Views from the coalface: chemo-sensors, sensor networks and the semantic sensor web

Currently millions of sensors are being deployed in sensor networks across the world. These networks generate vast quantities of heterogeneous data across various levels of spatial and temporal granularity. Sensors range from single-point in situ sensors to remote satellite sensors which can cover the globe. The semantic sensor web in principle should allow for the unification of the web with the real-word. In this position paper, we discuss the major challenges to this unification from the perspective of sensor developers (especially chemo-sensors) and integrating sensors data in real-world deployments. These challenges include: (1) identifying the quality of the data; (2) heterogeneity of data sources and data transport methods; (3) integrating data streams from different sources and modalities (esp. contextual information), and (4) pushing intelligence to the sensor level

Will 5G See its Blind Side? Evolving 5G for Universal Internet Access

Internet has shown itself to be a catalyst for economic growth and social equity but its potency is thwarted by the fact that the Internet is off limits for the vast majority of human beings. Mobile phones---the fastest growing technology in the world that now reaches around 80\% of humanity---can enable universal Internet access if it can resolve coverage problems that have historically plagued previous cellular architectures (2G, 3G, and 4G). These conventional architectures have not been able to sustain universal service provisioning since these architectures depend on having enough users per cell for their economic viability and thus are not well suited to rural areas (which are by definition sparsely populated). The new generation of mobile cellular technology (5G), currently in a formative phase and expected to be finalized around 2020, is aimed at orders of magnitude performance enhancement. 5G offers a clean slate to network designers and can be molded into an architecture also amenable to universal Internet provisioning. Keeping in mind the great social benefits of democratizing Internet and connectivity, we believe that the time is ripe for emphasizing universal Internet provisioning as an important goal on the 5G research agenda. In this paper, we investigate the opportunities and challenges in utilizing 5G for global access to the Internet for all (GAIA). We have also identified the major technical issues involved in a 5G-based GAIA solution and have set up a future research agenda by defining open research problems

Intelligent middleware for adaptive sensing of tennis coaching sessions

In professional tennis training matches, the coach needs to be able to view play from the most appropriate angle in order to monitor players activities. In this paper, we present a system which can adapt the operation of a series of cameras in order to maintain optimal system performance based on a set of wireless sensors. This setup is used as a testbed for an agent based intelligent middleware that can correlate data from many different wired and wireless sensors and provide effective in-situ decision making. The proposed solution is flexible enough to allow the addition of new sensors and actuators. Within this setup we also provide details of a case study for the embedded control of cameras through the use of Ubisense data

Internet of Things-aided Smart Grid: Technologies, Architectures, Applications, Prototypes, and Future Research Directions

Traditional power grids are being transformed into Smart Grids (SGs) to address the issues in existing power system due to uni-directional information flow, energy wastage, growing energy demand, reliability and security. SGs offer bi-directional energy flow between service providers and consumers, involving power generation, transmission, distribution and utilization systems. SGs employ various devices for the monitoring, analysis and control of the grid, deployed at power plants, distribution centers and in consumers' premises in a very large number. Hence, an SG requires connectivity, automation and the tracking of such devices. This is achieved with the help of Internet of Things (IoT). IoT helps SG systems to support various network functions throughout the generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy by incorporating IoT devices (such as sensors, actuators and smart meters), as well as by providing the connectivity, automation and tracking for such devices. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT-aided SG systems, which includes the existing architectures, applications and prototypes of IoT-aided SG systems. This survey also highlights the open issues, challenges and future research directions for IoT-aided SG systems

Semantic multimedia remote display for mobile thin clients

Current remote display technologies for mobile thin clients convert practically all types of graphical content into sequences of images rendered by the client. Consequently, important information concerning the content semantics is lost. The present paper goes beyond this bottleneck by developing a semantic multimedia remote display. The principle consists of representing the graphical content as a real-time interactive multimedia scene graph. The underlying architecture features novel components for scene-graph creation and management, as well as for user interactivity handling. The experimental setup considers the Linux X windows system and BiFS/LASeR multimedia scene technologies on the server and client sides, respectively. The implemented solution was benchmarked against currently deployed solutions (VNC and Microsoft-RDP), by considering text editing and WWW browsing applications. The quantitative assessments demonstrate: (1) visual quality expressed by seven objective metrics, e.g., PSNR values between 30 and 42 dB or SSIM values larger than 0.9999; (2) downlink bandwidth gain factors ranging from 2 to 60; (3) real-time user event management expressed by network round-trip time reduction by factors of 4-6 and by uplink bandwidth gain factors from 3 to 10; (4) feasible CPU activity, larger than in the RDP case but reduced by a factor of 1.5 with respect to the VNC-HEXTILE

A conceptual architecture for adaptation in remote desktop systems driven by the user perception of multimedia

Current thin-client remote desktop systems were designed for data-oriented applications over low-quality LAN links and they do not provide satisfactory end-user performance in enterprise environment for more and more popular graphical and multimedia applications. To improve perception of those applications in thin-client environment we propose architecture of a server-side Quality of Service (QoS) management component responsible for mapping application QoS requirements into network QoS. We analyze how service differentiation and traffic management techniques combined with user perception monitoring can be used in order to adjust network level resource allocation when performance of multimedia applications in remote desktop environment is not meeting user requirements. Our objective is to provide QoS-aware remote desktop systems which will be able to manage available resources in intelligent manner and meet end-user performance expectations. © 2005 IEEE

A critical analysis of research potential, challenges and future directives in industrial wireless sensor networks

In recent years, Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) have emerged as an important research theme with applications spanning a wide range of industries including automation, monitoring, process control, feedback systems and automotive. Wide scope of IWSNs applications ranging from small production units, large oil and gas industries to nuclear fission control, enables a fast-paced research in this field. Though IWSNs offer advantages of low cost, flexibility, scalability, self-healing, easy deployment and reformation, yet they pose certain limitations on available potential and introduce challenges on multiple fronts due to their susceptibility to highly complex and uncertain industrial environments. In this paper a detailed discussion on design objectives, challenges and solutions, for IWSNs, are presented. A careful evaluation of industrial systems, deadlines and possible hazards in industrial atmosphere are discussed. The paper also presents a thorough review of the existing standards and industrial protocols and gives a critical evaluation of potential of these standards and protocols along with a detailed discussion on available hardware platforms, specific industrial energy harvesting techniques and their capabilities. The paper lists main service providers for IWSNs solutions and gives insight of future trends and research gaps in the field of IWSNs

Hybrid 5G optical-wireless SDN-based networks, challenges and open issues

The fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks are expected to bring higher capacity, higher density of mobile devices, lower battery consumption and improved coverage. 5G entails the convergence of wireless and wired communications in a unified and efficient architecture. Mobile nodes, as defined in fourth-generation era, are transformed in heterogeneous networks to make the front-haul wireless domains flexible and intelligent. This work highlights a set of critical challenges in advancing 5G networks, fuelled by the utilisation of the network function virtualisation, the software defined radio and the software defined networks techniques. Furthermore, a novel conceptual model is presented in terms of control and management planes, where the inner architectural components are introduced in detail