WITH BLUETOOTH LOW ENERGY

Technology use in healthcare is an integral part of diagnosis and treatment. The use of technology in medical devices and sensors is growing. These devices include implantable medical devices, and consumer health and fitness tracking devices and applications. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is the most commonly used communication method in medical devices and sensors. Security and privacy are important, especially in healthcare technologies that can impact morbidity. There is an increasing need to evaluate the security and privacy of healthcare technology, especially with devices and sensors that use Bluetooth Low Energy due to the increasing prevalence and use of medical devices and sensors. Therefore, more robust security analysis is needed to evaluate security and privacy aspects of medical devices and sensors that use Bluetooth Low Energy

Sistema de Telemetría basado en redes WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) para el Internet de las Cosas (IoT)

Programa Oficial de Doutoramento en Tecnoloxías da Información e Comunicación en Redes Móbiles. 553V01[Abstract] The Internet of Things (IoT) involves a wide variety of heterogeneous technologies and resource-constrained devices that interact with each other. Due to such constraints, IoT devices usually require lightweight protocols that optimize the use of resources and energy consumption. Among the di erent commercial IoT devices, Bluetooth and BLE based beacons, which broadcast periodically certain data packets to notify their presence, have experienced a remarkable growth, specially due to their application in indoor positioning systems. As a solution to this problem, this thesis contributes with a general architecture of telemetry, di erent scenarios to access the cloud computing, guidelines for the selection of components in the di erent domains of an IoT-based architecture and examples of implementation of a WSN through a testbed based on the use of smart sensors with Bluetooth Low Energy. In the example shown, an IoT gateway is developed on an Android smartphone. This gateway integrates an MQTT client and has the necessary functionalities to pack the data from the sensors and send them to the MQTT broker residing in a cloud computing. There is also a friendly interface available for a local user to monitor and control the WSN created. Some experiments were carried out to demonstrate the functionality, speed and stability of the proposed gateway, to be used in this and other application domains. This thesis proposes a family of protocols named LP4S that provides fast responses and enables plug-and-play mechanisms that allow IoT telemetry systems to discover new nodes and to describe and auto-register the sensors and actuators connected to a beacon. Thus, three protocols are de ned depending on the beacon hardware characteristics: LP4S-6 (for resource-constraint beacons), LP4S-X (for more powerful beacons) and LP4S-J (for beacons able to run complex rmware). In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the designed protocols, the most restrictive (LP4S-6) is tested after implementing it for a telemetry application in a beacon based on Eddystone (Google's open beacon format). Thus, the beacon speci cation is extended in order to increase its ability to manage unlimited sensors in a telemetry system without interfering in its normal operation with Eddystone frames. The performed experiments show the feasibility of the proposed solution and its superiority, in terms of latency and energy consumption, with respect to approaches based on Generic Attribute Pro le (GATT) when multiple users connect to a mote or in scenarios where latency is not a restriction, but where low-energy consumption is essential. This thesis also presents a Virtual Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (VTEDS) based framework for the development of intelligent sensor nodes with plug-and-play capabilities in order to contribute to the evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) towards the Web of Things (WoT). It makes use of new lightweight protocols that allow the sensors to self-describe, auto-calibrate and auto-register. Such protocols enable the development of novel IoT solutions while guaranteeing low latency, low power consumption and the required QoS. In order to evaluate the performance of the system, it was tested when using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Ethernet-based smart sensors in di erent scenarios. Speci cally, user experience was quanti ed empirically (i.e., how fast the system show collected data to a user). The obtained results show that the proposed VTED architecture is really fast, being some smart sensors (located in Europe) able to self-register and self-con gure in a remote cloud (in South America) in less than 3 s and to display data to remote users in less than 2 s. Finally, technological trends for the development of intelligent sensors in the eld of the current Internet of things are shown, based on communication technologies and protocols, hardware, multi-protocol and multi-network devices, operating systems, on-line development environments and programming languages of the rmware of said sensor nodes. All the scienti c contributions of this thesis are re ected in the design of a precision agriculture project, to control the irrigation of a banana plantation in an automated way. The aforementioned project is still in execution, although progress in its implementation is shown in the last chapter.[Resumen] El Internet de las cosas (IoT) involucra una amplia variedad de tecnologías heterogéneas y dispositivos con recursos limitados que interactúan entre sÍ. Debido a tales restricciones, los dispositivos de IoT generalmente requieren protocolos livianos que optimicen el uso de los recursos y el consumo de energía. Entre los diferentes dispositivos comerciales de IoT, los beacons basados en Bluetooth y BLE, que transmiten periódicamente ciertos paquetes de datos para notificar su presencia, han experimentado un notable crecimiento, especialmente debido a su aplicación en sistemas de posicionamiento en interiores. Como solución a esta problemática esta tesis aporta con una arquitectura general de telemetría, diferentes escenarios para acceder a la cloud computing, guías de selección de componentes en los diferentes dominios de una arquitectura basada en IoT y ejemplos de implementación de una WSN a través de un testbed basado en el uso de sensores inteligentes con Bluetooth Low Energy. En el ejemplo mostrado se desarrolla un gateway IoT sobre un teléfono inteligente Android. Este gateway integra un cliente MQTT y dispone de las funcionalidades necesarias para empaquetar los datos de los sensores y enviarlos hacia el broker MQTT residente en una cloud computing. También se dispone de una interfaz amigable para que un usuario local pueda monitorear y controlar la WSN creada. Algunas experimentos fueron llevados a cabo paJ'a demostrar la funcionalidad, rapidez y estabilidad del gateway propuesto, para ser usado en este y otros dominios de aplicación. Corno parte de las soluciones planteadas en esta tesis, se propone una familia de protocolos denominada Lightweight Protocol for Sensors (LP4S) que proporciona respuestas rápidas y habilita los mecanismos plug-and-play que permiten a los sistemas de telemetría IoT descubrir nuevos nodos y describir y registrar automáticamente los sensores y actuadores conectados a un beacon. Por lo tanto, se definen tres protocolos dependiendo de las características de hardware del beacon: LP4S-6 (para beacons de recursos restringidos), LP4S-X (para beacons más potentes) y LP4S-J (para beacons capaces de ejecutar firmware complejo). Para demostrar las capacidades de los protocolos diseñados, el más restrictivo (LP4S-6) se prueba después de implementarlo para una aplicación de telemetría en un beacon basado en Eddystone (formato de beacon abierto de Google). Por lo tanto, la especificación del beacon se amplía para aumentar su capacidad de administrar sensores ilimitados en un sistema de telemetría sin interferir en su funcionamiento normal con las tramas Eddystone. Los experimentos realizados muestran la viabilidad de la solución propuesta y su superioridad, en términos de latencia y consumo de energía, con respecto a los enfoques basados en el perfil genérico de atributos (GATT) cuando múltiples usuarios se conectan a un sensor inteligente o en escenarios donde la latencia no es una restricción, pero el bajo consumo de energía es esencial. Se presenta además un framework basado en TEDS virtuales (VTEDS) para el desarrollo de nodos de sensores inteligentes con capacidades plug-and-play para contribuir a la evolución del Internet de las Cosas (IoT) hacia la Web de las Cosas (WoT). En el sistema propuesto se utilizan los protocolos livianos, que hemos desarrollado, para que los sensores se auto-describan, auto-calibren Y se auto-registren automáticamente. Dichos protocolos permiten el desarrollo de nuevas soluciones de IoT al tiempo que garantizan baja latencia, bajo consumo de energía y la QoS requerida. Para evaluar el rendimiento del sistema, se usaron sensores Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Y basados en Ethernet en diferentes escenarios. Específicamente, la experiencia del usuario se cuantificó empíricamente (es decir, qué tan rápido el sistema muestra los datos recopilados a un usuario). Los resultados obtenidos muestran que la arquitectura VTED propuesta es realmente rápida, ya que algunos sensores inteligentes (ubicados en Europa) pueden auto-registrarse Y auto-configurarse en una cloud remota (en América del Sur) en menos de 3s y mostrar datos de los sensores a usuarios remotos en menos de 2s. Finalmente, se muestran las tendencias tecnológicas para el desarrollo de sensores inteligentes en el ámbito del Internet de las cosas actual, en función de las tecnologías Y protocolos de comunicación, hardware, dispositivos multi-protocolos, sistemas operativos, ambientes de desarrollo on-line y lenguajes de programación del firmware de dichos nodos sensores. Todos los aportes científicos de esta tesis son reflejadas en el diseño de un proyecto de agricultura de precisión, para controlar el riego de una plantación de banano de forma automatizada. El proyecto citado aún se encuentra en ejecución, no obstante los avances de implementación del mismo son mostrados en el último capítulo.[Resumo] A Internet das Cousas (IoT) implica unha ampla variedade de tecnoloxÍas e dispositivos con recursos limitados interactúan heteroxéneos. Debido a estas condicións, os dispositivos de Internet das cousas en xeral, esixen protocolos leves que optimizan o uso de recursos e consumo de enerxía. Entre os moitos dispositivos comerciais IDC, balizas baseado Bluetooth e ble, que transmiten periodicamente determinados paquetes de datos para notificar a súa presenza, presentan un crecemento significativo, sobre todo debido á súa aplicación en sistemas de posicionamento internos. Como solución a este problema desta tese ofrece un xeneral arquitectura telemetría escenarios diferentes para acceder a computación en nube, orienta a selección de compoñentes nos diferentes ámbitos de unha economía baseada en Internet das cousas e exemplos de posta en marcha dunha WSN través da arquitectura cun testbed baseado no uso de sensores intelixentes con Bluetooth Low Energy. No exemplo que se mostra, unha pasarela IoT está desenvolvida nun teléfono intelixente con Android. Este portal integra un cliente e ten MQTT necesario para embalaxe os datos dos sensores e envialos para o corrector MQTT residente en capacidades de computación en nube. Hai tamén unha interface amigable dispoñible para que un usuario local monitor e controle o WSN creado. Algunhas experiencias foron realizadas para demostrar a funcionalidade, a velocidade ea estabilidade do porto de conexión proposto, para uso nesta e out ros dominios de aplicación. Como parte das solucións propostas nesta tese, unha familia de protocolos chamados LP4S dando respostas rápidas proposta e permitir mecanismos de plug-and-play que permiten sistemas IDC telemetría descubrir novos nós e describir e automaticamente gravar os· sensores e actuadores conectados a un faro. LP4S-6 (por balizas recursoconstrangidos), LP4S-X (por balizas máis fortes) e LP4S-J (por balizas capaces de execución do firmware complexo): Por conseguinte, tres protocolos, dependendo das . características de hardware baliza definida. Para demostrar as capacidades de protocolos deseñados, as máis restritivas (LP4S-6) é probada tras a posta en marcha dunha solicitude de Eddystone baseada telemetría (formato aberto faro de Google) Beacon. Polo tanto, o faro especificación expande para aumentar a súa capacidade de xestionar cadros Eddystone. As experiencias mostran a viabilidade da solución proposta ea súa superioridade en canto a consumo de latencia e de potencia en comparación coas propostas baseadas no perfil de atributo xenérico (GATT) cando varios usuarios conectarse a un sensor intelixente ou escenarios onde a latencia non é unha restrición, pero onde o consumo de enerxía é esencial. baseado Teds virtuais (VTEDS) para o desenvolvemento de nós sensores intelixentes con plug-and-play para contribuír á evolución de Internet das Cousas (Internet das cousas) á Web of Things (WOT) cadro tamén se mostra. Nos protocolos leves sistema proposto, realizamos son usados para que os sensores son propio descrición, auto-calibración e auto-rexistrar automaticamente. Estes protocolos permiten o desenvolvemento de novas solucións IOT asegurando ao mesmo tempo baixa latencia, baixo consumo de enerxía ea QoS requiridos. Para avaliar o rendemento do sistema, eles sensores Bluetooth Low Energy (ble) foron utilizados e Ethernet en base a diferentes escenarios. En concreto, a experiencia do usuario é empiricamente cuantificados (é dicir, o quao rápido o sistema exhibe os datos recollidos a un usuario). Os resultados mostran que a arquitectura VTED proposta é moi rápido, porque algúns sensores intelixentes (situadas en Europa) poden auto-rexistro e auto-configurado nunha nube remota (en América do Sur) en menos de 3s e dos datos de visualización sensores para usuarios remotos en menos de 2 s. Por último, as tendencias da tecnoloxía para o desenvolvemento de sensores intelixentes no campo de Internet das cousas reais, dependendo das tecnoloxías e protocolos de comunicación, hardware, dispositivos multi-protocolo, sistemas operativos, ambientes de desenvolvemento en liña mostra e linguaxes de programación do firmware dos devanditos nodos de sensores. Todas as contribucións científicas desta tese son reftectidas no deseño dun proxecto de agricultura de precisión, para controlar o risco dunha plantación de bananas automatizado. O devandito proxecto aínda está en execución, a pesar dos progresos da súa execución móstranse no último capítulo

Securing Medical Devices and Protecting Patient Privacy in the Technological Age of Healthcare

The healthcare industry has been adopting technology at an astonishing rate. This technology has served to increase the efficiency and decrease the cost of healthcare around the country. While technological adoption has undoubtedly improved the quality of healthcare, it also has brought new security and privacy challenges to the industry that healthcare IT manufacturers are not necessarily fully prepared to address. This dissertation explores some of these challenges in detail and proposes solutions that will make medical devices more secure and medical data more private. Compared to other industries the medical space has some unique challenges that add significant constraints on possible solutions to problems. For example, medical devices must operate reliably even in the face of attack. Similarly, due to the need to access patient records in an emergency, strict enforcement of access controls cannot be used to prevent unauthorized access to patient data. Throughout this work we will explore particular problems in depth and introduce novel technologies to address them. Each chapter in this dissertation explores some aspect of security or privacy in the medical space. We present tools to automatically audit accesses in electronic medical record systems in order to proactively detect privacy violations; to automatically fingerprint network-facing protocols in order to non-invasively determine if particular devices are vulnerable to known attacks; and to authenticate healthcare providers to medical devices without a need for a password in a way that protects against all known attacks present in radio-based authentication technologies. We also present an extension to the widely-used beacon protocol in order to add security in the face of active attackers; and we demonstrate an overhead-free solution to protect embedded medical devices against previously unpreventable attacks that evade existing control- flow integrity enforcement techniques by leveraging insecure built-in features in order to maliciously exploit configuration vulnerabilities in devices