FLEXNET: Flexible Networks for IoT based services

Internet of Things is becoming one of the main triggers in designing and deploying new services aiming at fulfilling the wide demand imposed by end-users. Usually, concrete solutions addressing the optimization of the wireless segment are found in the literature. However, it is much less frequent to find end-to-end solutions to be easily adopted by the corresponding stakeholders. It is in this context that FLEXNET brings an integrated solution, relying on cutting-edge technologies, dealing with a wide set of technical requirements imposed by the different applications and services.This work was supported by FLEXNET Project: "Flexible IoT Networks for Value Creators" (Celtic 2016/3), in the Eureka Celtic-Next Cluster

Solar UAV for long endurance flights

The project have been done during the four months stay in Lithuania by Marc Olmo and LLibert Chamizo. The aim of the project was to obtain an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle powered by solar energy that was able to flight for as long as possible it within the limitations which are the budget, the time and the technological limitations. During the limited time, the team have been working in all the necessary phases to build a real scale and fully functional Solar UAV. This phases were the following; Theoretical Calculations, Design, Simulation, Building, Tests of the Airframe, Solar Energy Circuit Design and Building 2nd phase tests and Conclusion Obtaining. Through all the process several technical and engineering decisions have been made leading the team to obtain a fully functional 4,4m wingspan fixed wing UAV with a TOW of 5,5 Kg which is perfectly pilotable The final achievements have been a UAV capable of long endurance flight within daytime. The model achieved was able to maintain level, climb and turn perfectly using just the power gathered by the solar cells in its wing. During the development of the project the possibility of the multiday flight have been discussed leading to the conclusion that it's viable but not within the frame of this project. There have been done several tests under actual mission parameters loading the plane with the weight it would be carried during the missions that are most likely solar uav related such as mapping or surveillance. The final result have been correct and lead to an optimistic opinion about the whole Solar UAV paradigm and about the prototype modification and improvement in the near future to achieve even better results (which have been overviewed and planned in the actual report). A fatal error drove the airplane to a nosedive fall with disastrous consequences, the whole project feels and success though it's undoubtable

Remote Control of Mobile Robot using the Virtual Reality

In this paper we present the simulation and manipulation of  teleoperation system for remote control of mobile robot using the Virtual Reality (VR). The objective of this work is to allow the operator to control and supervise a unicycle type mobile robot. In this research we followed three ways: The use of articulated robotic mobile on the Web, the design of remote environment for the experimentation using the network for the mobile robot and the  architecture of control is proposed to facilitate the piloting of the robot. This work proposes a hardware and software architecture based on communication and information technologies to control the virtual robot to improve the control towards the remote robot. A path planning method is integrated to the remote control system. Results show the real possibilities offered by this manipulation, in order to follow a trajectory of the robot and to create applications with a distance access to facilities through networks like the Internet and wireless

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Wireless Localization in Search and Rescue

This thesis presents how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can successfully assist in search and rescue (SAR) operations using wireless localization. The zone-grid to partition to capture/detect WiFi probe requests follows the concepts found in Search Theory Method. The UAV has attached a sensor, e.g., WiFi sniffer, to capture/detect the WiFi probes from victims or lost people’s smartphones. Applying the Random-Forest based machine learning algorithm, an estimation of the user\u27s location is determined with a 81.8% accuracy. UAV technology has shown limitations in the navigational performance and limited flight time. Procedures to optimize these limitations are presented. Additionally, how the UAV is maneuvered during flight is analyzed, considering different SAR flight patterns and Li-Po battery consumption rates of the UAV. Results show that controlling the UAV by remote-controll detected the most probes, but it is less power efficient compared to control it autonomously

Quadrotor: a detailed analysis on construction and operation

It is a type of an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) which by its name suggests that consists of 4 engines to drive it. Usually we use BLDC motors and propellers as the engines of a quad. Its motion and dynamics can be compared with that of a helicopter in regards to its transverse and longitudinal motion. It has various uses in various fields of military, business, rescue mission, modern warfare etc. They have a vertical take-off and landing system. Unlike a helicopter the propellers or blades of a “Quadrotor” have fixed pitch. Control of vehicle motion is achieved by altering the pitch and/or rotation rate of one or more rotor discs, thereby changing its torque load and thrust/lift characteristics. This will be explained in details in course of the following discussion. If we look into history of the “Quadrotor”, we get to know that it was the first step towards vertical take-off and landing vehicle. At first it was a manned vehicle but now mainly the research is focused upon a unmanned “Quadrotor” which is controlled with the help of electronic signals and various other mechanisms

Immersive flight for surveillance applications

In this paper , we present a VR-based first-person view paradigm applied to a tele-surveillance application. Using an Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV), we have developed an intuitive tangible interface between the pilot and his airship (blimp). The idea is to make transparent the manipulation of an embedded camera by controlling it instinctively with the head’s movement so that the user is available for other tasks such as piloting the blimp. In other words, the user becomes part of the interface. Using the same paradigm for sensing real-time acquired sensor data, a vibro-tactile belt worn by the user will indicate the resistance offered by the wind and thus will increase the feeling of telepresence. The results of our experience show that our system is reliable and enhances the situational awareness of the pilot

An Assessment of Unmanned Aircraft System Pilot Discomfort and Fatigue

The rapid growth of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) use in both the military and civil sectors has uncovered an array of challenges within the field. In terms of human factors and ergonomics, the influence of the unique physical design of the control stations used to pilot the unmanned aircraft on local muscular fatigue and discomfort are of great concern. This study was conducted to assess the influence of two display configurations, Side-by-Side (SS) and Stacked (ST), and two chairs, Ergonomic (EC) and Captain’s (CC), on mean and median power frequencies, root mean square amplitude, posture, discomfort, workload, and seat pressure. Sixteen participants [age: 24.75 ± 2.96 years; gender: 4 female/ 12 male; height: 177.56 ± 9.09 cm; weight: 81.37 ± 16.43 kg] completed four, 2-hour simulated UAS flights for all chair/display combinations. Eight participants piloted one, 6-hour simulated UAS flight in the display/chair combination which best minimized discomfort and fatigue in the two-hour flights, EC/SS. During the two-hour flights, muscle activity, discomfort, posture, workload, and seat pressure findings indicated increased muscular fatigue and discomfort over time. Generally, the EC/SS condition appeared to best mitigate muscular fatigue and postures associated with increased risk for the development of musculoskeletal disorders. Six-hour flight data failed to provide additional insights on the influence of extended duration flights on the dependent variables of this study. Finally, linear regression analysis revealed muscle activity can likely be predicted during UAS piloting tasks using the dependent variables in this study; however, the study failed to provide evidence that models built from two-hour data can accurately predict muscle activity out to six hours

Smart Antenna Systems Model Simulation Design for 5G Wireless Network Systems

The most recent antenna array technologies such as smart antenna systems (SAS) and massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems are giving a strong increasing impact relative to 5G wireless communication systems due to benefits that they could introduce in terms of performance improvements with respect to omnidirectional antennas. Although a considerable number of theoretical proposals already exist in this field, the most common used network simulators do not implement the latest wireless network standards and, consequently, they do not offer the possibility to emulate scenarios in which SAS or massive MIMO systems are employed. This aspect heavily affects the quality of the network performance analysis with regard to the next generation wireless communication systems. To overcome this issue, it is possible, for example, to extend the default features offered by one of the most used network simulators such as Omnet++ which provides a very complete suite of network protocols and patterns that can be adapted in order to support the latest antenna array systems. The main goal of the present chapter is to illustrate the improvements accomplished in this field allowing to enhance the basic functionalities of the Omnet++ simulator by implementing the most modern antenna array technologies